An institution in Grand Rapids since basically forever. He's fixed many cameras for me, my father, and my grandfather. It's comforting to know he's still there. 

Well, I have a new digital camera on the way, so I thought I'd get an early start at my workflow for over-processing digital images.  <div> <div> <p> Leeloo. (Fuji X100) </p> </div> </div></p> </div></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <img alt="Zim (Fuji X100)" src="/img/imported/DSCF1304.jpg" /> </div> <div> <div> <p> Zim (Fuji X100) </p></p> </div> </div></p> </div></p> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Many people feel they need to see their photos immediately after taking them. Digital photography solves that problem nicely for those people. Personally, I don't understand that need and I prefer the delay that shooting film introduces into the process. <p> The above photo was taken this past winter while driving during a snowstorm. The gentleman in the photo wasn't phased a bit by the fact that he was waiting at a red light on his bike while snow began to pile up around him.

After hearing from several people that they don’t visit my site because I have “too many places I post things,” I’ve decided to heed their advice and move things around again in hopes of making things easier for everyone. To that end, I’ve stopped posting to this /photography/ section and moved everything up to the main jackbaty.com area (aka /blog/). I don’t get enough traffic for it to affect too many people, and I hope this will be better for those few who do visit.

When I think of my introduction to photography, the Canon AE-1 Program is what I remember. It was my first real camera. I received it as a gift from my parents at my high school graduation in 1982. I loved that camera. First thing I did was load it up with Kodachrome and take a photo of a flower. As one does. I believe this next photo is the first taken with the camera

I quickly ran a roll through my new Canon AE-1 Program SLR just to make sure everything worked. Exposures seemed close, and the camera handles exactly how I remember it (from 30 years ago anyway). I grabbed the photo above from my car window while waiting for a light.

I find myself with a collection of some of the finest film SLRs ever made (and one really nice Digital).  Nikon F6, Canon EOS-1v, Nikon F100, Canon 1D Mark III The problem I’m having is that I really shouldn’t keep both systems. Why not? It’s a matter of desire. By having really good Canon gear available I’m always on the lookout for a nice new (or old) lens or maybe another flash.

My house was being taken over by a bridal shower, so my sister Crystal was nice enough to invite me and the dogs over to celebrate her birthday.  Crystal has 5 pugs so that makes for a total of 8 dogs between us. It was a busy afternoon. I did have time to put a couple rolls through the trusty Leica M3. (Above all using M3 and 9cm Collapsible Elmar with Tri-X and processed in XTOL.

Jack Baty (°1964, Grand Rapids, United States) makes photos and drawings. By taking daily life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of middle class values, Baty makes works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times, they seem typical by-products of American superabundance and marketing. <p> His photos are characterised by the use of everyday objects in an atmosphere of middleclass mentality in which recognition plays an important role.

Everything about making a photo with the 4×5 camera is harder. but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun ! I’ve been walking around shooting handheld and zone focusing, which I imagine to be how these “press” cameras were originally used. I have a new level of respect for the folks who were asked to “go and get the shot!” and then handed a case with one these and a stack of film holders.

There have been so many positive comments about DigitalOcean that I couldn’t resist having a go, so you’re soaking in it right now. Baty.net is a static site so moving it to a DigitalOcean “Droplet” was easy. Droplets are KVM-based Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and start at $5/month for an instance with 512MB RAM and 20GB of storage. The kicker is that the storage is all on SSD drives. If you decide to try it, use the link below and I get a small commission.

Yesterday was to be a day of photographing. By 7:00am I had packed up 2 bags and was ready to roll. I sat for a few minutes thinking of what I might like to shoot. Then I sat for a few more minutes. The next thing I knew it was early evening and I had nothing. The problem is that I’ve got things backwards. Instead of going out and randomly hunting for photo opportunities I should just know what I want to shoot and then go do that.