Well here we go, I finally decided to start a blog. I wonder who will even read this thing... Maybe just me and a random person from malaysia who is mistaking me for someone else. Very possible. Anyways, since you probably don't know that much about me yet, I guess I will go ahead and talk about my photography and what not.
I first got into photography at a young age. My dad, Eric Luse, was a photographer for the San Fransisco Chronicle for 29 years. I was there for 15 of them. For whatever reason, it fascinated me, and it was something I loved doing. I didn't have my own camera until i was 12 years old, and my dad's friend gave me a pentax k1000. The k1000 is not an amazing camera, it's nice, but nothing crazy nice. It had a broken light meter, and the film wound backwards (don't know how), but it worked none-the-less. I didn't have any money to spend on film or processing at this point, so i would just take my dad's old film (he was already using digital at this point) out of our freezer and use that. Then every once in a while, when i thought i had taken some good photos, we would take them to longs and have them processed. Most of the rolls I shot ended up never getting processed, and, though I can't remember, knowing me, I probably broke all them open just to play around with the film. At this point I was really just liking to shoot the camera. The funny part of it though was that most of it was old kodachrome, which I unfortunately never processed or anything, which is sad because I now know that it's such a nice film. But it is too late because it will never be processed ever again, so whatever. Anyways, at some point I decided that I really liked black and white, and my dad and I ended up processing some rolls at home, which was exciting for me. I was 13 at this point. Well I eventually put the camera up on a shelf and forgot about it. A couple years went by, and I hadn't even picked up the camera. In that time, my dad took me into photo galleries of photographers like W.eugene smith, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Brad Cole, etc. I believe i just complained about not wanting to be there the whole time! (very different from now) Well then my second semester of sophmore year in highschool, I started photo class at school. I wanted to use a digital camera (go figure), but for beginning photography, we had to use a 35mm film camera. So i ended up using my dad's old eos a2, which had a working light meter. Well as soon as I made the first print in the darkroom, I realized that i would never again be able to pick up a digital camera. Literaly 2 months after that first darkroom print, I bought my first enlarger. I was hooked. I scoured craigslist, ebay, and other websites to piece together my darkroom and camera collection. People gave me stuff, I bought some stuff, and I was just having fun with it (I still am just having fun with it), and well I'm glad to say how much I love it.
It's now close to a year and a half since I made my first print, since I began seriously using a camera. And well I've already tackled many photographic feats. For one, I have broken out of the 35mm camera. I now own a medium format camera that I use constantly (well its in New York right now getting cleaned, lubed, and adjusted, as it was not functioning correctly). I also own a 4x5 cambo monorail, which I am beginning to use more and more. At this point, the 4 cameras that I own/use I have not payed anything for. Here is a list of the cameras that I use:
-Nikon F2, this is a 70's nikon slr which is considered highly collectible. I have a nikkor 50mm 1:2 lens for it which is pretty nice. I really like this camera, it's great to use. I just don't shoot a lot of 35mm anymore. I was given this by an older drunk man who lives on my dad's friend's brother's ranch. He gave me this camera because he saw me reading a photo book when we were spending the weekend at the ranch and he wanted me to have it. The camera is in great condition, and is really very nice.
-Bronica S2A, this is quickly becoming my main camera. Unfortunately, I will not have it for another month or so because it broke soon after i got it, and so it is in New York being fixed up. I got this camera from the guy who owns my new favorite photo store, glass key photo on haight street in SF. I traded an Alpa Alnea 35mm camera that i was given for it. Yes the Alpa was worth more, but no, i don't care. I like medium format too much. The Bronica is a great clunky camera, perfect for me. Its 6x6 format is one of my favorite. I have 4 lenses for it: nikkor 50mm 1:3.5 (my usual lens), nikkor 75mm 1:2.8 (great prime lens), nikkor 135mm 1:3.5 (awesome for portraits), komura 400mm 1:6.3 ( I have yet to use this lens, not super use-able for me). This is my main workhorse.
-Cambo Monorail, I am not sure on the exact model, but it is one of the lower end ones. I have a schneider-kreuzenech 65mm 1:8 which is my only "normal" lens for it. Superb lens, really nice. I use this camera more and more, but i still feel like i should be using it more. I am going to use it in absence of my bronica though, as i will not stoop back down to 35mm! I am currently working on using the zone system, and after my recently acquired soligor spot meter, this will be used to greater affect. I am waiting on a package of shutters and random optics which i will play around with. I am looking for a sally-mann esque look. I imagine that I will find myself using this camera for most of my work once I get the zone system down.
I also have some other cameras which I haven't listed because I honestly don't use them anymore: Canon eos a2 with lensbaby, and a Yashica A tlr (I will probably use this for long backpacking trips, street photography, travel maybe, or when my bronica breaks and i want to use 120).
In my darkroom I have 3 enlargers: My main enlarger is a Beseler 45mxt with an aristo cold light head, but i also have a 23cII, and an omega B22 XL. I don't really use the other enlargers too much, but when friend's(particularly my girlfriend) come over to print, they usually use the 23c. I mainly use el-nikkor lenses (50mm 1:2.8, 150mm 1:5.6), or my minolta rokkor-x (80mm 1:5.6)
Well I think that pretty much sums it up. I will have some more detailed, specific stuff up soon, and will probably scan some prints and post them. We will see. For now this is just for fun, and I hope you will enjoy it. I hope I will.
-Austin
