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Nikon F100. A Modern Classic !

A ‘modern classic’ is quite correct. The F100 is a beautiful camera in every respect. If you are really interested in photography, get an F100 while you still can, and shoot film. It’ll be a big step up from digital, you’ll enjoy it and learn much more about exposure values, and more importantly – how to MAKE an image rather than ‘take’ a picture. 

rodolfobolanos's avatarRodolfo Bolaños

These are my thoughts about the Nikon F100. I’m not claiming to be a “camera gurú” or any kind of expert. And certainly I won’t talk about “specifications” (you can find them all over the web).

I just love photography as hobby and as an expression. After months and months of having this Nikon model running around my head, I came across with a beautiful "almost new condition" F100 on Ebay. For just $125, it was no brainer! After months and months of having this Nikon model running around my head, I came across with a beautiful “almost new condition” F100 on Ebay. For just $125, it was no brainer!

Left: Nikon D7000 (dslr) Right: Nikon F100 (35mm film) Even when the F100 is wider camera in size, its fairly slimmer than the digital D7000.

                Left: Nikon D7000 (dslr)                                       Right: Nikon F100 (35mm film)

Even when the F100 is wider camera in size, its fairly slimmer than the digital D7000.

My Iphone's photo doesn't make justice to the F100's big and bright 96% coverage viewfinder. One of the nicer features of shooting with 35mm cameras. My Iphone’s photo doesn’t make justice to the F100’s big and bright 96% coverage viewfinder. One of the nicer…

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Beautiful Ulster, Belfast, Black & White, Co. Antrim, Landscapes, Photo-Essay

Photo-Essay – A Walk in the Park.

A Walk in the Park, Down Memory Lane

On Friday 12th September 2015, between appointments, I took a stroll through Alexandra Park, in north Belfast. It was a poignant, nostalgic break in an otherwise mundane day, for I hadn’t gone to this park to exercise my legs, but to exercise my memory. My grandparents, Bob and Jeannie Kirk had lived in this park, in the gardener’s house, in the late 1950’s and early 60’s. Bob Kirk had been the foreman gardener at Glenbank Park in Ligoneil (where I was born) and his move to Alexandra Park as forman gardener would have been seen as a promotion. He took up residence in the Park Lodge, and remained there until retirement in 1965. While they lived there, I spent many happy days and evenings with them, travelling over by bus, down the Falls Road, and catching the No.77 Belfast Corporation Bus, (That famous bus route that wound through the streets of Belfast from the Gasworks to the Waterworks) alighting at the Waterworks.

Continue reading Photo-Essay – A Walk in the Park. →

Co. Antrim

I SHOT ELVIS!!!

I SHOT ELVIS!!!

There are those who will claim that Elvis Presley has been dead for many years, but I have evidence to the contrary. I was driving along O’Neill Road near Whiteabbey Hospital on Monday when I noticed Elvis himself, holding forth in song outside a house close to the road. Armed with my trusty Nikon F100, and loaded with Ilford 400ISO film – I shot Elvis!

Here is the proof – and the camera never lies.

Newtownabbey Elvis
Newtownabbey Elvis
Belfast, Co. Antrim, Photo-Technique

#Hueless and Clueless?

Got Hueless?

I’ve been playing with an iphone app called ‘Hueless.’  It’s an excellent piece of technology, allowing the phone’s camera to shoot in monochrome, and giving the photographer great control over the capture of the image.  the user interface screen is intuitive and easy to use.  it features accurate autofocus achieved by a simple tap on the screen to set the focus point.  There’s a drop down control to alter the exposure and contrast on the screen, so you can see the end result before the snap is taken.  There’s a series of optional presets which the photographer can set up for instant camera control, and cropping to photo-sizes is easily achieved by pinching the screen.  If you are for ate enough to own an iPhone 6 (and I don’t) then there’s even an option for high ISO shooting to make low light shots possible.

Here’s a selection of images I captured at the Tullyglass Hotel, and later in Belfast with the app.

No monochrome camera is complete without filters, and the Hueless app offers a drop-down menu with the standard filters one would use with a black and white film camera.    Here’s an image with the red filter:-

IMG_1406 copy

Really, for a couple of quid, its a fantastic app, get it at the Apple App Store! Dont be clueless, get Hueless, – it’s just about flawless!!!

Co. Antrim, Photo-Technique

Aliens have Invaded Ballymena…

A flying saucer has landed in Ballymena!

It has been rumoured that this alien spacecraft has travelled through millions of galaxies, and has landed in Ballymena to share in the hospitality and generosity of the local inhabitants!

Wellington Church
Wellington Church

No, wait!  It’s all a big mistake.  It’s not a spacecraft after all!  It’s a Presbyterian Church!  Yes, Wellington Church – with its remarkable new building is now a landmark feature in the town.  I captured this Monochrome image on my way back from a wedding at Galgorm last week using my Nikon F100 film camera, loaded with Ilford FP5 ISO400 B&W film, f/11 @ 1/250th sec.

It was processed for 8 minutes in Fotospeed FD10, washed and fixed for 10 minutes, then washed for 10 minutes.  Scanned into Photoshop for layer balance and contrast adjustment, and addition of border.  There you are!

Go buy yourself a real camera and use film!

Having said all of that – one does have to wonder why a church needs such powerful thruster rockets?

Flying Church
Flying Church
Reportage

Migrant Woman

‘Migrant Mother‘ was the title of a celebrated image made by Dorothea Lange in America in 1935 (or thereabouts)  Lange was appalled by the poverty she found among immigrant people in rural USA.  She said, (Cited on the ‘Photo-quotes’ website)

I am trying here to say something about the despised, the defeated, the alienated. About death and disaster, about the wounded, the crippled, the helpless, the rootless, the dislocated. About finality. About the last ditch.[1]

Migrant Woman - Lange
Migrant Woman – Lange

Challenged by Lange’s words, I set about creating a similar image, among the migrant community of Belfast – with less success, I found, – for some migrant people simply don’t want a camera pointed at them, even after a financial bribe.  I found this old Roma woman begging in Botanic Avenue, and her pose was a reluctant one, to say the least!

Romanian
Roma Woman in Belfast

Reluctant or not – she’s a pitiful sight.  I hope she spent the money wisely.

[1] http://www.photoquotes.com/ShowQuotes.aspx?id=146&name=Lange,Dorothea

Co. Down, Reportage

A Different Kind of Pony! #Millisle

My visit to Newcastle, Co. Down last week produced a vintage image – a child on a little miniature pony, being gently led along the beach by the pony owner and the child’s mother – a very traditional sea-side scene.

It reminded me of another Pony on the Beach image I made around 5 years ago, when we lived at Millisle, and the beach was just across the road from our living room.  It was a grainy Black and White image of a traditional ‘trotting pony’ being exercised on the sand, shot on the Nikon F100, on Ilford ISO1600 film.  I looked out the negative and scanned it at 300 DPI, and here’s the result, after just a tweak or two in Photo-shop:-

Pony-Trotting at Millisle
Pony-Trotting at Millisle

I haven’t a clue who the person in the image is!

Scotland

Le Vendeur de Vin

No, it’s not Paris, it’s Edinburgh, the Paris of the North!  Back again to 2004, and the Continental Market on the streets of Scotland’s capital.  This French Market Stall is doing what the French seem to do best – export their wine!

The Wine Vendor's Stall
The Wine Vendor’s Stall

Photo-Nerd stuff: Nikon D70 Camera, (6 mp DSLR) f/3.5 @ 1/30th sec on ISO400.  Focal Length 44mm.

Commercial and Family Photographer