Follow Island in the Net on WordPress.com

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I've lived here for years and seen the Princeton University boat racing team practice on the lake. They compete against other college teams in the spring. I always wanted to take photos, but never remembered to. This time, I planned ahead.

I have been fortunate to call Montgomery Township, situated on the border of Princeton University, my home for over two decades. My small home is a hop, skip, and jump from Carnegie Lake, a manufactured lake constructed in 1906 by the philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie. The lake serves as the training ground for the University's rowing teams. Living in such proximity to Princeton University's Lake Carnegie is truly a privilege.

I have lived in the area for decades and have often noticed the Princeton University boat racing team practising on the lake. They race against other college teams in the spring, and I always intended to photograph the races. However, I regretfully admit that I never managed to put the event on my calendar, and I would always lament that I had missed it again.

I remembered the event this year and checked the date and times on the Princeton University sports calendar. I added the events to my calendar and planned ahead for parking. I knew that the northwestern side of Carnegie Lake would fill up quickly, so I decided to use a different approach. I knew that the southeastern side of the lake was accessible by foot or bike from the parking lot at Kingston Lock. I parked my car near the Kingston Millhouse and walked along the Delaware & Raritan Canal Park trail until I found a clearing across from the Princeton University boat launch. It was a convenient and efficient way to attend the event.

The crowds were gathered on the opposite side of the lake, cheering for their respective teams: Princeton University, Yale, and Cornell. Although I couldn't see the beginning of the races, I had a clear view of the boat launch house, the finish line, and the Kingston Millhouse at the far end of the lake.

As I snapped photos, a graduating senior from Princeton University zipped up on his bike from the trail's south end and popped a chair down. We chatted about the upcoming races, the Princeton University team, and his exciting plans for the future.

From what I observed, the men's heavyweight teams from Princeton University placed second in all the races, while the women's teams from the same university won the majority of the races.

Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR

Kodak Professional Portra 400BW - Expired

On a recent walk around Princeton University, I exposed an expired Kodak Portra 400 BW 35mm film cartridge.

Kodak Professional Portra 400BW was a multi-purpose chromogenic black and white negative film designed to be processed in standard C-41 chemistry alongside rolls of colour  negative film and printed on standard colour paper. It was developed like a colour-negative film in the C-41 process and delivered monochrome images like a black-and-white film. The film was intended for exposure with daylight, electronic flash, and artificial illumination.

Kodak Professional Portra 400BWW was a versatile film for 35mm and medium format cameras. It was made with a Kodak T-Grain emulsion and had a wide exposure latitude. Production of the Kodak Portra 400BW was discontinued and replaced with Kodak Professional BW400CN, which was also discontinued. This film incorporated Kodak T-GRAIN® emulsions, which provided excellent grain and sharpness at a relatively high speed. This film was used for portrait and wedding applications and many commercial applications.

I awoke on Monday morning feeling out of sorts. Not physically but emotionally. I was conflicted about a difficult decision I had to make. I needed to clear my head. It was Presidents Day's federal banking holiday, so I had the day off. After breakfast, I grabbed my Minolta X-700, MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 lens and loaded an expired roll of Kodak Professional Portra 400BWW from the box of expired 35mm film that my friend had sent me. I mounted the setup to my Manfrotto tripod. It was an overcast morning, and I wanted to ensure I could expose frames at a lower shutter speed if needed. I tried to avoid motion blur.

As I walked around the Princeton University campus, I became more relaxed. The air was cool, but I was comfortable. It was still early, and the campus was coming alive. I focused on bicycles. They are easy to find on campus. I walked west of Olden Street near the School of Engineering and Applied Science on Shapiro Walk. Shapiro Walk took me to the Fountain of Freedom.

I exposed several frames to photograph the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Foreign Policy magazine ranks the Princeton School second in the world for international relations at the undergraduate level behind Harvard University and fourth at the graduate level, behind the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, and Johns Hopkins University.

I exposed this 35mm roll of Kodak Portra 400BW at box speed. The scans exhibit a lot of chunky film grain. I think this is because I did not expose the film correctly. I had not yet learned about the "overexpose by one stop for each decade the film has expired" rule. I should have exposed the film at ISO 50, thereby overexposing each frame to adjust for the age of the film.

The film cartridge was developed at Boutique Photo Lab and scanned on my Epson Perfection V600 with VueScan 9. I made some minor cropping and perspective adjustments in Adobe Lightroom.

Name Kodak Professional Portra 400BW
Format 35mm
Features chromogenic black and white negative
Native ISO 400
Price FREE
Exposed ISO 400
Lab Boutique Film Lab
Process C41
Scanner Epson Perfection V600
Software VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom
Garfield Way · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Princeton University · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Belle Mara · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Belle Mara · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400
Belle Mara · Monday 20 February 2023 · Minolta X-700 · MD W.Rokkor-X 28mm F2.8 · ISO 400

Focus on the Subject

What's the focus of the photograph?

Without a central theme or subject, a photograph can lack cohesion. Photographers have many ways they can bring the viewer into an image, to highlight the thing or things the photographer wants them to notice. As Patti mentioned in her post, one way is with leading lines. None of the image below use leading lines. Another way is with selective focus, using depth of field to narrow the focus, blur the background and to bring the viewer to the subject. But what if the out of focus element is the focus of the image? What if you use a 35mm film camera manual focus lens and deliberately put effort into creating out of focus images? What is the subject of the image then?

Route 1 in the rain | Sunday 20 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | Asahi Optical Co. SMC Takumar 55mm f/2

Sometimes, you can bring attention to the subjects of an image by removing anything from the frame that detracts or does not add to the story. The mother is playing in the leaves with her daughters on a sunny fall day in October. They were having so much fun. I cropped in from the sides of the original images to narrow the focus of the viewer.

Playing in the leaves | Princeton University | Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

The woman stepped over a short barricade to sit in the leaves under a line of trees. She held up a singular leaf under her chin while her friend took her photograph. They were oblivious to my camera. I cropped in from the top and bottom.

Getting the Instagram shot | Princeton University | Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

I've learned that some photographers shoot in black and white because it removes the distractions of colour. I learned much of my black and white photograph from renowned Argentinian photographer, educator and documentary filmmaker Ossian Lindholm. Ossian has led groups of photographers and naturalists on photographic journeys throughout his native Argentina. Ossian is a teacher who encourages his students to convey what they see before, even picking up the camera.

Last fall, in Princeton, Ossian taught a course in Black & White Photography and Creative use of Light in Landscape Photography. Part of his course included a field trip around the Princeton University campus where these images were capture. While walking around, I stumbled upon an engagement shoot. This photographer was furious, trying to chase the light as is travelled between the trees. His subjects became my subjects. I respectfully stayed out of his way.

Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Patti wrote in her that using contrast & focusing on the eyes was another way to bring focus to a subject. In this photograph, the walls of the courtyard building have created a reverse software box, pushing strong shadows to box in the subjects. A strong beam of light breaks the shadow to reveal the loving couple at the centre.

"I love you", she whispered. | Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

The contrast between the darker background and the front light on the white of the flowers helps to focus the eye viewer on the details in the flowers. The contrast in effect frames the subject with darkness.

Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

The seemingly endless archways to be found on the Princeton University campus, provide frames for the street portraits of campus walkers. I even got a shot of Ossian Lindholm framed in one of the arches.

Framed | Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR
Photographer, Ossian Lindholm | Saturday 26 October, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Submitted for the 100DaysToOffload project and Lens-Artist Photo Challenge.