Signage, Etc.

Just a few odds and ends from when I was in downtown Worcester last month, during the American Hustle shoot. Once again, taken with my “go-to” camera of the moment, the Canon AE-1, and the 50mm. What is there not to love about this camera? Shot with Portra 400.

Who Isn’t Buying Gold In This Economy? I Love The Retro Fonts.

The lighting that hit this sign above, midday, fascinated me. I’d love to “obey” The Golden Rule, but it just is not that practical. I’ve mentioned this before, but an hour before or after sunrise or sunset just does not always work. I’d love to, but, life happens. Still, for midday light, in New England, pretty good.

Wig Salon

I keep coming back to this wig salon. The reflections, lighting, and the subject matter, all continue to fascinate. If I next invest in some Canon FD wide glass, I’d love to revisit it, yet again.

Retro Handbills

Thinking the above collage was a prop for American Hustle. The period seems to lend itself to that theory, as does the “555″ Area Code. The purple and magenta really struck me as cool.

People In Motion

I took these shots in and around the American Hustle sets. There was more bustle and movement downtown than I’ve seen in a long time. while I did not take note of the shutter speeds I used, they did seem to be the right ones, with just the right amount of shutter drag to convey motion. Canon AE-1, 50mm f/1.8 FD, Portra-

Watching The Vintage Bus Come In

Leaving A Music Recital

Repairing A Sign, While Watching The Sets Being Built

American Hustle

Studio 54 Main Door, Recreated For 2013

A large Hollywood production, David O. Russell’s American Hustle, began filming some exterior shots in downtown Worcester recently. I asked one of the security people on the shoot “why Worcester”? It is a true story about a con artist,and involves the Abscam case. Parts of the film take place in NYC. The affordability of location shooting, the relatively small geographic footprint, and the older, retro look and feel of the city, all viable reasons. I pretty much stumbled across these with the AE-1 in hand, and Portra 160 loaded up. No Jennifer Lawrence sightings myself (she is the female lead), although she was spotted by local press buying clothes in a thrift shop. The Studio 54 recreation above was particularly fun, as it brought back memories of the film The Last Days Of Disco, and the current day Studio 54 in Vegas at the MGM. The logo is spot on.

Richard Pryor Starring In Blue Collar, Dating The Period At 1978

The cinema marquee was so amazingly well done. Worcester was transported back to circa 1978 for a few weeks.

Vintage Charter Bus Being Transported Onto Set

This vintage charter bus created a lot of interest. It also created several large traffic jams, as it was moved from one part of downtown to the street that the Studio 54 set was located.

Vintage Phone

These were all shot midday, explaining the hot new England bluish exposure. Yes, I know “the rules” of The Golden Hour, but, an hour before or after sunrise or sunset is not always practical.

American Hustle is scheduled to open on Christmas Day this year.

Quirks, And Brilliance- More Canon AE-1 Notes

Homeless Man, Downtown Worcester- Canon AE-1, 135mm f/2.8 FD, Kodak Portra 400

My son and I were on our way to play some ball, and go to the library, when I took this photo of a homeless man and his bagged bottle, with the AE-1, and 135mm f/2.8 FD. A fantastic lens. The Canon AE-1 is maybe the funnest camera I’ve shot with since picking up the Nikon F a couple of years ago. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it is far from perfect, and does have more than a fair share of quirks.

The ASA/ISO film speed control is an absolute nightmare to adjust with any ease. I believe that the AE-1 Program later made changing this easier. But on the AE-1, it is not something you want to reset frequently. If you are shooting a wide latitude film, such as Portra 400, you may want to switch from 320, to 400, to 800, and 1600, on the fly. Easier said than done. The shot below, taken in the children’s section of the library, was shot at 1600:

Giraffe In The Library- Shot At ISO 1600

OK, as mentioned in the last post, The AE-1 suffered from the dreaded “Canon Squeal”. When activating the shutter, it sounded like it had a cough. While not impacting the camera performance in any way, it sounded sick. The old lubrication on the flywheel gear having long since dried up. Thanks to a can of Remington Gun Oil with Teflon, and some great instructions online: http://jetbutterfly.web.fc2.com/camera/e_squeak.html , this was easily repaired in about 10 minutes. You do NOT have to take the top of the camera apart, and buttons and fasteners, washers, etc.. It can be done by taking the lower plate off (TWO screws), and squirting one brief blast of oil with the included straw, into the lubrication point for the flywheel. Work the rewind/ shutter sequence about 100 times, and it will pretty much go away. Repeat the sequence to make sure. Use it very sparingly. Too much, and you could flood the shutter curtains. But really, it isn’t open heart surgery. It is a very easy do-it-yourself repair. Next up? New light seals, and a mirror damper.

The Camera That I Always Wanted (OK, One Of Them): The Canon AE-1

Anyone who grew up in the 1970′s and Big 80′s remembers these ads-

John Newcombe, Canon Shooter, And Tennis Legend

Last weekend, I bought a Canon AE-1. Canon sold millions of them. The first 35mm SLR with a CPU, and a quartz timed electronic shutter. When I was a kid, the camera was on TV, in print ads, like the one above, promoted at sporting events. A shutter-priority camera, the key selling feature of the camera was that you could set your chosen shutter speed, and the camera, using a Canon FD lens, would automatically select your aperture. Competitors such as Nikon were taken back by this camera, not only because of its electronic integrated circuit-based innovations, but its light weight (mostly plastic parts!), and low price (retailing for about $260 US. The Nikon FE and FE-2 followed, choosing aperture priority. Set the aperture, and the camera chose a stepless shutter speed.

Tennis Players Loved The AE-1- Tracy Austin

I love, love, love the camera. Not only because of its simplicity and retro charm, but because of the amazingly accurate light meter. The gorgeous FD glass is maybe even better than the Minolta glass I got into last year, and, yes, maybe better than any Nikkor/Nikon glass in my collection. Easily the best 35mm glass I’ve ever used. Not sure if it is the coatings that Canon used, the sharpness, the contrast. these lenses have it all. I have the 50mm f/1.8, and the 135mm f/2.8. The camera came with the 50. I bought the 135 off of eBay.

My Canon AE-1

Here are a few samples from my 1st roll. The film used was Kodak Portra 160.:

Window Of The Owl Shop

Pylon

Hydrant

This camera is absolutely mind-blowing, as is the Canon FD mount glass. It is not without its quirks. For instance, it suffers from the well-known ”Canon Squeal”, which, contrary to popular belief, is not from the shutter, but from the mirror assembly. I am going to pop the bottom plate, and spray some oil up into the gear, to remedy the noise. Also, it has a very odd manual exposure mode, which displays only the suggested aperture, and not the chosen shutter speed. The 6 volt battery is in a panel on the front of the camera, which doubles as a finger grip. Notorious for breaking, mine is not broken. The plate that covers the hot shoe doubles as a tool to open the compartment. I mentioned plastic parts earlier. Believe it or not, while the AE-1 looks and feels like a tank of a camera, the top and bottom plates are indeed metal plated plastic!

This one is going to be a lot of fun to shoot with. An awful lot of fun.

Reflections On Denholm’s

Mannequin In The Old Denholm’s Department store Building, Downtown Worcester.

I shot this last weekend while downtown on a photowalk. The reflections in the window really caught my eye. Denholm’s is a long gone department store that has been closed since 1973. The building is massive, and there are some small, subtle touches of its original greatness that still remain. Now mostly office space, it has remaining display windows that are still decorated by a gentleman, Christopher Sawyer, who I think works in the fashion industry, wrote a history of Denholm’s, and is the son of a woman who worked there. He has a wonderful blog at http://denholms.blogspot.com/  I saw him speak last year at the Worcester Public Library, where he kicked off his book. This has that vintage “Mad Men” feel. Which, of course, I LOVE! Oh, shot with the Polaroid 450. Don Draper heaven.

“That’s quite the picture-making machine!”

The above tag line is a quote from a homeless lady yesterday, as I walked around downtown Worcester with my Model 450 Land Camera. After looking at these shots, I do have to agree. Photowalks can turn up subjects that one may easily overlook by whizzing by in the car, while potentially overlooking potentially great content. This is instant photography, but once again, it forces the photographer to slow down, and take it all in.

These are from a very creative wall mural on a tunnel near Union Station. The more I use Fuji FP100C, the more I fall in love with the colors, the sharpness. It does seem to like a good amount of light for the color to “pop”. It was a typical late winter New England day, where you never get anything resembling good, warm daylight. That blue-gray harsh light that frustrates photographers up here to no end. But you simply have to make due, and pick your battles. I think I won these-

Was painted to scale, so as to make the painter’s feet look like they are actually at ground level.

On the other side of the tunnel was this beautiful image. The colors show off FP100C’s color pallet beauty.