The Shootist

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It's been over two months since I've posted a picture here. I've been a little overwhelmed with Zoe's mom and her Alzheimers, Zoe's stay at the hospital, and work. I've not even been shooting. I have 6 rolls of 120 I haven't even cut up much less scanned. A test roll I have in the FlashMaster™ is the first shooting I've done in a while. And I've been going through some film angst. A few months ago Fuji upgraded their professional films and dropped their tungsten negative film. Since I shoot my product photography whith tungsten lights, this was a disaster. It so happens that Kodak had some sungsten negative film. They also had color negative film in 5x7 so I switched to using Kodak professional films. Until last week. Kodak upgraded their professional films and dropped their tungsten negative film and their 5x7 color negative film. It's a plot, that's what it is. So screw Kodak, I'm going back to Fuji. They do have a nice tungsten slide film. I will have to order some and start testing. I've avoided slide film. It doesn't have the lattitude of negative film. This means I will have to be more careful with exposure. As sort of a test I grabbed some old Ektachromes. This one is 30 years old. Scary. In September of 1976 I took a trip on an Alaska State Ferry to Wrangell, Alaska, up the Inside Passage. I went to visit a friend who worked at the sawmill in Wrangell. I booked passage but not a stateroom. I laid out my sleeping bag on one of the lawn chairs on the covered sun deck and watched some of the most amazing scenery slide by. Best vacation I've ever had. I took my 4x5 Nagaoka lightweight field camera and some 4x5 Ektachrome. There's not a lot to do in Wrangel, which is small island. Going up to the quarry and target shooting was the major entertainment. That and reloading in the evening. Scanning transparencies sure is easier than negatives. Maybe this slide thing won't be too bad. The exposures on those Ektachromes weren't too bad, either. I will post more from that Alaska trip. I could never get these Ektachromes printed right. Reversal paper in 1976 sucked. Cibachrome was supposed to be very good but every Cibachrome I ever saw sucked, too.