RIP Nikon 3100

My little Nikon 3100 finally broke for good. Here’s the last shot I took with it:

 

I took this camera with me everywhere, dug sand out of the lens extender with a pen knife on a beach in Mexico, took shots in Detroit neighborhoods where you were a sitting duck if you stood still for over a minute, kids birthday parties and countless other scenarios. The lens only stayed sharp when fully wide angle and now the on-off switch is shot. I’ve had this camera for about eight years and it took a lot of abuse, being my primary street photography camera. I’m really going to miss it, and I’m not sure what to replace it with. Thinking about a Leica C or a Canon S120.

Here are some links to some of the 3100 shots:

http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/around-detroit/

http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/around-detroit-2/

http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/freeway-abstractions/

 

Graphic Novel First Steps

I started some preliminary work on a graphic novel tonight. I plan on making it little different than the normal graphic novel fare where the backgrounds will be photographs with the characters layered on top. I’m not sure how well this is going to work, but I’ll document the steps here. I’ve been wandering around Detroit taking background shots and started character sketches tonight. Here’s the first one:

The drawing is a candidate male character. Above are a couple of street shots in Detroit. Next to the drawing is a Royal Langnickel pencils set that I came to appreciate in about two minutes. If you want to do any reasonably serious pencil sketches, this is the set to get. I got it for $28.75 on Amazon.

My next post will be the first attempt at scanning a character drawing and layering it into a photograph, probably using Pixelmator.

 

Tough Weather!

It’s been really nasty here in Michigan the last few days. We’ve been hit with tons of snow followed by a dangerous cold snap that’s been characterized as an “Arctic vortex“. If there’s an upside, it looks kind of cool. Here’s s shot taken this morning out a window:

Here’s a couple taken in the back yard.

If you’re engulfed by the Arctic vortex, stay warm!

 

 

 

Winter is Coming to Detroit

Winter is coming to Detroit. I plan on producing another photo essay book entitled Broken City, Big Hearts. It will be about organizations in Detroit that help people survive, especially during the winter.
The entire essay will be shot in grainy black and white. I took these test location shots today.

 

I’ve begun shooting this month during late fall…

 

…and plan on shooting and developing the narrative throughout the winter.

Heavy shooting will take place during December, January and February where the chances for surviving in the city hits bottom.

 

 

 

Campus Martius Images

I was shooting in downtown Detroit on Friday afternoon in infrared and took this shot of Campus Martius. If you look closely it looks like there are two ghostly figures hovering in the shot. Infrared photography records light that is not visible to the human eye…

Main Art Theatre

We went to the Main Art Theatre today in Royal Oak, Michigan to see Hyde Park on the Hudson with Bill Murray and Laura Linney. It’s about FDR’s affairs with women on the side mixed with a visit from King George and Queen Elizabeth looking for support for England on the eve of World War II. It’s pretty good and here’s a link to the trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477855/

It’s interesting to compare Samuel West’s performance of King George (Bertie) to Colin Firth’s in The King’s Speech.

I’ve always liked the Main’s old school marquee so I decided to go back and shoot it this evening. Here it is:

The Main Art Theater one of the last few art theaters around and we certainly value and support it.

 

Time of Year for Bokeh

This is a good time of year to practice Bokeh photography. What is Bokeh? Roughly translated, it’s a Japanese word that means blur. In photography, it’s a picture with an object in focus in the foreground with the background blurred. The cheesiest way to produce a reasonable representation of a Bokeh photo is to shoot an object in front of small lights. Since there are two Christmas trees in the house, I decided to try it out. This is an artificial flower with a Christmas tree in the background:

 What you want to do is keep your camera in aperture priority mode, use the lowest F-stop you can get, and shine a light on the foreground object. I have a little pocket LED flashlight that I use. Also use manual focus. The lights in the background should come out bubbly and diffused.

Here’s another:

The longer focal length lens you have (such as a good zoom) the fuzzier the background lights will be. This becomes problematic when shooting at close distances, like in our family room where I took these pictures. Bokeh is a cool trick to have in your bag, but like anything else, can become tiresome if overused. With so many Christmas lights and trees around, now’s the best time of year to practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kimball Barber Shop

I got a haircut at Kimball Barber Shop this morning and asked Bert (the owner) if I could come back and take some photos, similar to the ones from the Krausmann’s service station. He said sure. Kimball, in the little strip mall on the corner of 13 Mile and Crooks Road in Royal Oak, Michigan is owned and operated by Bert and Shirley and has been in business as long as I can remember. People stop by to just say hello and shoot the breeze with them. It’s almost like a small social club. It’s as homey, friendly and comfortable as it gets and the walls are lined with everything from antique tools to fishing lures:

Here’s the front wall:

As you can see, it holds just about everything under the sun. Here’s a tighter shot of the chairs. Notice the wall hangings reflected in the mirrors:

Every year Bert sets up a little winter town for the holiday season. I think he told me he starts working on it around the end of October. You can see Bert in the mirror on the left:

Here’s a closer shot of the little winter town:

Old School entrepreneurs Bert and Shirley have built Kimball Barber Shop as truly a labor of love – and it shows.

Greenfield Village

Here are a few photos taken at Greenfield Village  in Dearborn, Michigan last summer. It’s like taking a walk back through time.

This is the small farm that’s near the entrance…

Here’s another:

Here’s the old English cottage:

 

 

NIGHT TRAIN TO CHICAGO

It bugged me that I missed the train passing through the Royal Oak station earlier in the week when I was taking photos. We went back today at 6:00pm and waited for the night train to Chicago. The sun set at a little after 5:00pm so it was completely dark by the time the train arrived.

 

The train stopped for less than five minutes, so there wasn’t a lot of time to set up and get many shots.

The thought of riding the sleek train to Chicago on a cold starry night is appealing…