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Had to skip this one because of work again. At this point, I’m just hoping to get some time before Sleeve-Faced ’cause that one really looks fun, although I should be able to do the B’s next week since they’re already prepped for contests.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Oh shi… Sleeve-faced is hoppered? Is there any way to bump that one off until at least springtime (May-ish)? A January date is not conducive to shooting outside, for me and a bunch of others. That would really limit the selection of covers to choose from, and if I am worried–a person with access to 5000+ albums between me and my friends–then I imagine others would be discouraged too. As we have seen this week, less participation = less votes, so pretty please can this one be deferred?

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You do NOT talk about reindeer fight club.

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Mandatory vote whoring for all entries?

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Well done, kashari! Pretty much anybody who entered this one deserves a pat on the back; the creativity shown was staggering. Some of the stuff you came up with, I never would have thought of in a million years. Kashari‘s top frame of the horse’s back evoking the contours of the mountains in the background, Kestrana‘s thin strip of peacock plumage which really unites the triptych into a whole IMO, sleeping‘s use of a macro rose leaf as a background/framing for the other two … these are just a few of the things that had me saying “wow” as I scrolled through the contest.

I gained a new appreciation and understanding of triptychs from this–mainly, as ravnostic said, that they are a lot of work! The one entry I had that was composed of three all-new photos, the B+W “Work and Play” selfie, took 6-8 hours from idea to final product. So many variables to consider when putting these together … so like I say, if you managed to make even one of these, that’s an accomplishment in itself.

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Congrats to kestrana and ravnostic this week!

Congrats to the co-winners!

Thanks to the voters–all three of my entries placed really well. That was my best threesome since that one time, in band camp …

Hope everyone has a good thanksgiving. Try not to stress too much; whenever I feel down, a sure-fire way to snap myself out of it is to compare my “problems” with someone who has a way worse life, such as a starving orphan in Africa, or one of those microcephalic Jersey Shore meatheads 😉

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Also, Zero_Exponent, that sucks. Seriously.

I was going for laughs, not sympathy–but i’ll take it 🙂

Also, ravnostic: I’ve got 4 rolls of Kodak TMAX Pro 400ISO B+W(expired 05/2007). I could probably be easily persuaded to part with one or all of them …

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Reading the comments, I see I’m not the only one having a bit of a hard time with this one. My plan for this theme was to shoot 3 rolls with 3 different film cameras, and enter one from each roll.

What actually happened was, I’ve been sick with flu-like symptoms for the past two weeks, and only managed to get out and shoot one roll with my Pentax with a 50mm f2.8 lens. The battery that powers the light meter was dead, and the replacement is around $16–so I shot test shots in manual with my digital, to approximate the settings I would need for the film images. That kinda worked, but most came out too dark.

Having only used this particular camera a few times ever–and that at least five years ago–I could not figure out how to rewind the film back into the roll so I could get it developed. No matter what combination of buttons and knobs I tried, it wasn’t happening. In desperation, I just took the whole thing down to Superstore in hopes that they could help.

The kid at the counter says, “my dad used to have one like that” I say, “oh he had a pentax?” The kid says, “no, I mean he had one of those big film cameras.” Oy. Anyway, he offers to take it to the darkroom and try to get the film out. I agree, and he comes out about ten minutes later. “I managed to rewind it, but I couldn’t get it open.” I asked him, “are you sure you rewound it? You should feel a change in the tension of the winding wheel when the film is fully back in the roll.” He assured me that this was the case (LIAR!).

I am pretty sure I remember how to open the camera body, so I try it right there at the counter … thankfully I couldn’t get it open, because I later found out the kid had not in fact rewound the roll. Before I go, I ask about developing. “Uh, we don’t do that here anymore, we send it away to a lab and it takes about two weeks.” Uh, how about NO.

On the way home, it occurs to me that maybe the kid didn’t really rewind the roll, so when I do crack the camera body open, I’d better do it in the dark. I take the camera into the bathroom and shut the door. I cannot see my hand in front of my face, so I start playing with the camera trying to open it. Eventually it yields to my efforts, and sure enough, I can feel a bunch of film hanging out. I wind it back in by hand and take the roll to a place (one of three in the entire city, apparently) that does have a developer onsite. “Do you do one-hour photos?” I ask. “We do, but the machine is shut down for the day.” she replies. The photo counter is open until six, but they shut the machine down between 1pm and 3pm daily for some reason. This was last thursday, so I had no problem waiting a day for my prints.

When I got them back, the price was cheaper that I expected–because only twelve of the negatives were usable. I’m guessing what little light there was in my bathroom was enough to ruin the end of the roll before I could wind it back. Sonuva …

Long story longer, I have one shot good enough to enter from that fiasco. One or two more archive shots may end up in the contest, haven’t decided yet.

I’ve got nothing like the selection orionid has, and most of my faves on film have already been entered in previous contests, so its gonna be slim pickins, ah reckon.

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Congrats orionid and ravnostic!

Mopsy, I like the vintage look of that picture, and the aerial perspective. Glad you got the shot and landed safely!

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Farking voters, how do they work?

So yeah, that photo in the lead? I figured that would do the least well of all of them and it almost didn’t get used. It’s also, IIRC, a semi-blatant rip-off of a photo that U-Man posted maybe a year or two back. :/

Im pretty certain they run on booze.

My theory is that, after viewing the photo immediately before it, they were thinking:”Well this is a lot better than that last one!” 😆

Mopsy, can I ask what’s the story with that one of (I’m assuming) Niagara Falls? It looks like maybe a film or slidefilm image? Anything you can tell me about it, I’d love to know.

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Hi y’all I’m jan. queenbee suggested I start trying farktogrophy. So I threw one in.

Welcome! Like your photo of the bridge, looking up at one of the towers. Neat perspective.

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Kes, the story was from a flickr commenter. Denial is a powerful force 🙂

My first thought for this theme was “hmmm, whole lotta bridges”. I must say I’m glad that didn’t happen. The subjects are really varied, and the quality is tremendous. It seems like every week the photos get better and better. Good job everybody.

/gotta shout-out to U-Man, that draining water picture is just chock full of refractive goodness!

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Thanks for the feedback. CISS, that was definitely the most birds I’ve seen in one place. All those dark spots on the water are birds too. As it got darker, the lake began to get full of them. Unfortunately, they started at the far end of the lake first, and gradually filled up the areas closer to the spot we were watching from. The last one, of the people watching, was taken after giving up on getting non-blurred shots of the birds. Luckily, everyone stood still for four seconds.

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Six month old baby? That just sucks, man. My condolences to you and his family, JB.

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Yikes, what an ordeal! Sorry you had to endure that, but glad to see you came through with sense of humor intact.
You have a gift for storytelling. This right here is a great simile:”Trying to put weight on them was like trying to stand a watermelon on cubes of jello.”
I can’t read that sentence without picturing it in my head, bravo!
Here’s hoping you can avoid any doctors or hospitals for a long, long time!

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Congrats on the win, aspidites! Love all your photos, and the stories/explanations of technique are a bonus. Add me to the list of those who are drooling in antici-pation for whatever you choose to enter for “Wild Things”!

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