Introduction

[Roger Thoms]

Hi, thought I would introduce myself. I currently live here in San Mateo, but just signed a lease on a house in San Francisco and will be moving at the end of July. I'm excited because I'll be able to build a darkroom in the garage. I shoot mainly b&w in formats up to 4x5 + I'm just starting to play with a 5.5"x14" pinhole camera.

Anyway note sure where this group is headed but thought I'd introduce myself.

Roger

 

[Mark_S]

I just joined this group, and will introduce myself as well.
I relocated to the bay area about 2 years ago from New England, where there is a very active APUG group. I shoot 35mm, MF and LF, although since moving, I haven't had good darkroom access, so the LF has dropped to nil. I am in the process of building a new darkroom in the garage of our rented house, which will be able to handle negs up to 4x5 and prints up to 16x20.

I live in downtown San Jose.

Looking forward to getting back into the dark.

Mark

 

[Justride408]

Hi there! I am new to this forum and film photography. I also live in the San Jose area! Anyone else here in San Jose? We should plan a meet up!

Rudy M.

 

[Roger Thoms]

Hey Mark & Rudy, wow some is actually alive in this group, I had all but given up on it. Anyway great to hear from you both and yes some kind of a meet-up would be fun. I'm up in San Francisco, but would be more than happy to head south. My weekends are pretty booked through the first week of Feb. then things are wide open. What kind of things do you guys like to photograph?

Roger

 

[Mark_S]

Roger/Rudy

I do mostly landscape, but have recently been dabbling with some abstract images.

Once I have the new darkroom done, I'd be happy to host a meetup at my house in downtown San Jose, and you can check out what I have done.

Mark

 

[Justride408]

Hey guys! Good to see some activity in this group. Are any of you going to the camera fair this weekend? www.photofair.com

Im in the San Jose area, and as of now, Im just shooting my Polaroid Land 100, 250, and 420 cameras, but am in the market for an RB67 Pro-S. Im dabbling with everything right now, but Ive been taking mostly portraits. I would like to get more into abstract and street photography, and wanting to try some different lighting setups for portraits.

Ive also been talking with Anton Orlov who is doing a Bus to Darkroom/Studio transformation, and I know he is into setting up something in the middle of February.

Talk you you guys soon!

Rudy

 

[Roger Thoms]

Yeah it is good to see some activity, as it seemed like this group was of to very slow start. Next two weekends I'm in school so no photo fair. The bus darkroom project sound interesting, it would be great to meet Anton. Marks darkroom project also sound interesting too. I'm considering building a darkroom in the garage of the house I'm renting.

As far as meeting up, as I said before, I'd be more than happy to head south. I'd would be fun to go out shooting, landscape is fine, as is city stuff, especially old buildings and any thing falling apart. Of course Mark has volunteered his place once his darkroom is done. So Mark keep us posted on your darkroom project.


Roger

 

[Justride408]

Hey Roger. In Stockton there are some great "urban decay" buildings right on the waterfront. I've been wanting to shoot them for a while now. I will try and get a few polaroids before I get the mamiya rb. There's also a really neat railroad tie graveyard with stacks and stacks of RR ties in a pile flung together like a pile of toothpicks. Excited to set something up and start learning more about film photography!

Talk to you guys soon!

Rudy

 

[Roger Thoms]

The Stockton water front sounds great, let's set something for sure. Is there a particular time of day that is best for shooting? Maybe we can set something up later on in Feb. Either the last weekend or second to last weekend would work for me.

Anyone else interested?

Roger

PS Sorry for the slow response, for some reason I'm not getting email notifications for this thread.

 

[Justride408]

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The buildings face South/SouthEast. I will take some test shots and scout the area to see if we can even get in the right position to shoot. Im not sure how fenced off the area is.

That timeframe is good for me! I usually work the weekends here in San Jose and Im off Thursday & Friday. What are your schedules like during the week? I could always meet up for night shooting too.

What do you shoot with? I just picked up a Mamiya RB Pro-S with 127mm f3.5 lens. Super excited to start shooting with it! What light meter would you recommend? I have an option to buy a Sekonic L-508 Zoom Master for $160. Worth it??

 

[Roger Thoms]

I'm laid off right now so my schedule is very flexible, so a Thursday or Friday would be good. Thursday might be better traffic wise.

I will probably bring my 4x5 and my 35mm Nikon. Lately I've been shooting the Nikon, but it's hard to beat the 4x5 when buildings are involved. I also have a Rolleiflex that was just serviced, and it's always fun.

As far as the light meter goes, I'm not very familiar with the Sekonics, but they do have a good reputation. The price also sounds good. A search of completed eBay auction should give a better idea on price. If you don't get a meter in time I can bring two and you're more than welcome to use one of them.

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Roger

That sounds cool! I can probably check out the areas on Friday and send you those test shots.

Sounds like some sweet setups!!!

Ive been comparing online pricing for the light meter and it seems like Im getting a sweet deal. When I was inspecting the Mamiya, I saw the Revolving Back and Darkslide with the Pro-S markings, but didnt think to check the film back! I ended up with a Pro back. Its in really good shape, but the guy is giving me an extra $20 off the meter. Im hopefully going to pick that up in a week or so.

Where in SF are you located. I would of course love to drive over to SF to shoot.

 

[Roger Thoms]

Rudy, The light meter does sound like a good deal, I was able to find a good pdf of the owners manual. Here's the link in case you don't have it. http://www.sekonic.com/images/files/L-508.pdf

Yeah some pictures would be great, but if you don't make it no problem. I'm game either way.

I live out in the Sunset, near 22nd Ave and Rivera St. If you want to come up here and go shooting, that would be great. I've been wanting to go over to the Presidio, lots of old building, although they have been restoring some of them. There is also Pier 70 Historic Ship Yard, lots of abandoned building, although most of them are fenced off. Fort Point is another spot I been thinking about.

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Hey Roger. Those both sound like cool places to shoot. I'm actually going to be in SF the night of Feb 11th for an art exhibition opening at White Walls Gallery on Larkin and Geary. Maybe we can meet up and shoot that night if you are free.

Hopefully I will have my meter by then and can properly shoot my mamiya rb. I just picked up my first two rolls of 120, so I'm almost ready to go!

Best,

Rudy

 

[Roger Thoms]

Rudy, Feb 11th sounds great, I could meet you at the gallery, just let me know what time.

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Hey Roger. I was planning on being there around 800. I will let you know that morning if anything changes though.

 

[Roger Thoms]

Sound good. Any particular place you want to go? I've have some ideas, but your the one traveling.

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Im pretty familiar with the city, but if you have some suggestions, we can roll with those! I will make sure to bring a tripod and hopefully pick up a cable release by then! Can you private message me your contact info?

 

[Justride408]

Had a great time shooting with Roger! Hopefully this group picks up some steam!

 

[Roger Thoms]

Yeah I had a good time too, we had very nice weather(it's raining up here in SF tonight) and got to see a great moon rise over the city. I made some exposure with the 4x5, if I got anything good I'll post it here.

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Yup! We got very lucky! I have 4 more exposures to take before I develop. I will do the same if anything comes out! Talk to ya soon.

 

[Roger Thoms]

Well I have my film processed, have printed one neg from late Sat. Tried scanning the print, but it looks like crap. I really need something better than an HP all in one. Once I have my other negs printed I will scan them down at SF Photo Center and post them, or at least the ones that are decent.

Rudy how's your film coming?

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Hey Roger! Which shot came out the best? I finally shot through the rest of my film and will be taking them in tomorrow for processing! I will let you know how they come out. When did you want to shoot again??


Rudy

 

[Roger Thoms]

Good question, the first shot of the GGB, looks actually look pretty nice, that was with the 210mm. I processed the other negs, and those exposures look good but a couple of the negs have problems. The best neg of the city has a sratch, and the shots with the 135mm of the GGB have focus problems.

I'm going to the the darkroom, and will try and print the city shot, plus scan everything so I can post yhe results.

Roger

 

[Justride408]

Im glad at least one came out! Im getting my film back tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed!