Today marked the end of the four day photo exhibition put on by the local photo club I joined at the beginning of the year. I submitted one photo for a show a few months ago put on jointly by all the photo clubs in the area, but this was the first one with just our group of 30 members. The show went very well and was well attended, having a total of somewhere around 700 or 800 visitors over the course of the four days.

My group of three photos were all done with the K20D and the SMC Takumar 55/1.8 and all were done in Strobist style, using off-camera flash. As best I could tell, mine were the only photos submitted that used a flash at all.

The K20D garnered quite a bit of interest among some of the club members. Any question about what it is capable of was amply answered by the three A3 photos hanging on the wall. There was no shortage of people who assumed the images were shot on film, with some assuming they were from a medium format camera. 14.6 megapixels and Takumars play very nicely together.

Some club members were doing some snapshots during the show, using their built-in flashes. I decided I would grab my camera out of the car and take some photos myself. Got some odd looks when I came in and set up an umbrella and remote control flashes. People were really taken with the vastly improved look from moving the flash off-camera and the soft shadows produced by the umbrella.

The Flash Waves were a point of conversation, and one member was very interested in obtaining a set. He was also interested in the old Pentax flashes I used, with their simple sliding switch controls. It seems that navigating through the electronic menu on his regular flash annoys him.

Anyway, the thing is over until next year. Here are the photos I had on the wall. Sometime soon I will be removing the prints from the frames and donating them to the temple where I took the photos.

All
Pentax K20D
SMC Takumar 55/1.8

Oh, I must add that it gave me no end of satisfaction having taken the photos with a $10 flash and a $10 lens. And I was proud to get out there and "represent" on behalf of Pentax in general and brothers and sisters (Hi, Mel!) of the Takumar Club in particular.

Well done for keeping the Pentax end up. They definitely do have the 'film' look about them. Must be the film era lens.

[Mike Cash]

I don't know what it was. I answered one guy's question about what I shot them with by saying "Pentax" and his next question was "645?" That was very gratifying.

[J.Scott]

The thing for me is that they are unusual from photographs that most people take - myself included. Your use of light and shadows creates an almost indescribable degree of texture and life to the objects. They have warmth and depth and are pleasing to view. It's easy for me to see why folks would be ga-ga over them.

Donating them to the temple is a gracious gesture, too.

[NaClH2O]

Mike, All I can say is that your work keeps getting better and better.

NaCl(it's obvious you've been practicing)H2O

[Peter Zack]

Very well done Mike. That first shot has a great look (they all do) and very dramatic. Not surprised these grabbed some attention. You make a great spokesperson!

[JCSullivan]

I seem to remember not long ago you were getting into experimenting with flash Mike. Losenge boxes in your truck and the dance company, etc.

These set of 3 look good on the monitor but, I am sure that too really appreciate them, one MUST see them framed and hanging, I wish I could have.

Funny that you went in and setup your brollie and flash, wish I was there for that too - would love to have seen the expressions on people's faces. Any setup shots!!!

[JMR]

The thing for me is that they are unusual from photographs that most people take - myself included. Your use of light and shadows creates an almost indescribable degree of texture and life to the objects. They have warmth and depth and are pleasing to view. It's easy for me to see why folks would be ga-ga over them.

Donating them to the temple is a gracious gesture, too.

Well I agree with Scott. Just love the way the shadows deepen the look of the works.

JMR

[Stratman]

Very cool story Mike, thanks for sharing, and keep on rockin' dem Taks buddy !!!!

[borno]

Really nice Mike!
Very nice use of lighting, it looks very natural.

[metroeloise]

Well I agree with Scott. Just love the way the shadows deepen the look of the works.

JMR

All of that and I resonate with the subject also. Thank you.

Also inspired by the "Donate to the temple.." Great Idea, action. I will be enfolding this into my MO. Thanks. :ugh:

[cmv]

I'd have liked to see the prints too -- on the screen, they look quite good.

[Heinrich Lohmann]

Mike, these are wonderful images, both classic and classy. Thanks for letting us see them.

Take care,

[Mike Cash]

Thanks one and all for the kind and encouraging comments. To tell the truth, the stylistic difference between these and anything else presented was stark, to say the least. There were some excellent photos there, don't get me wrong.

Oddly, I got comments from different folks that while complimentary were also contradictory of each other in a way. Some folks would say that I had succeeded in truly capturing the Japanese spirit (whatever that is).....while others would say that Japanese could never take photos like those.

I surprised one person who offered the latter opinion by saying that anybody could take them and the only reason Japanese folks couldn't would be because they'd be embarassed to be seen standing there with all that gear taking a picture of a statue, which is nothing more than God's own unvarnished truth. I don't give a damn what I look like going after a photo, because nobody is going to see my silly ass in the print anyway. As I told one of the club members, I stand out no matter what I do just by virtue of being white and large. Since I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb anyway whether I just stand there and do a quick point-n-click or whether I haul out strobist gear and set up camp then I may as well go ahead and do what I want to do to get the shot I want while I'm at it.

I'm still extremely new at this off-camera flash stuff and am enjoying learning by doing. As with all other types of photography, it has boundless depths for growth, discovery, and expression. But what I think too many people don't realize is that also as with all other types of photography, the basics of it are not rocket science and can be enjoyed by anyone with the few pieces of inexpensive basic equipment necessary. It is certainly something everyone owes to themselves to at least experiment with a bit. Especially in this age of digital photography where we can just delete our (many) failed shots with no extra expense involved.

[daacon]

Great story - great pentax spokesperson, great shots and nice description "Large and White" I felt the same way when I went to Mexico - Lowerpro Computer trekker on my back , Bigma on the camera - got a lot of stares and questions.