Year: 2006

Things that calm me down

My “Hemingway” tree. It is of african origins.
praktica mtl2+50/1.8pentacon auto.cheap color 100 or 200,horrible minilab scan
Sky from Demian Fitzig’s appartment
canonet 17 QL GIII – fuji press 800 I think

Prague Vista from one of the churches.I don’t remember which(st. Nicolas?st. Vitus?).Nikon fm2n,sigma 28/1.8,fuji x-tra 400

Myths,and the Miracle of Life

These are old(1.5-2 years?).They were taken with a pentax k1000+50/2A smc in Lachish – southern Israel.The film was konica vx 200 or kodak gold 200. This wild plum tree is at least a hundred years old, and was rumored by the bedouins to be haunted by devils(to keep children coming back fast from the nearby well with the water). I think it is magical. The myth made the haunting real.So,yes Virginia,there is a Santa Claus.


The border is an unpleasant side effect of a bad scan.I decided to keep them.

I watched Life is a Miracle – great movie – good music,nice composition and acting,great use of animals – I recommend it highly!

I discovered that some of my films(including the Prague unscanned slides and scanned BW) are nowhere to be found. To make a long tory short – the guy that I used had a heart surgery so he closed shop – he transferred all his bussiness to another shop – and the owner of this one can’t find them.Bummer.

On Lomography and Camera-phones

I hate lomography.I think selling a holga for anything more then 10$ is a sin you go to hell for(I’ve seen unmodified holgas for 80-90 Euro in Barcelona museum shops a year ago). Zenits for over 100$ are as unnatural as not serving alcohol in strip bars(and some other things you see around there).

Saying all that I think it has many positive sides: It promotes film photography, It promotes Krasnogorsk making Horizonts and a couple of other things and it keeps polaroid in the picture.

Enter the camera phone. My Sony Ericsson 750(I think) has an autofocus 2 Megapixel camera(whatever that means) and it lets me shoot polaroidholga like images and I take it everywhere I go(while a camera is with me 80% of the time and is usually loaded with BW film in the 100-400 range).

Here’s an example:

Lola the CatNot enlargable but is soft,with corner focus loss and dreamy(as well as fuzzy and cute). P.S.
I watched “stanger than fiction” and liked it.MERRY CHRISTMASS EVERYONE!!!

El Commendante

Aprendimos a quererte
desde la histórica altura
donde el sol de tu bravura
le puso un cerco a la muerte.
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.
Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte
sobre la historia dispara
cuando todo Santa Clara
se despierta para verte.
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.
Vienes quemando la brisa
con soles de primavera
para plantar la bandera
con la luz de tu sonrisa.
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.
Tu amor revolucionario
te conduce a nueva empresa
donde esperan la firmeza
de tu brazo libertario.
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.
Seguiremos adelante
como junto a ti seguimos
y con Fidel te decimos:
hasta siempre Comandante.
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.

(Carlos Puebla, 1965)

canonet 17 GL QIII,fuji (press?)800 – wide open and slow shutter speed – a year ago or so
A flyer stuck in the bushes near the university(BGU) in Beer Sheva, Israel – hardly political – more likely to promote a night club.

Match Point,Slow Wait,Developments,old still lives

Yesterday I watched Match Point. It wasn’t a bad movie but I miss the old Woodie Allen,Annie Hall,Disconstructing Harry and Mighty Aphrodite.

I developed some (BW) films.I might scan some 6×6(Petra) negs soon(ish).
The yashica lynx 14e has impressive looking negatives.
I need a couple of new Paterson reels(A couple of mine needs to be thrown away or cleaned or something).

Spoke to Avi today,he said he will try finish scanning my Petra color films.

and now some old still lives(all shot with SLR’s with normal lenses):

Nostalgic 1

Bad Liver

Nostalgic 2

Calligraphy 1

Caligraphy 2

what i’ve been reading watching and doing.

I finished to kill a mockingbird(I wish I have read it at 13-14 – great book) and Tender is the night(nice).Now reading threepenny novel(the “opera”‘s adaptation by Brecht).

Watched Henry and June(great visually but much,much worse then the book),Nacho Libre(I want to have Jack Black’s baby – he is HILARIOUS),thank you for smoking(so so) and Battle Royal(modern Japanese filmmakers don’t know how to pick a soundtrack for the life of them).

Anna’s computer died so I was computerless,I made one frankenstein out of the two we had and got one working.Now I need to buy two computers.Grrrrrr.

My friend from work, Avi, started scanning my color Petra films.

I am going to Folsom,

(I hear the train a comin´
it´s rolling round the bend
and I ain´t seen the sunshine since I don´t know when,
I´m stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin´ on
but that train keeps a rollin´ on down to San Anton..)

California mid february on work bussiness.

Shooting B&W and storing it in the fridge – no mood for developingprinting.

Yoni Rabkin potentially found a 50 lens for my enlarger,if it works ok and gets to me,all I need is an easel and I am of printing my BW archive.

Anna

Three pictures of my significant other,Anna.
They are 1-2 years old.They are not posed.
She looks much better in real life.
We moved in three months ago. It is fun living with her.

Neg defects that rock(nikon fm2n 50/1.4AI ilford pan 400,possibly at 800).I overhandled the neg so it has defects.

One of the 2 or 3 pictures I took with a digital camera(dad’s fujifilm 5000,35 equivalent at 2.8 between 1/10 and 1/60)

Start SLR with helios 44 – ilford pan 400 – love the camera for portraits – I didnt wash the negative well and the residue stayed. I like it.Gives it a nostalgic and somewhat melancholic look.

The package from Oleg Khalyavin arrived at the post office with the CLA’d jupiter 12 and summitar.Total work cost – 25$.That man is a magician and a darn nice guy.

liquidating stuff and dreaming of leica m2

I decided to cut down my cameras to two systems+MF.
I am keeping the nikon kit and want to get a leica m2(if I can get one for the rediculous price bracket I can afford) adn the yashicamat(unless I can get a more comfy MF to replace it – like a small 6×6 slr or rolleiflex or maybe an RF of some kind – something light and comfy).

I am intrested in selling:
pentax k1000+50/2 SMC A
yashica 14e(very dead meter,rest seems ok)
zorki 4 with j-8j-12summitar 1939 uncoated(1958 and 1959) CLA’d and handpicked by Oleg(I will sell the lenses that I wont use on the leica – I hope to find it with a 35 or 50).
vilia auto (with lantanum triplet)
elicon 35cm
k mount to m42 adapter(LOMO one for ALMAZ)
m42 x2 teleconverter;set of 4 non auto extension tubes
m42 50/1.8 pentacon auto; m42 135/2.8 pallas magenta(both auto)
some 49 filters.

intrested? email me.

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