March 16, 2010

  • Blast From The Past

    Check out this self portrait I did in college. Pretty funny. One of my classmates assisted with the colored flashlights. I still own the wristwatch.

    As long as we're walking down memory lane, feast your eyes on this photo I created with my trusty Honeywell (Asahi) Pentax Spotmatic of the Verazzano Bridge. I was in 9th grade at the time, and attending Cunningham Junior High School in Brooklyn (JHS 234). My photography teacher, Mr. Smolowitz suggested I enter the photo in a city wide photography contest open to Junior High and High School students. I wound up winning first place with this photo, second place with another photo, received a medal (which I still have), and got to attend an awards dinner with my father. During this dinner, my photo teacher told my father I should pursue a career in photography, which I did. It was pretty cool besting students four years older than myself.

    The technique producing the groovy effect is called solarization. Negatives or prints may be solarized. To achieve the effect I briefly turned on the lights while the print was in the developer. This was a trial and error process, wasted quite a bit of photographic paper, and on one fateful day almost led to an electrical fire . Today this result can be accomplished much easier in Photoshop. In fact, it's too easy. My modern day recreation above is similar to the original, but more contrasty.

    Here's a shot I took of my Dad during college. It's 35mm black and white infrared, scanned (Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED), and with a little solarizing and contrast adjustments thrown in for good measure. Photographer Richard Avedon was always very appreciative of a giving subject with a keen sense of self-awareness. I believe this photo is illustrative of such a subject. Admittedly, I'm a little biased.