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This is the page where we will post items of general interest, such as our travels, family stuff, snap shots etc. We will update it from time to time to let you know what we are doing.
I built my first darkroom in 1959. In December 2004, I broke up my darkroom, and sold off most of my equipment. I now use a "Digital Darkroom". All of the older images (prior to April 2003) were shot with conventional negative film, both B&W and color. I used a Polaroid 120 Sprintscan film scanner, prior to Hurricane Sandy killing it, to scan my negatives into Photoshop CS6. I now have a used Nikon Coolscan 8000 high resolution film scanner. I make my 13"x19" and 16"x24" prints with an Epson P800 and larger prints with an Epson 7890 (took delivery Jan 30, 2012) printer. Both the P800 and 7890 Printers utilize Ultrachrome pigmented inks which are truly archival, with estimated print life of 200 years, in accordance with The Wilhelm Institute. For my earlier work, I have used both 35mm and medium format equipment. The earlier work on this site was done with film cameras: mostly Contax 35mm equipment (SLRs and G2), with Carl Zeiss lenses, and a Pentax 645 and 67 medium format system. In April, 2003, I switched to digital capture, initally using a Canon full frame 1DS. That was later replaced with a Sony Alpha A900 full frame camera and lenses.
In June 2012 I added a Nikon D800e full frame 36mp camera with several Nikkor and Zeiss lenses (I RECENTLY SOLD MY NIKON EQUIPMENT ~ and rely on my Sony Mirrorless system).
For travelling and to have a small camera always with me, in December, 2013 I added a Sony A7R body (subsequently upgraded to a 42 Megapixel A7R Mark II, and another upgrade to a Mark IV at 61 Mp ). I have the following "Native" lenses: Carl Zeiss 35mm f2.8, Carl Zeiss 55mm f1.8, Sigma Art 70mm f2.8 Macro, Sony 12~24mm, Sony 85mm f1.8, Sony 24~105mm, and Sony "GM" 100~400mm lens and 1.4X Teleconverter which ups the lens to 560mm. For really long reach I added a Sony "GM" 200-600mm lens (840mm with the 1.4X extender). I also use many of my old film camera lenses via adapters, including Pentax Screw, Leica M, Leica R, Contax Zeiss, Minolta, Nikon AI, Topcon and more! New life to my old lenses!.
I was an early adopter of Medium Format Digital equipment. I imported from Japan, via Hong Kong, a Pentax 645D camera. I have many lenses from 35mm to 420mm. When I feel like doing meditated thoughtfull work, I bring out the big artillary (645D and lenses). UPDATE: The big Pentx 645D got to be too heavy to lug around. I replaced it with a Medium Format mirorrless Fufifilm GFX 50R, which is 50 Mp and half the weight. I have 23mm, 32~64mm, 50mm and 100 ~ 200mm Fuji Lenses for it. They are among the sharpest and finest lenses I have ever owned, including Zeiss and Leica lenses. Kudos to Fujifilm! UPDATE I now have a GFX 100S ~ 100 megapixels! Big prints are amazing with detail like I have never seen before!
I have not shot a roll of film since April 2003, and have shot digital exclusively since then. For those that are interested, it is easy to see which images were shot with film, and which were digital capture. All Images with the prefix "S", such as S100. were shot with film. The "S" stands for "Scan". Digital capture images have the prefix"D", such as D100. "D" obviously stands for "Digital".
ATTENTION: We got power to our home on May 1, 2013, six months after Sandy! We are back home after being homeless for 6 months.
NEW! Please see the new page ALEXANDER GURTCHEFF. My Father's negatives were lost for 72 years and recently recovered and returned to me.