Big Fall Film Batch!

As my inspiration changes and shifts between my artistic mediums: video, photography, etc; I find that I only shoot a few rolls of film here and there. Mostly random shoots and moments of whimsical inspiration. Because of this I always have a bag in my freezer of miscellaneous films the need to be processed. The black and white film usually doesn't accumulate for too long as it is easier and fairly convenient for me to process quickly, however what color film I shoot, both e6 and c41, accumulates very slowly.

Three types of film on a light table; mind the orange stripes from the fluorescent bulb

Opening my freezer the other day I noticed a had a decent enough assortment to justify a mail order to Dwayne's Photo to get processed. So I packed up 2 rolls of 120 Kodak Portra 160nc, 1 roll 120 Kodak e100s, and a misc 35mm c41 roll. I have a bunch of other misc 35mm rolls floating around as well, but I decided to save those for another time, or perhaps if I eventually develop a batch myself later on this year. Dwayne's does an excellent job at a very reasonable price and had my film processed and uncut (as I requested) within a week or so.

As for my black and white stash; I had 6 rolls on ice: 1 roll of 35mm Kodak Tri-X, 4 rolls of 120 Fomapan 100, and 1 roll of Fomapan 400. I mixed up some fresh Ilford ID-11 developer (I was out of d76 powder, but ID-11 is pretty much the same) and went to town processing. Since I only had 1 liter of stock developer I processed everything at a 1:3 dilution except the roll of 400 Fomapan which I did at 1:1 because I had exposed it at an EI of 800. For most of the Fomapan 100 I developed the rolls together in a large tank where I could process 3 at once.

Scanning in the film from a shoot with Bailey a few weeks back; I use Vuescan as the software

Now that all the film is processed, dried, and sleeved I am scanning it in. Unfortunately the really excellent Nikon Coolscan 8000 I have access to is not working, but luckily the Epson v700, while not as great, works fine. With the v700 I can scan 6 frames of 6x7 at once or a whole roll of 35mm, which is an amazing time saver. The quality is not the best or what I would ideally want, but is plenty good for most any use except large prints.

As I keep scanning, which I am doing right now, I will post more entries regarding the individual shoots.

The Principia Climbers in West Virginia

It's amazing that it has already been two weeks since I was in West Virginia with the Principia Climbers, time does have a habit of floating away during the middle of the semester I suppose. Anyway, I have managed to finally produce a promo video for the club from footage of the trip. Firstly I need to give a big thanks to Joey White for letting me use his really great GoPro footage. Joey rigged himself with several GoPro's everyday of climbing and captured some excellent POV and actions shots of not only himself climbing but of the beautiful rocks, faces, and views. The last shot in the promo really nails what I was looking for in terms of inspiration and feeling.

I chose "Kings and Queens" as the song because of the light hearted, inspirational, and (to me) mountainy vibe it gives off. There is something about the chorus that always remind of mountains and makes we want to explore and see everything.

For the filmed a really cool shot of Alex carrying rope up to a wall at New River Gorge. I instantly knew, as I filmed it, that it would be the opening shot. I placed the 5D II w/ 17-40L on my tripod which I further adjusted so that I was hold two of the tripod legs with the last leg on my shoulder. This make-shift rig allows for some surprisingly steady walking shots that include an aesthetically pleasing sense of motion, versus walking and trying to hold the camera in my hand. I used this technique almost exclusively in my Spring break film last year when I had the Black Magic Cinema Camera. 

The rest of the footage I pieced in place based on the gut feeling I had. There is a vague sense of continuity throughout the short anyway, but I really just wanted to capture the essence of the trip; how I felt and how I feel like others felt. 

Not in the promo are a ton of more detail shots of equipment and gear as well as several short interviews I did. I am hoping to use this extra footage in later climbing films, which might be coming out sooner rather than later. 

I graded all the 5D shots in Davinci Resolve, using a Kodak print film LUT and adjusting brightness and exposure through log sliders. From there I adjusted the tone and color to a saturated blue/yellow palette without going to extreme. My aim was for the feel to be punchy but not overly in your face. Finally I added a decent amount of vignette to each shot. The GoPro footage I just graded in FCPX as it was not filmed in a log color space. The coloring for this was pretty simple and quick with no shot really requiring a lot of attention, I didn't even have to using keyframing and tracked power windows in Resolve.

I had a really good time working with the club and making this film. Next semester I plan on taking a much more active role in the club after my swim season ends. Hopefully I will gain the skills to actually get up a wall and film some sweet vertigo shots.

Seneca Rocks Trip

There is something about long drives that inspires, among the cravings for junk food, me to think of theoretical adventures. Of course going to Seneca Rocks in West Virginia with my school's climbing club was already an adventure. While I am not a climber, yet, I definitely enjoyed the slice of life and culture that climbers subscribe too. The precision in thought and will to not only know such things as different knots but to be able read a rock wall and solve "it's" problem.

Austin at New River Gorge

I especially found the amount and type of gear used to be fascinating. Our group consisted of 12 total; 3 guides, 8 climbers, and 1 video/photographer (me). Each of the guides had an assortment of cams, carabiners, and other rock gadgets that the multi pitch climb of Seneca Rocks requires. On top of this was all the rope needed to secure each of the climbers they were towing – guiding – up.

Dan's rack and harness

My purpose on this trip was to be a make shift documentarian. I had promised the leader that I would produce a promo video for the club, which I am working on still, to both showcase the abilities of its members but to also attract new people. On top of this I wanted to get some nice stills and landscapes of West Virginia at the eve of fall. Finally, I managed to finagle it that I could use the some of the footage I shot for a marketing video I am producing for my job. Overall, I was playing a master of image, so to speak.

View looking down face at New River Gorge

I brought with me a Canon 5D mkII, 17-40L, 85 f/1.8, 135L, 100-300 f/4.5-6.3 as my digital still and A-camera for b-roll and interviews. I then took along my Pentax 6x7 MLU, 55 f/4, and 135 f/4 with a pile of Fomapan 100 and my last 2 rolls of Kodak e100s for landscapes. Finally I borrowed a GoPro 3 to get some nice POV shots.

My big Pentax during a shoot along a creek near where we camped

I grabbed a bunch of excellent film b-roll of the climbers. Specifically of the details of setting up for a pitch and of the guides demonstrating and lecturing. However I did not get much "actiony" shots of climbing itself. Climbing is interesting in the sense that it is in many ways a slow sport. It requires extreme concentration and flow yet outwardly can look very static.  From what I had researched I knew the best shots are those that encompass both a sense of scale and of thrill and tension. Basically shots of a climber on a steep face overlooking a large drop of some kind. Such shots requiring me to be on the wall or above, something I did not possess the skills for. Luckily one of the climbers had mounted 3 GoPros on himself and is nice enough to let me access his footage.

Repelling down single pitch face at Seneca Rocsk

Overall I found the trip to be a much needed break even though I was very preoccupied with my various cameras. I shot some decent stills, filmed a bunch of great b-roll, and even shot 3 rolls of film; 2 B/W and 1 roll of e100s. The trip was short and encapsulated by 12 hour drives to and from school. I am very much enjoying editing the footage I shot and will hopefully post some fruits of the labor soon. I also plan on sending a batch of color film to Dwayne's Photo in Kansas to get processed soon, so hopefully I will have some nice color shots up as well.

The group preparing for their multi pitch climb of Seneca Rocks