JEFF SINGER BLOG - SAN FRANCISCO EDITORIAL & COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER » film

Mamiya 7II

Jeff Singer — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:42:25 +0000

Last summer I bought the much hyped and hard to get Fuji X100 camera as a little carry around camera. After using it I instantly determined that, while the files it produces are very nice, the camera itself is infuriating to use. As I noted on my trip to New York City, even though the X100 was with me everywhere I went, I used my iPhone instead.

Then recently Fuji announced their latest camera, the X-Pro1. It looks like a pretty nice upgrade. This camera will have changeable lenses and better manual focusing. So I thought, “hmm, maybe that would be a good little camera to get.” The only thing I’m not thrilled about is the smaller-than-35mm APS-C sensor. But Fuji is doing something with this sensor that other manufacturers haven’t… they’re making the pixel patterns random to give it more film like look. Film like… sounds good to me.

But then I thought… What are they going to come out with next? What am I going to want NEXT year?!?! So I decided to buy different camera all together. It comes with a full frame 6×7 sensor with an ACTUAL film look and hasn’t changed much since it was first introduced in 1990′s: The Mamiya 7II. Ok, it’s far from what you would call a “little” camera… but I know I like this one thanks to Fabien Penso who let me come by and try his out last summer at his office (which has quite the view as you can see above).

I found a really good deal for a used 7II on ebay and it should be here tomorrow. I have some editorial shoots next week where I’ll put it to use now that I’m shooting film on editorial assignments.

Here’s some unsharpened detail from an Imacon scan:

Shoot Film

Jeff Singer — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:07:20 +0000

I’ve been shooting film on all my editorial shoots so far in 2012 and I plan to continue (unless things like deadlines call for digital). Whenever I mention that I’m shooting film to the Photo Editor or Art Director, they pretty much say the same thing; “Film? Cool! I love film!” A Photo Editor just the other day said to me: “Oh, you shoot film? No wonder I love your work!”

Then, when I get to the shoot and pull out something like my Mamiya RZ67, every subject has said just about the same thing; “Whoa, what kind of camera is that? You’re shooting film? Wow!” You know what I hear a lot when I pull out a Canon digital?

“Oh, I have one of those.”

Update:
Of course, the day after I post this, Kodak files for bankruptcy. Time to stock up?

Christopher Hitchens RIP

Jeff Singer — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:04:11 +0000

Christopher Hitchens died today. As I wrote here before, Hitchens has been one of my most interesting subjects to date. He was actually one of the very first assignments I received after becoming a photographer… my second editorial assignment to be exact. It’s intimidating enough to be a new photographer and working on only your second editorial shoot let alone having it be Christopher Hitchens (it didn’t help when his wife told me, during the shoot, how Annie Leibovitz photographed their wedding with a Holga).

I was familiar with Hitchens through appearances on shows like The Daily Show and Bill Maher and some of his writing for Vanity Fair. I knew going in I didn’t want to discuss politics with him since I would be far outclassed but given that there was an election coming up, it was inevitable. It was interesting to hear the perspective on the candidates (and their wives) from someone who actually knew them personally. When most people give their opinions on a candidate it’s based on what they see or read in the news, but when you’re with someone telling you about having dinner “at The Kerry’s”, it gives a different level of credibility to what they’re telling you.

The shoot probably went on longer than he anticipated but he was incredibly patient with me and made the shoot enjoyable. It was an honor to get to meet him.

RIP Mr. Hitchens.

Smile

Jeff Singer — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:01:28 +0000

Today over on A Photo Editor there’s a link to a Rodney Smith blog post about smiling in photos. Rodney doesn’t think smiling photos have substance. I don’t know that I agree with that, but I know I tend to like non-smiling photos. I have a total of seven on my entire website and only one in my portfolio (although it depends on what qualifies as a smile… there are some very slight smiles that I didn’t count). I tend to take things a bit further though… It seems I don’t even like people looking at the camera.

I posted about this a year ago, but looking over recent shoots I think I’m getting worse. I routinely choose the photos where the subject isn’t looking at the camera (I will say, the client rarely chooses those). I keep wondering what this says about myself.

NYC Prep

Jeff Singer — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:06:05 +0000

I’ve been spending the last week printing a new portfolio for an upcoming trip to New York. I forget how long it takes to print out all those images when you’re as anal as I am about prints. A lot of these are prints I’ve made before so you’d think I’d have everything ready to go. But not for me, I’m always fidgeting with images even after I’m done with them. So of course as I revisited all these images for printing the new portfolio I had to spend countless hours agonizing over minute details that nobody else will probably even notice (this morning my girlfriend told me she saw virtually no difference between two prints. The thought in my head: “What are you talking about… one is WAY more green!!!”).

Anyway the new portfolio is just about finished and I’m looking forward to my New York City trip to show it around.

Japan Disaster Relief Print Sale

Jeff Singer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:54:13 +0000

Last year when the Haiti disaster struck I offered prints sales where all of the proceeds went towards the Haiti disaster relief. Well, sadly a year later we have another disaster that needs our hep. I made some print sales from the Haiti print offer so, I’m offering the same deal for the Japan disaster. It’s not much, but anything will help.:

I will be donating 100% of the proceeds from the next ten print sales* from my etsy page to The American Red Cross to help with the Japan disaster relief . Print prices range from $50 – $200 depending on the size of the print, so the larger the print the more money will be going to Japan relief. All prints are individually custom printed by me.

You can visit my Etsy page here for more information about the available prints:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jeffsingerphoto

I have limited images on my etsy page so if an image you’d like a print of isn’t on my etsy page let me know and I will print any image on my website.

You can also make your own donation to The American Red Cross here.

Please forward or retweet to spread the word and hopefully get some much needed money to the Japan disaster relief efforts.

*100% of the print sale will be donated after any paypal/etsy fees, shipping or taxes. Just mention this blog post or Japan disaster relief when ordering. Good through the end of April 2011.

Color Blind

Jeff Singer — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:34:56 +0000

I’m never happy with how I’ve worked color images so I’m always fidgeting with them. I mentioned in a previous post that if I have a retoucher work on an image I usually don’t mess with it (after all, that’s why I paid them to do it). But for some reason when I’m doing the post on an image myself I’m never satisfied. So, I was playing with this skater image that I like and messing around with the look. I like them both. The original treatment of the raw scan is more natural and this version looks a bit more processed. What do you think (poll below):

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Tosca Cafe – San Francisco

Jeff Singer — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:38:02 +0000

Last week I went to Rayko Photo Center to do some large format printing and made a 30″x40″ print of this image of Tosca Cafe in San Francisco. I loved the way it came out so I thought I’d offer a 25% discount on this print in my Etsy shop through the end of February 2011. Just use the coupon code TOSCA when checking out (here’s a secret… you can use the code on any print really). Here’s a link to the Tosca Cafe image on Etsy.

If you’ve never been to Tosca Cafe you should check it out next time you’re in San Francisco. It’s a great little bar that makes you feel like you’ve been taken back to the 1940′s.

Don’t Look!

Jeff Singer — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:40:04 +0000

I’m thinking about reorganzing the galleries on my website and while I was going through the images I realized, I really like it when people aren’t looking at the camera. I know I usually ask people to look away, I just didn’t realize I did it so often:

Longboard Surfer

Jeff Singer — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:05:29 +0000

Here is the first of the surfer shots I recently had scanned. As I mentioned in my skater post, I feel like it’s still a work in progress on the post production side (in fact as I’m uploading I already see a couple things I want to adjust). More surfers to come.