Posts tagged "minolta"

City Hall, Doubled

An accidental double exposure of City Hall, San Francisco.

Ugly / Beautiful

Last Friday, I had the unfortunate honor of experiencing (yet another) race-related incident in San Francisco. A mentally unwell person pointed a kitchen blow torch at me, with the flame out, and threatened to 'burn me' because I was an 'ugly Chinese ho'. I laughed it off, but I guess she was serious, and then she started pointing that thing at my dog and also calling her an ugly Chinese ho (???). Thankfully, I was able to leave as my bus arrived quickly.

I took the day off to decompress. This situation came hot on the heels of some conversations that my wife and I have been having: what is home? Where is it? What does it mean for us to build a home together? I decided to take a long walk through San Francisco. I needed to remember why I came here, and why this city is still, despite its many, many warts, a home I see us living in for the long haul.

I got coffee, met friends and family for dim sum, pet many dogs. I looked at the bay; I breathed in and out. While the city's beauty cannot make up for some of the ugliness that one experiences as a result of bigotry, I am reminded of how, on balance, I have had a largely good time here; I have experienced a lot of love and support, especially at moments like these; and I have the space to participate in activism to push back precisely on this sort of thing.

Delicious coffee at Home.

Playgrounds for the children in my neighborhood.

Vintage signs in Chinatown.

Saw many gorgeous dogs on a gorgeous day.

And many relevant signs.

At the end of the day, I come back to my maybe slightly nihilistic view that there are no good countries. My wife experiences everyday racism in Singapore, that felt like it was worsening towards the end of her decade there; that, plus the fact that my home country doesn't recognize our marriage, are among the many reasons we don't live there anymore. A country where we are both outsiders, where we have the ability to participate fully in the building of a society that we want to be a part of, feels, at this point, like where we want to be in spite of the other BS that it comes with.

All photos taken on Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, Kentmere 400, self dev in Rodinal 1:50 and scanned on Plustek 8200i

Saying Goodbye to Fuji Superia 400

Fuji Superia 400 has been my stock color film for a long time. I have 10 rolls left, and when that's gone it doesn't look like I'll be able to find it easily anymore. It was my favorite 'buy it at a drugstore' film, but now that I can't buy it easily, I don't think I will put in the effort to source it. For color, I will probably switch to Ektar and Kodak Vision 3 250D or 500T. Or some combination of all of that.

Until then, some photos celebrating Fuji Superia 400.

I like Fuji's colors with neon lights, especially reds. (Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, handheld)

A friend came to town and invited me to an epic dinner. (Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, handheld)

The next day, I had a delicious tasting menu at Ox + Tiger, a Filipino-Japanese restaurant in San Francisco. (Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, handheld)

View of the San Francisco skyline from Yerba Buena island. (Rollei QZ 35T)

The greens and blues of San Francisco bay. (Rollei QZ 35T)

Tenderloin Tessie

Almost 50 years ago, a drag queen named Tessie started feeding the homeless in the Tenderloin and so many decades later the tradition continues. I was grateful to be able to volunteer this past Easter at one of the Tenderloin Tessie events.

Every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, the organization puts out a massive event feeding hot food to anyone who needs it. Not everyone who came was homeless, all who wanted a hot meal were welcome. Many immigrant families also came and I think, the opportunity to feed your entire family good food and have fun entertainment is always welcome, regardless of your financial situation.

I was very impressed with the values that the organizers imparted to the volunteers. Treat everyone with respect, seat them at the table, provide table service, make sure that people have what they need and that they go home with things that will help.

The line started on the street, on Geary and Franklin.

There were also free haircuts to be had.

There was also free clothing, very neatly organized by gender and size.

The venue was wonderful and light-filled.

We also handed out gift bags with some essential items.

It's a wonderful initiative. I'm going to keep going back to volunteer when I can.

All photos taken on Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II with Fuji Superia 400, self developed with Cinestill C41 kit. Scanned with Plustek 8200i and Negative Lab Pro.

Protests and Parades

One of the interesting things about living near City Hall is I never know what I'm going to walk into. Some days it's a protest about the declining state of trans rights in this country. Or one by the Burmese or Iranian communities to try to raise awareness of the issues at home.

Other days it's an Irish festival that somehow has large representation from law enforcement. (For more information about the impact of the Irish in San Francisco law enforcement, read Season of the Witch.) I had my black and white film camera out, but I also had a roll of Kodak Vision 3 500T film in my rangefinder camera that I got processed and scanned much later.

I was interested in the parade and curious to know how it would proceed in the rain; though like many other observers, I kept a distance from it. I come from a country where protest isn't allowed (except in a very specific park with strict rules requiring pre-approval), so I am always going to be photographing and gawking at any protests, and parades (which also require pre-approval where I come from), I think, even if I might not agree with all of them.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to a rally for trans rights. It's cool that I can just stroll over to show my support for things like that.

The entire street was closed.

San Francisco is the hub of the Irish diaspora in the West Coast. The police force has also been a favored profession for that community.

Classic cars are my thing.

Rainy days are here again.

I really like the colors on the motion picture film. This photo would not be as interesting on regular color film!

All photos taken on Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, with Kodak Vision 3 500T, processed and scanned by Eureka Film Lab.

The Cool Blues of San Francisco

Recently, I had an opportunity to purchase a few rolls of Kodak Vision 3 500T Film (5219). I was warned that it would be almost too 'cool', that it had tones of blue in most photos unless I used a warming filter, or fixed it in post.

While my style of color photography tends to be vibrant and warm (Portra and Ektar are favorite film stocks), I wanted to try something new.

I went out shooting photos of San Francisco at dusk, and also in the midst of our poor weather (on the days when it rained ceaselessly). I think that if you know its quirks, you can get a lot out of it. I really like this look and am excited to try other motion picture film stock (I have a 50ft roll of Vision 250D film I'm going to bulk roll myself).

Shooting motion picture film is an interesting premise for a film stills photographer: you can buy it in bulk! It's affordable! And has very interesting look and film somewhat reminiscent of many of the movies we know and love (500T was used to shoot parts of Euphoria, among other TV shows and movies). The main downside is that regular labs don't process motion picture film. It has a black layer of 'remjet' at the back that can lead to damage of commercial labs' equipment. What you want to do is look for someone who does ECN-2 developing (there are several), or do it yourself with an ECN-2 kit.

Also, it never fails to amuse me that people think San Francisco is a really modern-looking big city: to me, it's a small town trapped in time, where buildings and entire neighborhoods (except the downtown area) look more or less the same as it did when hippies were running around naked in these areas.

No parking at any time.

A church in blue and pink and cloud.

Victorians in this neighborhood seem to like blue and white a lot.

And purple.

Retro blues.

Pink and yellow.

All photos taken on Minolta Hi-Matic, Kodak Vision 3 500T film, developed and scanned by Eureka Film Lab.

One Night in the Mission

I used to be a creature of the night, but no longer. I used to be out all the time, but rarely now. Partly, it's that San Francisco is so chilly at night, but also that it's pretty dead at night compared to the much bigger cities I've lived in. I don't quite enjoy walking around, cold, in areas where there just sijmply isn't that much going on at all. For my wife's birthday, we went out to dinner in the Mission and I also brought my Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II. It's fast becoming one of the cameras I use the most: its f1.7 lens, combined with the small form factor and weight, makes it easy for me to pop it into my jacket pocket. It works really well indoors at night, too, with black and white film (and a steady hand.. or an elbow firmly on a table or chair or door, which is my style. I dislike tripods).

Here are some shots on Kentmere 400, pushed to 800 in Ilfosol 3 (1:9). I really like the combination of this film and this camera, and my self dev setup at home these days. Scanned on Noritsu LS-600.

The outdoor space at Blue Plate is quite lovely. So is the key lime pie there.

I love neon signs. I also love that I was professionally involved in getting these 'parklets' up early pandemic: my team at sf.gov helped get a joint permitting process out quickly to help businesses move their business outdoors.

Alamo Drafthouse in the Mission.

Street tacos are the best tacos. There was a lot of light from one side from the street lamps, but I quite enjoy the effect it casts on the photo.

I am starting to feel more confident about bulk-rolling black and white film and developing it at home. Other than the cost savings, it's the immediacy that I love: I can roll a 24 exposure cassette in black and white, shoot it in an hour, and come back and process it immediately and see it shortly after through a scanner or light table.