On Shooting, Scanning & Editing a Recent Portrait Session

by Johnny Martyr Photography is all about combining the right light, lens, film and developer to convey the emotions that you want to evoke. One of my recent favorite combinations is a bright scene with my 1979 Leitz 50mm "Tiger Paw" Summicron, Kodak Tri-X at box speed and HC110b. It's sort of an over generalized...

Happy Birthday, Kodak Tri-X

Kodak Tri-X, as a concept, has been around since the 1940's when it was a 200 ISO b&w sheet film. Because it was their first fast film, when Kodak released the 400 ISO roll film version, the Tri-X name was maintained. Just like Kodak TMAX P3200 revolutionized low light photography in 1989, Tri-X was an...

Film Photographers, UNITE!

I'm not usually one for human interaction. Part of the reason I got into photography was so that I would have something to hide behind at social gatherings. So it's not often that I meet up with other photographers. But this past Friday night, that's exactly what I found myself doing when fellow photobloggers Mark...

These Photos Were Processed In Kodak’s New HC110 In Spite of The Product’s Single Flaw

In early 2019, the film community was pretty stressed out, and with good reason. The nearly two century old chemical manufacturer, Tetenal appeared close to shutting down. Many photographers have probably never even heard of this company, but Tetenal has been "the man behind the curtain" for many of Kodak's products for decades. The product...

Time Traveling with Papermoon Diner

There's a lot that I don't know about Papermoon Diner in Baltimore, Maryland. And what I think I know, I may not even remember correctly. Sometimes, I'm not even sure how to get there. I bet that with the quickest bit of Googling, I could easily find the basic information; when it opened, who the...

Lens Hoods for the Leica Summitar

I touched on this topic a little bit in a previous blog about hoods for various LTM lenses entitled Throwing Shade, but I wanted to drill down on lens hood options for the Leitz 50mm f2 Summitar. As previously stated, I think that earlier Leitz lenses require a hood in many circumstances to perform their...

Johnny Martyr’s B&W Darkroom Grocery List

by Johnny Martyr If your New Year's resolution is to start processing your own b&w film at home, or you're just interested in comparing notes, I thought it would be handy for me to share my darkroom grocery list. Disclaimer - I am not a chemist! I'm just a photographer who has found some products...

Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits – EI 3200 ISO

It bears repeating: International Center of Photography shooter James Mignogna once told me that a good photographer matches their light, lens, film and developer. Nowhere do I think these decisions are more critical than portraits in dim lighting. That was the intro I used in my previous entry: Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits...

Photographing Fireworks with a 90 Year Old Leica

*photos and text depict July 2019 There they were, a continuous, almost organized line of middle-aged men in various stages of unfolding tripods, mounting massive DSLR's on them, carefully aiming long lenses at indeterminate points in the darkening late evening sky.  The LCD's lit their faces with a soft glow as they took test shots...

Downtown Frederick Art Icons Get Hitched!

This spring, I had the pleasure of photographing one of the most fun and inspiring, weddings I've photographed.  Downtown Frederick, Maryland art icons Kayleigh Montgomery and Chris Morris were engaged to be married, and of all the amazing analog shooters in the area, I was fortunate enough to be tapped to cover their festive occasion....