CrispContrasts

Look it even works in B&W!

I spent yesterday evening listening to Ken Seet. He's one bloody amazing interior photographer, Bare bone practical yet he proves to out do so many others in the trait.

So, i picked up this technique after picking his brains for half an hour. A single light with no reflectors, how did i get no shadows!

After a week of Medium format madness, the leica still seems to excite!

Mt. Wellington



Just a short drive from the city, you get one of the most beautiful views of the city with the backdrop of rolling plains disappearing in the distance.

From Swansea, where we stayed for the night, Lauceston was next on the list. The wine and food continues.





Quaint corners litter the countryside, always exciting the random explorer.



For a population the smaller than Penang, there're tons of these little nick nack shops to tempt you into a interior re design.

On to the Freycinet Peninsular, Its this outcrop of land that creats a bay between the main island and a small range of hills. Between these hills hold one of the most beautiful sights in Tasmania. 



It was a good 35 minute climb up the slopes to the lookout over wineglass bay. 300 steps carved out of granite and great lengths of earth track before you get there.



This just before the lookout, the sun was low which made of great soft shadows!



Exactly as you see in postcards, go back a century, the bay would be red from the blood of whales. Freycinet was a premier whaling location in Tasmania as the mouth of this cove lead out to the open sea.



The open sea.



The peninsular does hold many scenic nooks and and crannys for recreation, rent and RV and park it by the beach!



The place does produce good wine too. Vineyards are strewn across the countryside with lots of fine dining en suite.



A place like this, the evening light is always beautiful.

I've finally got the digital process in house, got a V500 this evening to scan the mother load of medium format negatives on my table. I did the sums and it worked out much cheaper than having them sent out for scanning. Well, just to give you and idea of the kind of resolution i'm getting from this silly off the shelf scanner. My D700 used to spit out 4256 x 2832 pixels, thats barely 12 megapixels. I'm scanning at 3200dpi, just a quarter of maximum resolution and i'm getting files with 6650 x 6650 pixels. THATS 44 MEGAPIXELS; BITCH!

Okay, when i first opened the whole lot up, I got the greatest shock of all time and you'll soon see why.

This is the first 11 shots of the first of 6 rolls shot in Tasmania.



This is the very first shot I nicked off at Tullamarine airport waiting for the connecting flight to Hobart. Well, nothing really unexpected here, great latitude, nice colour, details are all there... Hold on to your hats, there's more in this sack of socks.



Well, just before taking off on the connecting flight, I got bored and snapped off another. Well, again, nothing out of the ordinary here. Except that 44 megapixels of detail are starting to show. You could see almost every strand of hair on that brunette's head if you zoomed in 100%. Now, why would we want all that nitty detail...?



We stopped by Barilla Bay for lunch after touching down in Hobart. It was pretty quaint, sleeply place, extremely unassuming to the amazing mussels they serve! Again, you see the amazing exposure latitude.



I pointed the lens inside and look what you get, great contrast!



After lunch, we took a short drive across the peninsular the district of Sorrel. Sorrel is a place famous for its berrys and fruit, Well, not that I did try but Id guess, with so much land and free time on their hands, Id bet the fruit isn't that bad.



Took the effort to walk around alittle and bang. Colour, rich beautiful colour.



As you can see, Tassie isn't populated with much. Its trees, shrubs, more tress and more shrubs.



Low and behold. Its probably the first time I'm sticking the silly piece of GND in front of a camera since I got it a year ago. Well, impressive, it did really darken the sky!



More flowers.. Boy oh Boy oh Boy. I'm going gaga over flowers.



Well, Here I am at awestruck. What can 44 megapixels and a huge chunk of film do? Capture all that intricate detail while still keeping all that wonderful contrast. Try that on digital, i know i have and its a mile away!



Here we go again. Just so exciting!

I've got all my film back from Simon! thats, 5 rolls of 120 and 1 roll of rotten kodak gold.


Leica M2 35mm f/1.4 Nokton on expired kodak200


Leica M2 50mm Summicron on expired kodak200


Leica M2 50mm Summicron on expired kodak200


Leica M2 50mm Summicron on expired kodak200


Leica M2 50mm Summicron on expired kodak200

This roll took forever to finish!

I've completed the trio!

I've just got back from Tazzie with 5 rolls of undeveloped film. Just a taste of the gorgeous landscapes to come!