HALLOWEEN

November 19, 2007 - Eric Ford-Holevinski

WESTCHESTER

NASHVILLE

THE TENNESSEE WILDS

NYC HALLOWEEN PARADE

NIGHT VISION

PARKS DEPT.

MISC

ABOUT THE PICTURES This gallery was overhauled on 4/29/2009. I shot most of the above photos with an old 50mm lens which I got for free, from my dad, who bought it in 1983. It's a manual lens, meaning no autofocus -- I have to turn the focus ring for every shot -- and I have to set the exposure by hand. When I first picked up the lens in July, I thought that would slow me down, but you can get used to just about anything. Why shoot with such a difficult lens that doesn't even zoom? Because it has a nice big aperture, allowing me to shoot in far darker conditions. I also feel more creative when using it, maybe because it pushes me out of my comfort zone. I shot with only that lens at the Halloween parade -- I have no other lens bright enough. Even at an aperture of f/2, I had to shoot at ISO 1600 to get anything decent. Pulling focus in the dark like that was masochistic (to put it lightly). To help me focus manually, I bought a replacement for my focusing screen, the filter inside the viewfinder that helps you see through the lens. I installed the focusing screen myself, nulling my camera's warranty and in effect conducting surgery on it. The Halloween parade brings out all kinds, but I find the politicizing of my favorite holiday somewhat offensive. Nevertheless, the crazies can't resist forcing every issue down our throats at every opportunity. These types are easy to photograph because, vain as ever, they'll pose and linger as much as it takes to get the message out. I guess it's the only way they can get attention -- the tourists next to me who filled the downtime with smarmy chatter about how much they hate America and wish they could live abroad ate this stuff right up. The "Night Vision" series was all after dark. It was so dark that the viewfinder was mostly black and the camera couldn't see enough to autofocus (irrelevant with the 50mm). I don't know how I focused some of these -- none of them were nearly as bright in real life. I used exposures between 4 and 30 seconds long to get the shots, something I wanted to attempt because the world looks so different at night, especially colors. The blurry effect is caused by wind blowing the leaves around. There I am to the right, with my gear: the camera bag, two lens cases (all attached to my belt to save my shoulders), a tripod in hand, and my backpack with filters, a book for the subway, etc. It's exhausting carrying all that stuff around. It might look silly, but even just a simple shoulder bag was killing my shoulder, so that's out. I'm trying to figure out a more efficient, light-weight system, but it's hard to accommodate my giant (to me) wide-angle lens. *Note (11/28/07): In the Halloween Parade shot of the policeman and the "pig," the cop is not in costume -- he's a real NYPD cop with a good sense of humor.

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