Sunday, March 20, 2005

Weekend at Rollei's. Em and I went to the Bob Bullock Museum last Friday to check it out for "checking it outs" sake. The exhibit takes you through the entire history of Texas, from the Prehistoric Past to the future of tighter State S0domy Laws. I kept telling Em that I couldn't wait to see the Vietnamese Shrimpers of the Gulf Coast come up in the exhibit, but alas, there was none. My peoples were not represented.

I tell you what though, the Ancient Maps of Texas Exhibit was a roller coaster ride of thrills, chills and Mappin' frills. If you're interested in Mapography or really need to get to sleep, check it out.

We also saw the Judi Dench narrated Insectoid Drama, Insects in 3D, at the IMAX. Definitely one of the worst adapted Shakespeare Production I've seen in a long time...but the Preying Mantis was bitchin'! At one point, a spider drops from it's web directly towards the viewer, and continues to twitch for a good 20 seconds. Em started screaming, so I had to pet her hand and tell her that it wasn't real. She was fairly rocked by the ordeal, so I picked her up a Happy Meal and some Baskin Robbins after the show.

When we got home, the Rolleiflex was delivered and I got so excited, I just couldn't hide it. The first thing I noticed about it was it's rectangular shape and it's heft. It could stand to go to a fat camp. Where as the Canon 10D w/Grip is heavy, it is however, easy to hold because of it's ergonomics.

Despite this, looking through the ground glass via the waist level finder (see below) is a great way to compose pictures...it's like looking at the final print. I really dig the square format because there's no need to turn the camera on it's side for a portrait.

When you release the shutter, there's a loud 'kler-thunk' followed by the film motor advance. It really does sound like you shot a gun. I fired a frame off earlier tonight and Em heard it across the house and asked if I was ok.

I loaded it with some TMAX 400 and shot some family/friends with it this weekend, so hopefully the prints turn out ok. It's a great approach to photography that's slow, methodical and definitely more cerebral. Now I can't wait to get reamed with the processing/printing costs of medium format film. As they say, you can't have your cake and eat it too, chubby.







---

Work..tomorrow. You know what, the workplace that I'm at is compromised of about 95% women. Now, on paper this sounds like a pretty good idea, but in reality, it isn't. You see, that same 95% population of women could (on any given day) be on the rag. That is directly proportional to how much one male could get cussed out, bitched at or even fired.

You take into the number of proposed pot lucks, wedding/baby showers, monthly birthday roundups and other stupid work celebrations that no one really cares about, it amounts to a whole lot of wasted time. This goes for the gay guys too, because for some reason, they seem to get catty on a scheduled basis as well.
posted by HZA | 9:18 PM | email | archive