Open Shutter

Technical Notes

These are not digital photos. I started doing photography in the Spring of 1999 or 2000 and began with a Holga. Sometime later I had a blind date with Jonathan Lethem's sister. We got into a huge argument about photography, but she suggested I buy a Pentax K1000. Not being able to find one, I purchased a Nikon FM10. Around this time I also received a Lomo for my
birthday. I took all three cameras on a trip to Black River Falls, Wisconsin and, although the Nikon was the best camera, the Lomo was the most fun to use. Subsequently, the Lomo became the only camera I carried and I used it until it fell apart. Around the Spring of 2001, the period in which the first images on this blog were taken, I began getting my negatives scanned. Before then, I would take my film to Modern Age on 6th Avenue for processing and a contact sheet. It cost something like $16 a roll to do this. Then Amazon started Ofoto and for $2.99 a roll I could get my stuff processed and scanned onto their site. It was cheap, easy and completely non-professional, but
then, I wasn't a professional. Ofoto would only process C-41 compatible film so, for the b&w, I began using Ilford XP2. Since they were using a scanning system calibrated for color, the b&w would sometimes get a tinting effect. When the Lomo disintegrated in the Fall of 2004, I bought a vintage Olympus XA4 which, in addition to having a flash, had the advantage of having a macro lens. After a year-and-a-half, the shutter release began to stick, so I bought an Olympus Stylus 100 Wide with a 28-100 zoom lens, built in flash and auto-focus. I still send my film to Ofoto [now Kodakgallery] for processing and scanning but, given the slowness of their service and the future obsolescence of film, I'll probably go digital and
get a Lumix or a Canon Powershot when the Olympus gives out.