Through the Eyes of a Lotus

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, 20 April 2013

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, 20 April 2013

Who knew film cameras need cleaning? I sure didn’t!

ABC Photo Lab was kind enough to call back about my scratched negatives. Judging from the similar (if not identical) scratches on both rolls and the fact they process all B&W rolls by hand, the scratches were probably caused by my camera, not their processing. The rep even spoke with her techs, and they hadn’t had any scratch problems recently. That’s a relief, because I have never had a problem with their processing, before.

I’ll get the camera cleaned and try them again. It simply never occurred to me that my camera could have been the culprit. But I guess if a digital camera’s sensor needs to be cleaned, a film camera (which is opened every time the film is changed) would also need cleaning. I’m sure I can find a shoppe here in New York City that can clean my Minolta Maxxum for me. Thanks, ABC Photo Lab!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 20 April 2013

With a little instruction from Mom, this little one learned how to admire the pretty flowers without hurting them.

I most love photographing people going about their lives in public spaces. One of the things I struggle with, though, is the idea that not everyone wants to be photographed. (That has become less of a struggle as I’ve continually reminded myself it is a simple matter to apologize and delete the photo, if someone sees me photographing them and is not happy about it.) I still wonder how I would be able to use those photos in an exhibit, though, without getting a model release. When people are moving quickly past my lens or are some distance away, it would be impossible to stop them to ask for a model release, even if I had one on me and wanted to approach them. Do those photos stay buried in my personal library, never to see the wall of a gallery? I don’t know, yet.

Time for a new series of photos, this time from my April trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens with friends.

20 April 2013

By the way, the water isn’t cloudy. That is the sky reflected in the crystal-clear water of the lily pond.

Yesterday I found two flat kids in my PO box and took them with me into Brooklyn for the afternoon. After being folded up in an envelope for so long, they were very excited about riding the subway.

Flat Maurius and Flat Noemy riding on the subway.

Flat Noemy, Flat Maurius, and me at Pier 1 in Brooklyn. You can see One World Trade Center in the background, on the far left. The Flats are from Phoenix, AZ and were very excited to visit the city.

We had lunch with friends, then spent a couple of hours at a nighttime photography meetup.

Jane’s Carousel lit up in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, with One World Trade Center in the background.

It was a long, fun day! They say thank you for sending them to New York City.

Manhattan, as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park
18 May 2013

It has been months since I have done any night photography. I look at this photo, and I wonder why I took so long to take my camera out at night.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 20 April 2013
Fujifilm 400 scanned with my DSLR.

I got my first batch of negatives back from ABC Photo Lab and am distressed to see they scratched my negatives. (The scratches are clearly visible on the left side of the scan.) I’ve contacted them to see if they will refund my money. I had expected they were still at the same level of quality they were back when they went under the name Mystic Color Lab, so I was very excited to discover the staff had started their own company after Mystic Color Lab was sold out from under them to York. I was not expecting this.

This may be a fluke; I will see if and how they make this right. If they do not, I will have little choice but to go with a more expensive lab here in NYC. The extra cost will be worth it to make sure my negatives are processed unscathed.

Parkchester, Bronx, NY
27 April 2013

What do you see when you travel through gritty, urban areas? Can you find beauty, or do you only see what you don’t like?

Bronx, NY
27 April 2013

The position of the sun allowed me to experiment with using sun flare. It’s not something I often, deliberately capture, but I wanted and like the effect here.