Insta-Worthy Medium Format Shots

I explained what was happening in my last blog post in a recent social media post:

Last month, I did a medium format film / camera demo in my Photo II / Advanced Photo class. I sighed and mentioned a “trend” of not actually shooting with the camera, but instead pointing the camera at your subject and then getting a photo of the ground glass with your phone. After the demo, many students made photos of themselves in that manner using my cameras. 🙄🤷🏼‍♂️

This morning, I stepped outside and tried it myself for the first time (with an old Mamiya twin lens reflex), and made photos of our flowering tree and a pair of tulips in our garden. My students would be proud… I think…

Here were my 2 attempts:

[click each image to enlarge]

See my students doing this in our classroom in my last post.

The Faculty Exhibition at the Concordia Gallery

The 2023 Art and Design Faculty Exhibition opened last week at the Concordia Gallery. I snapped a few photos with my phone before it was busy:

My 2 larger prints to the right, and 9 smaller prints on the far wall.

Here are few pics of some of the corners of the gallery - I didn't take any photos in the Teaching Gallery, but there's more work in there as well:

I'll take some "real" photos with my "real" camera in the upcoming week or 2, so stop back to see better images that you can enlarge.

Concordia University's Print Shop

This past spring, I found myself wandering around the Concordia University print shop as I was waiting to meet a friend at my solo exhibition in the Concorida Gallery. (Click that last link for images from the exhibition, and this link to see the photographs in the exhibition.) I found myself snapping photos with my phone.

[click each image to enlarge]

Again, here are more images from my solo exhibition in the Concorida Gallery this past winter/spring.

Panoramic Image from the 4 a.m. Exhibition

Here's a quick panoramic image fom my "4 a.m." exhibition currently on display:

[click to enlarge]

The Changing Seasons

I just finished pulling up my vegetable garden for the year (we had a mild October, so we let it go for a while), and I feel compelled to make a photo like this each fall:

Click here for a slightly larger version.

Ax-Man Organization

Just a few shots from the last time I was in Ax-Man Surplus with my boys:

iPhone Photos from a North Shore Trip

I shared some photos last month shot with my Holga from my North Shore trip in late March. Here are a few (shown chronologically) shot with my iPhone 12 and the "silvertone" filter.

[click each image to enlarge]

A beach in Two Harbors


Two Harbors


Just below Gooseberry Falls


Black Beach


Black Beach


Sugarloaf Cove


Sugarloaf Cove


Sugarloaf Cove


Near Artist's Point in Grand Marais


Grand Marais


Grand Marais


Grand Marais


Back at Sugarloaf Cove (the back side)


The back side of Sugarloaf Cove


The back side of Sugarloaf Cove


A gale warning in Grand Marais


Hwy 61 from the Cascade River


Cascade Falls


Pools of water below Cascade Falls

Related: check out my first test of the "silvertone" filter and the wide angle lens along the Mississippi River from just after I got my new phone 2 months ago. And here are more North Shore photos that I shot with my Holga.

Mississippi River Photos from the iPhone 12

I recently got an iPhone 12 Pro. It's the first time I've really had "new" and "current" equipment - my normal camera is about 15 years old, and I'm generally a "use what you've got" sort of photographer. When I was out along the banks of the Mississippi River with my boys last week, I started playing with the wide angle lens and a few of the effects.

Here are a few images that are straight from my phone. I always at least gently edit my images, but these have not been cropped or had any density/contrast adjustments. The most I did to them was adjust the exposure as I was in the process of making the photo; I did nothing in post.

[click image to enlarge]

River Tree


Rail Bridge


Washed-Out Ash


Rower


Rain-Splattered Beaches


Tiny Waves


Driftwood


Driftwood and Ice


Frozen Pebbles


Trees

The "silvertone" effect in these images makes the images a little too painterly for me: click on and zoom in to some of the larger images to see the over-sharpening happening at the edge of higher contrast areas. But I like the overall contrast it provided, although the middle values get a little lost (which kills me a bit as a photography professor who's always preaching about proper tonal range).

We'll see if I end up playing around more with my phone in a professional manner...