Greetings from Cape Cod/new convert.

[Arglebargle]

Hello! My name is Al and originally I had pretty much wrote down my life story as it pertains to photography, but decided to just say thank you for an incredible web site that has helped me tremendously. The basic gist of my super long post was I bought into the wonders of digital photography but realized later that I prefer the look of film. After reading this site and others for over a year and trying to decide between large format or medium format I went with a Pentax 67 system, because I usually shoot at sunrise so once the light begins I really need to hoof it to find what I could not envision in the dark. Plus my keeper ratio is embarrassingly low.

What I'd really love is a film with the latitude of a negative, the reciprocity of Provia, and the colors of Velvia, it seems like the only solution is to buy a second camera and use two different types of film, one for before the sunrise and one for after, but I really don't like to haul that much gear, especially since my bag won't fit another camera. Right now I think I like Kodak UC100 the best, but I just bought 20 rolls of Fuji 160C and I'm awaiting to see the results. So far I have the 45mm and 75mm, and I just ordered the 200mm and fisheye lenses. I've been setting the alarm for 3:30 AM and heading out to the Cape Cod National Seashore whenever I can.

Well thank you again for such a wonderful site. Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Al

 

[Dave Miller]

Welcome Al.

 

[Flotsam]

Welcome Al
Subscribe so that you can post some of your photography in the gallery.
I've heard wonderful things about the light on Cape Cod. I'd love to make it up there. If I do, I'll ask you for advice and location suggestions.

-Neal

 

[wfwhitaker]

My introduction to Cape Cod was through the photographs of Dead Link Removed. What a wonderful place you live in! Welcome!

 

[jovo]

Welcome from 'upstate' NY! I used to rent a cottage just up the road from Nauset light on Cable Road for a week or two every summer for about 8 years. If I were to win the lottery, I'd head for the Cape in a New York...er...um....a Massachussetts minute. Love that place!

I hope you enjoy apug. I'll look forward to seeing the results of your pre-dawn forays to the National Seashore....it's a wonderfully scenic place as you know!

 

[roteague]

Hi Al, welcome from Hawaii. I'm sure you will enjoy APUG, and the wealth of information you can get here.

 

[Tom Stanworth]

welcome! A superb site which really is all you need for film users.

 

[SuzanneR]

Welcome from north central Mass! Check out the regional section of APUG. You'll see in the New England section, we have a darkroom workshop, and an APUG show planned for the 26th/27th at the Belmont Hill School in Belmont. Hope you can join us!

 

[Markok765]

Welcome Al from Canada

 

[Drew B.]

Welcome from the "upper" Cape. I know digital has its place...but for landscapes, architecture, portraits, social documentation and the like, you just can't beat film!

drew

 

[Bill Hahn]

Welcome Al,

From North Central Massachusetts and a fellow Pentax 6x7 ("the big honker")
user....the 200mm is a sweet lens. (Do you have a lens bag for that 75mm -
I might have one that was donated to me recently...PM me if you're interested.)

-Bill

 

[copake_ham]

Welcome from "upstate NY" Copake today, from NYC tomorrow night and Tuscon (not often enough! ).

Of all of the places in NE - the one I have never been to is "the Cape". One of these days though....but only in the Autumn after the hordes have gone away!

 

[Arglebargle]

Hello again!

If you want avoid the crowds my favorite time of year on the Cape is winter, if we get snow. Some years if it gets cold enough the bays freeze up and big "icebergs" (for lack of the proper word) make mazes on the beaches. Many years it's too warm and we get no snow, then it's just bleak. Fall is getting more and more crowded, but to be honest once you find the backroads it's not even bad here in the summer. Just stay off Rt 28 in Yarmouth, Falmouth and Mashpee and don't try to leave or arrive on Friday or Saturday or go near the Bourne scenic highway Fridays or Saturdays. Hyannis on a rainy day is also a bad idea.

Hey Bill thanks for the bag offer but I have a box of lens pouches that have never seen a lens ever. I just leave the lenses loose in my camera bags with only the dividers as protection.

If anybody makes it to the Cape my favorite place is the National Seashore. I've lived here my whole life and there are still places I've never seen. The Brewster mudflats is also a very cool place at low tide. I really love the Atlantic side of Truro. The big trick is to avoid the beaches with the brand new McMansions. Actually I've considered doing a photo documentary of all the gaudy new giant mansions and the buildup here on the Cape, but that's another type of photography I haven't attempted yet, photos of things I do not like rather than photos of things I love to look at.

I haven't scanned any of my 120 film yet, I've only shot about fifteen rolls on my Pentax so far. I do have a small amount of 35mm film scans though here: http://www.pbase.com/arglebargle/film_only most of them are Frontier scans so they aren't the best. I'm still trying to decide whether to get a few drum scans, invest in a Nikon 9000, or find some one to make real prints. I have a two year old so time for my photography is pretty precious, maybe someday I'll have more time to get a darkroom put together in a few years when she starts school.

Suzanne thanks for the invite, I'll look into it for sure! I never knew there was regional forums, took me about twenty minutes of searching to find them. I've been lurking here for quite a while and I never knew they existed! A sad confession is I've only been in a working darkroom once in my whole life, in high school many years ago, though I used to clean two darkrooms every night and receive and unload pallets of the chemicals at my old job at the newspaper. I'd really love to see some more of the process now that I've read so much about it.

My current job is also at the paper, I'm the guy who photoshops the photos. For those of you who live on the Cape you've probably seen the results of my handiwork in the Cape Cod Times. There's four of us that do it so if looks really bad it was either the other guy or the press messed it up, again! Actually it can be a depressing job because I work really hard to make the photos look the best that I can but newsprint is kind of drab for photo reproduction. I only adjust with the contrast, sharpen, color correct, and do some minor dodging and burning, none of that monkey business you read about.

Thank you for all your kind welcomes, and thanks to everybody who posts so much useful information here! I'm really looking forward to my next phase in the pursuit of better photography!

-Al

 

[papagene]

Welcome from western Mass. I hope that you can make some of the NE-APUG events that we occasionally have.

gene

 

[Ed Sukach]

Welcome, Al, from the "Other Cape" (Ann) - Ipswich, or as it is more accurately called, Puritanville.

 

[Tony Egan]

Welcome from Sydney, Australia. Actually it's late winter here and almost warm enough again for some serious darkroom sessions. Likewise I love the work of Joel Meyerowitz. I don't look at much colour photography but his Cape Light book is in my collection and I pull it out regularly. I was lucky enough to visit for a weekend when I lived in New York for a few years in the early nineties. The way the sea and sky seem to dissolve into each other is remarkable.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here. It is a global phenomenon!

 

[Drew B.]

Al, check w/Bob Korn in Orleans for good scanning. ...or I can scan some for you...no charge. This past week, I brought in a 4x5 scan...he printed two fabulous 13x19 b&w prints of sandy neck and one just sold last night at auction for $250. He does great work...but a bit pricey.
drew

 

[colrehogan]

Welcome from St. Louis, Al! I shoot a little color, but it's mostly Provia. I shoot Provia because it's not as saturated as Velvia, and it's pretty good in the reciprocity area for when I do night shooting.