Breathnaigh

Poor Candis—Detroit 1982 on flickr.

Via Rob Hyde on twitter comes this set of shots of dudes in Detroit taking pictures of themselves looking cool in 1982. If I were putting together a fall lookbook, I might try and reproduce this. Sunglasses in the winter, public drinking, barren landmarks, corny poses; plus, camo, dumb hats, baseball jackets, and workboots. Maybe 30 years is the nostalgia sweet spot. More from Detroit Liger on flickr.

Frames and filters--instagram.

Never a software early adopter, I've recently been using Instagram. The interface isn't perfect (would love to be be able to edit/delete after posting, since I often post by accident; the Foursquare location search is unreliable), and I get a lot of failures on Verizon on my iPhone 4S, but it's been fun. Favorite filters are Polaroid Land Camera-esque Hefe, the high-contrast X-Pro II, and of course #nofilter. (Neat explanation of various Intagram filters at 1000memories.)

Follow me on Instagram--I take pictures of the same bullshit everyone else does.

Grain elevator: trying out film.

When I first got my hands on a DSLR camera I was astounded by how easy it was to get clear, balanced shots from just a kit lens and automatic settings. My expectations for photography were set by disposable cameras and early generation digitial point-and-shoots over a decade ago. I took the camera to New York to use on an interview assignment and came back with passable, publishable photos (in that case, of Mark McNairy samples). Initially that success bred overconfidence--I can do anything, who needs a photographer--but really the "work" was good enough for people who didn't know any better. Although that category includes nearly everyone, I've been trying to be a better (although still firmly amateur) photographer since then, and a couple classes and easy gear upgrades have improved my game.

I'm at the point now where I don't need full auto and I don't miss too many shots because I muff the settings or focus. Concentrating on composition, color, and intentional effects, I'm still sometimes disapointed when I scroll through iPhoto. I'd like to get a full frame digital camera but a man can only afford so many hobbies, and I classify $3k cameras with $3k watches, $3k suits, and $3k bikes—best not to know what I'm missing. Still, I wanted to do something I couldn't with my basic DSLR and at the same time improve my acumen, so I went in the anti-tech, lo-fi direction and picked up a reconditioned Nikon FE. The FE was a manual focus film SLR made in the years around 1980 (coincidentally, the year I was made) for the upper amateur market. There's a lot out there on the model so I won't repeat tech info (which I barely understand anyway), but so far working with the FE has been a lot of fun. I took it and a 50mm lens for a spin at the Penn Quarter Freshfarm market in Washington, D.C. last week.

Self portrait

Still working on my people technique: