The Blog of James Jay

My Birthday

On Feb 1st I turned 33 years old.

I was so busy that day it passed by like nothing. I ended up having to go to my mom’s and spend the night. I figured on my Birthday I should at least have a couple of drinks, so I bought myself a bottle of Jameson, stayed up to like 4 in the morning watching a American Experience episode on Henry Ford. He was a jerk in my opinion. Anyways here I am at about 3am taking a self portrait. When Im tired my eye on the left always closes.

Anyways I was up at 7:30 that next morning and I made myself coffee…

Tags: 33 years, 35mmfilm, Leica M6, my birthday, photography, self portrait, Xtol

My Nephew Reese

Ok one last post. My nephew Reese on his Birthday… Love these shots.

I Love photographing this boy, he is always willing to let me photograph him and he is always willing to pose for me, always so serious. I love it. My coworker said he looks like he is always thinking about something and she is right about that.

Tags: 35mmfilm, film, Kodak Ektar 100, Leica M6

21st Century Skins Native Male Calendar Release Party

This weekend I was asked to photograph a friend’s event for her calendar release party the 21st Century Skins Native Male Calendar. It was held in downtown Phoenix at the hard Rock Café. My friend Shaunya and Mihio owners of Viewfinder Production Incorporated have been putting this calendar together since 2006, take a look when you get the chance, And inquire about a calendar for yourself or someone else.

To be completely honest I was a little freaked out shooting something like this. I have never attempted to shoot any nightlife photos before, as you know I’m used to shooting photos with a rangefinder and no flash or using a point and shoot flash or whatever I had laying around. These photos would consist of getting images of male models. crowd shots, people having fun stuff like that.

I don’t consider myself to be a good photographer, I just photograph my life, so photographing something like this was way beyond my comfort zone. I accepted mostly cause I was curious to see if I could actually pull it off and I thought I should have the experience if the need arose. Also my friend said he would have his camera too, so that made me feel a lot better.

I used my Ricoh GRD III with my Ricoh GF-1 flash, Canon Rebel XT with a 480 EXII flash and of course my leicaM6. I had to borrow my job’s DSLR since I do not own one I never thought to actually buy one since I don’t really use them.

Well here are the photos tell me what you think. I was able to pick up some things that I would do differently next time. If there is a next time.

First off Here are Some of the Native Female Models!

Ok now on to the Gentleman.

Supa Man & Derek Hinkey. Both are featured in the calendar. Supa Man actually is a hip Hop artist also.

Derek Hinkey

Supa Man was fun to photograph.

Performing now.

Andrew Orozco

If they had a girl with them i made them kiss her on the cheek.

Cody Jones

Another one…

This is Joshua Greg he is is an upcoming musician from the Navajo reservation. He opened the 2013 21st Century Skins event.

This is miya, the one in the skirt…She is my friend Mihio’s and Shaunya’s daughter. One cool kid.

To end the night a performance by Tony Duncan. four-time World Champion Teen Hoop Dancer and also has a World Championship in the adult division. He is also ranked among the top ten hoop dancers in the world. And HAS EVEN performed alongside Nelly Furtado.

Caught my flash in this frame, but i liked it to much not to post it. I will post more images when I get the chance.

Well Thats it for tonight. Hope you enjoyed this post. Tell me how i did…

Tags: "Native American", 21st Century Skins Native Male Calendar Release Party., Andrew Orozco, Cody Jones, Derek Hinkey, Hard Rock Cafe, Joshua Greg, Native Female Model, Native Male Model, photography, Supa Man, Tony Duncan

Learning to create new images.

Hello, It’t been some time since my last post, but I do have something cool to share. On my flickr stream I have been uploading more photos, you may have noticed if you look there. Anyways, what’s cool about these photos is these are negatives that I have developed myself.

Awhile ago I had a friend give me a enlarger and film developing equipment, honestly I havent developed a roll since high school and that was in 1998, so it’s been awhile. Finally I worked up enough courage to actually buy the rest of the gear and get to developing. It’s only been about 2 weeks since I started and have worked my way through about 6 rolls. I have been trying to get back in the swing of things, just taking it slow and not really trying to push myself to get a certain look, learning as I go, Seeing what certain cameras are giving me and then learning from the negatives. It’s not hard, but developing different kinds of film requires different numbers, so that has been a bit complicated. Hopefully I can learn from what the camera and film is giving me. Im also scanning these on my home scanner and to be honest it has never given the results I have wanted, but for now it is what I have until I buy a new scanner or start printing my negatives on the enlarger. But as I said I want to be comfortable with developing first before I attempt to start printing. Working digitally comes easier for me since I work in front of a computer and I can understand the workflow. But In all honestly It still doesn’t feel complete If I’m not printing the photos myself, I guess when it comes down to it I’m a purist when it comes to film.

As for what I have been using to shoot I am using my Leica M6, Olympus XA, and a Konica Pop. These camera’s all have different feelings to them and give totally different results. For film I have been using kodak Trix 400, Ilford Delta 400, Ilford HP5+, Fuji Neopan 400, and Fuji Across 100. I have never really used Across 100 but have seen some amazing results so I’m excited to see what I can capture. As for developer I am using Kodak XTOL 1:1 and Kodak Professional fixer. I know some people don’t really want to know this junk but I thought I would list it anyways. Well to finally get my negatives scanned I am using a old Canoscan 5000F scanner and using a old, old version of Vuescan and working on my files in photoshop. On to photos.

Here is Talia (The Muse) at my friend Ben and Heathers Wedding. This frame is from 2011 I believe, shot on Trix 400 and on the old Canonet QL17 GIII

Legs from the same night. Im a fan of legs

TRIX 400, Canonet QL17 GIII

I went out to check the mail and noticed how the light was, the sun was setting and hitting the sky just enough to get this shot.

I ran in grabbed my camera and took this. I really like this frame, I need to rescan this as it has the weird thing in the left hand side.

Ilford HP5+, Leica M6

Me and my M6.

Ilford HP5+, Leica M6

Mother and Uncle Christmas Eve Night.

Ilford HP5+, Leica M6

One of my favorite frames. In bed with my girls early one morning.

Ilford HP5+, Leica M6

Here is some frames from a different camera called a Konica POP. A weird camera for sure, a point and shoot with 100, 200, 400 film speeds has a flash and glass lens and thats it.

A guy named Severin Koller who’s photography I follow has posted photos taken with one of those POP’s I happened to find one on craiglist for 10 bucks so I decided to give it a chance.

I love this frame, each doing their own thing. Kodak TRIX 400, Konica POP

Inside the bookstore that me and my wife call the “Neverending Story” bookstore, It’s right next door to my daughters ballet class so we always end up here.

Bicycle Commuter. I like this one too. The thing is this camera seems to perform better in overcast days. I need to experiment more.

Kodak TRIX 400, Konica POP

Then I took the camera out in normal super bright sunlight and it totally overexposed my frames.

Me and chloe walking to get coffee. I always tend to shoot these lines, for whatever reason.

Kodak TRIX 400, Konica POP

At this point I was trying to finish the 36 frame roll.

Kodak TRIX 400, Konica POP

I thought this frame was a little cliche, but cool at the same time.

Kodak TRIX 400, Konica POP

My Muse again. Another lost and forgotten roll I developed.

Canonet QL17 GIII, Kodak TRIX 400

And another frame on the Canonet.

This just makes me laugh on so many levels. This was probably when we had the cold snap here in the valley.

I think it is funny she has these furry boots on and then her shirt isn’t even covering her and then we see palm tree’s in the distance. AHHH Arizona I love you…

And lastly Here is a couple shots of my Mother-in-law who I love oh so dearly. I love these frames. She is so photogenic.

I really need to spend more time taking photos of her.

And Lastly I had posted about my “ZINE” before, I decided to go ahead and make some copies, If you are interested send me a message or a email. If you want to contribute a couple of bucks for one that would be awesome too. I’m not looking at getting rich or anything off those things. But if you even just want one let me know.

Tags: 35mmfilm, canonet ql17 GIII, film, Film Developing, Fuji Across 100, Fuji Neopan 400, Ilford HP5+, Kodak Professional fixer, kodak tri-x 400, Kodak XTOL, Konica POP, Leica M6

Chelsea Wolfe at the Cresent Ballroom

Had the chance to hang out with my friend Mihio Tuesday night. I havent seen him since he moved with his family back to the rezervation up north.

We went to go see Chelsea Wolfe and Sarah Jaffe at the Cresent ballroom downtown in Phoenix. It was a pretty cool venue, small which is always good for shows. I was able to get pretty close to get some photos, and actually was able to ask the ladies for a photo.

Here is what I took. Hopefully Ill have more photos to show soon I’m in the process of starting to try to develop my own Black & White film, so hopefully we will see.

I was lucky to get a portrait of Chelsea Wolfe and Sarah Jaffe.

Tags: Chelsea Wolfe, color photography, Cresent Ballroom, Phoenix AZ, photography, Ricoh GRD III, Sarah Jaffe

Bike Ride Photos

Here is a small collage of some my instagram bike photos. I sometimes find it easier to take out my phone instead of taking out a film or digital camera since I usually have it in my pocket tracking my miles. If you want look me up on instagram as: recycled_android

Tags: 3 speed bicycle, Bike Lane Lunatics, bike rides, bike riding, brooks, coffee, instagram, pizza, raleigh 3 speed

Welcome 2013!

Hello 2013! But before that we bid farewell to 2012. I hope the new year is treating you all well so far. Here is how I spent mine.

Usually me and my wife end up staying home then going to bed right after 12:00. Honestly I don’t remember a time we have actually gone out and celebrated we are usually home on New Years we usually eat, watch movies, I toast with a beer or whiskey, my wife doesn’t drink so she usually has apple cider. This year my Mother in law wanted to take Chloe, I reluctantly said ok. I always think it is wrong to keep my daughter from her grandmas. Talia says that it is fine if I say no, but for me it seems wrong.

Anyways, friends were throwing parties but I didn’t feel like driving all across town. Another friend Miki said she was going to a local college bar she wanted a drink and to dance, I was pretty excited about this as I love to drink and dance. You might have noticed that with the Vegas photos. We ended up dancing, drinking, and staying at my friend Miki’s house to 3:45 in the morning. Needless to say we were super tired the next day. Good thing this only comes once a year.

I’ve been sick through the whole holiday season and this is the only thing that has gotten me through it. I prepared a flask full of whiskey, drank a glass with my friend darrell and then put the full bottle in my cupboard, still untapped.