logbook/photo: Photographic films Aurelie and Sarandsch and photographing food

Mai Quynh on 16. September 2023

logbook for the categorie Something with Photo for the months July and August 2023. The photos have already been posted elsewhere but today you get a few insights to my head.

Photographed on film

My photos from the film Aurelie arrived in July. It started off a bit dramatically, I had received the following note from the photo lab with my scans:

My subsequent comment to a friend was „Ok / I expect disappointment 😭“
I’ll tell you how it eventually turned out in a separate post on Aurelie then. What I can say already, nevertheless: It’s a fact that I’m still very doubtful of myself and also very doom and gloom/dramatic.

In July, a new film was put in which got the name Sarandsch. In July I took quite a lot of photos with it, in Ulm and also on holiday in Bavaria. Mostly of friends – which means that I will most probably not show them on the blog. Currently, the film still has a few free photo slots and these are being filled very slowly at the moment (technology failed – at least the repaired battery compartment lasted for 28/36 photo slots). Aka right now it’s not clear when the film will be completed (or if it ever will be).

In August, in preparation for my autumn trip, I felt like using a colour film again. I haven’t done that for quite a while. When writing this post draft, I estimated that there were three or four black and white films since my last colour film. In fact, it’s been 7 BW films :O
I considered doing a bit of research on which film to get beforehand …. eventually I just went to a photo shop and bought the cheapest one. The cheapest one was still worth two kebabs! I haven’t had to buy film for a long time because I got films as a present . I had only heard about the horrendous film prices but had not felt them – until recently. Welcome back in the real world! And that’s it for August, and hardly took any analogue photos.

Photographing food

Months ago, a friend and I came up with the idea of starting a project: she likes to cook and I get to try my hand at photography. Since then, I’ve done a bit of research and learning. And of course I can’t avoid trying things out. In July, I tried to take a photo when we were in a Turkish café, here’s a photo:

Actually, I don’t want to talk about it that much because I know it’s still quite amateurish. Nevertheless, it belongs in the logbook because I do something and this is part of the learning process. After all, I tried different arrangements and took several pictures.

In fact, I call it on purpose taking photos of food, because I food photography is too lofty for me and I hardly want to call my amateurish attempts by that. Even if that is the goal in the broadest sense. But the learning process is very slow. Every now and then, and quite sporadically, I look at photos in magazines or on the internet or watch a YouTube video. Or I find other people’s photos on Instagram or blogs quite chic. It’s not much but at least it’s something.

What I have learned: Get nice dishes and cutlery! Actually an easy tip but only then I realised that our everyday tableware is not fancy enough. For the backgrounds and props, I’m relying on what I already have or are easy to buy (tea towels that aren’t too crazy in colour; napkins; other neutral fabrics). In August, I saw a beautiful set of plates in a second-hand shop and bought them. I took a photo with one of the plates (the one with the edamame beans) and my friend commented afterwards that she thought it was a nice plate for photos, too. Thus: It’s a match!

June 2023 | study logbook. Something with photo

Mai Quynh on 7. July 2023

Aurelie and the mixed feeling

I mentioned, that I like to give names to my films.

My most recent film is Aurelie. What makes Aurelie special is that it was the first time I worked with a film speed/ISO 50 (before that it was either ISO 100, 200 or 400). I could have used the Sunny 16 rule and thus worked/exposed more safely, so to speak, but a spark of confidence in my skills said, „Whatever! You can do it without the rule now!“. Now, at the end of the film, I have a mixed feeling of anticipation and nervousness because I am afraid that it was an overestimation of myself. But I look at it positively: it was once again an experiment.

The film is ready and only needs to be developped. Especially in a case like this, where I cannot assess the photos and their quality and want to find out and learn, I try to avoid further sources of error/interference. Therefore, I prefer to take the film to professionals for developing.

Aurelie consists of portraits of friends, flora and fauna and also some self-portraits. The subject of self-portraits was eventually the focus of Aurelie. It was new and interesting and fun to do self portraits and I can only think „Fingers crossed!“ that they turned out well :‘)

Picture frames for the new home

As part of decorating my new home, I ordered picture frames. Picture frames add so much value to photos, I always underestimate that! What I looked for in the picture frames, apart from the frame itself, was the locking mechanism on the back. Oh goodness, you can spend good money on picture frames!

I ordered them online and after 1.5 weeks they arrived in two parcels. In one package, 3/5 of the frames were broken (broken glass). Fortunately, the complaint was answered positively on the same day and the replacement frames are on their way to me.

Image management software

Last but not least for June, I’ve been looking for an image organisation software. I don’t even have a bad organisation system for my pictures but that doesn’t mean it’s good or even optimal.

For Windows, most you can do is establishing folder structures but that’s not enough for me. I want to be able to assign keywords and jump between them quickly. And so I wanted to dig deep into the world of software programs but honestly, there’s not much to get there. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is the number 1 among the recommended softwares and actually I am willing to spend money but I’m not ready to get a subscription and be tied to Adobe for the next year(s). Therefore, I’m currently trying my way through two alternatives which were recommended as well.

I feel something that you don’t see

Mai Quynh on 11. June 2023

Who would have thought that AI would also make it onto my blog and that I would be able to jump on the bandwagon just in time? (or I missed that I missed it)

The other day, as I was looking at, analysing and evaluating the results of my latest photo shoot when this thought occurred to me: AI could take better photos than me. etter in sense of: AI could probably create photos that would make people nod in impression and comment with „Wow, that’s really a amazing picture!“. If I handed my photos to these people, my best photo might get an honest but not particularly impressed „Yeah, it looks pretty good.“ But it just wouldn’t leave the impression that the other brilliant AI picture did.

 

A special feeling called self-efficacy

At that moment, however, I also realised: So what? Because at that very moment, a special and strong feeling strucked me: the feeling of self-efficacy.

The feeling of holding a product in my hands where I know: This picture looks like this because I have made certain decisions. Decisions based on knowledge and gut feeling over the years, and also a large portion of trying things and letting coincidence lay a hand on it. A bundle of decisions.

Starting with the technical equipment (camera, lens, film), to deciding on the motif (subject, framing, use of light) and ending with the settings on the camera to finally capture the subject (aperture, shutter speed, image focus).

While the first two points no longer cause headaches and insecurities, I notice that I’m still quite young when it comes to the camera settings and thereby the photographic paintbrush if you say so. Most of the time it’s trial and error and knowing that I don’t know much. So I’m really super-mega-very happy when the pictures turn out well.

There is so much behind each picture: my thoughts of the moment; what I knew and what not at that time. So many feelings and thoughts that accompany a picture until it is in front of me.

 

I see something that you don’t see (*)

As an outsider, you don’t see these feelings and thoughts on the product, this one photo. From this one photo, you can’t tell where I was standing two years ago and that I didn’t dare to leave the camera’s automatic mode. From this one photo, you can’t tell that I lost many photos to poor contrast and too little light. From this one photo, you can’t see the whole learning process. You know what I want to tell.

It’s a pity that no one who hasn’t gone the same way can see this way as well and acknowledge it accordingly, but that’s only natural. But what remains for me and for you is this feeling of self-efficacy.

This feeling of being capable is priceless and cannot be replaced by anything.

And importantly, once I feel it, no one actually can take it away from me anymore.

 

 

Eventually, it’s not about the AI. It could have been another person taking that other brilliant photo. It’s about me taking photos for self-awareness, for the feeling of knowing and being able to do a bit more today than yesterday. If I want to do more of interpretation, it’s about how I realise that I am and live.

And that, dear people, were my two cents on the subject of AI and my three pennies on the subject of self-efficacy.

Have you ever noticed your self-efficacy and if so, what situations do you think of?

 

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Disclaimer: This is my description of self-efficacy or a situation where I experienced it – if you want to learn more about it, your trusted search engine will help you. (*) Literal translation. This is a kids‘ game, the english analogue game is apparently „I spy, with my little eye“

Camera + lens: Minolta 9000 AF + Minolta AF 100mm Macro f2.8
Film: Rollei RPX 100
Development + scan: Charlie Engel Lab 2.0