Postcards are on the way, and I hope that everyone who received one has made their way here to learn more about the photos. This is my first go at building a website and writing a blog and this is (in theory) the worst it will ever be. There is a good chance that I’ll add password protection on this page so my work isn’t scraped and used for image generation. If I do, it’ll be easy to remember like bird, dog, or something dumb.
On to the photos and the camera and film that helped make them!
images from this postcard were taken in Baltimore, MD using Harman Phoenix 1 color film and a Ricohflex Dia camera from the 1950s. The Urban Adventure League has a good write up on this camera, and medium format photography, that can be found here. The left shot is the Domino Sugar plant as seen from Fells Point in mid morning and the right is storefronts along “The Avenue” (which is really 36th St.) in the Hampden neighborhood.
I spent a few hours walking around the city taking shots with this old camera which sadly broke this past winter. It is not a perfect camera, as you may be able to see with the vignetting on the left image and the general softness of the image quality in both. The negative size of the camera, 6 centimeters by 6 centimeters, helped make up for some of the lack of optical performance.
Film wise, Phoenix I was very much an experimental film by Harman. It is very grainy for a 200 speed film and it was known for its high contrast and saturation and, compared to other films, acute dynamic range. That is evident in the blues and oranges in the sky and the magenta that looks like a solid block of color.
I chose to do a side by side for this postcard as in my opinion, the square format doesn’t lend itself well to a rectangular postcard. I also really liked the colors in both images and how each shows a different side of Baltimore. The industrial and the fun, bright areas with artists and small shops. Unlike DC, Baltimore isn’t afraid to be weird and fun and is a place where small shops don’t need to sell things for huge amounts of money to be solvent.
The next round of postcards will likely go out sometime in July or August and will feature more photos taken with the same camera from another trip.