What is old is new again... 4x5

4x5 single image HDR

Claire, 2010                                                              ©Michael Seamans

Thanks to ebay, digital photography and polaroid type 55 I found myself back using a 4x5 camera. Of course I remember running to the cage,  for a field camera or signing my life away to use a Sinar P2 in the studio at RIT. Which is where I went to school, a lifetime ago, or was it just yesterday, both really apply. I remember doing zone system test in summer photo boot camp with grey cards, white cards and spot meters all around. I remember doing lighting assignments trying to figure out all the ways to light a wine glass, or using flats to get that even Avedon lighting for portraits. But when you turned on the lights to see those beautiful 4x5 negatives in the metal holders it was all worth it. Then you graduate and realize you no longer have the world of equipment at your fingertips, for only the cost of tuition, and you go back to the trusted 35mm. Then comes Digital photography and all these wonderful 4x5's and Hasselblads end up on ebay at just the fraction of the cost. I bought a 500c, 80mm f/2.8, 120 back, and a prism finder for a grand total of $400.. Then I find an old speed graphic and polaroid back, and polaroid type 55. Which means I can make 4x5 negs without a dark room, and instantly see what I have. I am back in the 4x5 game.  Polaroid stops making film, no more type 55. I'm already hooked, so now its onto a light tight tank, tri-x and the Epson v700 scanner. And if you wonder why, check out these old 4x5 mug shots from the 20's:              

http://www.laboiteverte.fr/portraits-de-criminels-australien

s-dans-les-annees-1920/ 

What is old is new to me again.... 4x5

www.michaelseamans.com

Boston, North End vinettes...

"Omnis civitas corpus est.

Every City is a living body."

St. Augustine(345-430)

(click on photos to enlarge)

"All that a city will ever allow you is an angle on it-

an oblique, indirect sample of what it contains, or what

passes through it; a point of view."

Peter Conrad  

www.michaelseamans.com

Blast from the Red Sox Past....in 6x17

“There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.”

Casey Stengel (1891-1975)

(click on photos to enlarge)

Boston Red Sox Home opener 4/6/01                                             ©Michael Seamans

The Egyptian Revolution is over, and thoughts return to spring training around Red Sox Nation, or did those thoughts ever leave? I would call these photos, misadventures with a Fuji 6x17. These photos have never before been seen, since I have never owned a scanner that could scan this format, until now, and because I was actually rained out. Opening day 2001, grand plans to make some interesting photos on my "day off", with a camera that I had never used before. My grand plans were foiled by April showers. I had planned to bring the 6x17 and a Holga, move around the stadium making panoramic and plastic camera photos. Of course I didn't have a roaming pass and couldn't use a tripod around the stadium. So as game time approached the rain showers began, no rain gear for the 6x17, the holga has a fixed exposure and the light dropped so much I couldn't hand hold the 6x17. So these are the few 6x17 that I managed to pull off. It is still a cool camera and I plan to revisit it now that I can scan the negs... 

~Michael

www.michaelseamans.com

Revolution...for Egypt..

"Es Mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas.

It is better to die on your feet than to live

on your knees."

~Dolores Ibarruri (1895-1981)

Paul Revere, Old North Church  ©Michael Seamans

"He who would reform himself must first

reform society"

~George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

"The Revolution was effected before the War

commenced. The Revolution was in the minds

and hearts of the people; a change in their

religious sentiments of their duties and 

obligations.... This radical change in the 

principles, opinions, sentiments, and 

affections of the people, was the real

American Revolution..."

~John Adams (1735-1826)

"I had such a wonderful feeling last night,

walking beneath the dark sky while cannon

boomed on my right and guns on my left... the

feeling that I could change the world only by

being there."

~Viorica Butnariu, student during the Romanian revolution

1989

www.michaelseamans.com

There is something to be said for "social media"...

There is something to be said for "social media" you never know what you will find. I recently noticed one of my facebook friends posting a lot about roller derby, which peeked my interest. I sent her a message to find out what is this roller derby thing all about? I have been aware of roller derby, but never really any more than that. She told me that there is the beginnings of a new team right down the road, and to come on down and check it out. So that is how this begins... This is the very beginning of a new project, just wanted to put out a teaser... Keep an eye out for where it ends up..

~Michael

www.michaelseamans.com

http://granitestaterollerderby.com

The Press...

"The press is no substitute for institutions. It is like the beam of a searchlight that moves restlessly about bringing one episode and then another out of darkness into vision. Men cannot do the work of the world by this light alone. They cannot govern society by episodes, incidents and eruptions. It is only when they work by the steady light of their own, that the press, when it is turned upon them reveals a situation intelligible enough for popular decision."

~Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) U. S. Journalist

2010 Tea Party Protest, Boston, MA                                             ©Michael Seamans

Boston Tea Party Photos...

www.michaelseamans.com