From the Archives: Kodachromes from Athens, Greece, 1951

My father moved to Athens, Greece, in February 1951. He had just returned to USA from an overseas position in the Pacific. After about  two weeks job-hunting in New York City, a water resources engineering company offered him this Greek posting. He visited relatives in Boston and Orlando, bought a few supplies, boarded Pan Am, and left for Greece. He traveled light and efficiently (unlike his son, who tends to be burdened with too many cameras).

Table of Fujifilm Films Paused in Domestic Market

NEWS: Fujifilm Pauses Domestic Orders of Various Films Due to Supply Chain Shortages

On March 29, 2023, Fujifilm released a notice on their Japanese website alerting customers based in the domestic market that they will stop taking orders for a selection of 35mm colour negative film, 35mm colour reversal film, and medium format colour reversal film. The notice points out that the pause in orders is due to …

NEWS: Fujifilm Pauses Domestic Orders of Various Films Due to Supply Chain Shortages Read More

Focus Adjustment and Other Considerations when Shooting Infrared

From very early in my photography I have been fascinated by the unique look and simply luscious tones infrared images can produce. Ansel on steroids. I have only been able to produce anything like decent images recently but pre-digital, inspired by Sir Simon Marsden’s work (www.sirsimonmrsden.co.uk or www.jamescwilliamsphoto.com), I tried some Ilford SFX 200 film that has extended sensitivity up to 740 nm (nanometers). At the time I only had a 6x red R25 filter which produced an infrared result of sorts and I didn’t take it any further. Sir Simon used the same R25 filter but with Kodak High Speed Infrared, sensitive up to 900nm and with less sensitivity to visible light. That combination and a lack of an anti-halation layer gave much more dramatic results with the halo effect so characteristic of his work.

Reconstructed interior, St. Agnes in Agony, Rome, Italy

Fourteen Years in the Making! (A One-Shot Story)

Between 1998 and 2012, Kate and I visited Rome four times. And one of her priorities was always to see the inside of the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone on the Piazza Navona.

Built to a compact Greek-Cross plan, the unusually graceful Baroque building resulted from the work of three important Italian artists: Girolamo Rainaldi, Francesco Borromini, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (who also designed the giant “Four Rivers Fountain” outside). And Kate wanted to see inside.

An unexpected Yashica T4 and some unplanned snow

In the summer of 2022 I experienced some health issues that needed time and attention, so I applied for a treatment. There was a waiting period. So in the middle of November I finally arrived in a small spa town in Northern Germany where I was to stay until Christmas. I had time on my hands in between the treatments . My condition allowed for walks, in fact I was encouraged to go out. The weather, however, had decided not to cooperate with this medical advice. It displayed all the characteristics of the Northern German winter. It is possible to love the Northern German winter if you watch it unfold from, say, the Bahamas. Any view point closer than that is not advised. Grey, cold, rain and misery will last until they run out of steam and are then replaced by fresh grey, rain, cold and misery, just more of it this time.

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