20061211210238_rapture.jpg
The Rapture
Questions, Comments, Criticisms december 12, 2006

Union Station Chicago 2006

To be honest, the first thing I thought of was Star Trek; people being beamed up. But people generally don't get beamed up while they're walking. So the rapture was my second thought. Third was the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis, but it's just not the same without the special effects. ;)

Believe it or not, this is a hand-held shot at 10/25 seconds. I was leaning against a wall, but that's all the support I had. The lighting is pretty dim in this part of the station, so I figured I'd play with slow shutter speeds to see what kind of cool effects I could get. I'm happy with the results.

As always, I'm always happy to get constructive comments. Please tell me what you do or don't like about my pictures. Even if you just think it's boring, or the subject's been done to death, I'd still love to hear it. Thanks.

Update: I got my free film from Kodak (thanks to Photojunkie for posting the link). They sent me Porta Professional 160NC, 160VC, 400NC and 400VC. I asked for 135. They sent me three 135's and a 120 (the 160NC). I have two ancient 120 cameras (I think one's a Brownie), but I have no idea if either of them work. I'm not sure I want to waste this film if the cameras don't work. Would it be cheaper to buy and process a couple of rolls of 120 film to test the cameras, or to buy a cheap 120 camera to play with my free film? Ah, dilemmas, dilemmas. Guess I have some research to do. :)

Update 2: Apparently there's a problem with the link to my comments page. IE doesn't seem to like it. It works fine in FireFox. Thanks to Jyoti at lensimpressions.net for the heads up. I'll try to get it fixed today.

Update 3: I fixed the comments bug. Apparently IE didn't like the question mark I added to the label. Didn't bother FireFox, and I couldn't see anything in the code that should have caused the problem. A riddle for another day I guess. As for the film dilemma, I think I'm going to just buy a couple of rolls of cheap film to test out the old cameras. I can't imagine it'll be more than the price of a Holga. Plus, it would be really cool if they still work, especially after being carted from home to home. They've basically been decorations or ballast for the last 20+ years. I'll post the results, assuming they actually still work.