Pro8mm announced their ‘One Roll Super 8 Film Challenge’, where you’re supposed to shoot a film on one roll of super-8 film. As it happens, I’ve finally found a pan handle for my vintage Arriflex tripod head, and I’ve repaired my old Bogen 3063 tripod head that had a cast piece break off of it some time ago. I’ll be having one of the Aatons fixed soon, and I’m thinking it might be time soon to sell my Bolex-Paillard underwater housing. Plus, we’re halfway through the cold weather and I always seem to thing about filming this time of year. I have a couple of Ultra 16 cameras I haven’t used yet.
The thing of it is… Film is expensive. If I’m going to spend the money, I want to shoot something interesting. Not much around here, though – unless you like birds. Meh. Anyway, all of my 16 mm stock is B&W. Maybe this Summer I’ll finally get around to shooting my James A. Fitzgerald Traveltalks-inspired travelogue of this little holiday community. (That one, I’ll shoot on super-8. Still might cost a couple grand.)
sigh L.A. was much more inspiring. (But I’m not moving back!)
Actually, there’s a very nice sign welcoming people to my little seaside holiday community. I’m going to get some footage of it when I do the travelogue.
For Ultra 16 mm, I think I’ll shoot 100 feet in the Canon Scoopic, and another 100 feet in the Beaulieu R16. I have some B&W stock that’s been keeping cold for a long time, and needs to be used. I hope I have some Tri-X, because I don’t want to waste whatever Pan-X I have on ‘test/home movie footage’.
When I was testing an Aaton, I got a nice ground-level shot looking down the train tracks. (It was 11 mm on the lens.) Maybe I’ll get several seconds of that in B&W, and then set up and wait for a train to go by. Another possibility needs colour film. (I may have some Vision 3.) My office is at the harbor, on the Duwamish River. People fish off of the bridge. I could set up a long shot of people fishing, and then see if they’d mind being filmed closer up.
I thought about the super-8 travelogue on the drive to Seattle today. (Oh, the reason I want to do super-8 is because it comes very close to the 1930s look I want. Also, I get to use the 4008. ) I have many shots I want in my head. I should commit them to paper. Or virtual paper, anyway.
I have a friend who shoots a lot of BW film. Last year he made the rounds with me one day and of course he was carrying his camera. We stopped at a dog pound, a machine shop, a truck garage and a coffee shop. I never once noticed him taking photos. I was flabbergasted a few days later when I saw the shots he got.
For what it’s worth, when I bought my first Pentax K-1000 SLR camera, I bought a field guide of the wildflowers of my state. I then practiced my photography technique by trying to photograph every species of wildflower I could find in my county. I assembled a portfolio of I think about 80 species, and donated them to the county historical museum.
I haven’t been to the Lummi Reservation since before I moved up here. Now that you mention it though, it might be interesting to ride the ferry to the island and get some footage on it. (Edit: That is, footage on the ferry trip over and/or back; not on the island.)
I haven’t tried to go into the refinery (no reason to), but security looks pretty tight.
There’s an elderly, disabled veteran who sits by the railroad tracks. I find people more interesting than panoramas and such. I’m not planning on ‘making a film’. Right now, I just want to capture images on 16 mm. But who knows? I’m still waiting for better weather. I may have to buy some Vision 3 stock instead of shooting on B&W. (Though B&W has strong merits, especially when it comes to poignant subjects.)
I may ask ‘Kevin’ if he’ll let me take some pictures. On one hand, he’d be a good subject. On the other hand, it stinks of exploitation – particularly when the footage won’t help relieve the plight of people who must beg to survive.
) I have many shots I want in my head. I should commit them to paper. Or virtual paper, anyway.