Had a nice little photo excursion yesterday that I didn’t entirely plan.  I was planning to get some homework done get to bed early, but on a whim I went out to the lake for a little shooting in the nice weather.  While there, I happened to run into fellow photography student Matthew Taylor (http://naturallycomposed.wordpress.com/), and so had someone to shoot with for the evening.  Shooting with someone else who truly enjoys photography is always a pleasant experience.  On a side note, this was the first time I’ve ever run into another student from my program while out photographing.  I had always thought it kind of odd that this never seemed to happen, as I have spent a fair bit of time this last year photographing in this small town.

What we have today is a lakeside scene captured with a photon sieve.  As I believe I mentioned a few days ago, I recently got out of the habit of shooting with lensless optics.  I don’t know why that is, but in any case I consider myself to be back in the game.  A sharply focused image is a fine thing, but shooting without glass presents a unique challenge and can produce very satisifying results.

I am currently taking a class on the history of photography.  I couldn’t help but notice while reading the textbook that the difference between the Calotype and Daguerreotype is echoed in the difference between conventionally made photographs and those made with a pinhole or photon sieve.  While focusing optics are widely accepted as the tool for every single job, a few people still like to make use of “outdated” concepts for their singular characteristics.

“The rough surface, and unequal texture throughout of the paper is the main cause of the Calotype failing in details, before the process of Daguerreotypy–and this is the very life of it.” David Octavius Hill