Blog

The photographic blog of Sean Wood (aka motionid)

Oleg

So my friend Oleg came to Tokyo for a week of work and a few days off recently. I'm very glad he could make the trip. I didn't really take the chance the last time he was here to get a decent shot of him but I couldn't let him escape this time.Now that 400b has gone I'm shooting 3000b and carrying an ND4 or 8 filter with me when it's required. Nice thing about 3000b is the neg that you get from the shot. And this shot is from the neg. I only hope instant film for the Hasselblad stays around for a while.

Morning coffee

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I've become obsessed with this Fuji instant film of late. No development needed. Instant atmosphere, predictable (to an extent) results, I just wish it wasn't so expensive and messy. And the other annoying thing is trying to carry the pictures around with you after you've shot them. I have developed a practical method for this -  a plastic hard disk case. Keeps the dust out and prevents the photos from sticking to your bag . The trick is just to ensure you dry the photo long enough before putting it in the case. Scanning these instant photos is a whole other challenge. If you don't like touching out dust, don't think about shooting these because regardless of how careful you are you'll be dust busting for hours. You can always leave the dust in for effect :-)

Polada

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This past weekend I was invited to an exhibition of Riku Wada san and Sayako Ishida san. They had both travelled to different places in the world (iceland, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina to name a few) and used Polaroid cameras to take pictures of their travels. By plan or by accident they managed to create a really amazing series of images. Because of the nature of the medium, the colours were all very consistant right across the world and the subdued yellowish tones suited the subject matter. In fact, had they used any other type of camera they would not have achieved close to the quality, consistency or look that they got with the polaroid.I'm hoping they make a book of the shots. They are too good to waste on just a one time viewing. The shot above was taken at the exhibition and is a globe they make with pins stuck into the places they travelled to. This was taken with a Hasselblad with a polaroid back and Fuji 100c film. And, as fate would have it, I got a happy accident. The resulting blue spots is a result of the film not being able to handle the overexposure of the light.

Tokyo Tower

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So I modified a Kodak No. 2A Folding Autographic Brownie so that it would take Fuji instant film. Lots of electrical tape and a few tests later I worked out the 3 fstop settings and the basic focal lengths. I've not shot a lot with it yet but as it's a bellows camera a thought occurred to me while trying to shot with it this weekend. If I could some how take the thing off it's rails I might be able to twist the lens around a bit and get something different. So I now have a very random tilt shift lens. Took several shots to get one steady enough to use.