9.05.2011

Jen in August in a Swamp with her bike. Me with a Mamiya 6.

Subject:  Jen G.  The plot:  Beautiful triathlete takes photographer along on a run, with a bike, thru a swamp.  Camera:  Mamiya Six rangefinder with 150mm lens.  Film:  Kodak Tri-X.  Developed in D-76,  diluted 1:1.  No lights.  Scanned on an  Epson V500 Photo Scanner.


Belinda and I have know Jen for years and years.  She helped us teach Ben to swim when he was about six months old.  She babysat for years.  She modeled for me even longer.  She's a hydro-geologist by training and now consults in the old and gas industry.  She's gorgeous, rock solid and never met a sport she couldn't master. We thought it would be cool to grab her bike, some clothes and some props and go out and do some gritty, back country triathlete shots.

I grabbed a couple of cameras and a small bag of film and we drove off to find fun.  I was reminded of this shoot today because Austin was hosting a triathlon with sprint and olympic distances today.  Ben and I had to check the race maps to make sure that our long, Sunday run didn't intersect with the course.

When we got back home mom had home made oat muffins ready for us.  I gobbled a couple down, jumped on my bike and headed to a late swim practice this morning.  Coach Isaac put us thru the grinder today.  An hour and a half of hard sets interspersed with sprint sets.  I hobbled home on the bike and took a nap.

8 comments:

Pseudo Boethius said...

What an awesome photo! Glad you posted that one for us to gawk at....incredible.

Clyde said...

Lots of cameras have come and gone in my quiver but I have been unable to divulge my two Mamiya 6 bodies and 3 lenses. Those Leicas-with-a-thyroid problem can deliver incredible images if you are on your game. Love the square, love the sharpness and rendering, mostly love the handling.

Beware of including gear in portraits. The discerning eye will quickly date the photo and/or the quality of the equipment and it can be a visual distraction. If you include gear, try to make them minor subjects so the focus is on the person.

sey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sey said...

so good to see a 'simple' photograph.

simple God given natural available light
simple camera and lens
simple film & chemistry
simple gorgeous model
simple great shot

Anonymous said...

Kirk

Thanks once again for showing us how good a scanned negative can be.

PaulB

obakesan said...

nice background OOF ... god I love B&W neg and larger formats

Patrick Dodds said...

Perhaps, Kirk, as well as little boxes with funny, interesting and cool for people to tick under your pictures, you ought to have " beautiful" as well.

Anonymous said...

Seeing a shot like this makes you want to throw all your digital gear into the nearest bin.

Everywhere I go or read I am being tempted to sin, last week the manager of my local Calumet was drooling over going back to using his "Blad" and how much fun he was having, Kirk starts using one again too & buying up more Swedish gear and now he mentions the one camera that makes me go all weak at the knees and salivate ..... "Mamiya 6" - thanks Kirk, this is going to cost me serious money! :-)