Film: Kodak Tri-X 400

At times I like to think that I know a little of what I am talking about. I have a good sense of people and why they do the things they do. Being completely self aware (not that it helps me) makes people constantly want to open up to me, which I love. What does this have to do with film you might ask? Well I always thought that photography was beautiful in it's primitive (for lack of a better word) form. Black and White film always feels like it captures something on a different plain than what color film can do. As if in shooting people in black and white you can almost see feel more of a connection. I have been using Kodak Tri-x 400 for a while now. To be honest I never was really happy with the results . I feel like it flattens a lot of my images. I think I am going to start using more Ilford since they are the kings of Black and White. Never the less here are some pics taken with Kodak Tri-x 400



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Gloomy as heck!

I am currently at work listening to Built To Spill - Carry the Zero and trying to not fall asleep. Can I just tell you how awesome Dinosaur Jr. radio is on Pandora!!! All these great songs are coming on everything from Lemonheads to Smashing Pumpkins. Oh Smashing Pumpkins , they are but a bump in the history of my generation but I somehow can look back and find at least 3 songs of theirs that are milestones in my life. Weird how seemingly a band could not affect you but still somehow have a relationship with you in your life.

"Today" happens to be one of my favorite songs EVER!!! The lyrics and the melody even the music video seems to be etched permanently in my brain. Billy Corgan's bald head reminds me of a time in my life where music made sense to me and at the time the rest of the world. Now when I think about him though I think about all his problems with Courtney Love.

I will end this with the music video for one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs

Camera Rant: Why I love my Diana Mini!

This little piece of plastic might look like it can't do much but really it packs such a punch.
If you are familiar with it's predecessor the Diana F+ you know that the magic to these cameras is in the plastic lens. Luckily with the Diana Mini you are not sacrificing too much in the size.
The Mini keeps the plastic lens to still give you those soft focus images and eventhough it shoots in 35mm format ( a feature I find to be a million times more convenient) it still gives you the square image that the Diana is famous for. Since the Mini cannot be made into a pinhole, the lens doesn't come off like the regular Diana, it does give you the option of shooting half frame. So on a 36 exposure roll you can shoot 72 pictures, and you don't have to stay committed to half frame through out your whole roll you can actually go back and forth. This is my favorite feature since for years I had been trying to get my hands on an Olympus Pen an older camera that had that feature back in the day. Then I found the golden half a camera made by superheadz that seemed to do what the Pen did but lacked in the picture quality.The Mini does everything the golden half does and more. I also must rave about the panoramic options you have with it, it's really what I have been experimenting with and so far so good. I must end this by talking about the focusing. I have never been good at judging focusing on meters but I feel that with the Diana Mini it's a little more forgiving. I tend to always get a good shot.

Here are some shots I have taken so far with the Mini