Posts Tagged ‘Through The Viewfinder’

What You'd Expect

Cadillac Sedan, TtV

When I started taking these TtV photos, something clicked. Usually I’m not a huge fan of the pictures I take in Seattle. I think it’s the light – they lack contrast and the colors don’t pop. When I looked at these pictures I realized, that’s just what you need. With an old cruddy camera, scratches and rust on the viewfinder, the square format with the visible prism edge, you expect muted colors and gray days. Shooting this Caddy (admittedly still a little modern for the technique) just seems to work.  Compare it with another shot, on the same day, of something a little more modern - am I making this up or are you with me?
  • ApertureValue: f/3.5
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:05 11:49:16
  • ExposureTime: 1/160 sec
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 100 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 400
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

On A Winter's Day

Winter Balcony View, TtV

Alright – I’ll just say it. I’m a BIG fan of *stuff*. One of the things I’ve talked myself out of buying more than once is a LensBaby attachment for my camera. This trick lens lets you blur parts of the frame and leave focus in the middle. It just never made enough sense for me to buy, and that’s saying something. One of the great parts about the TtV style is that you get the quality of the viewfinder you’re shooting through and most of these old cameras have some issues. My particular copy has some pretty serious blur around the edges – I love it!
  • ApertureValue: f/5
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:04 15:05:48
  • ExposureTime: 1/320 sec
  • Flash: Off
  • FocalLength: 100 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 4294902160
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

Lucky Does His Thing

Lucky the Cat, Through the Viewfinder

I promised I’d make him famous, so here he is – one of the denizens of our couch, Lucky the Cat.

    Live from my kitchen

    Eggo-Syrup-TTV

    Two great things about TtV photography: due to the shape of the contraption used to take the pictures, you get a great viewpoint – periscope style, if you will. The second is that you’re taking a picture of a negative view, so until you flip things, they’re backward. I don’t know why, but I like most of my pictures better backward.

    Through The Viewfinder

    Kodak Duaflex

    I wouldn’t call myself a one trick pony.  I’m at least a three trick pony.  As I already mentioned, one of the things that made me decide to set this whole blog thing up was being unemployed.  It also gave me time to work on a photo project that I’ve had on my mind since I read about it WAAAY back in JPG Magazine, issue 8.  The premise is pretty easy – you’d love to take some pictures with that old camera you’ve got sitting around, but who is going to deal with the film?  How will you digitize them later?  Maybe it doesn’t even work.  Through The Viewfinder takes care of all that.  What you’re doing is constructing a contraption that lets you point your digital camera at the viewfinder of your old camera, capturing all the inperfections, distortions, and instant creativity that comes along with it.  I really liked some of the pictures I took this way and I’ll be posting them for a while here.  If you want more information, the place to be is the TtV Flickr group.