Developed two rolls of film today from my trips through Occupy Portland this week and hope to do some printing tomorrow.  Mixed up a gallon of Dektol for printing.  I love the process.  Perhaps tomorrow I can take some time to make some digital images of the printing process.

Occupy Portland has held on for three weeks now but those who organized it have lost control of it.  That is if they ever had any to begin with.  A memo released by Occupied Portland Inc. (registered trademark) suggests that the core group wants to shake off it's ties with the motley crew of street kids, homeless, and mentally ill who have occupied downtown Portland for years. On Saturday they plan a demonstration and a march to Jamison Square in Portlands toney Pearl District perhaps in hopes that they won't be followed by the Chapman and Lownsdale Square crowd that they welcomed with free meals three weeks ago but now want to scrape off their shoe like so much dog poo.   A similar issue with the free-loaders has also arisen in Occupy Wall Street in New York where instead of haute cuisine they are going to serve only red beans and brown rice until they go away. 

Our local excuse for Government has given warning to Occupy Portland that they should stay put but someone named "Matt" from Occupy Portland fired off an e-mail salvo basically saying "You and whose Army is going to make me!"  Along with all of this is the very bad timing of a Union March of Solidarity with Occupy Portland that happened on October 27th and on October 28th another Progressive Juggernaut showed up at Pioneer Square to voice their support.  It's really hilarious to watch Portlands Progressive Elective Officials twisting themselves in to idealogical knots.  It makes one almost nostalgic for politicos from the old days like Terry Schrunk and Frank Ivancie  who had a pair and weren't afraid to "use em".

Super Macro Mode.   The Canon Pro-1 has a nice extreme close-up feature that works very well. 

Lone Fir Oak Tree in Digital Color and Analog Black and White

I've photographed this oak tree quite a few times over the years. I haven't taken a camera through Lone Fir in quite awhile so yesterday I took a walk through Lone Fir with my digital.  The black and white image was done on 35mm Agfa film with a Nikon using a 24mm lens.  The digital photograph was taken using 28mm the widest angle on the Zoom lens that the Canon Pro-1 comes with.  You can see that the format of the digital image is not identical to the dimensions of 35mm.  Something I didn't notice until just now seeing the two pictures side by side. 

Yesterday the sky was cloudy bright.  I set the white balance on cloudy and changed the color setting from neutral to vivid.  This seemed to boost the colors just enough but not too much.  I wish I'd shot some black and white film this week though and today I have a lunch engagement so I can't shoot.  Shoot.

Occupy Portland is now entering it's second week and continues to grow larger, more complex, more problematic and more entertaining by the day.  As I have said before the show Portlandia can never be as funny as the reality of Portland.  You can't write stuff like this.

It's a microcosm brew of many ingredients of Portland Weird.  A hoppy, heady mix of PC Organic Progressives, Hipsters, Homeless, Free-Range Mentally Ill, City Government officials (as well as those seeking office) and Police all concentrated right in the heart of the city and fermenting like a bad batch of homebrew. 

Above you see Amanda Fritz a member of city council addressing a small percentage of the 99% like a patient public school teacher lecturing a bunch of 8 year olds in the typical passive-aggressive Portland doublespeak.  I heard her say that the peoples first amendment rights "trump" city park ordinances (so it's legal to be illegal?) bbbbbuuuuuuuttttttttt your ruining the park environment and your taxing the limited resources of a city already running on empty bbbbbbbbuuuuuutttttttt we are still  real proud of you for standing up for your free speech rights bbbbbuuuuuuutttttttt remember your really only 1% of the 99%.

A couple new pictures taken yesterday with the Canon Powershot Pro-1.  Above picture shooting in to the sun but hiding it behind a tree branch.  I need to find a Polarizer for this to see if that can tone down the glare off the bricks. The bottom picture taken using the focal range of around 100mm compressing perspecive and bringing Mt. Hood in closer.  I was pleased with the sharpness of the image at this setting.

Couple of new prints from yesterdays darkroom session of images from inside Occupied Portland.

Analog vs Digital

I have had a little over a week now to try out my digital camera and then to swap back to one of my 35mm SLR's and shoot a roll of film and develop and print in the darkroom.  The weekend was nice and I could have been out in the sun with the digital but once I got in the darkroom again I stayed submerged in the dark most of yesterday and again today.  I was having a lot of fun.  Perhaps I am more interested in the making of photographs as opposed to the taking of photographs and that is what draws me to the process of shooting film, developing it, and then printing images a process that can consume most of a weekend with development, washing, drying.  I spent several days in the process of making 10 prints something I could have done in 10 minutes with the digital camera and a computer and printer but what is the fun in that?  The darkroom and the "digital darkroom" have nothing in common.  It's not the same it's not even close.  I can remember being at Citizens Photo once years ago when I started using the camera again and listening to a former analog photographer talking about the joy of the digital process over the old ways.  I thought to myself that he probably was enjoying digital so much  because he sucked as a photographer.  Digital doesn't require a photographer really, just some idiot to push a button. Don't get me wrong I really love this digital camera, I'd take it to bed with me but it can't replace the magic.  There is nothing magical about it. 



No Polarizing Filter



Polarizing Filter

One issue I am having with my digital camera is the ability to use filters.  It came with a canon adapter for filters but there is a UV filter jammed on it so tight I can't change filters.  I am having problems finding another adapter for this specific camera.  Too bad the design of the lens couldn't just be threaded like a normal lens but perhaps it's a digital thing.  I experimented with stacking a polarizer over the the UV filter and took some pictures of the sky to see if it made much difference or caused any degradation in image value.

In the above photo one can see a demonstration going on in front of the Justice Center  while a Occupy Portland representative and the Police keep up a dialogue.

The Thompson Elk center of Main Street downtown Portland.

This city that has been created here in a public park is beginning to remind me a bit of the old film by King Vidor called 'Our Daily Bread' a film that I think got the film maker black-listed because it was about a Socialist Commune being formed by a group of unemployed people during the Great Depression.  It's also reminding me a bit of the community in Ursula LeGuins novel 'The Dispossesed'.  For awhile one could have called this movement 'Occupy Main Street' because Main Street runs between the two parks that are occupied and the movement blocked the street.  After the Mayor asked real, real nice for them to liberate it from their control the groups General Committee had a meeting and said 'No'.  The Police then had to take it back and 8 people were arrested.

More pictures from Occupy Portland.  These taken last Friday using a Nikkormat with tri-x pan film.  Developed in HC-110 and printed out on warm tone ilford paper.

Working with film after using a digital camera for a week was an adjustment.  I would forget to think about focusing but I would think about aperture and shutter settings which I still do with the digital because I use the manual settings so I can shoot in RAW format.

 Occupy Portland has been going on now for a week.  I've been using it as an opportunity to experiment with my Canon Powershot Pro-1.  Digital does offer advantages to be able to concentrate on composition and the snap shot. An event likes this allows me to move around and photograph freely and be ignored.  The totally self-absorbed make perfect subjects for shy photographers.

 I am surprised the movement is getting as much cred and tolerance as it is.  Everyone playing nice and getting along. Political theatre and a party with donated food and their entertainment for the lunch hour crowd.

 After a week of use I've come to use the camera on manual setting and shoot RAW images.  I have been primarily shooting in the 28mm-50mm focal lengths.

The media is around but there is not much to report.  They stand around rather bored and waiting for something to happen.