The Lovely Kathryn

August 25, 2012;

Making Movies - Franke & Heidecke Rolleicord V
Schneider-Xenar Kreznauch 75mm ƒ/3.5 Lens
Ilford HP5+ 400ASA 120 Roll Film
Developed in Kodak TMAX Developer 1+9

I was planning a photo-shoot on the 26th, a full out 35mm/120/4x5 shoot after getting together with my friend John. We had a few things to quickly go over, and he was testing out some new equipment, and wanted to make sure the equipment worked. Sure enough, no problem at all, everything was a go.

Needless to say, this hadn't occurred quite yet, as it was the night before. After planning the shoot on the 'morrow I decided to make sure that my gear was in proper working order. The camera, the strobes, and the triggers. Sure enough, it's a good thing that I tested out the equipment because I happened to find a fault. Sadly, that fault also carried over to the next day's shoot, but that's another story entirely.

Regardless I decided that instead of just having a few test shots with my wife, I asked for her friend, who enjoys doing some modelling, even if she's not a professional model, to strike up some poses for me. She is quite lovely to work with, very kind, and is really great in front of the camera.

One of the poses I asked her to make was with an old Kodak 8mm family home movie camera which still works quite nicely. I haven't tried it with film, but do intend on giving it a try at a later date.

Needless to say I put a few rolls of film through my Rolleicord, which I ultimately did not bring to the photoshoot after all, and also through my Exakta. As I am looking to see how my Exakta will perform during a photoshoot in a studio setting, this was a great test for the camera. Sure enough the camera is working very well, but it wasn't the camera that was giving me any headaches, but the remote trigger not taking the signal and firing the flash.

The main camera of choice for the shoot before the shoot was my Rolleicord V, which is coupled with a Schneider-Xenar 75mm ƒ/3.5 Kreznauch lens that is beautifully sharp wide open, and stopped down. Because of the leaf shutter it is fully synced up to 1/500s. One of the films I was using is a roll of Ilford HP5+ 400ASA film which I developed in Kodak TMAX Developer 1+9 for 15 minutes at 24°C.

Regardless, that will be rectified in the future as I will be purchasing a second strobe. This will allow me to use it without the need for a remote trigger, as the strobe can be triggered in "Slave" mode through a photocell.

A little bit of Photoshop work, nothing that can't easily be accomplished with a "soft" filter and some burning in the darkroom, plus some toner, and I have a wonderful image that I think I will pass along to my wonderful Model Kathryn.

Thank you for making it a lovely evening, and giving my cameras something great to work with!

All the best Ms. Kathryn, and here's to working with you in the future;

Until next time, keep those shutters firing!

Filter - Take A Picture .mp3

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