Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I'm No Brassaï, Akron No Paris

Highland Square at Night
I had recently disassembled my Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model so I could clean the lens and viewfinder. I also realized that I could stick a roll of 120 film in it without re-spooling it onto 620 reels(as long as a 620 reel is used as the take-up spool). Last night I decided it was time to take it for a test drive and just for laughs I made it a real challenge. I went for a walk downtown Akron after the sun went down and used the camera on "bulb mode"(for the un-initiated this means the shutter stays open as long as you keep you finger on the shutter release). There is no tripod socket on the camera so I could only take shots from places where I could set it down on something stable. The camera has no light meter(not that they help much at night anyways) and I had no timer so I guessed at the exposure lengths by counting in my head. Most of these were 20-50 second shots. I've read the aperture on these cameras are about f/15 so most of the frame is sharp(except for when my hand shook the camera). With all that against me I'm surprised some of these turned out as well as the did - the film is Kodak T-Max 100.  
St Bernard's at Night
I tried this shot twice - for 15 and 30 seconds - this is the thirty second exposure. I used some mulch to prop the camera up to the necessary angle.
Canal Park at Night Canal Park - I set the camera on some kind of electric box. First National Bank Building at Night FirstMerit Tower from a trash can. Obviously I didn't have the camera straight and I must have shook it a bit. I believe I used multiple exposures here - opening up the shutter whenever cars passed by. Downtown Akron at Night Shot this off of a bench - a few passersby looked at me like I was crazy. St. Bernard's and Tree at Night St. Bernard's and trees - I used a hand rail across the street to rest the camera on. Civic Theater at Night Weird Al was playing here last night - I wish this came out a little less blurry.

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