Spring Is On The Way

     A weekend warmup is on the way here in Minnesota. The neighborhood is alive again with people and their dogs out for walks, motorcycles rumbling and kids playing in the park.  Just as we emerge from winter ourselves, nature has been emerging quickly from a winter stasis.

     During the winter cold and being stuck inside I took the opportunity to photograph a beautiful set of tulips in the house I got from Trader Joes. I played around with the lighting to capture the beautiful colors of these tulips  by using my Westcott Apollo collapsible softbox with a remote triggered Canon 580EX II inside to create an illuminated background. This setup allowed the background to become near blown out and the flowers to become somewhat translucent to show details of the flowers.

Tulips with softbox background. Copyright 2017 www.starinphotography.com

Tulips in window light. Copyright 2017 www.starinphotography.com

Shooting With Film

     Over a month ago my great friend Mike asked if I would want his 35mm Nikon SLR. I was excited he was willing to give me his Nikon N50 with two lenses and some film. I promised to use it and was excited at how much fun it is to use. Not only is the camera body light and responsive the lenses are great. One is a Nikon 35-80mm and the other is the Nikon 80-240mm, both really good lenses that are easy to carry around.

    There is something about taking a photograph and not being able to "chimp" and check out the photographs right after to see how it turned out or decided to try something different and shoot again. Shooting with film will train you to make each photograph count. This can force you better execute your photograph by taking the time to think everything through that you are doing before you press that shutter button.

    I grew up shooting film and the only camera I ever had where I could instantly see the results of my work was by using a Polaroid camera. Sure I could see each picture after I took it, but Polaroid film packs are not cheap. I still had to be careful with each picture I took, otherwise I'd be begging my parents for more film.

    So if you get the urge to shoot an older camera I encourage you to do so now. I am not sure how much longer we will be able to ever take film to the store to get developed, or how many mail in photo labs will be around in the next 10 years to develop your film. But use this time to get out and shoot your film cameras and take your time to think about each photo before you take it. Make it count. I guarantee it will help cut down on the bad photos you later take with a digital camera, and you will come home after being out photographing with some extra space on a memory card.

    Then when you get your film developed you will actually purchase some prints, even if they are 4x6. How many of you take thousands of digital photos and have a fraction of what you shoot not printed because you can just look at the photos on your computer?

    Here are just some examples of some of the film I had developed recently testing the camera's capabilities out. I had them developed and scanned to a CD at the store.

Car windshield after rainfall.  Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 80-240mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

                              Aspen.  Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm  Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

Picasso exploring the yard. Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

Spring flowers. Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

Thank you Mike, I can't thank you enough. You are one amazing friend!