Klyment.com - Journal

The Delta Upsilon Fraternity Alberta Chapter celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. As part of the anniversary, the fraternity's alumni have decided to digitize their composites so that they may be projected during the reunion event in October and so that they will have a digital copy of the composites in case something happens to them.

Andy Nguyen, an aspiring photographer, accompanied me to the frat house to photograph the composites. He shot some interesting photos of Andrew McCready and I working on the composites. Andy was also instrumental in insuring that we finished sorta on time; there were supposed to be two more current fraternity members that were to help us with the cleaning of the composites but after Andrew left, Andy ended up doing most of the cleaning and setting up. Thanks a lot, Andy. =) You'll probably see some more photos by Andy in this blog in the near future until he gets his own site up.

I'm polishing off the bottom of an especially-dirty composite as Andrew looks on. This shot was taken in the fraternity house's board room. Composites were shot with the Nikon D2X through the 60:2.8 1:1 Micro-Nikkor AF-D and illuminated with a Balcar Nexus A3200 with two PowerZ heads with FX60 reflectors. Andy shot this photo with a modified Fuji S2 Pro (he bought this from me a few weeks ago . . . so I'm happy that it is in good hands) with the Nikon 18-70/3.5-4.5 AF-S DX lens.

A shot Andy took from behind the D2X. I'm adjusting one of the composites on the wall. The hooks were really hard to use.

The following is an example of one of the single-shot captures of a composite. I had originally suggested other alternatives to the alumni and had the D2X as the "low end" alternative but after doing a sample shot for them I was amazed at the resolution and clarity of the capture.

1947's composite. The fraternity has had many notable alumni. Here, Eldon Foote was the president of the fraternity. Previous members include Francis G. Winspear, Clare Drake, and E. Peter Lougheed. Also interesting to note is that vice president this year is R. Macdonald. Well . . . I guess some people find that funny. I know Andy does.

A close-up view of a small portion of the previous photo. It's at about 20% magnification and compressed poorly but you can see the texture in the paper at this level. All from one shot, not stitched. Many of the composites suffered damage due to poor storage before they were framed. This one appears to have sustained water damage and prior to framing not all of the dust was removed so there are still particles under the glass.

Yes . . . there's an exclamation mark in the title of this entry but to be honest, I'm not terribly excited. For $4299 + GST you get a 12.8MP "full frame" body with a metal shell. Sure, it sounds great on paper and I'm sure it'll sell well. I guess it also feels nice in the hand, much nicer than the 20D or either of the Digital Rebels and the placement of the controls is very nice. But beyond these, you realize that picking up the 5D buys your way into a system with few OEM wide angle lens options. Anyway, they are in stock at McBain Camera in Edmonton. If you are looking for one, buy one through Jonathan Puckrin. He usually works at the Kingsway Garden Mall and West Edmonton Mall locations but call any of the locations and they should be able to track him down. Weekdays he'll work after 5pm MST until 9pm closing at the mall stores. I always buy my big ticket items that are carried by McBain Camera through him. McBain Camera also matches prices which retail stores will sell at anywhere in Canada and gives you fourteen days to find a better deal for a price match. Two left unallocated in stock as of the writing of this entry. Here are some photos:

Sitting pretty in the box . . . hahah, I guess I now have records of six valid serial numbers for the Canon 5D . . . oops, now I don't anymore.

A shot of a box. I put the camera back into the box to take the shot . . . this unit is earmarked for demo.

The Canon 5D sitting beside its box. All photos shot w/ Nikon D2X @ ISO 400, 17-55/2.8 @ 2.8.

It's kind of funny . . . Nikon digital SLR's tend to have almost a year from announcement to unallocated stock situation. Upwards of a year for Fuji. But the 5D, leaked just over a month ago, can now be purchased without a back order from a retail store IN CANADA. Anyway, I highly recommend checking out the DPReview preview before going forward with your purchase. Seems like there are mixed feelings about the camera already in the forums . . . some complaints that per-pixel acuity isn't great. But the thought did cross my mind of mounting a 14mm F/2.8 Sigma EX aspherical rectilinear lens on this body . . . but then again, I could pick up a Kodak SLR/N and get the same focal length and still stick with F-mount.

Rapid Fire Theatre's TheatreSports and Chimprov is back in session at the Varscona Theatre (103 St. and 83 Ave.) Shows are 11pm Friday and Saturday respectively and run for about an hour and a half to two hours. I'm tired so here's a list of some coming blog entries for which I already have photos:

• Theatresports Opening Night
• Chimprov Opening Night
• Sold my S2 Pro - tribute to a special camera
• Purchased S3 Pro - some bitching about Fuji, Nikon, McBain Camera, workflow and other stuff
• Printhuge.com - updates
• Burning thistle seeds - experimental photos

CHIPS!!!!

Opportunity courtesy of Huy. Thanks, dude.

From left to right: I don't remember his name or what exactly he does but he plays with the camera, director of photography, director/producer (director for sure, don't know with certainty who's producing).

DP shooting an actress who's in Maurice's acting class.

Eric - he sure has that director look.

One of the main characters. Probably the main character.

Dude acting as a tailor.

One of the extras who was very cute and had a unique look with some resemblance to Winona Ryder.

Environment shot with the main character plastered to what, at least until that point, was a very clean window.

Left to right: mannequin torso, Greg (Huy's buddy, props guy), and Stephan (extra . . . same year and graduated from same high school as I).

We knew that Huy was a bit different . . . but I never would have guessed he was into gay necrophilia.

Makeup artist.

Assistant director (right, I think that's him), and I don't know what the other girl was supposed to be doing.

I started building Leanna's official model "portfolio" today. It's a fun project that Leanna and I decided would be cool to do. Okay, Leanna. You have to admit that you already have enough photos of you that would build better portfolios than a lot of non-pro models but yes . . . this is your first official shoot for the portfolio. For the rest of you, here's a sampling. Maurice did an awesome job with the hair makeup as always . . . and, as always, somehow finds his way into the photos.

Single 40 x 53" Plume softbox driven by a Balcar Power Z head and a Balcar Nexus 3200 asymmetric power supply. Shot with a Nikon D2X in RAW at ISO 100 and converted in Adobe Camera Raw. Carl Zeiss Planar T* 80/2.8 CF for Hasselblad used as the lens with an adapter. F/11, 1/250s.

Similar info to previous shot but now with both Leanna and Maurice. Everyone is still wondering where those amazing arm muscles came from.

Just Maurice. He does his own hair, too. Crazy.

Forum linking to photos of photographers from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1014&message=15015441

Excluding the video camera in the right on the second photo for which I have no idea what the value would be, I'm guessing that there's in excess of a quarter million dollars of gear pictured in that single photo and virtually all of it Canon. Too bad they don't make any decent fast wide angle zooms.

http://mgno.com/

The guy's in an office tower with internet access and diesel generator backup with an OC-3 connection. Possibly one of the few buildings with electricity and internet connectivity in the area. Talk about up time!

His fiance is a professional model and she's on OMP. She's hot, check out her page:

http://www.onemodelplace.com/model_list.cfm?ID=85637