Why ? Because form dominates color ? - peppy m. 10:04:15 04/21/21 (4)
 RE: Why ? Because form dominates color ? - pictureguy 12:11:00 04/26/21 (1)
 Coincidentally, I just watched Jarmusch's B+W film, "Dead Man" - peppy m. 12:46:31 04/26/21 (0)

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 Why ? Because form dominates color ? - peppy m. 10:04:15 04/21/21 (4)
 RE: Why ? Because form dominates color ? - pictureguy 12:11:00 04/26/21 (1)
 Coincidentally, I just watched Jarmusch's B+W film, "Dead Man" - peppy m. 12:46:31 04/26/21 (0)
 RE: Why ? Because form dominates color ? - pictureguy 10:25:07 04/21/21 (1)
 Also, the subtleties of natural color are so hard to reproduce... - peppy m. 12:09:04 04/21/21 (0)
 One last shot - pictureguy 23:59:50 04/19/21 (0)
 RE: I LOVE B&W photography - pictureguy 16:21:32 04/18/21 (0)
 Indeed! - Simon Templar 12:36:22 04/17/21 (1)
 RE: Indeed! - pictureguy 17:42:22 04/17/21 (0)
 me too - stan2 12:10:26 04/17/21 (2)
 RE: me too - pictureguy 00:11:02 04/18/21 (0)
 RE: me too - pictureguy 17:54:44 04/17/21 (0)
 There's a thread over at AK - E-Stat 08:35:03 04/17/21 (3)
 RE: There's a thread over at AK - pictureguy 22:37:55 04/20/21 (2)
 So... - E-Stat 05:26:35 04/21/21 (1)
 RE: So... - pictureguy 10:19:26 04/21/21 (0)
 And cinematography! nt - tinear 08:32:40 04/17/21 (0)
 One of my favorite album covers.... - jdaniel@jps.net 07:14:53 04/17/21 (12)
 RE: One of my favorite album covers.... - pictureguy 17:58:58 04/17/21 (11)
 RE: One of my favorite album covers.... - Green Lantern 06:30:07 04/18/21 (10)
 I found that fascinating... - musetap 12:40:14 04/18/21 (6)
 ok, go easy I was just a student lol.. - Green Lantern 18:02:49 04/19/21 (2)
 Delayed response due to SOS, DD... - musetap 13:17:48 04/24/21 (0)
 RE: ok, go easy I was just a student lol.. - rivervalley817 18:23:50 04/19/21 (0)
 RE: I found that fascinating... - Green Lantern 21:50:23 04/18/21 (1)
 Cool stuff... - musetap 22:42:52 04/18/21 (0)
 RE: I found that fascinating... - Green Lantern 20:51:32 04/18/21 (0)
 RE: One of my favorite album covers.... - pictureguy 10:37:39 04/18/21 (2)
 bracketing was consider taboo - Green Lantern 16:58:11 04/18/21 (1)
 RE: bracketing was consider taboo - pictureguy 18:42:59 04/18/21 (0)
 I used to shoot Tri-X all the time. - ghost of olddude55 05:12:42 04/17/21 (0)
 I used Tri-X, but I never liked it (FWIW) - mhardy6647 05:00:15 04/17/21 (5)
 +1 Plus X - Green Lantern 07:25:04 04/17/21 (4)
 great story (stories)! - mhardy6647 19:23:59 04/25/21 (0)
 RE: +1 Plus X - pictureguy 10:49:38 04/17/21 (2)
 RE: +1 Plus X - Green Lantern 14:57:19 04/17/21 (1)
 RE: +1 Plus X - pictureguy 17:51:15 04/17/21 (0)

My first duty station was here at the Naval hospital in San Diego in '82. I hadn't been there a month or two when I saw a shipmate walking around with a Nikon F1 and flash. I said 'whoooa - that's nice is it yours?' He laughed and said no, he was a medical photographer and it belonged to the lab. We talked photography for about 30 min and he said 'hey we're always looking for OJT's, why don't you bring your portfolio over to lab for our dept head to see. Man I 'bout sh*t my pants when he said that lol.

I gathered my photos, and long story short they accepted me as a OJT. I started at the front desk and one day I asked if I could have a roll of film. KC (the guy I first met) said 'follow me' and took me to the supply room. Within it there was two HUGE freezers. He opened it up and said take your pick: there was thousands of rolls and 'bricks' (rolls bundled together) inside. He said these were for 'official jobs' but a percentage is authorized for training. For me I was in Heaven because back then as a E3 film wasn't cheap out in town..About a week later I was shooting assignments as a photographer and was doing 'everything' the trained photographers were doing including weekend duty which usually involved criminal documentation (rape,child abuse,assualts,etc.).

Eventually I decided to apply for the school but I was only a E3 (you had to be a E4) and they rejected waivers back then. So when my shore tour ended I was sent to Japan for a year. Which was another blessing because photo gear there was CHEAP lol..welp around that time I picked up E4 and got the school in the DC area, graduated and was sent to the Bay area. Absolutely incredible experience, best 5 years of my life. Every other weekend I was making thousands shooting weddings, I would call up all the units asking if they needed a photographer for their annual formal ball, that eventually got me a gig with a production company to shoot stills for their video productions.

This was all pre-digital of course and we all had Nikon F4's, including every Nikon lens and flashes. Zoom lenses were available but they couldn't match the optics and resolution of a fixed lens. We also had incredible studio equipment including Mamiya RB67s and later the 68. Every Navy photographer (PH's and in my case HM's) all wanted Hassleblads of course but they were cost prohibited and the Mamiya's were right up there and generally consider second best. For standard hospital stuff (pre-op, post-op, intra-op, autopsies, crime scenes, copy, etc. public relations) we used small format (35mm) Nikons. For formal stuff (portraits ie Sailor of the year, executive portraits (Admirals,Co's, XO's, etc.) we used medium format (the Mamiya's).

But we also had cameras from old including various twin lens reflexes, medium and large format cameras and state of the art dark rooms equipment. No photographer worth his/her salt would EVER retire those.

We also had a full functioning color processing lab.

My personal favorite camera I used on weekends (we could sign out equipment) was a mint 4x5 speed graphic, and a 35mm Carl Zeiss range finder.

Tri-X hadn't been out that long but Kodak announced it would eventually replace Plus-X. So we had the opportunity to use both side by side.

To me there was no question, Plus-X was far better than Tri-X which used 't' shaped silver halides versus the standard straight halides. Supposedly the T shape would reduce grain upon magnification but I found the opposite to be true.

Also the tonality of plus X was exquisite compared to Tri-X (or anything else on the market, with the exception of Pan X of course).
No matter how you processed Tri-X (ie push/pull, temp adjustment,etc) I could never get it to look as pleasing as Plus-X.

I remember photographing a side profile head and shoulder of my daughter who was around 4 at the time. When I processed the negative (4x5) I KNEW this was going to be special, and omg was it...just incredible contrast and detail - and that was just the negative! Once I printed it I was amazed at the detail and tonality- from the bright white of her eyes (sclera)to the darkest blacks of her hair and every gray tone in-between.

Of course the negative being 4x5 I could enlarge it up to 16x20 without any loss of detail.

With Tri X you could do the same, I mean lets face it, Kodak wasn't going to release it without it being a worthy contender, in fact they were literally betting the house on it.

But to me (and many others) Plus-X was in many ways far superior, far greater than simple nostalgia. Fortunately we had a choice of what to use and Plus X was still available for purchase. So for routine stuff (award ceremonies, PR crap) we used 35mm Tri-X since it was more forgiving under various lighting conditions. But for the 'serious' stuff I stayed with Plus-X.

I wish I'd kept that photo of my daughter (as well as tons of other pics) but sadly most were lost over the years through moving and divorce.

My last duty station before I retired at 20 years was the very first photo lab where I worked as an OJT back here in San Diego, I came in to take over as the guy in charge. And yes, we had many who wanted to OJT there and whenever possible I allowed them. A great full circle for me : )

If you've been printing all day in the same pans you'd get different results due to chemical exhaustion. This wasn't necessarily a 'bad' thing, ie for prints going into the base newspapers we'd always print those with low contrast anyway (once a photograph hits the newspaper printers an enormous amount of contrast is added which was unavoidable).

BUT if you there on a Sunday after shooting all weekend a fresh batch of chemicals is what you'd want for your pics to stand out.

The golden standard for us (since the first day of school) was the ability to 'shoot for highlights, process for shadows'. The end product being everything from those two pieces of black and white test strips, and every shade of gray (contrast) of b/w in-between. Of course not everything in life is 100% shades of gray leading up from black to white.

The Navy biomedical photography school (separate and totally different than the regular Navy photographer's school) was a year long in the D.C. area with one project due per week. One of the projects mid way through was the 'egg and coal' project. This was at the time the most difficult to photograph (for newcomers at least) and the most anxiety ridden because it is an almost impossible task to render the egg's outer white shell-with stark brightness and detail, along with the pitch-black chunk of coal's surface along with shadow detail in it's cracks and crevices.

I would look around the room at my classmates and sometimes chuckle at some of the techniques they were using (we'd have a week to finish each project).

Long story short, I shot it using the 'less is more' approach..I used a old 8x10 negative from a old 8x10 camera they used in the room as an 'old prop'. Much like what Ansel Adams used.

I asked a guy in the main photo lab over in the hospital order me a box of 8x10 negatives in advance. He kind of looked at me strange but seeing groups of students roll through there's nothing that really surprised him. For the background I used a sloping/sweep of simply a white poster board.

Took me a while to find the right chunk of coal out of the box and the eggs were standard jumbo size. I used hidden chewing gum to prop the egg up and the coal stood on it's own.

The lighting was two flood lights, the key light (main light) was position to bring out the deep, dark crevices of the coal while maintaining the surface structure. The second, fill light was positioned further back and high. It lit the egg and provided the background lighting.

Took me a whole weekend by myself in the classroom to get it right along with a few packs of b/w polaroid prints (kids today have NO clue of our struggle lol).

Since our projects were always 8x10 prints, this particular 'print' I turned in was essentially a 8x10 'contact sheet' (negative is placed on the printing paper versus shot through a printing lens). The negative was shot metered off the egg because it's IMPOSSIBLE to 'add' detail after the fact vs 'bring out' detail later on in processing and printing.

Granted this wasn't a 'one and done' deal, it took me a good part of the week to get the right sequence and processing times down (and some burning/dodging in the darkroom).

The end project floored everyone in the class. The 'less is more' is the fact that no printing lenses were used/needed (well that's because we didn't have a 8x10 darkroom printer lol..But since there was no magnification, what you saw is what you got, meaning the cropping HAD to be perfect at the time of the shot.

The coal in real life was only about 5 inches tall, but on the print it looked like a majestic 'mountain'. The little pits and crevices where rendered with detail. Even the darkest shadows had detail. The egg right next to it was pure white and with the fine minute 'pebble like' scaling that eggs have (if observed closely). The background was a non-intrusive sloping, gradient grays.

I was told by the elder instructor I had the most incredible coal piece he'd ever seen. And to have shot it on his old, favorite 8x10 camera (which NO one had ever done up to that time) was the deal sealer.

I got a A+ and the print went up in the 'wall of shrine' where future classes would see it.

After I left my instructors told me at least 2-3 students per class would try to use the camera but never really got close to my print.

Sorry, I don't usually like tootin' my own horn but all this talk of b/w (which truly is a lost art) prints brought back a flood of fond memories for me :).

And before anyone ask, no - I have no inclination to return to b/w processing/printing.

I shot lots of HS Ektachrome @400 (push) and if I wanted saturation? Drop 1/3 stop to 125.......

Fuji Velvia was also picky. Bad color balance for PEOPLE but terrific for NATURE. I can't remember, but I think many people bumped it 1/3 stop on a regular basis......

My Go-To transparentcy was Provia. I think you could get it at 1600 or 3200? Don't remmeber.

But I DO remember Fuji 800ASA print film, which was for me much better than Kodak which always seemed 'blocky' to me.....I think Fuji called it 'Superia'.......

I kind of go a different direction for metering. I use my Sekonic as an incident meter ON the subjects. Both those dataguides I reffered to have grey cards in 'em.....

Never used flash until I started doing weddings. But I must say that the Nikon Metering system is great. Even If i'm being picky, 1/2 a stop is about IT for corrections. Viewfinder CAN have a full histogram display, but I seldom use it. distracting.

And NOBODY but the dedicated Home Develpper would want either of my dataguides. The color guide is from '68 (was 4.95$ than) and the B&W is from '88 and was 12.95$ Nested with these guides was a Kodak B&W darkroom guide. Perfect for the newbie....
Too much is never enough

Here's my old instructor using the speed graphic 4x5 we were all fond of:

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I'm going to DM him to see if those old photos are still around (the school closed some years ago but it wont hurt to ask since I've since lost that print

this is me as the OJT at my first photo dept, one of my first assignments was to follow and take pictures of the Commanding officer and Lou Rawls as he visited the active duty guys in the hospital

me at the actual biomed photo school in Bethesda, Md totally unaware and photographed by a fellow student (Rick M) who's a friend on fb

Me (below) at my first duty station after graduating as a medical photographer. The duty station was Naval hospital Oakland, Ca. Had the absolute best time of my life, the Bay area is beyond words. This was in the 90s where I would take up bike riding, the fellow behind me is Wael, he was the OJT there and the guy who would take the next photo below. We've remained friends to this day and he's visited me several times over the years (his brother lives in my community). Herb, the gentleman sitting ran the Audio/visual dept we fell under. Ponce (young guy in the back) was his assitant, Roger (tall guy in front) was the video tech, he was a hoot lol..I got there in 1990; sadly Congress shut down that hospital in 1995
as well as the Army hospital in San Fran, and pretty much ALL the bases in the bay area.

Whats crazy is I was there right after the World series Earthquake, the Rodney King riots, the OJ trial and verdict, and the devastating Oakland hills fire which at that time was the most costly in U.S. history.

Me and my buddy Wael argue about this pic all the time .. we were waiting on an award ceremony to start behind us at the O' club, I had the camera all set up and ready to go and handed it over to Wael and said "here, take my pic"...HE says since he took the pic, he gets all the credit for it LoL..that argument has lasted over 27 years :)

At this point my photo confidence was through the roof, I shot portraits of friends and neighbors in our livingroom where I had my studio set up, part of my business was 'if you couldn't come to me, I'd bring the studio to your house'. For lighting I used the old 'white lightning' 'cans' with different backgrounds.

I also shot numerous military formal balls all lined up by me by simply calling the Command master chiefs or Army and Marine SgtMajors, and say: "Sgtmaj, hi, I'm a Navy photographer here at Oaknoll Naval hospital and I was wondering if you have a in-house photographer lined up for your upcoming Marine Corps ball? from there I'd have them eating out of my hand LoL....great times, man I miss it!

Word eventually got around I was the man with the camera and I'd get at least a wedding or two a month. I used a sliding scale depending on the guy (or girl's) rank. My best was a wedding I shot in San Jose at this absolutely beautiful cathedral, it was incredible.

In fact that business card is a photo I made in my living room and superimposed the words (loooong before home computers were around).

Ok I'm done - lol

All photos taken while in Medical photography school, all models (excluding my niece 'Poppy' and my shy 3 y/o daughter Angela (who's now 32) were all military attending Navy schools there in Bethesda.

seen are some notes I found at the bottom of the box (I didn't even know I had) taken back during photos sessions (late 1980s)

At that time I hadn't done a lot of formal portraits and I wanted to score high on upcoming projects so I placed notices around the school asking for models. It was a win/win situation because I got the experience I needed and they got to keep the pics!

The two bottom landscapes were both shot on 4x5 infrared negative film. Infrared has very limited uses in photography other than abstract interpretation and some industrial uses. However in medical it's useful because it can be used in clinical studies since infrared light penetrates the skin about a 1/10th - 2/10 of an inch and often reveals veins beneath the skin which you would otherwise never see.

All pics are 16x20 in and printed on beautiful (and I mean "Beautiful" Ilford paper).

That building btw is Naval Hospital Oakland nestled in the beautiful and upscale Oakland hills, my first duty stationed after the school. Within 2 years after arriving I was put in charge of running the med photo dept. This was 1990-1995, best 5 years of my life : ) Decommissioned in 1995-1996, it has since been torn down. A ton of great memories.

A little better pic of my daughter at Easter 1990:

With some powerful Neil Young riffs to boot...