I have returned from my summer recess. Not that I went anywhere but my last 3 weeks included multiple trips to NYC buying ink for the Epson printer (I am seriously thinking about selling this printer due to maintenance costs), printing a quick portfolio of B&W prints for the Mary Ellen Mark workshop, and running the film into NYC back again.
The workshop was good. Its a mix of networking and discipline in the presence of a world renowned photographer. I was the technically savvy guy and Mary told me she uses a Mamiya 7 as well. She suggested I add a flash for my general street work. I did. I got a Metz. I am still deciding whether to keep it or now. There is an advantage to using a flash as a fill in. Mainly its set minus 2 stops to the regular scene. My tests seemed to support the fact it helps. But more testing is needed.
The great thing about the workshop were some of the people I met. Neither have websites here I could share but the work presented was tremendous. Once they do put it up somewhere on the web I'll post the links right away.
I ended up shooting 5 rolls of 35mm film at a Fair we all went to. The film is still in NY at a lob recommended from Mary Ellen. But I did not get them to scan the film since it was $15 per roll in addition to the processing. I sort of regret it but need to take the film to a darkroom to print contact sheets and send them for review. The scanner I have here won't be the most time efficient nor detailed tool to scan the 35mm (for 120 it does a decent job) so I'll just need to devote some extra time to it.
A great photographer whom I befriended lent me his Leica M6 with the 21mm lens. Amazing tool even in the digital age. That was just one roll of TriX. The rest of all work was done in color with the Contax G2. Here is one photograph done with Leica.