First Roll: Kentmere 400

It has been awhile since I have ventured out of my comfort zone and thought about trying a different film stock. When it comes to the big ones such as Kodak Tri-X & T-Max or Ilfords HP5+, FP4, Delta 3200 etc. Ive always loved them. However the buy in is getting pretty steep for me as a hobbyist portrait photographer. I’ve been seeing a bunch of others using Kentmere 400 as an affordable alternative. It has the connotation of being a “newbie” film stock for those new to black and white film. If you know me, this is not my first rodeo with film.

I rated this stock at box speed, 400 ISO. I love the tonality this black and white has. It sort of has an older film stock feel to it, which I won’t complain about! It doesn’t have a modern look to it. I think specifically in the highlights it gives that older black and white charm. My verdict for this film stock is: I loved it! Without trying a roll first, I bought a 120 brick (10 rolls) of this so I guess that’s a good thing I found it worth to have around in the film fridge.

For you super, duper nerds. I developed this roll with HC-110 using dilution B (1:31) for developing. Then DSLR scanned the negatives, turning these into positives with the amazing Negative Lab Pro software!

Continuous Lighting With Jerusha

It has been a hot minute yet again since I’ve made a post. Usually during the school year it is a tough thing to schedule a creative, photo session. However when summer time hits, for me it’s time to satisfy that itch to create work for me and do what I want. That’s what this what I decided to dive into headfirst with Jerusha.

I had a shoot with one of my “muses” that I usually have on speed dial for creating some work for fun. I told Jerusha I had no real direction, however I wanted to use continuous lighting as the main component. It sort of has become a trend to use continuous lighting and playing with RGB lighting. Which to be honest, it was VERY refreshing because strobe work in the studio can get quite stale and doesn’t have the intrigue it used to have for me. During this shoot we used Neewer RGB lights, one with just a reflector and a sock for a diffuser, while the other light I was using a snoot to highlight the background. The idea was for a spotlight-ish effect, while using the diffused light to contrast with an opposing color or of a slightly lighter tint. And just in case you’re wondering, I used my Neewer 1/4 diffusion filter, so that’s why you notice a slight glow in the highlights. Musically I have been listening to a lot of 80’s synth wave type of music and I thought the lighting, music paired together nicely.

It was fun to do this, I would absolutely love to continue playing around with this type of lighting. However my only pet-peeve I had during the entire shoot was wanting more power from these lights without having the really push my cameras ISO. I still really enjoyed this shoot and I was stoked Jerusha had the time and patience to run through this test shoot.

Boise Foothills With Abi

This past summer I met up with a newer creative named Abi. We met via instagram, where she had reached out curious if I’d ever be interested in doing a shoot together. I was stoked because I could instantly tell that her style would be something I would absolutely enjoy. When we were planning this shoot I knew I wanted some traditional summer coloring. I knew there was this pocket of random orange sand in the Military Reserve in Boise. I knew the contrasting colors of green sage and desert shrubs that hadn’t been cooked to death by the summer heat would still be around. Abi showed me a few outfits and when I saw this dress, I stopped and told her this and only this outfit would be EPIC for what I was envisioning.

Side note for the photo nerds viewing/reading. I used a diffusion filter at 1/4 strength for these photos to really give that softer, vintage lens look. I know these have become quite trendy and I felt it was time to stop being a pompous photographer and just enjoy something that others have found as a popular tool. I can say as much as I enjoyed it, it’s for sure NOT the tool for every photoshoot. For this shoot it paired well and I’m stoked how it turned out.

Ellen in Spring

Last spring I met up with Ellen at her place for a casual portrait shoot. It had been some time since I had photographed her. She had told me that she access to the roof top of her apartment and as sketchy as it felt getting out the window, it was completely worth it. The sun started going down so we went back inside to this patio where we would wrap up the evening. I can’t wait to meet up with Ellen again sometime in 2024 to have our annual hangout/photoshoot!