hello from the tropics..

[roteague]

Maybe the tone of the site is due to all us "girlie men" who find macho rhetorical displays unenlightening ;-) Anyway, welcome to traditional photography. I've considered moving to Costa Rica, are there any bugs? My wife is tired of all the palmetto bugs here in Florida - not to mention the hurricanes.

I can't speak to Costa Rica, but I can talk about Hawaii. There are few bugs here, other than the indestructable roach or two, no snakes (they are illegal here). The cost of living is quite high (median home price here on Oahu is $260,000).

 

[William John Smith]

Yea, I use Photoshop and a inkjet printer.

 

[Dave Miller]

I'm an American woman who has lived in Costa Rica for a number of years. i majored in art a long time ago and never considered photography because i was intimidated by the technical aspects of it. I'm still intimidated but determined! :confused: i started shooting digital 4 years ago and was hooked totally. i have longed to know more about film and several months ago put the digital away in the back of the closet, determined to do this film thing. i am shooting with a Nikon F100 and a Leica Mini-Lux Zoom p&s for the street. i really love film, am entranced by the tangible, physical characteristics of film. i love seeing it in my fridge..i love loading a new roll and smelling that fresh film smell, i love bringing my completed rolls to the lab, i love the contact sheets and the negs, i love that it's all so, so, well ANALOG! i have not learned to scan yet but i just bought a scanner and will be climbing up that learning curve real soon. i do have one question..while this is a traditional photography site, do any of you use Photoshop at all? i mean, surely some of you are using a digital darkroom and printing on an inkjet printer...arn't you??? Anyway, thanks for all your help, support and suggestions...i hope to get to know as many of you as possible through your images, comments and forum threads. Regards: kat~

Hi Kathleen,
Welcome to the site.
I for one will own up to having feet in both digital and analog camps, with a collection of computers and printers to feed. However, like some others here I cannot find the quality output in the digital world, so remain with the tradiitional methods.

 

[Joe Symchyshyn]

i love loading a new roll and smelling that fresh film smell

Sounds like something from Apocalypse Now....

Welcome!!

joe

 

[kathleen fonseca]

Hi, Robert..thanks for the welcome...sorry i wasn't back earlier to thank you but came down with the flu..i'll show my tropics if you show your tropics ..kat~

 

[kathleen fonseca]

hi, Jim...Homer Simpson, huh? Now don't tell me he was on the Swift boat too!!

 

[kathleen fonseca]

hi, Helen, thanks for the welcome..LOVE that hair...wooooooo! kat~

 

[kathleen fonseca]

hi, once again, John..well, hmm...ok, i'm happy to replace that UF acronym for ultra large format though you won't see me lugging around that big a camera around downtown San Jose..still think i'll be a little slow shimmying up that darkroom pole unless you guys grease it first with lots of encouragement

 

[kathleen fonseca]

Heli, i love your profile pic..it's beautiful! It's been so nice to be especially welcomed by the women here..it is really such a great warm mushy feeling..thanks and welcome yourself! kat~

 

[John McCallum]

hi, once again, John..well, hmm...ok, i'm happy to replace that UF acronym for ultra large format though you won't see me lugging around that big a camera around downtown San Jose......

I give it 2 months (of being around apuger's) .... 3 at a push!

 

[kathleen fonseca]

doughowk..are there any bugs in Costa Rica??? hahahahaheeeheee...today i brought in the fumigators after i counted 4 different kinds of ants on my kitchen counter and none were over a milimeter long. i'm not saying 4 ants, i'm saying 4 different kinds of ants..now figure what that looked like when i came down for breakfast..and yes, we have Palmetto bugs too, but they don't do much harm unless they clunk you in the head whizzing by at 75mph..sorta feels like a hard drive in the seventh inning with bases loaded and Reggie stealing second..oh sorry...where was i? Maybe your wife should consider a non-tropical environment if she's bug shy?!? kat~

 

[kathleen fonseca]

I can't speak to Costa Rica, but I can talk about Hawaii. There are few bugs here, other than the indestructable roach or two, no snakes (they are illegal here). The cost of living is quite high (median home price here on Oahu is $260,000).

Robert...i'm moving there tomorrow if you tell me there's no ants..what's a sugar shack on the beach for 260 grand?? pocket change when you consider fumigation costs in Costa Rica

 

[kathleen fonseca]

Yea, I use Photoshop and a inkjet printer.

Thank you, Mr. Smith, for your frank admission of your digital leanings . i feel much better now.

 

[kathleen fonseca]

Hi Kathleen,
Welcome to the site.
I for one will own up to having feet in both digital and analog camps, with a collection of computers and printers to feed. However, like some others here I cannot find the quality output in the digital world, so remain with the tradiitional methods.

wow, you see? Mr. Smith has company! Well, i wish i could find my way to quality in my analog work but it's a tricky business...i tell myself to be patient..to be verrrry, verrrry patient..thanks for the welcome, Dave..kat~

 

[kathleen fonseca]

Sounds like something from Apocalypse Now....

Welcome!!

joe

Now that made me laugh, Joe..and trust me when i tell you i needed a good laugh..kat~

 

[kathleen fonseca]

I give it 2 months (of being around apuger's) .... 3 at a push!

Well, the problem is that a large camera in this country would attract too much of the wrong kind of attention. If anything i would move deeper into rangefinder territory...small camera, low profile..chances are greater i'll get back home with my gear AND my life in one piece....IF ya know what i mean..

 

[John McCallum]

Yes ... well .... of course no harm must come your way so guess rangefinders make a good 2nd option !! . (duck quickly - before and apug'er throws something!).

 

[kathleen fonseca]

Yes ... well .... guess rangefinders make a good 2nd option !! . (duck - quickly).

you're funny..haha...

 

[mbarnett]

Welcome Kathleen -I just registered myself. re: PS -The lack of space to set up a darkroom was one of the major factors hindering my personal development in photography. I recognized early on that I was severely restricted in not having the after-exposure control of images. It has been recently that I aquired PS and a decent scanner. I chose the Epson Perfection 2450 because of its reputation for decent scans of 4x5 format in its price range. I can get some near instant feedback of the recorded image using Polaroid 55 P/N and scanning and digitally printing. Just did the first one last Tue.
In B&W, I print with MIS Quadtone inks on my old Epson Stylus Color 740. I get decent prints -not what most people would consider "Fine Art", but very usable as viewing size proofs at full sheet, and I still have a negative for fine printing at a custom lab. I get the impression that a main reason for this site is to avoid the circular film-digital debate, but I feel one can get serviceable color prints with the proper inkset/paper combination from scanned transparencies. Again, seeing the image at a decent viewing size; i.e. 8x10, 11x17, I can better judge which images qualify for a better quality custom lab print. Currently, I am working to put together a 4x5 kit. One option I am looking at is the possibility of a quality print from scanned and Photoshopped 4x5 negative printed to giclee (inkjet) transparency at 8.5x11 to be used as an internegative for contact printing on Kodak Azo silver gelatin paper. The Azo is designed as a contact paper with long expose times. A 300 watt refletor type bulb mounted on crude stand serves as light source. See post on this site: (there was a url link here which no longer exists) For inter negative transparency material take a look at Bostick & Sullivan's site. For Kodak Azo see Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee's site: http://www.michaelandpaula.com/ Hope these leads give you some ideas to work with. Long road ahead for me also. Perhaps we'll cross paths from time to time.

 

[Art Vandalay]

Welcome to the film world. I know what you mean about the phsyical aspects of seeing, feeling and smelling the materials we love to use.

Up until recently I have been printing both my BW and colour in a wet darkroom. I decided to start scanning my colour negs and printing on a good inkjet because I had seen enough prints that I knew the quality could easily match the wet version...without all of the hassle. BW was another story and unfortunately I could only use black ink with my printer, which falls far short of silver - however there are higher quality inkjets which use a range of greys that are starting to look good. So I have returned to wet darkroom for BW. However, I hate to say it, but I can't come close to matching the power of the levels control in photoshop. I need to refocus my thinking to match the limits of multigrade paper.