Introductory bio from a 70mm IR photographer

[Steve Homer <shomer@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings! I first subscribed to this list a few years back, learned a lot from
it, and then unsubscribed. Now I'm back, hopefully to learn more and share some
of what I've learned over the past 3-4 years.

- Name: Steve Homer

- Profession/Study: I studied physics and political philosophy in the
university; I have worked since 1984 as a technical writer, mostly in
California's Silicon Valley. I quit my job last month to spend the Summer
concentrating on my photography

- Country: United States

- Personal history of photography: I bought myself a modern 35mm camera on my
30th birthday in 1990. Year by year I'm trying to get more serious about art and
photography. I had the good fortune to take list contributor Jim Henderson's
infrared photography class at Portland State Univ. in Oregon ... and the poor
judgment not to complete it. I've had a few gallery shows in Oregon and I'll be
showing my infrared work here in Santa Cruz, California, at a pro photo lab and
a cafe later this year.

- Preferred subjects: People; portraits and figure studies dealing with gender,
androgyny, and body image

- Materials (film, filters, paper, chemistry): Kodak IR Aerographic developed in
TMAX-RS; TMAX 100 developed in TMAX; Ilford RC and Multigrade FB papers

- Format (35mm/medium format/large format): I use a Mamiya RB67. I shoot TMAX in
6x4.5 format and IR Aerographic through an 87C filter in 70mm format. I almost
always work in the studio, using flash equipment.

- Other strange hobbies: skateboarding

- How did you find out about this list: WJ's postings on Usenet newsgroups
originally, and from Web searches for 70mm equipment most recently.

- In case you already have your own IR-Gallery on the web, please
state the URL/address: None, by choice. I make my living publishing electronic
documents, so I try to keep my photography as far removed from computers as
possible. Also, I don't really want people to download my figure studies from
the Web and then treat them as pornography rather than Art-with-a-capital-A. I'd
rather have people see the work in a gallery or a cafe. Eventually I'll probably
break down and set up a Web site with some of my more modest work, as a way to
show prospective models a virtual portfolio.

- Expand on anything photographic you like: I enjoy how infrared photography of
the figure can, by making the body seem strange, sometimes encourage people to
make the leap from a mostly erotic to a more artistic or personal reaction.

I rejoined the list partly because I'm hoping you all can help me with a couple
of technical problems that have befuddled me recently. The first is the problem
of the one large and several small circles on the RB pressure plate, which I
rarely see on the negatives but which lately have ruined one too many otherwise
great photographs. I've read on WJ's web site about using various types to tape
to cover the plate, but I worry that this changes the focal plane of the film. I
almost always work with 90-127mm lenses at f11 or 16; do I need to worry about
the change in the film position after I cover the plate? In which direction (if
at all) does this shift the point of sharp focus on my subjects? And what would
be the best material (tape, paint, ???) to use to cover the circles in the
plate?

The second technical puzzle I'm facing is that having to take the 87C filter on
and off the camera while photographing a model is very cumbersome and often
distracting to both of us. Has anyone tried inserting a gelatin filter (or one
of WJ's polyester filters) into the cavity in the body near the back, behind the
mirror? Are either of those filters sturdy enough that they could be inserted
and removed repeatedly, or should I dedicate an RB body to infrared?

I'm sure that I'll receive some very clever suggestions from the list, and I
hope I'll be able to give back some information about 70mm IR portrait and
figure photography, which I've been doing for several years now.
____________________________________________________
Steve Homer         shomer@xxxxxxxxxx             Santa Cruz, CA  USA
Fine Art Photography       ---      Technical Documentation Services


*
****
*******
******************************************************
*  To remove yourself from this list, send:          *
*         UNSUBSCRIBE INFRARED                       *
*       to                                           *
*         MAJORDOMO@xxxxx                            *
*----------------------------------------------------*
*   For the IR-FAQ, IR-Gallery and heaps of links:   *
*  http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/mainpage.htm  *
******************************************************