Death of my xPan
I’m currently on a cross Europe adventure, visiting 8 countries and hoping to take many great photographs. Then as I walk out onto Piazza San Marco in Venice, raise my xPan to my eye, press the shutter and….. Nothing. The mighty xPan was dead. I had a feeling something was wrong as on the last roll it started to make some horrible squeaking noises, but I convinced myself it was the new kind of film I was trying, or maybe the cold weather. Anyways, I’ve been mourning the loss ever since. I’ll send it in to Hasselblad for servicing when I get home, hopefully it is repairable.
In tribute to my xPan, here are some of my shots on Flickr
And here is my all time favorite shot taken last summer in Paris…
Paris Day Planner 2012 – Buy me!
With some of my many Paris photos, I’ve made a 2012 Daily Planner (Calendar). It features pictures taken with my xpan, voigtlander rangefinder, Holga, and Sony Nex 3. I wanted to stick with only film cameras, but the cover shot was just too good to omit.
There are 14 pictures including the cover, and the last 20 or so pages are lined for notes. It’s 5×8″ or “pocket book” sized and is available on Blurb for only $9.95 Click Here to see the book and purchase if you are interested.
Photo Friday
Holga eh? Sure why not. While I whine about the thousands of pictures I still have to go through from last year, I didn’t go through any this week. I’d love to say I was all wrapped up in some incredible new endeavour, but honestly I’d have to say it was more due to laziness.
Anyhow, can’t go wrong with a picture of bike now can you? Not sure why but I love bike pictures, probably should move to Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but until then I’ll just drool over my pictures. Taken with my Holga on some type of colour film, quite likely Kodak VC160.
Photo of the Week
Started scanning some of my backlogged black and white film from last year. I still have several rolls to develop, but I’ve scanned most of the developed stuff now. I tried Tri-X, the film that everyone seems to praise. Not sure if I like it, lots of dark negs it seems, might have to adjust my developing on the rest of the rolls.
This week’s photo taken with my voigtlander Bessa R and the 15mm Heliar. Gives some great wide angles but also makes all the posts in the picture crooked… Taken with Kodak Tri-X, developed in D76. We had gone to Gare de l’Est for a day trip out of Paris, but due to some striking workers, we ended up heading to the local park instead.
Photo of the Week
I have this habit of selling old cameras and then regretting it. Usually I finish the roll off, sell the camera, then get the prints back and realize it was a great camera and I had lots of great shots from it. Then comes the regret…. What does this have to do with this week’s photo? Well it’s taken with my Yashica 124G, and it’s the second straight roll I’ve scanned and realized I wasn’t excited about any of the pictures. I mean there are a few good ones, but nowhere near as many keepers as from my other cameras. Of course it’s not the cameras fault, it works flawlessly, it just doesn’t work with my style I guess.
Anyways, that was a long intro… Photo taken in Paris on Fuji Reala with my soon to be former Yashica 124G TLR.
Photo of the Week
I finally got into the darkroom and started developing some films from last October… I’ve got 5 done, but still have another 5 to go. Things have been busy but it’s something I should really make time for. This week’s picture is from a roll that I only got developed a few weeks ago, and it was taken last November…. I see a trend here.
Anyways, the photo is of the big ferris wheel at Place de Concorde in Paris (it’s not always there, but was for the Christmas craft fair going on). Taken last November with my Agfa Optima on Kodak E100 slide film. I’d spent the afternoon walking around that end of town, went to see a photo exhibit at the Petit Palais, and grabbed this shot on my way back to the Metro station.
Photo of the Week
Photo of the week, from a while back… Haven’t taken many pictures since moving back, I live in a bit of a cultural wasteland… But I digress. This picture was from Berlin, one of my favourite cities of Europe. Everything fell into place for me on this one, I saw the accordion player, the light turned red so he couldn’t cross and everyone lined up and waited while (unknowingly) I took their picture.
Taken with my Hasselblad xPan, 45mm lens, and likely Fuji Neopan 400, but I could be wrong on this one…
Photo of the Week
Taken in Paris, using my Yashica 124G. So many small cars all around, found it unique that two identical but contrasting cars were parked together. Lined them up so the door would be in the centre…. now if only someone had come out the door as I took the picture…
52 Create – Helicopters
Toys toys and more toys…. This week, a fleet of helicopters. Is it a fleet or a flock? Perhaps a squadron, who knows…. 52 Create is my year long project of creating something myself each week for the entire year. The majority of the items are out of wood, however last week we branched out into film. Check out the projects so far.
As I said above, this week I made 3 toy helicopters. Once you make one, you might as well make a few, and I’m hoping this one will be a big seller on my Etsy shop. The helicopter is made of Douglas Fir (dark wood) and the rest is maple dowels except for the baltic birch plywood rotor. They haven’t been finished yet as the weather is too cold but they will be getting a coat of polyurethane to help keep them in pristine shape.
I’ve also at long last put the two toy rangefinder cameras up for sale on my Etsy Shop. I finished them in shellac which is a food safe finish that is even used on some candies (sweets), so it’s a very safe finish for kids who may be keen to take a bite out of them…
Photo of the Week
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with my Holga. I hate the way the bulb switch moves on it’s own, often ruining an entire roll of 120 film, yet when it works, I often get a great picture which I love. I’m not a holga kind of guy, I was given mine by a friend who’s foray into film photography lasted about 2/3 of a roll. I have an unwritten rule about not selling cameras that were gifts, which unfortunately means I end up keeping more of them around then I would like…
Anyways, this week’s photo is of some kid’s push cars outside a little toy store in Montmartre, Paris. It’s on the back side of the hill and I walked by one day and thought it would be a great shot to put up in my daughter’s room. I have some plans to make a wooden push car later this year as part of my 52 Create project.
This picture will be put up this weekend on my Etsy site for sale, so head on over if you’re interested. Any of the pictures seen on my flickr site can also be purchased, leave a comment or contact me directly if interested.
