Uncle Jonesy's Cameras Podcast #74: Photo Walking Through History

Show #74 is our photowalk special. The 3rd Annual Photowalk with the Shutter Brothers is just around the corner, and Wayne and I are getting ready for a fantastic day of photography and fun. It all happens on Saturday, October 26 at Fort Southwest Point in Kingston, Tennessee. Hundreds of late 18th century military and civilian reenactors will converge for Kingston's Living History Reenactment Weekend to celebrate the city's 225th birthday, providing a unique photographic opportunity. All the details can be found on our Facebook event page.

This photo walk is quite different from our previous two events, which took place at locations where one could photograph most any day of the year. I don't really follow reenactment activities, so I may never have an opportunity to do this kind of photography again. And when I say "this" kind, I don't just mean reenactment photography. I'm really referring to a situation where there will be hundreds of people who know that they will be photographed and are willing to be so. You see, I'm not much of a 'people photographer,' mainly because it is outside of my comfort zone. I have experienced enough times when I have tried to photograph someone, even someone I know, only to see the discomfort on their face. This is why I'm not a street photographer (although I greatly wish I was). the exception to this is when I'm photographing street performers, as they would expect to be photographed. I always leave a little tip for them as well. 

This 3rd Annual Photowalk with the Shutter Brothers will be a great opportunity to photograph people and learn what makes a good people photograph. I found a photo book in our public library dedicated to the portrait photography of Henri Cartier Bresson, and I've been studying it for ideas. Since he used a 35mm camera to make the photographs in this book, I've decided to use a 35mm camera for the photowalk. Which one? Well, if you are reading this, you've probably already listened to the show. but if you aren't going to listen, then I will tell you. I'm using Uncle Jonesy's Minolta S-RT 202, the one you see in our logo. It's what Jonesy himself would have used for this event (and he would have loved to photograph an event like this), so I think it is an appropriate choice. 

And speakig of choices, I must decide which of the three Minolta 50mm lenses to use for the photowalk. Surely one is better than the other two, right? Sounds like a great question for Wayne, so I put it to him on the show. He said that there are ways that lenses can be tested and compared, and people do this all the time and write posts about it online. But when it came to comparing different 50mm lenses, Wayne's answer really  surprised me. You will have to listen to the show to find that out.

Meanwhile, I have been looking over the scans of my color negatives from my Alaskan cruise, trying to convince myself that they weren't as disappointing as they appeared to be. All three rolls looked dull with blown out skies and little shadow detail, and we're talking about Kodak Portra 400 here. What gives? What did I do wrong? I couldn't wait to get the actual negatives back to see if I could learn what my mistake was. 

But when the negatives did come back, they looked normal and obviously properly developed by the lab I chose. So, I decided to scan them myself and see if I could improve on the lab scans. I'm going to save the complete story of this endeavor for an another post, but I will tell you that I was quite successful. And I owe much of this to Nick Carver, whose video on color negative scanning was helpful beyond words.

This is the scan the lab sent me . . . 

. . . and this is the scan I made. 

Both Mike Kukavika and Jason Priebe contributed excellent emails to our show. Both Wayne and I love the input we receive from our listeners. It truly is my favorite part of doing the podcast. We welcome questions, tips, comments, reviews, and stories, because we get to learn right along with our listeners. You are always welcome to join the conversation; just send your emails to unclejonesyscameras@gmail.com, or you can post to our Facebook and Instagram pages. We'e love to hear from you!

That's all for now. We hope to see you in Kingston for the photowalk on October 26th. 

Happy Photography!