July 2024: Film and Color /  by John Ritchie

“The Djinn” - Digital, white balance set to tungsten, orange-gelled strobe to neutralize blueness in key light. My friend Lloyd and I were playing with strobes at Light Rider Studios - thanks to him for being such a willing model! Extra kibble for Lloyd! 😁

Since I’ve started using film as well as digital, I find that color film is sensitizing me to color in a way that digital photography hadn’t. To me, a roll of color film feels like a limited resource. Because there are only 36 shots on a roll, I feel a sense of preciousness with film that I don’t with a digital camera, so I find myself paying a lot more attention to how the color gets used. I horde my color exposures, looking for compositions that specifically feature color. My eye is getting more attuned to color as a result.

Expired (late `80s?) Kodacolor VR ISO 1000 shot at ISO 100. Looking for color on the street.

At Light Rider Studios we’re all about experimentation and I’ve been experimenting with different types of color film. Koa tries and supplies lots of different films and encourages members to try them too. I’m always trying to tune into the alien channel and some films really excel at that.

Lomography LomoChrome Turquoise ISO 100-400. A film experiment prompted by Light Rider.

“Blue Spores” - Lomography LomoChrome Turquoise ISO 100-400 at night.

White Balance: Digital photographers don’t have to pay attention to white balance unless they want to. They can leave the camera on Auto WB and edit the raw file later in post-processing. But in film white balance is hard-wired, and different films are designed for different lighting conditions. Daytime films are balanced for sunlit conditions, and Indoor films may be balanced for warm yellow tungsten light bulbs. Films intended for night might be balanced for sodium street lights, which are even more orange than tungsten lighting. With film I need to be very conscious of white balance.

CineStill 500T tungsten-balanced night film. This partially neutralizes the warm sodium lighting.

I’ve started playing more with what I’ll call “white balance cross-shooting” - shooting with “wrong” white balance setting to promote strangeness or some other feeling.

CineStill 500T tungsten-balanced night film shot in foggy conditions. This warms everything.

My experiments in film white balance are leaking back into my digital work as well. Partly as a preview to what film exposures might look like, I sometimes set my digital camera to tungsten (or other) white balance and use the look. I think the blue tones add to the sense of cold, alien light.

Digital - white balance set to 3400K (warm tungsten). Cold and harsh, just what you’d expect from an old penitentiary.

I’m using gelled strobes to selectively change color temperature within an image. Here’s another example using Gatsby instead of Lloyd.

Digital - White balance set to Tungsten for overall blue appearance, strobe gelled with orange to neutralize blue on the (handsome) model.

I shot the same scene with daylight-balanced color film. What a great model! He sat still even when I went into the house for another camera. Extra kibble for Gatsby! 😺

Reformed Day Shots ISO 400 film (daylight-balanced) with orange-gelled strobe. Colors look natural in the background but the (distracted) model is warm-toned.

Using color film is having a big impact on the way I see and use color in my photographs. It’s making me more aware of color and it’s helping me more effectively create the mood and subject I want.

April 2024: Alien /  by John Ritchie

I’ve been creating alien things. Although I’ve always kept an eye out for alien-looking photos, for the last year or so I’ve been working on the theme “alien” to see what I can find.

This involves lapsing into a receptive state when shooting - trying to tune into the alien channel where these images are broadcast.

April 2023: Mannequins /  by John Ritchie

Stel

(Updated 6/18/23 with additional photos)

A photographer friend of mine recently shared a mannequin photo she’d made, which prompted a discussion about creepy mannequin photos. We decided to get some mannequins and make some creepy pictures.

To start, my goals were to develop skills in portraying mood via simple gesture, and to make creepy, unfunny photographs. I’ve diverged from these goals somewhat as I go along in the project, partly because they’re hard goals, and partly because I follow my nose and it sometimes leads me to other types of images.

So far my photos seem to fall into two main camps: story-telling, and light studies.

 

Story Telling

Story telling is a big factor in my photography. I often think of the story concept ahead of time, then create the image to illustrate it, but sometimes the image creation builds the story.

These are untitled for now because I want viewers to figure the stories out on their own.

 

Light Studies

I’m always fascinated with shaping light, and mannequins are perfect models for experimenting with it because they’re endlessly patient and don’t mind holding a pose for hours at a time.

Working with mannequins is challenging and fun, so I’m not done photographing them. I’ll update this page as I create more mannequin photos.

And finally, for someone prone to anthropomorphism as I am, I can’t help but thank my mannequins for their help. A big thanks to Bob, Simone, Ziggy and Chad, without whose endless patience and willingness to experiment this project wouldn’t be possible.

September 2022: The End Of An Era /  by John Ritchie

In August I sold Hilda, my 1973 VW Westalia Campmobile. I had Hilda for 27 years and we took a lot of fun trips together but I decided to sell her. As the end drew near, I thought of lots of creative ways to photograph her.

Hilda lived in my studio so she featured in some studio photography.

I met a fellow photographer, Scott Moss (https://scottmoss.co/), who photographed me with the bus - perfect timing for me, since I was planning to part with her.

Scott knows some roller skaters, Kris (IG: @krisonquads) and Alicia (IG: @aliciamarliece_), who are interested in the `70s and are up for photography shoots, so he got us all together with Hilda for some photos. Maybe this is the start of Hilda’s pro modeling career?

I drove Hilda around town for a couple hours one night for some blurry fun. This isn’t the first time I’ve strapped a camera into Hilda, but it’s the first time at night.

Leaving for a new life in France, starting on a truck. Bon Voyage Hilda!

June 2022: Studying Glass and Light /  by John Ritchie

I’ve been reading art and photography books lately that are inspiring me to try new things. That, combined with a visual rediscovery of some art glass pieces, prompted me to study lighting, glass and vision to produce these experiments.

Uta Barth’s thoughts on trying to see past the blindness of the accustomed way of seeing one’s own home to find new vision inspired me to play with seeing through the lens of a piece of art glass, as in “Crazy Eyes” below.

“Light - Science & Magic” by Hunter, Biver and Fuqua prompted me to set up a lighting studio and play with dark-field lighting of glass, giving me the last two photos. The last photo - “Kelp Bulb,” part of a kelp sculpture - was a surprise, I’d been concentrating so much on lighting that I didn’t really notice the way the reflection makes it look like breasts until I was processing the photos, then it became overwhelmingly obvious.