So I got this big deal event coming up.  We’re having a baby, and among other things, one of my jobs is to capture the moment of truth.  My wife says, “don’t blow it dude, bring the digital camera.”  How boring, I mean how many times will be in a labor and delivery room again?  I’m thinking this is a chance for some black and white documentary style action.  So I’ll be packing my bessa rangefinder, my lomo smena, and maybe a holga. Some neopan 1600, portra 800, and a some expired slide film to cross process.  I’m sure the midwife will appreciate my attempt to be artsy while my wife is screaming her lungs out pushing out the baby.   Not sure what to say to everyone who wants a photo sent right away.  Maybe that’s what camera phones are for.  So we’re 2 days past due date and the bags are packed, the laundry is done, and the cameras are loaded.

So wish me luck, it’s a big deal for us and I’d like to do it justice with some nice images.  Hopefully I won’t panic and leave all the cameras at home.  After all, my job is easy, she’s the one with the hard work to do.

I like my film cameras for many reasons, but most of all I like being surprised by my results (good or bad).  If we could put aside for a moment the economics of shooting digital and remember some of the great things about film; like picking up a roll of prints, opening the package and laughing at someone’s facial expression.  Or being proud of yourself for getting a “great shot” something you didn’t think would work, but does work even better than you imagined.  I also like the passage of time that happens from the time you shoot frame one until the time you finish the roll and get it developed.   All this is now gone with digital.   There’s no anticipation, no surprise, it’s all a calculated risk at best.  Photography needs mystique, otherwise it’s just You Tube.

I see a lot of photos on sites like flickr.  And most of the digital stuff is contrived and staged, whereas the film people seem to be more out there on a limb.  I just hope Kodak keeps making film so I don’t have to jump off.

We might think that flickr is just a photo sharing site, and aside from some casual networking to promote Photoworks, I mainly use the site for artistic reasons.  I guess if I was young and single I might use flickr to try and meet chicks, which apparently is fairly common.

I’ve been working on my “contacts” list lately, trying to meet more people, make some photo friends, and generally broaden my photo horizons.  A few weeks back I stumbled upon some really cool film images by an LA based photographer.  I soon became a bit of a fan of this person’s work, they use some techniques that I’m trying to master, so I did what is customary, I made them a “contact.”  I have maybe 150 or so contacts, friends and strangers who’s photos I enjoy.  Now usually if I make someone a contact, the custom is to return the favor, or make me one of their contacts as well (reciprocate if you will).   So, some time goes by and I realize that this new contact never replied back so I checked out their profile and saw that she is a woman living in the LA area.  We will call her “photolisa” to protect her flickr identity.  It seems Lisa has been posting photos and comments regularly so it’s not like she is out town.  No big deal.

Ok, so now a month has gone by and photolisa has not made me a contact.  Why the hell not?  Am I not worthy?  She has 200 other contacts so why can’t I be one?  I’m hurt, I’m pissed off, shit I feel rejected.  Lisa, what have I done?  So now I”m desperate and I guess crossed the line.  I sent photolisa a flickr email saying I admire her work and it would be cool if she could look at my work and maybe we could exchange ideas.   So, I finally get a reply saying, “for privacy and safety reasons I do not share my ideas with unfamilair men.”  OUCH!  Do I feel like a loser now.  I’m married with a kid, and another coming, I think I have better things to do then hit on women on a photo sharing website. Look at my profile, it says MALE AND TAKEN.  Now i guess if you are a woman or man for that matter you never know what kind of low life’s are out there.  But, i said “exchange ideas” not fluids!

So I guess I need to get over it, move on, lesson learned.  There are boundaries here and people are entitled to their own space……………………I hate you photolisa, I hate your pretentious photos, and you’re not one of my contacts anymore.  So there.

About Friends Of Photoworks

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be inside a busy photo lab? Smell the chemicals, watch the prints come out of the machines, talk to customers about their imaging needs?

Photoworks is a Photo Lab In San Francisco, Ca. We’ve been around 20 years and have survived many changes in our industry. We develop and print film, and we make prints from digital files. We try to take quality photographs and appreciate other people who do the same.

If you’re a fan of our photo lab then we’d like you to join this group. If you’re curious about how things work ( how we scan, how we print, what films are best, etc…) then this group is for you too. Feel free to post any photos you like, we’ll comment and offer advice. Don’t hesitate to use this space to offer feedback and suggestions. We’ve been around a while, but we still have a lot to learn.

http://flickr.com/groups/821718@N22/

What is this?  Well it’s my new flickr group celebrating photoworks the lab, and all of our great customers.  Please join and get in on the action.  Post photos, start a topic, all the good flickr stuff.  Thanks.

Our President GWB in his infinite wisdom has decided to send the poor working citizens of this country checks in the amount of $600.00, $900.00 if you have a kid. It’s called the Economic Stimulus Package, and whether or not it’s a dumb idea can be discussed on a political blog. GWB says we should SPEND the money, but he doesn’t say how, so I have some suggestions. I would not buy a flat screen TV from Best Buy because Best Buy doesn’t need the money, and you’ll be buying something imported anyway which doesn’t help the good ‘ol USA economy much.

I know of a certain San francisco Photo Lab where you can blow some of that dough. How about a nice canvas print or a watercolor print of your favorite photos? There’s lots to buy at Photoworks: Holgas(import, but a cool country), film processing, prints, etc…

I would at least consider a new camera to take some great fresh pictures to bring to said Photo lab for developing. Am I making my point? Am I selfish to want your Stimulus checks? Hey, I don’t want it all, just some, and then I can go down to Best Buy and get a flat screen TV!

Last Saturday I was at the playground with my 2 year old son. Weekends are when most Dads watch the kids and the playground is the place to go. The vibe is different on the weekend. Women at the playground will gravitate toward each other and talk about all the minutia of diapers, child birthing methods, and day care. Guys don’t give a crap. Our common ground is sports or cars or gadgets. On this day it was cameras. First guy called Fred wearing his Van Halen 08 tour shirt and Niners cap is sporting a Sony Cyber Shot with an 8x zoom lens. Looks ridiculous, but then again he also has a mullet. Guy number 2 has a Cannon 20D. He’s a lawyer, khakis, V neck sweater and fraternity ring. He explains that according to his partners, this is the best camera on the market. “It’s the BMW of cameras.”

On to guy number 3, me sporting dark glasses and a Diana F film camera. We’re all snapping away at our kids, but because I’m shooting film I can’t share my photos. The 2 guys think I’m nuts, out of the dark ages or something. “Hey Dave, your kid will be driving by the time you take that photo. LOL” Mullet guys is shooting close ups of his kid’s snotty nose, lawyer, having figured out the action icon on the camera is doing low angle action shots of his daughter on the swing. He’s actually lying in the sand, bad angle for little kids and bad if sand gets near the LCD. And me, well half of my shots will be light struck, not to mention black and white which everybody now hates. We’re just three fellas stuck in the playground until naptime, searching for common ground and not really finding it. The one thing we have in common is that we want to take cool photos of our kids, or at least better photos than our wives take. In the old days we’d all have funky film cameras or old super 8 movie cameras. We would have taken the same pictures with the same cameras, the same way, and the photos would be printed and preserved for a lifetime in albums.

I guess I don’t really fit in around here (the suburbs) because as it turns out I hate pro football and like manual film cameras. I don’t really have a problem with the other 2 guys and their cameras or the Niners for that matter. I’m sure I kind find some pretentious, arsty-fartsy dads at a playground in the city.

Remember the snapshot? I do. I’ve got a bunch of little square photos taken 40 years ago of me as kid. I have photos taken 20 years ago of me in college. They are not fancy photos, but the images share a common “snapshot” quality to them. Now along comes digital and people are snapping photos a mile a minute, capturing pointless minutia, and too many buttcracks. If I’m going to take a picture of my ass, I’m going to at least put the camera on timer, set in on a rock, take a step or two back, and hope for the best. I really don’t think you should be able to take a picture of yourself without letting go of the camera. I really hate those shots of someone’s entire head in the frame because their arm extends only so far! What ever happened to asking a stranger to “take my picture.”?

If I designed a digital camera, I’d make it smart enough to stop all the dumb ass photos people take. Even if it’s a snapshot, it should be taken with care and with respect for photography. Even when we had disposable cameras, it didn’t mean that we had disposable images.

So yeah, I’m a bit of a snob about this, and I’m not sayin’ that I don’t take lousy photos, bit I do think about what I’m doing, and I do care about every snap.

No, my camera is not malfunctioning. This image is by design, but if it wasn’t, I’d be looking for a repair shop. Camera Heaven is a camera geek paradise stock full of Nikons, Leicas, Hasselblads, box cameras, and all things photographic. It’s main function is to repair your prized pieces, or just make your point and shoot digital work again. I know this is a good place because there is stuff piled up up everywhere. Every good repair shop is a mess, right?

People ask me all the time: Where can I repair my camera, and until now, I’ve never really had a good answer. So if your camera needs a little help, or maybe just a good cleaning (film and digital), bring it down to Photoworks and I’ll get it over to “my guy” at Camera Heaven.

Local wedding photographer and Photoworks loyalist has written a memoir about her many experiences in the world of wedding photography. EXPOSED, CONFESSIONS OF A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER “Exposed is a book for anyone planning a wedding, or for anyone who has just survived one. It is a book to give to brides as a shower gift, mothers-in-law as a warning, or bridesmaids as an apology… ” Thought we’d get a little pre-release buzz going, so check this out: http://www.clairelewis.com/exposed/

Thought I’d introduce some of the people who make it all happen at Photoworks. Starting with our youngest employee who frankly is lucky to be getting paid. I tried to sucker him into an intern program, but he demanded to be compensated monetarily. Normally I have little respect for anyone born in The Eighties, but Alex is a solid citizen with a “big” future, despite the fact that he fabricated his resume. The only truth below is that he was born in Simi Valley in 1985. The rest is bullshit, he’s actually a runaway who I found sleeping in the alley behind Photoworks. Meet Alex….

Name: Alex Martinez
Born: Feb 1st, 1985
Birthplace: Simi Valley, CA
Worked At Photoworks Since: July, 2007
Before that? Getting my BA in Anthropology at San Francisco State
University, with a focus on visual anthropology and documentary
photography.
Film or digital? Film, 35mm mostly, but just got a medium format
camera and have been enjoying 120.
Gear: Nikon F100, Fuji GA645, Yashica T4. For film I shoot Kodak
Portra NC, and Ilford HP5+.
When Not At Photoworks: Interning at Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter,
exploring the Bay Area, spending too much time on the internet.
Most important question, matte or glossy? Any borders? Matte, clean
white borders. Always.
Website: http://www.stopinternetromance.com/