project-Island in the Net is A personal website by Khürt Williams, with inchoate ramblings on technology, photography, beer, and geekery.

This month’s #WE35 expedition is ‘The Contact Sheet’. Apparently back in the day[^1], film photographers would make a print of all the images they had shot on a roll of film. The images would be printed, thumbnail size, on a single sheet of photographic paper. The photographer could then review the images and pick the one or more images she wanted to print.

I have never created a contact sheet.

#WE35 is a global visual survey and creative research project conducted by explorers from around the world. The goal of #WE35 is to push your creative boundaries, share in each other’s artistic development, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. All of this, using nothing more than a single 35mm lens. We will achieve this goal through monthly assignments designed to expand your creativity like never before, foster an encouraging community where we can discuss one another’s work and provide opportunities for critiques and constructive feedback.The Photo Frontier

I took these images during a still life and tabletop photography workshop hosted by Princeton Photography Workshop. Photographer Frank Versonsky instructed our small group on lighting and staging before we set to work photographing anything we could find in his studio. I decided to shoot some squash and a vintage film camera brought by one of the students. I considered the exposure, the composition, and what message I wanted to convey.

I used Frank’s homemade reflectors to bounce light coming in from his studio windows. It was a fairly cloudless day so we had a great deal of light. I also tried blocking light using dark colored and black painted surfaces. One thing that I had to pay special attention to was the focal length of my lens. My Nikon D5100 has an APS-C sensor and I do not own a 24mm (~35mm full frame equivalent) lens. I used my AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX lens and set the focal length to 24 mm. One of the restrictions of the expedition is that photographers must shoot as thought they were shooting film. I only had 36 negatives on my roll so I had to slow down and concentrate on what I was doing.

NIKON D5100 @ 24mm , ISO 100 , 1/160s , ƒ/8 on 11 February, 2017

Making the pick was also a slow process. None of the images were post-processed. I re-considered the exposure, the composition, and what message I wanted to convey. The image I picked from the contact sheet conveys, in my opinion, the idea of fall. The orange-red-yellow of the squash match the orange-red-yellow of the autumn leaves that one sees in New Jersey during that time of year. One thing I would have liked to add is a few sticks of cinnamon to invoke the memory of the spices that one might smell in the house when someone is baking squash.

>It’s easier than ever to imagine a successful project or career or organization that isn’t dependent on being picked by those with power.[Seth Godin](http://pocket.co/sUMbm)

Week 13 First Mug NIKON D5100 20130330 195 HDR 1 960x635

A few years ago on Flickr I started following a California photographer and barista who posted a photo each day of his first cup of brewed coffee. For some reason he came to mind recently when I started using my new coffee grinder. I decided to take a photo of the first cup of coffee brewed in my new grinder. This will be my second photo and I’m not sure I’m starting some sort of new project but I’ll continue taking photos — maybe vary the scene a bit — until I get bored with doing so.

The coffee is Tonx Quilanga De Loja, from the Fapecafes Cooperative in Ecuador. It’s been sitting in a vacuüm sealed bag since February 10th. Not ideal I know but I wanted to use it with the new grinder and procrastination set in … etc.

Incidental note: I took a look at dogmilque’s blog and noted that he’s got Tonx in his blogroll. Perhaps us coffee drinkers are geeks of a kind.

This is a three image (-2/0/+2) HDR processed in HDR Efex Pro 2.

Some of my friends and readers know that [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][I have a studio lighting kit](http://www.paulcbuff.com). I can ( and have use ) that to shoot my food photography. The lights are powerful and produce a nice soft white light. However, the lights are setup in my basement[^1] and need much more adjustment to get things just right. It’s much more convenient to plate food and shoot on the kitchen table. The smell of the food helps puts me in the right frame of mind to capture the image that can help bring that out.

And with the thought in mind I set out to make my light box. I started with a small Amazon.com box and used [some instructions I found on the web](http://simplycooked.blogspot.com/2010/03/light-box-for-staging-food-photography.html). I followed [Sarah](http://simplycooked.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html)’s instructions as closely as I could but a bit of experimentation is required. Every box is different. I used parchment paper for the light filter and taped laser jet printer paper to the inside of the box. A trip to Target for a $10 desk lamp and I was ready to start taking photos.

> Making my own light box was easy and inexpensive …. Photography is just playing with light, as they say.

So what do the images look like (after some minor edits in Adobe Lightroom).

This is Trader Joe’s Steel Cut Oatmeal with brown sugar and maple syrup. I added crushed walnuts overs grated cinnamon and nutmeg and offered it to Bhavna for breakfast this morning.

This is my Dad’s Canon EOS Rebel 2000. It’s a 35 mm film camera. My Dad thought I could help him convert it to digital. He was disappointed when I explained it could not be done. I kept the camera hoping that I could use the lens. EF lenses will work on my Nikon if I buy an inexpensive adapter.

[^1]: My Paul C. Buff studio is 64″ Extreme Silver PLM™ with 8mm Umbrella Style Mount and 64″ PLM™ White Front Diffusion Fabric. Strobes (two) are AlienBees™ B800 Flash Unit with CyberSync™ Receivers (CSR) triggered by CyberSync™ Trigger Transmitter.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Week 52 – Auld Lang Syne

It’s the end of 2012 and the end of my photography Project 52. It seems like it’s been a long time but in reality, 52 weeks is short. There were some weeks when I struggled to find something interesting — from my perspective — to photograph but I always found something. Fortunately, I knew other photographers doing their own Project 52 who helped provide motivation to get out and shoot. A 52-week photography project is much easier to complete than a 365-day photography project. I’ve tried those in the past but given my personal and professional schedule — and my dislike of winter — there were many days when I couldn’t be bothered to pick up the camera. Having a whole week to find a subject that was interesting took the pressure off.

I learned a lot in 2012. The project has helped me practice my technique and compositional skills. I learned more about my Nikon D40 camera — which I’ve had six years now — and it’s limitations. For HDR photograph having a camera capable of auto-bracketing is essential and a higher resolution and high ISO sensor helps maintain quality when cropping. I tried overcoming the limitations of my camera via my Raspberry Pi but I would love the convenience of a built-in feature. Finances permitting I would like a new camera body in 2013.

I also learned a lot about lighting. I’ve taken a few courses and workshops in the past but having my studio strobes has allowed me to experiment. I learn more from doing. My intention for 2013 is use those lights to start and grow my photography business. I prefer landscape and nature photography but it seems more customers are willing to pay for portraits.

So that’s it for 2012. I’m looking forward to 2013 and whatever new adventures await. So as the song “Auld Lang Syne” suggest, the time has gone by. May the new times ahead bring incredible new adventures for you.