My latest photos -- I haven't updated my other photo galleries in some time. Also I have a lot of albums on snapfish that I never migrated over to gallery2 on Chris' servers either. In time, I'll try to find some faster way (other than by hand) to import everything. Also the digital pictures that I've been taking lately are fairly large so I need to get better about editing the content. Until then, enjoy the latest from this year which include flowers and birds at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Photography is one of those few creative arts that I haven't given up on doing. My enthusiasm for it wans and waxes over the years. I think that I have a decent eye for things, but at times my execution is poor. I'm not the kind that will sit there and talk about technical details for hours at a time. Perhaps in this way, I will never master the craft, and yet I will love it all the same.
A friend here in the DC area got me into lomo. It is more than just a different (older) technology. It is also about a style of taking pictures, a literally shoot from the hip style that is often quirky. Google for the word "lomo" and you will see what I mean.
Currently I'm taking Black and White Photography I at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. It's a really great class, but who would have ever thought that there are so many places where you could go wrong from taking a picture (right exposure?) to getting the film on the reels (split ends!) to developing (temperature control?) to printing (how much light?). It's been good fun though and a couple of other people in my class and I have conquered bulk film loading!
Black and White Photos from class
I now own a Nikon D80 that I use a Sigma 18-200 lens on. I used to own the kit lens, but I ended throwing/dropping my camera (don't ask) on the ground and broke that lens, so now I have the Sigma 18-200 lens.
In July of 2005, I ordered a digital camera, Canon SD500, online from newegg.com. I also ordered a 1GB SanDisk SD card from amazon.com. Now that I've been using it for almost a year, I still have the same gripes with it. One plus is that it is amazingly small so I carry it around in my purse everywhere, and yet I can't get over how bright it makes everything even when I try to underexpose by 1 f-stop in the manual mode.
Back in October 23, 1998, I bought a Canon EOS Elan IIE. That is mostly what I shoot with these days besides the occasional lomo camera. I mostly use Kodak 200 speed color. I haven't dabbled in true black and white in years. I used Kodak 400 speed Black & White (but with C-41 processing) and found it be be fairly green or pink at times, not terrible, but really different than true B&W. There's nothing quite as crisp as real B&W. I've also tried a few rolls of Agfa Ultra 100, but haven't gotten a good feel for it yet.
Some of my favorite subjects over the years have been street art, sculpture, shapes and lines, and nature. When it comes to vacation photography, as an adult, I've never been into the "here take a picture of me in front of something"-type pictures.
© copyright 1996-2008 Helen Lin Huang