Arran Salerno | Photography - Blog

A Car Took Me There

Arran — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:39:45 +0000

Been doing a bit of driving lately, so it’s only natural that some of my photos are taken from the car.
Here are a few from a set.
My scanner doesnt like film anymore, so I have to scan prints – luckily I always get prints.
I’m gradually going through a big bag of expired colour print film I got for nothing a little while ago. It’s been a nice change from black and white, plus I like the random colour casts that may/may not happen depending on how the film has been treated over it’s life.

Oh yeah, I’m still here

Arran — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:48:02 +0000

Been quite a while since my last post for a number of reasons. Nothing bad, all good, but my priorities have been with offline pursuits lately. I’m trying to minimise the amount of time I spend on the net and computers in general also, which is kind of hard seeing as though my job entails alot of computer time!
Anyway, I’m still taking photos, mostly colour though, and mostly with a p&s Olympus Mju:II – photo attached as proof! I’m finding it alot more fun with a p&s, I seem to put less pressure on myself, and photography has become alot more enjoyable. I like my photos more too.
Will give another more detailed update again soon. Have a couple of projects I’ve been progressing with, and my entire website will be rebuilt with a slightly different focus. Time has been a precious commodity lately though!

Last for a while

Arran — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:29:56 +0000

Just some random scans I had lying around. Been shooting colour lately, and waiting to get about a dozen rolls finished to developed them in one hit (i’ll be doing it myself). These may be the last b&w shots I post up for a while.

Mucking around

Arran — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:44:35 +0000

Had a roll of Delta 3200 sitting around for ages so decided to give it a go the other night. I think the negatives turned out alright considering I developed them in Rodinal – probably the worst choice for high iso films.
Have to say i’ve never shot in conditions this dark before. 3200iso with a f/1.4 lens and I couldnt see if it was in focus half the time.
Dont think i’m a fan of Delta though. Would prefer to push Neopan 1600 instead in the future.
Here were some shots just for fun

Sydney Camera Market… Again

Arran — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:20:53 +0000

I’ve been to the last few camera markets in Sydney and have had a lot of fun. A great range of cameras, most at pretty good prices. I never actually “need” anything when i go, so normally set myself a very low budget (about $20) and try to have a bit of fun searching around for something a little different.
The market this time didn’t seem to have the selection compared to previous times i’ve been. I also noticed quite a lot of the same cameras doing the rounds – they must not of sold last time. The instant vibe i got wasn’t that great, so thought that i’d have my work cut out for me this time. The place was crowded as ever(which is a positive thing), but the number of rangefinders and “cheapies” had fallen considerably.
Did the circut a few times but didnt notice anything, so started to get a little concerned. I’ve never left this place empty handed before!
As the time on the parking meter grew closer to running out, things weren’t looking good.
Desperately searching a table for something that will make my time spent worthwhile I lift up the strap of an overpriced SLR and notice the unmistakable shape of a Konica Big Mini BM-201.. I test it and buy it. Well under budget, so there’s still hope
I get to a table i’ve been to a few times before, but now have a bit of room to look around (did i mention it was crowded?). I think my eyes have trained themselves to spot out anything with black paint and the name Olympus on it. That’s how i found this little guy.
When I picked the EC up I wasn’t expecting to the silver bottom plate, and was actually a little disappointed when i noticed it. But, the added “quirkyness” of the silver bottom plate started to grow on me, and now I quite like it. I doubt there’d be too many other Panda EC’s around also.
There was a label on it saying “needs service” so i asked the vendor what was wrong, he said the shutter was stuck, but I knew these little guys were battery dependant so thought it may only need new batteries and decided to take a gamble on it. All up I was still under budget, but decided to call it quits. People were still rolling in, and I noticed an increasing number of people with an aversion to deodorant, so took that as my queue to leave.
Getting home I searched the net for battery adapters and found an easy solution involving aluminum foil – it’s pretty handy stuff.
Put some old batteries in it and hey presto, the shutter works.
Anyway, that’s that. I’ve attached a leather wrist strap to the EC and will putting a roll through it next week hopefully. It’s a neat little camera. Very compact and well built. Will try the Big Mini out eventually also. I wonder how well it performs with flash photography.

A Nice Find

Arran — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:38:21 +0000

Well, sometimes you get lucky.
I have stayed away from that evil online auction site for a while now, but the other week I was killing some time so took a look at the camera section. Nothing amazing really, but I found a listing advertising some Minolta SRT’s and a bag full or random stuff. For some reason I clicked on the link even though Minolta doesn’t really interest me.
In the photo, amongst all the other “stuff” I saw two other lenses which werent for the Minolta cameras advertised. They were Olympus OM Zuiko’s – now I started to get interested. I ask the seller what lenses they were and was a little skeptical about his response. But decided to bid and win the auction, eventually receiving the package a couple of days ago.

After opening the packing, the first thing I see is the original large Olympus system bag with individual compartments, so that’s a good sign. I dig around and find the lenses – 2 mint Olympus Zuiko’s.
The first is a later multi coated Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 – nice, but nothing overly amazing (plus i already have a couple)..
The other was a little more interesting – a Zuiko 24mm f/2…..
24mm f/2 !!.. In the original case too..
I wont say what I paid for it, but it was less than what some 50mm f/1.4 go for on their own, so you can probably imagine I was pretty happy.
The only other 24mm f/2 I’ve seen for sale in comparable condition went for over $1000 AUD.

Anyway, I’m dying to give the 24mm a go. Always wanted to try a 24mm on my OM system, never thought it’d be the f/2.
I’ll be running some Legacy Pro through the camera. If you havent heard of it, it’s rumoured to be re-branded Fuji Neopan and Acros – same country of manufacture, same development times, same characteristics. I’ve been interested in trying it as Neopan is probably my favourite 400iso film of all time.

They have the ugliest looking pack design i’ve ever seen though though =/

Some shots around Sydney

Arran — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:33:53 +0000

Developed an old roll of Tri-x and found some shots I took in and around the city. Alot of the shots are in the same area as an old set i did around Circular Quay with the Olympus Trip.
I shot this roll in my Bessa – a camera i haven’t been using lately. I seem to of gone back to my Olympus OM’s which i’ve found are with out a doubt my favourite cameras to shoot with. That’s no real secret though i guess.
Got a few rolls to put through the Mamiya RB67 which i cant wait to start using again. I’m going to finally bite the bullet and get a new scanner though for the 120 film.

Been a While

Arran — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:13:36 +0000

.. Since my last post.
Nothing exciting to report really. Been having trouble finding time for photography lately. Well, I shoot stuff, but at an extremely slow rate. I’ll bring the camera out and may only shoot one frame all day. I dont know what it is, but i’m having trouble finding anything visually interesting lately.
For some reason I also have 5 rolls of film sitting in various cameras half finished and another 3 or 4 rolls already shot and waiting to be developed. I’m just not in a hurry to see whats on them.
Saying that though, the other day I got an urge to develop some Neopan 1600 (not so interested in the photos themselves) as i’d never done it before ,so went out to buy some Microphen. At the last minute I changed my mind as i felt like bit of a challenge and decided to use my normal developer – Rodinal. Probably the worst developer you can choose for high iso stuff, but i figured i’d be able to minimise the grain by altering a few developing techniques. I think it worked, i was relatively pleased with the results. Sure they’re grainy, but I dont think any more than what i’d get from another developer, plus the grain is pretty sharp which is nice too.
The roll was an old one I had sitting around, and most were of photos I took on NYE, so things got a little “messy” near the end of the roll/night. I’ll just post one up for now as I haven’t gone through them all yet.
It’s now my mission to develop another roll this week. I need to get back into the routine.

Olympus OM3

Arran — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:12:30 +0000

The Olympus OM3. One of the most advanced mechanical shutter cameras ever made. It is also one of the rarest OM series cameras around as it was only produced for 3 years (1983-1986). As a result, it is often horded by collectors who sit them in glass display cases whilst watching the market value gradually increase.
It’s a shame, as this is a truly amazing camera which was designed from the ground up by Yoshihisa Maitani to take full advantage of the OM system as a modern professional camera body. It deserves to be used.

The OM3 was released along side the OM4 and OM2SP, so as a result shares some similarities. However, you could probably say it’s in many ways closer related to the OM1 which was also built with a mechanical shutter. As a result, this is one of the main reasons why the OM3 was only produced for such a short period of time. In 1983, if people wanted a mechanical shutter body they had 2 choices in the OM system- the OM1n which was an older but tried and tested model, or the OM3 which was brand new and considerably more expensive. Most people chose the OM1n which was built until 1987.
The OM3 had alot going for it though. With it came an increased max shutter speed of 1/2000, iso settings from 6 to 3200, and a brand new very advanced metering which included the new multi-spot system (in addition to the regular single spot), which allowed the user to take a reading in the shadows and highlights then combine them both for an ideal exposure. All of this was displayed in a new Viewfinder that featured LCD display and a light (helpful for night shooting) which displayed detailed information on light readings and shutter speed etc. Besides all of this new technology, there remained the greatest advantage of all; that by using a mechanical shutter the camera could be operated at all shutter speeds without the need of batteries.

Of course, it must be said that with this new metering technology also came issues that worked against the cameras reputation. One of the biggest was battery life. Like the OM2SP and OM4, there were alot of cameras (not all) that chewed through batteries like they were candy. You can usually tell right away if your particular camera falls into this category by the need to replace the batteries after a weeks use. There is a common misconception that all of these models suffered from this problem which is completely false. I know people who have been using them for years without needed to replace batteries. I myself have been shooting an OM2SP for well over 8 months now with used batteries and it still functions perfectly. I haven’t had enough time to test the OM3 fully yet, but after shooting a roll (on yet again used batteries) and repeated use of the VF lights etc, it’s still holding up perfectly. On the odd chance of the batteries draining though i still can make use of the OM3’s biggest advantage – it’s mechanical shutter.

Getting hung up on the technicalities of these cameras can be a waste of time; almost as much as collecting them without the intention to take photos.
At the end of the day, It’s all about how good the camera is to use, and the OM3 carries on and in some ways improves the biggest advantages of the OM’s that proceeded it. This includes the gloriously large and bright viewfinder, compact body and user friendly function, attractive finish, looks, and construction, and the ability to use some of the greatest lenses ever created.
I have quite a few cameras now, and the OM3 is already amongst my all time favourites. However, i have to say that as good as it is, i think they’re overpriced, especially as a user camera. I’d actually have a had time justifying paying even half of the current market price for one of these. If you’re just looking for something to get into the wonderful OM system, there’s probably better options available to you. But, if you’re like me and find one for a fraction of the market value, snap it up and use it!
The OM3 is a great cameras to use, but i think mine will restricted to indoor use only and kept away from the street.. It’s just too pretty

For further reading you can can check out these links.
I’ve also tracked down the hard to find OM3 instruction manual that i have available for download here

Makeup

Arran — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:22:57 +0000

This style of photo is a new aesthetic for me.
I recently shot some 100iso Fuji Reala Superia on my half frame and it produced some impressive prints. However, my scanner seems to hate C41, and anything i scan looks flat and dull. That means im not going to bother trying to post them up for the time being. However, there were some shots i took in very low light that interested me even though they lacked the vibrancy of a proper exposed negative (i had to trick the camera into thinking that i had the flash on otherwise it wouldn’t let me take the shot). They’re dark, grainy and soft, but as an experiment I think they turned out nice, and create a sense of atmosphere or feeling for me. I hope to develop the concept a little further and get a whole set inspired by the shot/s below.
As usual, it’s probably best to click on the image to see it at full resolution.

Oh yeah, one more thing.. I’m waiting on something very special that’ll be coming in the mail soon