One of the rolls I shot in the Lubitel last week was my favorite film: Kodak Professional T400CN. Black and white film which is processed in C-41(color process). It is an old roll that expired in 08/2002. You can get this film for a good price on ebay. warmly Recommended!
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I believe I already complained and whined here about my Lubitel before.
It is a camera that is made of plastic and is often labeled a “toy camera”, but I’m always a bit disappointed with the end results as it actually takes sharp and “normal-looking” pictures.
What a rip off! (Ok so I only paid $8 for this camera but still…)
But finally, last week I took this camera for a round of evening shots in Santa Monica, and what do you know? I actually got a few cool dark and soft photos that would have made any toy camera proud. At last I got my money’s worth out of this camera!
p.s. by the way, I forgot to focus.
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Layering a negative of an image over its positive often produces some interesting colors and adds a new dimension to any photo.
Luckily (for you) this technique is quite easy to do:
1) You can scan a negative version of your image or even create the negative in your photo editor.
2) Place the negative in a new layer above the original image.
3) Now play around with the transparency settings until you like the appearance of the final image.
A black and white photo will generate a cast of silver-like tone. Color images will tend to produce bluish-greenish quality. And a cross-processed image (such as the one here) will tend to appear quite a lovely green.
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And just in case you thought it can’t get any worse, here is a weekend bonus for you:
(it is from my book No rules. street photography.)
An interview with Nitsa by Nitsa
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nitsa: Ok, enough about open minds, inner drives and dreams. puhleeeease! Let’s get serious now. What kind of a camera do you use?
Nitsa: Ha ha, this is always the first question I’m asked.
Nitsa: What’s wrong with this question?
Nitsa: Nothing, except it really doesn’t matter what camera I use. It’s never about the camera anyway.
Nitsa: None the less, the readers would really love to know.
Nitsa: I have a few cameras; Polaroid, Nikon N-75, Holga (medium format plastic toy camera), Kodak Reflex TLR (1940′s), my beloved Kodak Brownie (1952) and a few others classic cameras.
Nitsa: Now, what’s with all this non-photography stuff? You don’t actually expect people to give up their camera gear, do you?
Nitsa: certainly not. But they could. In street photography all you need is a camera.
Nitsa: yeah, whatever. And what about all this drivel about the rules? Everybody knows that a good photographer masters the rules and then breaks them.
Nitsa: is that so? So why even bother learning them?
Nitsa: Excuse moi; I thought I’m asking the questions here. So you don’t think photographers should learn the principles for good photography?
Nitsa: It’s wasted time which could be used for something more creative… like taking pictures!
Nitsa: I see, finally you’re making a little sense. Ok then, next question, what techniques do you use in non-p?
Nitsa: anything that comes to mind; I especially like to experiment with new ideas; things that go beyond the step of pressing the shutter button.
Nitsa: . . .
Nitsa: I will share many of these ideas and experiments in my next book which is titled “I’m not an artist”
Nitsa: why am I not surprised…. O.K. one last question: do you really think non-p is for everybody?
Nitsa: it is!
Nitsa: … But don’t they need to have a special skill?
Nitsa: yes, a mind of their own.
Nitsa: ahhhh! This is probably the worst interview I’ve ever done! This whole non-photography thing is just ridiculous and obnoxious! Besides, I don’t even think there are really any rules in photography and you are just blowing it all up so you have something to write about!
I’m outta here!
(I hope next time I get to interview someone more interesting… like Paris Hilton… )
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Here is the second inkjet/printer image transfer I made. It is done exactly the same way the previous image transfer was done except this time I didn’t print the image on a standard contact sheet.
Instead I printed it on a clear sheet protector that has pockets; I believed they are used to hold baseball cards or something like that.
Anyway, this is just another approach to image transfer.
So what did we learn today? We learned that the great thing about image transfer is that it allows countless ways of doing it.
Go ahead, give it a try; I’m sure you’ll make me so proud 
One way. New York City 2004. Black and white image transfer.
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This morning I was longing to make some good ol’ fashion image transfer, and though image transfer is not a huge production, still, I had no time to spare.
However, one little disorder I suffer from is that once I have an idea in my head I can’t get rid of it no matter how hard I try.
And then it hit me: inkjet transfer! duh!
Inkjet or printer transfer is a method I came up with a couple of years ago and as far as I know, I don’t believe anybody else is performing inkjet transfer quite the same way, which is OK, no, actually its great.
Inkjet transfer, like I mentioned before, is a really fast and a no-brainer method (no wonder this brain came up with it).
I think in a way my technique of printer transfer is so simple that it completely confuses some people; I always get lengthy emails asking me puzzling questions about this process. It definitely takes longer to write these emails than making the actual transfer
OK, so this is how it’s done:
1) Print a mirror image of your chosen image onto any kind of plastic sheet; I usually use a standard sheet protector.
2) Once the printing is done, and since this kind of a medium will not absorb the ink, the ink will remain wet. All you need to do now is transfer the image onto any type of photographic paper by pressing the print face down into your paper of choice.
So I made two transfers this morning: the one here (taken in NYC in 2000) and a second one which I made the same way but with a twist. I’ll share it with you next time. So stay tuned and don’t touch that mouse!
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You know how everybody can appreciate a good and to the point summary?
It’s true, nobody really likes it when you go on and on in order to make your point (I wonder if Buzz Aldrin knows he has a tendency to do just that).
So if I had to sum up non.photography (no rules photography) in one sentence it would have to be: “It doesn’t matter how good you are but how far you take it.”
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One beautiful, sunny morning I woke up with a crazy thought; it might be an interesting challenge coloring outside the city lines.
The problem is that color always drives me to a great frustration; I can never get the hang of it.
Maybe it has to do with the old days when I printed color photos in the lab at school.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care about correct, proper or even real-life colors, it is a scientific drivel anyway, and I don’t claim to be color blind either. But poor me, I just never know what I really want (obviously this is not the only area in my life where frustration is present..) and what did I visualize?
So it seems I often have the impulse to go bold with colors, maybe to a point when it is absurd. Poor me. clearly I need help.
color photography in New York
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I know you’re all thinking I take incredibly wonderful photos and you are wondering how I do it, what’s my secret, etc. I can’t really blame you for thinking that (and if you were not thinking that; what’s wrong with you?) But now its time I come clean and tell you the truth; I know you will be shocked to read it but actually not all my pictures are that great…
in fact some of them really suck.
So just to make you feel better about your photography I collected some of my bad street photos and missed opportunities, and I put together this flickr slide show just for you. Enjoy. And then go take a few great photos. Just make sure they don’t look like any of these:
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Last week I was reminded again (I’ll explain another time) that some people just forgot how to have fun with photography.
They are very serious about the camera they must use, and often they are concerned with different technical issues they’ve heard so much about. It varies from the type of film they need, to how much post processing is acceptable, to how photography SHOULD BE DONE. Occasionally it seems to me that their focus is on making their viewers happy…. (This is always a major mistake!)
Now, that’s not to say that it is wrong to take yourself seriously, but just make sure you don’t forget along the way why you went into photography in the first place (hint: fun).
My immediate cure to such an illness is to prescribe one session of Polaroid photography.
Why? Because Polaroid can instantly(!) free you from the rules of the conventional, humorless, and tired world of photography.
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