Raul del Portillo Photography

There’s just something about a mechanical camera. Something special that you don’t get with a modern click box.

Two weeks ago I was lurking the Flickr forums when I came across someone talking about the “Film Photography Podcast”. I was intrigued as my favorite podcast was too long between updates and I needed something new. I started listening, and while it was nothing too special at first I thought, I couldn’t stop listening. It brought me back to my time in the FIU photography lab, listening to my friends talk film, fstops, development times, and arg my film is ruined!

While listening to 2 or 3 I ended up on eBay picking up a new camera. Well, new to me anyway. I decided on a Minolta Hi-Matic 7s. Simple fixed lens rangefinder that had the 2 qualities that I deemed necessary to me for a camera these days, a leaf shutter, and an f2 or faster lens. This one had the leaf and the f1.8 45mm lens so it was a no brainer. That and it had a built in meter, automatic mode, and a hot-shoe. Very nice cam that I picked up for $25 US. I think I’m in love with rangefinders now, and I place the blame squarely on the FPP! Thanks to them I’m back to shooting film and loving it. Scanning it is another story, but I’ll get better at it. I really need to do test shots in different lighting conditions with a grey card so I can get baselines for the films that I use. But that’s a story for another day.

I even went out with friends and the little Minolta. Ok, it’s not so little, it’s pretty big actually, but since my other film love is an RZ67 Mamiya, this is small. I don’t know why, but taking pics with this is more fun than with the digitals, and the subjects of the photographs seem to enjoy smiling at the odd box in my hands.

If you want to take a listen to the podcast, and you really, really should, head on over to http://filmphotographypodcast.com/ and download the latest episode.

Check out my flickr stream at : ra2photo @ flickr

(insert witty quip here) :: Or would a quip be by it’s nature, witty? Meh.

Yeah, no 365 today. No real inspiration to take pictures over the weekend. I was doing stuff, but didn’t really feal like taking pics. So, very sorry I don’t have anything for y’all today, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I know the idea of a 365 is to keep you motivated to take a picture a day, but if I’m going to be making crap, why? I like making great images. I don’t like to upload bad photos just for the sake of keeping a promise to myself about a photo a day uploaded. I take a few photos a day. By phone generally, and if something looks cool, I’ll take a shot with the 5d, but generally it’s just snapshots with the phone. I take a picture (or more) a day. I don’t have to upload it to show it. Quite honestly, I think it brings my blog down to a lower level when I start to show all the bad pictures I take. All photographers take bad pictures. The people with great pictures every day of their 365′s are generally photographers, or photo-students. People who are either working, taking pictures, or students with the time to make a great picture. I envy them. I get the evenings after I come home from work to make my art, and it usually takes me a couple nights planning to get the shots I want.

I’ll still be uploading pictures. Some great, some small. You just won’t get one everyday. The quality will go up. Worst case I can start doing Dave Hill-esque portraits of myself. Just lots of light, shiny and over sharpened. (To the real David Hill, you do great work, and being a trendsetter, the copycats really don’t pull it off).

I really need to start refining what my vision is. My style. Move it away from snapshots, and into an actual art form that I’m proud to identify as my own.

Maybe I’ll go back to taking flash photos taking nature into an almost unrealistic light?

See ya soon.

-Raul