Spring & Surgery II

Chris' knee surgery is finally scheduled for Thursday. As such, I am feeling quite antsy at the moment. Fortunately, I have a backlog of books I need to read, so I will bring one or two books with me to read in the waiting room while they operate on his knee. With any luck, it will help keep my mind off of what is going on. Currently, as those who have me added as a friend on GoodReads know, I am reading The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. I also want to read The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, to which Chris gave a rave review.

I am shooting a roll of Fuji's Neopan 400 in my Black Slim Devil lately. I really want to get back into shooting a bit of instant film, however. I have a refrigerator full of film, both Fuji and Polaroid, but I have not actually shot any instant film in nearly a year. Once I finish with the roll loaded in the Black Slim Devil, I might load another camera with one of the packs of Fuji FP-100c45 color instant film I have in the fridge—but I really do still favor black-and-white film over color. Unfortunately, I do not have any of the FP-100b or FP-3000b left. The good news? The Fuji FP-100c45 film can be used to make negatives for enlargement, should I choose to go that route. 

The Next Whisky Bar...*

I hope to have some new photos to share with everyone in the next two weeks or so. Chris invited me to visit him in Alabama, so I will be leaving on a red-eye flight come Wednesday morning. One of the places we intend to visit, weather permitting, is the Sloss Furnaces. I will keep my fingers crossed for some nice photos of the area. It's a shame I am not comfortable with platinum or palladium printing—it is, in my opinion, one of the best printing processes for metallic subjects.

I packed my digital camera, but I am taking my Black Slim Devil as well. I thought about bringing my Nikon FMn2, but I really don't want to go through the hassle of developing film. I do not have any chemicals left to develop it myself, so I would have to send it out… something, I've come to learn, which is a pain in the ass at times. Instead, I am using my Nikon digital camera, so that I may upload photos almost instantly to the site, but more to the benefit of my Facebook page.

*For those who do not get the reference: click here.

From Wikipedia: Alabama Song was originally published in Bertolt Brecht’s Hauspostille (1927.) It was set to music by Kurt Weill for Mahagonny and used again in Weill’s and Brecht’s 1930 opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. In the latter, it is performed by the character Jenny and her fellow prostitutes in the first act. Musically, it contains elements of foxtrot, blues and is sung by Jenny Corless.

The song was covered in 1967 by rock band The Doors (credited in their albums as "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)").

Myrtle Beach Photos

Sand Dunes of Myrtle BeachAfter a long three-week wait, I received the photos I've been dying to upload to the site. I've updated the 35mm and Toy Camera galleries with the photos from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

I am quite pleased with how they turned out. I would have liked it if the vignettes were not as strong, but I don't mind them that much. One of these days, I'll have to pick up a small camera that doesn't cause such noticeable vignetting as an alternative to my Black Slim Devil. I like the idea of always carrying a camera of some kind with me, so the BSD serves its purpose for the most part.

In other news, I managed to up the barbell another ten pounds today. I also upped the dumbbells I do tricep extensions and butterfly presses another ten pounds as well. Unfortunately, the dumbbells only go up to forty pounds, but that is still an additional ten pounds away, so I should be good for another two or three weeks. I hope my resistance band gets here sometime this week, I think it would help delay that particular nuisance.

The book is coming along nicely, as I said in a previous post. I haven't gotten much actual writing done in a day or two, however. Instead, I've been taking notes on what events need to occur in the third book. I already have an extensive outline for book three, but I am always thinking of new things such as character developments and plot points. Ah well, I hope to finish the second draft soon; I have people clamouring to read it.

My Redscale World

I got the roll of redscale 35mm that I shot a few weeks ago back in the mail today. This is the first roll of redscale film that I've shot, and I kind of like it. I doubt I would use it for any lengthy work, but who knows.

For those who don't know, redscale film is nothing special; to make the film, you simple reverse a normal color film so that the red layer is exposed first instead of last.

Black Slim Devil

I recently purchased a Black Slim Devil from Four Corners Store and loaded it up with some redscale film that I bought a couple of months ago. I've never gotten a chance to use the film until now, and after seeing what the samples looked like, I had to buy the camera. At only $30, it certainly wasn't breaking the bank.

So far, I really seem to have loosened up if I shoot with it. Since it feels like a slightly sturdier version of a disposable camera, psychologically, I'm not as held back as I normally am while shooting with other, more professional cameras. So far, I've already shot a roll and a half, and normally it would take me a month or more to shoot that much 35mm film.

Once I get them developed, I will post the photos.