Postcard Exchange Round 37 Comments and Feedback

[Black Dog]

Happy to see my card has been received by (at least some of) the intended recipients. Rachelle and astroclimb, thanks for commenting. And yes, it is a 4x5" contact print. In the previous round, I printed on old Agfa Brovira paper. The box was now empty. I had another box (and a few more), but after a few attempts, I have to conclude that not all old paper reacts the same to light and developer. So, for this round, I opted to use the Ilford postcard paper. (Actually, what better way to support the current producers of paper than to use new & currently available paper?)

Thanks, I've got mine too-nice light and use of space.

 

[Randalcav]

I received Cairns in the Woods by drpsilver, what a great use of depth of field. This card is very well printed and enchanting. This is very well done.
I also received Pollard Woods from kraker yesterday. This is a nice sharp image from the Wanderlust. Are you pleased with the camera? I have read mixed reviews about it. It certainly seems to be functioning very well in your hands. I like the tone and sharpness of your contact print.
Thanks guys.

 

[Randalcav]

Kraker, I forgot to mention the nice job you did using the magnetic paint to mount your postcards to the wall. I think the man that invented magnetic paint lives about 5 miles down the road from my house. That was a great idea.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Kraker, I forgot to mention the nice job you did using the magnetic paint to mount your postcards to the wall. I think the man that invented magnetic paint lives about 5 miles down the road from my house. That was a great idea.

+1 I really like this idea as well, too bad I can't do it where I live.

 

[kraker]

I also received Pollard Woods from kraker yesterday. This is a nice sharp image from the Wanderlust. Are you pleased with the camera? I have read mixed reviews about it. It certainly seems to be functioning very well in your hands. I like the tone and sharpness of your contact print.

Thanks. I've seen in other prints (where there is more detail in the corners) that the corners are rather soft, but I must say that I quite like the look of that. The Wanderlust, it's my first encounter with 4x5", and for that, I like it. The viewing/focussing screen is pointless, but I have found out that the 45mm viewfinder from my Bronica RF645 should offer roughly the same field of view as the 90mm on the Wanderlust, so I've started to use that to support me somewhat in framing the image. I'm still getting used to it all, I've only taken some 10-odd shots to date. It has its limitations, but I like it. Planning to give it a try with the pinhole as well.

Kraker, I forgot to mention the nice job you did using the magnetic paint to mount your postcards to the wall. I think the man that invented magnetic paint lives about 5 miles down the road from my house. That was a great idea.

Thanks for mentioning that. I've always been looking for a way to give the postcards a place where they can be seen, which is what they deserve. I don't remember how it came about, but suddenly, there was this idea in my head of using magnetic paint. Well, if you run into the good man who invented it, give him a big thanks!

 

[ozphoto]

Randalclav's card of demolition in progress and Rachelle's card of the Grand Shrine Shimane arrived today.
Two extremes of the world around us.

 

[Laurent]

I received many cards this week:

kraker's Pollard willows, beautiful contact print from a 4x5 negative.

Matt King's Hallelujah, great perspective to the sky, very puzzling at first look!

drpsilver's Cairns in the woods, nice closeup in the forest. The two silhouettes in the back really help the image, I find.

Randal cav's "The end of another factory", I love industrial landscapes

Black dog's "Sledging at tarn hows", whioch brings back childhood memories.

My own cards are now all printed, just need to make time for writing them. If the weather is bad enough, this will be done from my vacations next week ;-)

Thanks to all!
Laurent

 

[piu58]

I got Randal cav's card Today. Beautiful! The scenery can be seen in three planes, thank you.

 

[anikin]

I've received three more prints:

"Pollard willows" by Jacco deKraker. A real neat 4x5 contact print. I love 3-dimentionality of contact prints. The threes have really unusual look, as if they are turned upside down and we are looking at the roots.

"Mt St Helens reforestation" by megzdad81. A great pattern of trees that regrew after the blast. It's interesting how varying brightness of the trees create a matrix-like image. Cool.

"The end of another factory" by Randalcav" Another era has passed and these factory ruins can be found everywhere in the country. I guess, time always moves on. Interesting contrast of past and the future.

Eugene.

 

[Oxleyroad]

Two more arrived in my letter box.
mooseonthloose - Grand Shrine Shimane. I had to double take this postcard as I thought it was an infra red picture. I also enjoyed the square image on the rectangular card.
megzdad81 - Mt St Helens reforestation. I think you have created as great print if you had a low contrast thin negative to work with.

9/17

 

[drpsilver]

04 April 2016

Several card have landed in my mailbox over the last week.
The card from Randalcav showing another piece of history disappearing (unfortunately). These are great places to photograph.
I like the abstract nature of the card from kraker. One can imagine lots of possible figures in these trees. Well done.
The other abstract image I have received this round is from megzdad81. Parts of Mt. St. Helens still look like the Moon's surface. I am glad to see that some areas are being re-forested.
The card from mooseontheloose looks like a photo taken with the beloved HIE. I was surprised to see that it was photographed with TX. I like to composition because it asks the question "What is the lady looking at, or has captured he attention?" I also like that you printed the photo biased toward the top of the paper. I works very well. Nicely done.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[kraker]

Received two more last week:
mooseontheloose, O-mikuji tree: as Darwin said, it looks (almost) like an HIE shot. You can do HIE magic even without HIE. Well, in fact, I can just fully copy the comment from Darwin. ^^ What he said! Well done! (How lazy of me...)
Randalcav, the end of another factory:quite a contrast next to the one from Rachelle. Great objects/subjects for photography, but in the end, the view might improve with the building gone? (Subject for a future card?) Like the view, like the contrast.

 

[Randalcav]

Two new cards: Megzdad81 Mt St Helens Noble firs, I like the repetition of the trees and the fact that you made a nice print from the thin negative. I just started using XTOL 1:1 and I'm still trying to get a handle on it. I processed my first two rolls in a row with thinner than normal negatives in XTOL? Like the concept and the ability to make it work out. Moose on the loose O-Mikuji Tree..what a great print. You have a very nice combination of film, developer, subject and tone. The Tri X/Finol combination is well printed and your subject ties it all together with the tone you have in your print. Very Creative. Thanks, Both did a nice job in the darkroom.

 

[ozphoto]

At last my cards are finally in the hands of ThaiPost!
Here's hoping they outdo (or at least match) the super-fast package I got from the US this week - 5 days!!!

 

[mooseontheloose]

04 April 2016
The card from mooseontheloose looks like a photo taken with the beloved HIE. I was surprised to see that it was photographed with TX. I like to composition because it asks the question "What is the lady looking at, or has captured her attention?" I also like that you printed the photo biased toward the top of the paper. It works very well. Nicely done.
Regards,
Darwin

Thanks Darwin (and everyone else for the kind comments)! To answer the question (if anyone is interested), "omikuji" are fortunes that you can get at a temple or shrine in Japan - it's always done at New Year's but can be done any time you visit an auspicious place. Especially large or famous places will also have them available in languages other than Japanese. The fortune will tell your luck, ranging from extremely good to don't get out of bed ... ever. After you read your fortune you tie it to a tree (usually) although sometimes there are wooden posts with string attached between them for that very purpose. If you have good luck, it will come true, if you have bad luck, it will fly away in the wind. Either way, you're covered. This is the first time I've seen such large trees blanketed from head to toe (in human terms): every inch of bark, every branch, was covered in omikuji. There were multiple trees like this in the area. The girl and her friend were taking photos of each other pretending to tie the omikuji to this particularly large and beautiful tree; I was lucky in that I got a very slight break in the large number of visitors going through the frame to just get the girl and the tree (with fortunes) all in one shot, while keeping her friend taking the snapshot just out of frame.

 

[mooseontheloose]

At last my cards are finally in the hands of ThaiPost!
Here's hoping they outdo (or at least match) the super-fast package I got from the US this week - 5 days!!!

Is that business days? Otherwise I'll expect the card in my mailbox on Monday.

 

[ozphoto]

Is that business days? Otherwise I'll expect the card in my mailbox on Monday.

Haha Rachelle - funnily enough that actually included a Sunday and a Saturday.

 

[astroclimb]

My copy of mooseontheloose's card came today. As usual from her a gorgeous print, I sooooo want to get back to Japan for a trip.

As well, megzad81 came recently. The symmetry you caught is astounding nee mesmerizing. Could stare at it for a long time. Guess its clear that reforestation, whether after clear cutting or a disaster like Mt. St Helens, never quite looks right.

 

[piu58]

Mt. St. Helens Reforestation - Noble Fir from megzad81 has fallen in my letterbox. I know the photographs of the eruption and have a book about it. Fine to see how nature is re-awakening.

 

[megzdad81]

Matt King -- "Hallelujah" is hypnotically dangerous. I always look up for such a shot, and I never see one where one tree isn't obviously intruding on another. Luck, or you knew where to go? I assume they were redwoods. Funny that we were both tree oriented this round.

Rachelle, thank you for your explanation--I was being told vehemently by my other that those weren't blooms. She does so enjoy being right. Actually, thank you for all your shots--I can always recognize them across the room. I must work harder ...

I will have more comments on other photos, but I cant find them at the moment--I'm worried I may have mailed them to the IRS with my return!

 

[MattKing]

Matt King -- "Hallelujah" is hypnotically dangerous. I always look up for such a shot, and I never see one where one tree isn't obviously intruding on another. Luck, or you knew where to go? I assume they were redwoods. Funny that we were both tree oriented this round.

Thanks - I'm glad you like it. Always some luck involved, but I was drawn to the park because of the trees. That and the fact that I and my wife were invited to a wedding there.
I don't know, but I don't think the trees in the card are necessarily redwoods.
The brothers that owned the tract of land were very interesting. They brought in all sorts of non-native species (redwoods being one of them). Read more here: http://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/2187.aspx

 

[mooseontheloose]

Rachelle, thank you for your explanation--I was being told vehemently by my other that those weren't blooms. She does so enjoy being right.

Interesting interpretation - I never would have thought them blooms (I guess 'cause I see them all the time here in Japan), but looking at the card again I can see how you would have thought that.

And, as luck would have it, your card arrived in the mail today. I love these kinds of repetitive shots that become more abstract any which way you look at them.

I also received Randalcav's "The end of another factory", another desolate image, but this one not of nature, but of the passing of manmade structures.

 

[ozphoto]

megzdad81's Mt. St. Helens Reforestation arrived in the post yesterday. I too, love the symmetry of the fir trees, and also remember when she erupted in 1980. I was one of many kids who chose it for a science report that year - the teacher must have been a saint!!

 

[Laurent]

I received three cards these last weeks:

megzdad81 Mt St Helen trees, very graphical image.

MooseOnTheLoose O-mijuki tree. Very nice perspective, and great rendition of the tones.

ozphoto project, very moving and uncomfortable (at least for me!)

Thanks!

I also sent my cards, so they should reach their destination in a few days. Apologies for those with an awful sticker, my stamps weren't valid anymore and I had to choose between adding 6 (!!!) addition 5c stamps, or this sticker, which is finally a bit more compact!

 

[mike c]

Received ozphoto's envelope and folder record and photos today, pretty cool. Oz, how did you get blk and white print from the fujicolor crystal archive paper? Is this from a color neg ? Like the tone and quality of the prints.

Mike