Some Romahni Portraits
June 8th, 2016
While we were down at the cabin in the Hocking Hills I did a few portraits of Romahni Rose.
Back in 1969, when I graduated from high school, I got some money as graduation gifts. Enough money that was able to buy my first Nikon. It was a Nikkormat Ftn. I still have that camera and it still works, despite being used hard for many years and even dropped once on a cement sidewalk. It hit the sidewalk hard enough to dent the top plate, which kept the rewind knob from turning. I used a hammer to pound the dent out. The camera still works to this day. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Along with that Nikkormat I bought the standard 50mm f/2 lens. I still have that lens. It’s a great lens. It’s sharp at every aperture. A beautiful, simple little creation. I didn’t use it a lot in the old days because 50mm just wasn’t my focal length. I mainly used 24, 35 and 85mm lenses. Once in a while, a 200mm. The old 50 is manual focus, of course, so with modern auto-focus cameras it got no use at all. You just can’t focus these new cameras manually, something I’ve never really liked about them. I wish I could get a new Nikon with the old “Apollo P” focusing screen which had a microprism ring around a diagonal split focus finder in the middle. I suppose there’s a reason they can’t put that screen in new cameras, but I wish they could or would.
So, by now you are wondering why I’m rambling about these old cameras. Well, since I started shooting with Micro 4/3 cameras I’ve been sometimes using that old 50mm as a portrait lens with my Panasonic G5. The G5 has excellent focusing aids for manual focus, instantly magnifying the image in the electronic viewfinder as soon as you turn the focus ring, then instantly going back to the full view at a light touch of the shutter button. And the 2x magnification of the image in the M4/3 sensor means the old 50mm becomes effectively a 100mm…a perfect portrait focal length.
So, that’s the kit I used for these portraits of Romahni. I love how these look. And the bokeh with this lens is very pleasant. There were some little colored lights in the cabin. I thought it was interesting the way they rendered out of focus in the background, as you can see in this last shot.
For those of you who are disappointed that you didn’t get to see more of Romahni in this post…there are some more photos from this set coming in my next blog post.
At Rock House
June 4th, 2016
After our time shooting at Ash Cave I headed over to Rock House, another popular spot in the Hocking Hills, with Brooke and Romahni. Rock House is not an easy place to work, but I’ve had some success there from time to time.
I think we did pretty well there this time too.
I love those dots in the landscape.
On To Ash Cave
May 31st, 2016
After our evening shoot near our cabin Brooke and Romahni and I took off at dawn to shoot at Ash Cave, the most popular spot in the most popular park in Ohio. Dawn is the only time that it is free of crowds so we could shoot.
It’s a beautiful place and the light at dawn is usually great.
Much more to come from this shoot with these lovely ladies.
Brooke and Romanhi
May 28th, 2016
As I continue to work through old, unedited shoots I’ve come to one that was a delightful treat. My favorite model, Brooke Lynne, came to Ohio for a shoot and brought along a wonderful young woman who was visiting the US from Australia, Romanhi Rose.
I took them to one of my favorite places, Hocking Hills. These first few photos were made on private property just behind the cabin we rented.
That spot behind the cabin turned out to be one of the best places we shot on this trip.
Lots more to come from these two lovely ladies in the next few posts.
Kelsey In The Hay
May 24th, 2016
There’s something about those large round bales of hay that just cries for a photograph to be made. But it’s harder than it seems to get something that works from them. Fortunately there was a nice collection of round bales at my friend’s farm. So, Kelsey and I took advantage of them.
Something New With Liv
May 19th, 2016
As you know, I’ve been working on catching up with older shoots in my posts here. But yesterday I did a shoot with the lovely model Liv Sage at one of my favorite places, Blackhand Gorge. I haven’t really even looked at the whole shoot yet, but this one photo did stand out when we were doing it. I couldn’t resist jumping the line and posting it. Thanks Liv.
More of Kelsey Down On The Farm
May 16th, 2016
Pat’s farm is lovely. Kelsey Dylan is also lovely. So a couple hours of wandering around the farm with Kelsey couldn’t help but produce a few lovely photographs. Here are a few more from the time we spent waiting for the moon to arrive.
Kelsey Around the Farm
May 13th, 2016
Before the moonrise Kelsey Dylan and I wandered around the farm for a while and did some random photos. This is a lovely old farm with lots of interesting stuff. See for yourself.
As you can see in this next photo, it was nice and sunny…but that didn’t mean the moon was visible when it rose.
And, what kind of farm would it be if it didn’t have a resident dog? This reminded me of a series of photos I did back in the 1970s, all called “Straw Hat.” I would shoot one every year and enter it in the fashion category of the Ohio News Photographers Association annual photo competition. I won first place a few times and always placed in the top 3 every time I did that. Guess they liked straw hats.
Moonrise Over Pat’s Farm
May 10th, 2016
I like to take photos of the rising full moon. I’m always looking for a good location where I can get a good distance from a subject…a tree, a building or, especially, a model. I noticed that my friend Pat’s farm might be a good candidate for a moonrise photo. Using The Photographer’s Ephemeris I was able to determine where the moon would rise and where I should stand to get a photo.
Pat said, as usual, that I was welcome to come to the farm and do photos. So I asked the wonderful model, Kelsey Dylan, to go the farm with me to try from some moon shots.
Of course, if you want to photograph the real moon rising over a real scene, there are going to be problems. I’ve had people suggest that I just photoshop a moon into the photos. That isn’t the same thing. I enjoy the challenge of doing it the old-fashioned way. Sure, you can fake it if you want, but is the result really a photograph?
On this occasion, as usual, the moon was being uncooperative. The moon can be shy. We were watching for the moonrise and knew that the time had come, but there was no moon. And it was a clear evening, so the clouds that often cause trouble were not a factor. After a while we finally spotted the moon well above the horizon. There was enough haze and enough light from the setting sun that the moon had been obscured for the first minutes of its rising. That meant that the photos I wanted, with a long telephoto lens, were not going to be possible. The moon was too far from the subjects I intended to include to get the full telephoto effect.
But I was still able to get a few photos, as you can see. Kelsey did her usual fine job. So this part of the shoot was not a total success, but not a total loss either. That’s how it is when you photograph nature. You take what you get and do the best you can with it.
But, since we made the trip to the farm and had to wait around for the moon to arrive, we spent the afternoon doing some other photos around Pat’s lovely farm. I’ll be posting those photos next.
For those who care, these photos were done with a Nikon D7000 with an 80-200 f/2.8 and with a Panasonic G5 with a 100-300.
Art In Architecture
May 4th, 2016
This photograph was selected for inclusion in the show, “Art in Architecture” at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. I took this photo from our hotel balcony during a trip to Hawaii. The show opens on May 26 and runs until June 19. It looks to be an interesting show. Check it out in person if you are in the Burlington, Vermont, area, or you can see the show on line at the link above.
