Sunday, December 31, 2006

Happy new year!

things that make me think of new years eve:

candles
nutcracker like dolls
russian churches

Friday, December 29, 2006

Things that calm me down

My "Hemingway" tree. It is of african origins.
praktica mtl2+50/1.8pentacon auto.cheap color 100 or 200,horrible minilab scan
Sky from Demian Fitzig's appartment
canonet 17 QL GIII - fuji press 800 I think


Prague Vista from one of the churches.I don't remember which(st. Nicolas?st. Vitus?).

Nikon fm2n,sigma 28/1.8,fuji x-tra 400



Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Myths,and the Miracle of Life

These are old(1.5-2 years?).They were taken with a pentax k1000+50/2A smc in Lachish - southern Israel.The film was konica vx 200 or kodak gold 200. This wild plum tree is at least a hundred years old, and was rumored by the bedouins to be haunted by devils(to keep children coming back fast from the nearby well with the water). I think it is magical. The myth made the haunting real.So,yes Virginia,there is a Santa Claus.



The border is an unpleasant side effect of a bad scan.I decided to keep them.


I watched Life is a Miracle - great movie - good music,nice composition and acting,great use of animals - I recommend it highly!

I discovered that some of my films(including the Prague unscanned slides and scanned BW) are nowhere to be found. To make a long tory short - the guy that I used had a heart surgery so he closed shop - he transferred all his bussiness to another shop - and the owner of this one can't find them.Bummer.

Monday, December 25, 2006

On Lomography and Camera-phones

I hate lomography.I think selling a holga for anything more then 10$ is a sin you go to hell for(I've seen unmodified holgas for 80-90 Euro in Barcelona museum shops a year ago). Zenits for over 100$ are as unnatural as not serving alcohol in strip bars(and some other things you see around there).

Saying all that I think it has many positive sides: It promotes film photography, It promotes Krasnogorsk making Horizonts and a couple of other things and it keeps polaroid in the picture.

Enter the camera phone. My Sony Ericsson 750(I think) has an autofocus 2 Megapixel camera(whatever that means) and it lets me shoot polaroid\holga like images and I take it everywhere I go(while a camera is with me 80% of the time and is usually loaded with BW film in the 100-400 range).


Here's an example:

Lola the Cat

Not enlargable but is soft,with corner focus loss and dreamy(as well as fuzzy and cute).

P.S.
I watched "stanger than fiction" and liked it.

MERRY CHRISTMASS EVERYONE!!!

Monday, December 18, 2006

El Commendante


Aprendimos a quererte
desde la histórica altura
donde el sol de tu bravura
le puso un cerco a la muerte.
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.

Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte
sobre la historia dispara
cuando todo Santa Clara
se despierta para verte.

Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.

Vienes quemando la brisa
con soles de primavera
para plantar la bandera
con la luz de tu sonrisa.

Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.

Tu amor revolucionario
te conduce a nueva empresa
donde esperan la firmeza
de tu brazo libertario.

Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.

Seguiremos adelante
como junto a ti seguimos
y con Fidel te decimos:
hasta siempre Comandante.

Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.

(Carlos Puebla, 1965)
canonet 17 GL QIII,fuji (press?)800 - wide open and slow shutter speed - a year ago or so
A flyer stuck in the bushes near the university(BGU) in Beer Sheva, Israel - hardly political - more likely to promote a night club.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Match Point,Slow Wait,Developments,old still lives

Yesterday I watched Match Point. It wasn't a bad movie but I miss the old Woodie Allen,Annie Hall,Disconstructing Harry and Mighty Aphrodite.

I developed some (BW) films.I might scan some 6x6(Petra) negs soon(ish).
The yashica lynx 14e has impressive looking negatives.
I need a couple of new Paterson reels(A couple of mine needs to be thrown away or cleaned or something).

Spoke to Avi today,he said he will try finish scanning my Petra color films.

and now some old still lives(all shot with SLR's with normal lenses):

Nostalgic 1


Bad Liver


Nostalgic 2


Calligraphy 1


Caligraphy 2

Monday, December 11, 2006

what i've been reading watching and doing.

I finished to kill a mockingbird(I wish I have read it at 13-14 - great book) and Tender is the night(nice).Now reading threepenny novel(the "opera"'s adaptation by Brecht).

Watched Henry and June(great visually but much,much worse then the book),Nacho Libre(I want to have Jack Black's baby - he is HILARIOUS),thank you for smoking(so so) and Battle Royal(modern Japanese filmmakers don't know how to pick a soundtrack for the life of them).

Anna's computer died so I was computerless,I made one frankenstein out of the two we had and got one working.Now I need to buy two computers.Grrrrrr.

My friend from work, Avi, started scanning my color Petra films.

I am going to Folsom,

(I hear the train a comin´
it´s rolling round the bend
and I ain´t seen the sunshine since I don´t know when,
I´m stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin´ on
but that train keeps a rollin´ on down to San Anton..)

California mid february on work bussiness.


Shooting B&W and storing it in the fridge - no mood for developing\printing.

Yoni Rabkin potentially found a 50 lens for my enlarger,if it works ok and gets to me,all I need is an easel and I am of printing my BW archive.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

old stuff - geometry

Having no computer and no scanner sucks.Here's some old stuff.

Parallel


90 degrees at 30 degrees


Hexagon


Parabola


Cross