Blog

The photographic blog of Sean Wood (aka motionid)

The Frame builder

I've been working on a little project that has taken a bit of my time.It's not done yet. There is still a way to go but I thought I would share a few frames thus far. I'm primarily shooting it on Kodak Tmax 400 @1600 using the Hasselblad and accenting the series with a little colour (Kodak Portra 400).

The subject of my project is a bicycle frame builder from Kyoto that now lives in Tokyo and has a shop not far away from where I live. I haven't come across anyone building frames in Tokyo as yet and have since discovered it's a bit of a rarity.

Stephan

I hope he doesn't mind me uploading this.The atmosphere in the shot, the focus, the light are the elements that I really like in this shot. I knew bringing the Rolleiflex back would pay off. Stephan gets all the credit for putting up with me constantly taking his picture. Shot on TMax 400 @1600 and developed in TMax developer.

The Wedge

This building is around the corner from my office. After seeing the result I went out and tried to shoot it square without success. The format just didn't work.This was shot on the Voigtlander Bessa R2a with a 50mm @ f16 directly into the sun which is why you see the screwed b+w flare.

I like how the subject takes up the space in the frame in this shot. I also like all the textures and the exposure. Everything to me seems to have the right balance. The clouds, the flare elements fading into small lines on the left of the shot and the tonal balance overall.

Parallel parking

car-1.jpg

Another photo from my cycle to Yamanashi. I completely forgot this was there. The route I took is filled with photographic opportunities. The next time I go (this weekend?) I'll be leaving a lot earlier. It's one thing to just ride the route but something different to be stopping regularly to photograph scenes (makes the ride take forever).

Otsuki mountains

[gallery link="file" columns="1" ids="1851"]I finally managed to take my Hasselblad for a ride on the weekend. 100km and a very sore back later I had finished about 2 rolls. My late start and being not as fit as I would have liked clearly affected the number of shots I could get but despite this round of pain I think the area deserves at least a second look. I'll just have to train for it.

Tunnels

Tiny station just outside of Okutama

There is a interesting little walk to be had around Okutama area. One day last year (or was it the year before?) I took the train out with a load of camera gear to take a few pictures. Ended up walking through someones yard to get to a road and to the above station called Shiromaru which you'll find is the stop just before Okutama. There is quite a lot of walking involved if you are searching for something of interest so I suggest doing a bit of research before you embark to save your legs for the interesting stuff.

Shots on a roll

If you have an monitor running 1920x1200 then open your browser to max and view th slide show.  Rather than cut these sequence of shots up I've left them how I've scanned them. When scanning 35mm I usually scan the whole strip to see what I've got and then go back and scan the ones I like at a higher resolution. The last part I never get round to doing. I just scan the strip and forget about it. I don't think any of these shots (maybe 1) have seen the light of day. I have a crap load of these. Figured this sequence was not a bad one in terms of quality vs number of shots taken.

Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.

Blossoms in rain

It's an old shot that I guess I'm re posting. Shot late afternoon near my house at the park with a Rolleiflex and a Rollinar 2. I ended up trading that camera in. It was a mistake of sorts to do that but I think I'm better for it. Less focus on cameras more focus on picture making. Still, the Rolleiflex had an amazing balance between sharpness and softness. If you have a chance to use one (f/2.8) I recommend it. But don't go taking candid street photos at night with it. It's even harder to use in that situation than the Hasselblad.