Moscow, at the Metro

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Here is Moscow, from my recent trip to Russia. This had been taken deep underground somewhere in the Metrorail's shady tunnels. I think this is close to Chkalovskaya station.

Polaroid 110B on Ocean drive

I took my beloved »'63 Polaroid 110B« for a walk at South beach this weekend.

Yes they are beautiful

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Olympus Stylus Epic DLX, Tri-X shot at E.I.1600 and developed in Diafine.

That's him

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Olympus Stylus Epic DLX, Tri-X shot at E.I.800 and developed in Diafine.

Belser's archive

Here is another dig into old vernacular photography: I started developing the unusually large (about 40 rolls) archive of film found on eBay few month back. The archive starts in late 40s, about 15 rolls are from 50s, and the rest is from 60s and few are from early 70s. The last 35mm Ektachrome 400 roll looks relatively modern. Many of the rolls are in the original boxes/wrapping paper; nevertheless,  all but 2 are exposed and none had been developed.

There is a letter; I received it with the archive. The letter is addressed to Mike Belser. It is a touching birthday writing from his dad Jack. Jack is sending new boots to his son and he is worried about the size, asking Mike to send it back for the exchange if the size is wrong. He is also mentioning the names: Patty and Brian. These two could be Mike's wife and son. The letter has a date: 12-17-57. It was in an envelope, addressed from J.Belser, Oklahoma City (General Delivery, Main P.O.) to Newkirk, OK, also General Delivery. The letter clearly was sent, received and opened by Mike. Also one of the rolls I developed today has a hand-written note with a date and Mike's name. So I assume at least part of the archive at one point was Mike Belser's.

Here are my findings so far...

Stairs to the sky

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Olympus Stylus Epic DLX, Tri-X shot at E.I.800 and developed in Diafine.

From Light to Shadow...

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Downtown Miami yesterday, taken with venerable Sony F717

Government Center bus station

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I'd been caught in this "Mexican standoff" yesterday near the Government Center station.
On a different note, I'm still trying to adjust to Plus-X pushed in Diafine to E.I. 400. This one frame came out ok, but many are too flat. Probably Tri-X is a better choice.

Old tower (Yelabuga, Russia)

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Yelabuga is a small town, the place where I had been born and where my parents live. It is beautiful three-hundred-plus years old Russian town; before Russian there was the Volga Bulgarian border fortification (since 11th century). This tower had been restored in 19th century by local businessman and mayor, Ivan Shishkin (father of famous Russian painter Ivan Shishkin.) I found this point of view so the tower looks remote and solitary, as it was when I was a child. It has some restaurants-shops build in vicinity and they are not visible from this point. The picture had been taken few weeks ago, it was nice and cool there (especially when compared to Miami), frost on the grass in the morining, the air was clean (the place has a lot of industrial cities around, so unfortunately the air is not always smells good). I was lucky to catch this day in the fields.

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Two images from the last Washington trip. I like the street life there very much. In my opinion it is better for street photography compared to Miami, which is either deserted or (in case of Miami Beach) is swarming with (bo-oring) tourists.

Now and Then

I am back from my Russian vacation. As planned, spent most of my time with my parents in Yelabuga. Here are 2 photographs, on is 2010, the other 1974. The town has not changed much -- it is cleaner and prettier but the area where my parents live (known as "Yersovka") still the same and I glad to find it this way. I am going slowly through hundreds of images I brought back with me, both new and old. Will post some of them as soon as I have time. All in all, glad to be back :)

Russian trip

This is about the last photograph I took when leaving Russia in 2002. Now I am flying back for the first time since then, to see my parents -- they are very old -- and my other relatives and friends. I am planning to be in Moscow (couple of days), in Kazan (may be a week or so) and in Yelabuga (at least 2 weeks). I am very exited; do not know if I'll be taking pictures there but I am bringing my gear and film just in case. So hopefully I will resume this blog in 3 weeks with the Russian theme.

At the Smithsonian

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This had been photographed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. I was not sure I caught the boy's figure right until I inspected the negatives; he was moving fast and did run away in a split second after the click.

Windy morning at South Beach

Just came across this set when scanning the D.C. rolls. It had been shot in the beginning of the month at Lummis park in South Beach.

Wasington D.C.

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The photo is from the previous visit to Washington, D.C. in July 2009. We were there to submit the papers for out Russian passports. This weekend I went to Washington D.C. again to collect my passport at the Embassy. Yes it is this sloow. It is truly the Russian way of doing official business. But I finally have it and will (hopefully) leave for Russia in 10 days to see my relatives and friends -- first time in 8 years.

Shoot some Tri-X rolls in the streets, it was fun and the weather was good and sunny.

Word on food: for the sushi I recommend a small sushi bar in the Union station (#124 located at the first level). Not the best sushi I tried in my life and they have no hot tea, but the sushi are fresh and tasty and very cheap:
KABUKI SUSHI (202) 789-1159
50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002

On the bridge to Brickell Key

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Taken on the bridge to Brickell Key with Nikon S rangefinder camera born free in occupied Japan around '52 and fitted with beautiful 50mm F1.4 Nikkor lens.

Love one another...

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This inscription was on the wall by the bus stop on 1st street in Downtown Miami in 2008. The woman is always there, even today. If you stay in front of her long enough she'll open her eyes and ask for a dollar...

Store windows

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Two of the same kind photographed in the South Beach's streets this weekend. In the morning, the place is almost a desert. The beaches are alive, but the streets are deserted.

This Sunday at Lincoln road in Miami Beach

The subject says it all. The water was good, with high waves.

Pinhole self-portrait

This image was created using Merlin pinhole camera made of quart-size metal can. The photo is paper negative on Ilford photo paper scanned and inverted digitally.

Film found in Vilia Auto camera: The last days of the Soviet Union

This is not my camera/film. It was published »here by the Live Journal user »zuborobo
He found this film sitting exposed for almost 20 years inside P&S camera Vilia-Auto.
Year 1991, the last days of the Soviet Union, simple people, hard life -- vodka, crumpled spaces of the soviet era flat, heavy everyday drinking so common for the people of Russia then and today (today even more as I heard).
All too familiar.
BTW we had the same model gas water heater as the one in the picture above.
Author had the funny story invented to accompany the pictures with names etc which I have no intention to translate: the pictures tell so much more.

The Corvette

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Here is 63'Chevy Corvette; taken on East Flagler Street in Downtown Miami with very small and old Agfa 6x6 folder.

At the library

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The picture had been taken at the Miami-Dade Public library in Downtown Miami. I used Minolta XE-7 camera with 28mm f:2.8 Rokkor manual focus lens, the film was Ilford HP5 Plus. This is sister-camera to Leica R3; it has very quiet shutter/mirror flipping mechanism (quiet for the SLR); so nobody reacted to the sound; not the old men, nor the bird:)

Club "Madonna"

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This Saturday at Miami Beach. Sorry, the prints are not available for these, not yet. Only one on top can be ordered. Pentax PZ-1P with Tokina 20-35mm and Ilford HP5 pushed in Diafine to E.I.800

Road to Beauty

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2 variations on the same theme: I normally pay little attention to the words on signs and street ads. Yes one can read them and it could influence the visual perception but it is my believe that picture need not to be supported by words. But, I couldn't let these two go without photographing them. Manual Minolta X-570 with long 200mm/F:4 lens.

Walking Downtown

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Year 2005; the view of the Government Center and Public Library buildings in Downtown Miami, taken with Minolta XE-7 manual focus camera fitted with 28mm lens with deep red filter on to enhance the contrast. The film is Ilford XP2 Super 400 which I did not use much since then (did not like the grain of chromogenic film; developed all the XP2 I had been left with as black and white).

Parting. The last frame.

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As it sometimes happens with the film, the last, partially infected with light piece of film is actually holding the best picture on the roll.
This Sunday, mother and son at a bus stop in South Miami.

Morning Commute

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The boy is riding Miami Metrorail few years back, I think this is 2005...taken with old non-autofocus Minolta XE7 camera fitted with Rokkor 28mm F:2.8 lens.

Morning breeze

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This is North Miami Beach a few weeks back. The Saturday's morning was nice and windy...taken with old non-autofocus Minolta X-570 camera fitted with beautiful Rokkor 50mm F:1.4 lens.

A man with coke

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Taken at NW 34th street in North Miami Beach in June 2009

Anatomy Lesson

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Taken at the anatomy lesson in Miami-Dade College, Kendall campus, in 2007

I died for you

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This picture was waiting for me to take on one of the hot September mornings in 2009, in the lobby of Government Center building. Luckily I had my Bessa L loaded with some Kodak Tri-X 400.

Palm Leaf

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Again, hot winds of Downtown. This summer, SE 1st Street.

Wind gust

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Another attempt to catch the wind on film. August 2006, by the Government Center in Downtown Miami.

Breeze

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This summer, on board of "Discovery Sun" cruse ship en route Ft. Lauderdale->Grand Bahama Island.

Afghanistan in 1969

I acquired these color slides back in 2007 and just now started scanning them. I have no information on the photographer or the previous owner of the images. Obviously this is a group of american tourists on a tour. The counties are many: Jordan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal etc. All the slides have original notes written in the blue ball pen; I put them under the pictures along with my comments. The quality of the images is amazing. Some of the images can be blown up to see very fine detail; the image above is actually a central part of a bigger image (see below). Ok, let's start with Afghanistan.

LOFT: Walking Downtown

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This picture is a pure piece of luck. I wanted to shoot it, walking behind this guy with my Sony F717, but had little hope for a success. Fortunately, the stars were graceful to me that hot muggy September day on SE 2nd Avenue in Downtown Miami.

Blame capitalism!

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I was walking down Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown Miami and saw these kids protesting. No doubt the capitalism is the one to blame:)

Sunset at Mallory square in Key West

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Two pictures from one night in 2006: small rangefinder camera Canon Canonet QL17, Ilford Delta 3200 film and sunset at Mallory square in Key West.

Found film photography: Moscow and Muscovites

Few years back I have started my "found film" project. It has started from the old folding "Life-O-Rama" camera with the roll of film forgotten inside by the previous owner. There were few pictures on the roll, dated probably late 90s, i.e. not very old, but I started looking for the old cameras with film inside. Now, after hundreds of cameras/developed rolls of film I still can't stop doing this.

The pictures from these rolls are often related to each other, they form stories, they can be explained, speculated on, dated, placed on the map etc.

The most intriguing part of course is who took them, who was the photographer, why they were not developed and all this story of camera with film sleeping for so long in some mystic fold of Times.

From now on, I will be publishing some of my findings here. Just look for the 'found film stories' tag. Here is the last one:

American suburb: sleeping as flying

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This is actually my wife having a little rest at the friend's house in Kendall. When I saw these wings I can't stop myself from firing my 6x6 rolleicord:)

The other wind

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I passed this bougainvillea hundreds of times before finally catching the beauty of it.

On the go

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These two shots were taken on the move with the small Olympus 35mm camera. I like this way of shooting. It is based partially on the prediction of the visual situation AKA intuition and partially it is just luck.
Of course you are waisting a lot of film, but that's expected. Some of the pictures I've gotten this way are priceless for me.

Street prophet, his wife and elephant seller

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This man is appearing year after year under the Metrorail tracks by Government Center. He is preaching aloud with his wife seated in front of him. He is always wearing this neck support collar. His preaching is not the best I heard, he is telling Lord's word more to himself than to the others, but this time he had his better day. When I was taking this picture, the elephant seller (his hand is in the left side of the frame) asked me: "Aren't you from CIA or FBI?" Good place. Not too many spots like this is the whole Miami.