Relaunch of The-Yard-Collective.com

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Dear Readers,

February first 2013 will see the re-launch of The Yards website (the-yard-collective.com). It will contain worthy articles relating to street photography. To ensure the quality of the content we will mix our own material with really great finds on the internet. Perhaps even the focus will be on found material, and seeing interesting material come together at one place will over time make it an important place for all street shooters with an inquisitive nature.

We are talking about:

- Presenting interesting street shooters from all over the world.

- Material by interesting street collectives/groups/ from all over the world.

- Well written and thought provoking written material pertaining street photography from all over the world.

Kind regards,

Pelle :iconpen-at-work:

Twitt

Filmie Gallery – Our Monthly Most Favourites…June 2012

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Hi fellow Yardies!

This time we present you – alongside our most favourite pictures of the month – a few handy ressources for film shooters. It’s really just a small selection of stuff that is out there in the world wide web, but they should provide beginners with a lot of useful information to get started (we still hope that some of you take the chance and start shooting film), as well as long time film users with a place to refer to.

Please feel free to add your most favourite online ressources for shooting film in the comments below and make it a useful collection for everyone!

FilmDev: A site for linking film developing “recipes” to photos on Flickr: [link]
The Massive Development Chart: The world’s largest source of processing times for developing black & white film:[link]
Guide to Film Photography: [link]
The Beginner’s Guide To Film Photography: [link]

And now for the most important and enjoyable part of the Journal – our favourite pictures! Enjoy!

YDKP – 70s mood by :iconlaurent-conduche:


street 439043950435 by :iconohyouhandsomedevil:


hunting by :icongndrfck:


under the tree by :iconlightdrafter:


too much bike ride can harm your trousers by :iconveftenie:


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LIGHTHOUSE GALLERY FEATURE – JUNE 2012

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Dear Yardies,

We at the #The-Yard-Collective crew are happy to bring you the second round of features to our LightHouse gallery!

As a quick reminder, every month a group of three of our moderators, *DougNZ , *MARX77 and ~kingmouf will pick a number of notable photos from Yard’s galleries and propose them to all moderators. After a voting process, the top three photos will be featured in the LightHouse Gallery. For reasons related to our real lives, it took us a while to make the second feature, but we hope that we’ll be able to deliver features in a more timely fashion from now on! Also, for this month *MARX77 has been replaced *PEN-at-Work .

The following photos will now be featured in our LightHouse Gallery (photos are presented in no particular order):

Admiration by *sandas04

 

 

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Favourite films

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Journal Entry: Sun May 6, 2012, 5:41 PM

This time we asked a lot of film street photographers for their favourite choice of film – it ended up being a wonderful and BIG collection – so please scroll down all the way if you want to read about everyone’s film favs and have a look at our most favourite submissions to the Filmie Gallery for this month.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to send their thoughts about their favourite films! If you are not included but want to share your favourite film as well, please feel free to do so in the comments!

Well then, let’s get started!

:iconnfilipevs: ~nfilipevs

so fav film would be:
kodak tri-x 400

but i also like fuji neopan 400 very much

It’s all about taste, I really enjoy the grain and sharpness it produces and for me it’s the best in terms of tones and contrast. it gives me that moody and contrasty look that I want, every time.
in the neopan the grain and the tones are a bit different but I love the results as well

:icondougnz: *DougNZ

I don’t use film much these days but when I do I use Kodak BW400CN because it has fine grain, is sharp and is developed in the C41 process which means any lab that develops colour film can process it in the same chemicals.
My dislike is that it is not very contrasty.

“street 453545435435″ by :iconohyouhandsomedevil: ~ohyouhandsomeDevil


 

 

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Twitt

MORE ABOUT FILM

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Hi future film fans!

Last time we featured some beautiful cameras to get started with film photography, so if you wanna take the next step, why not develop films yourself!? There are loads of how-to’s in the internet, so we thought we’d just add a little help with our 11 developing rules for beginners.

1st rule: Relax, keep calm…

2nd rule: Keep your working space clean, also while working, always keep developer and fixer separate, no eating, drinking, smoking in the darkroom, keep your hands clean.

3rd rule: Work accurately, always make sure you keep to the correct temperatures, stick to developing times, otherwise you don‘t know what to change when mistakes happen.

4th rule: If possible, use one-shot developers, they are easier to work with and more precise.

5th rule: Inverting means moving the tank slowly, not shaking it frantically. Gently invert the tank and revert it back – that‘s fine.

6th rule: Mark your fixer every time you have used it – change after 10 uses. To determine fixing time, cut the leader from the film you are about to develop and put it in some fixer. Time how long it takes for the film to become completely clear with gentle agitation. Fix your negatives for at least twice the clearing time. Do this every every developing session.

7th rule: After watering and before drying put the film into a wetting agent solution – never put the wetting agent into the developing tank! About 1 minute. Careful: the film is very sensitive now!

8th rule: Choose a dust-free space for drying your films (eg. shower cubicle). Never ever try drying your films with a blow dryer!

9th rule: Only use luke warm water for cleaning reels, tank, lids – no detergents.

10th rule: Your film is dry, when it‘s dry!

11th rule: If you are new to developing film, spend a lot of time practicing rolling film onto developing reels. With practice, it will become very easy. Until then, it can be very frustrating. Don’t worry, it’s difficult for everyone at first.

Credits for these rules & the great advice – *sethlamden & ~ausloeser - thanks guys!

Give it a go – it’s great fun and gives you a lot more room for creativity!

And if you’ve got any questions, we’re happy to help, just give us a shout!

The Filmie Crew

 

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DIGITAL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

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And then, one day we stopped talking about negatives and darkrooms and discovered jpgs, raws and tiffs and photo-editing software instead. The transition was much easier back then for those who already owned a computer for the rest it took a short or a longer while. Digital, changed the photography industry, bringing the whole photography world upside-down.
I had been shooting with film cameras, both negative and positive film (transparencies) since I was a teenager. Lately, I shot only transparencies as their quality and impact were superior to that of printed images. They cost a lot and transparency boxes were piling in my apartment.
What did digital photography mean to me?
It meant I could shoot my heart out without thinking of the expenses.
It meant I could immediately see (and show to others) what I had just shot.
It meant I could DEVELOP my own shots and not rely to any clumsy photo-lab.
It meant freedom and creativity.
So I turned digital.
Do I miss the film era? Yes I do. Because deep down I’m a romantic.
This is why I have kept most of my film cameras (and all my vinyl records).
Am I a digital fanatic? I wouldn’t say so.
What pisses me off in digital is that you almost need to be a computer geek in order to understand and shoot with a digi camera (I’m not talking about the compacts here). Cameras look more like e-gadgets than cameras. The war of the MPixels gets to my nerves. I’m very frustrated that the brand new, damn expensive camera body I bought today will be old and outdated in few months when the new model will hit the selves.
Still, I keep shooting digital. Because the world moves forward.
People often ask me: “what digi-camera is good for street?”
I usually answer that the best camera for street is the one you can always have with you.
Street photography is always around us so we’d better have always a camera handy in our pockets.
Is this possible? Not yet, but soon I guess it will be!

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Twitt

LIGHTHOUSE GALLERY

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Dear Street Photography afficionados,

We at the #The-Yard-Collective are happy to introduce you our new gallery: The LightHouse!

Every month a group of three of our moderators, *DougNZ, ~MARX77 and ~kingmouf will pick a number of notable photos from Yard’s galleries and propose them to all moderators. After a voting process, the top three photos will be featured in the LightHouse Gallery.

After the selection process, we will present those photos with a comment from the gallery’s curators.

So ‘nough with the talking and let’s present you the first.. four… selections for the gallery! A tie in the voting process forced us to accept more photos this time. The photos will be presented in no particular order.

Red Coat by *sakisda :iconsakisda:

 

 

 

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BEHIND THE SCENES WITH DOUG – march 2012

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By :icondougnz: *DougNZ, a Yard Filmie Moderator and
one of the Curators of the Lighthouse Gallery

- – - – - – -

Steve :icondu-jamais-vu: is a recent convert to dA and has impressed us with his quirky and gentle humour.
He is from Dunedin, New Zealand, of Belgian heritage, though we claim him as our own :D
Today Steve discusses this wonderful image:

 

The photograph was taken a week before Valentine’s day in the Meridian, a shopping mall in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It’s already quite rare to see nuns walking around in Dunedin, let alone see them in a mall entering a jeweller. The reason why I thought this scene was worth photographing is not only because of the rarity of that particular moment, but because it totally contradicts my (and probably also other people’s) perception of what nuns are supposed to do or even how they are supposed to behave in the community. That contradiction is rather ambiguous and for both the photographer and viewers also very subjective. Let me explain…

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ALL ABOUT FILM

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FILM PHOTOGRAPHY

We, the filmie team, present a little new series to all of you. Obviously we all love taking pictures on film, so we thought to spread our film love and hopefully inspire some of you to give it a go and also try out film photography – and hopefully fall in love as well!

Some of you might have been using film a few years ago and then switched to digital, but a few probably never have tried film before, so it can be a bit scary. In order to help you get started, we created this little series, where we plan to cover different topics. And where better to start than with cameras, more precisely rangefinders. *DougNZ selected a few cheap rangefinder models that might be the perfect entry – and on a really good budget!

So here we go – let‘s see what *DougNZ recommends!

Looking for a high quality, sharp and sophisticated 35mm rangefinder but on a budget?
You can’t beat the 1960s and 1970s models from Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Konica and so on. These cameras are absolute jewels and would cost thousands if made today. They often have f1.8 (or even less) lenses, manual and auto exposure and the lenses are as good as anything made today.
And they can be bought very cheaply at online auctions sites and secondhand shops.
Just perfect for street photography!
Some of the best are:
Olympus XA – my favourite (I own three). Tiny, very sophisticated, sharp, easy to use, 35mm f2.8. It was a quantum leap forward when introduced in 1979 and still is a fine piece of equipment. See: [link]

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Twitt

TIME FLIES

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“BEHIND THE SCENES – WITH DOUG”

This time in “Behind the scenes” the photo is taken by Marko  from Croatia.

 

The photo was taken in the small town of Labin, Croatia. It was August of 2009 and it was a hot summer day. Since I was a tourist, while sightseeing, I had my camera ready for just about anything.
Other kids were playing around, but those two came to my attention because, unlike the other kids, they were selling seashells. They seemed a bit bored sitting there, like parents told them to do so, unable to play with other kids. I did not want to be rude just by snapping a photo and then walking away. I figured out they would be more open to me if I bought something so I bought a seashell. I think that’s the best approach with “merchants”; they will be more comfortable in presence of a camera if I buy something. I can spare some change for a good photo.

I usually try to take street photos while being discrete (hipshot or telephoto lens), but for the first time I tried “buy something before you shoot” approach and it turned out great. The street was just to narrow to be discrete.

I’ve tried many photographic styles, but in last 2 or 3 years, I’ve found myself shooting mostly street and spontaneous photos. This photo in particular was shot while attending Croatian Photography Association summer workshop and it’s the part of “Istrian Heritage” series. Istria is the western Croatian county.

I used a Canon EOS 400D with Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM. The streets in Labin are really narrow so wide angle lens is the most effective.

The postprocessing is done in Adobe Lightroom and it’s the basic one:
- crop to 1:1 format
- conversion to BW
(In Lightroom, there is one-click conversion to BW. Since Lightroom works on different principle than Photoshop, it remembers every information before the final save. After conversion, I can easily finetune it using HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) sliders for every color (RGB, CYM and additional orange, purple and aqua). I can also adjust Hue and Saturation for RGB channels).
- curves for contrast
- clarity for midtone contrast
- sharpen a bit
- corrected lens distortion (ultrawide lens)

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Twitt

EXCELLENT RUNNER UPS IN THE COMPETITION!

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RUNNER UPS

JANUARY 6, 2012:

A big congrats to the two runner ups, ~sagi-k and ~gato1 whose picks were prefered by the judges, and down below you’ll find their awarded entries.

Number 22 in The Yard Shed by ~sagi-k

and entry number 79 in The Yard Shed by ~gato1

and also enjoy their other two entries each in to the competition:

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Twitt

WE HAVE A WINNER!

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THE WINNER
THE WINNER IS *myraincheck - MARY CIMETTA!

A big congrats to Mary! Her winning image outperformed the rest of the competition and was by far the most popular amongst the judges. A more deserving winner is hard to think of since she always delivers as a street photographer. Her images are often ones that will require you to look at it for a while before your brain sees that extra dimension that she so often adds to her images.

Please take the time to congratulate her in a proper manner! Other than this feature she has won a Print of her winning image together with a winners certificate with a judges motivation and a a year of dA premium membership subscription.

(The runner ups will soon be notified and they will be featured in the next journal/blog entry.)

- – - – - ¤ ¤ ¤ – - – - -

Her winning entry, image #48 in the Yard Shed Collection [link]

 

Like one of the judges, Nick Turpin, said: ”This is a classic street photograph, something extremely simple and everyday that has been elevated by the act of photography into something surreal and ambiguous. There is the implication of a little narrative here, what is the relationship between the man and the boys if any? What are they doing?”

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Twitt

JUDGES ARE ALMOST DONE!

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DECEMBER 10, 2011:

SOON WE WILL PRESENT THE WINNER!

Almost all of the judges have given their input anD before Christamas someone will recieve one great gift, a Diploma with a motivation from the judges, a Large Print of their winning entry + an exclusive Mega Feature! The three runner ups will also be featured, but not as extensively, and in the issue after the Mega Feature. Furthermore all runner ups and the winner will be given Premium memberships here on dA.

Today you all three of The Yards galleries will be featured with four images each, and also Annieta =onyx2010 recieves the Veterans Award Badge.

Twitt

ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT FOR COMPETITION ENTRIES!

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NOVEMBER 23, 2011:


Updated: 2011-11-23 | 19:00:00 GMT+1 - 

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES

In only a week we will stop admitting new entries to the Yard Autumn Competition. On November 30, this particular window of opportunity closes, so if you want to enter, make sure to do it before it is too late. Also remember that wewhot administrate the competition entries also have lives to live and we therefore will not allow changes to be made after the third entry is submitted. When you enter the third one that is it, no more can be done!

In todays issue there is also a Filmie Gallery selection and a Brian’s Five Q’s, plus some news items.

SELECTED IMAGES FROM THE FILMIE GALLERY

These images are selected once every 4 weeks by the Yard’s Filmie Gallery Moderator team and will be found in the featured gallery on dA, but also on our home page, the Yards Facebook page and our other off dA hangabouts…

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Twitt

LAST OPEN WATER SEA-LANE BEFORE OUR DESTINATION

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NOVEMBER 3, 2011:
Sea Lane – ”A sea lane or shipping lane is a regularly used route for ocean-going and large lake vessels.”


Updated: 2011-11-03 | 15:00:00 GMT+1 –

DEADLINE GETTING CLOSER

The deadline for submitting entries into The Yard’s Autumn Contest is getting closer. At the end of this month the entry period expires, so make sure you are hitting the streets and taking that one pic that will blow our minds.

In this issue a selection of images from the Digi Classic gallery are shown, Brian Q. Webb gives a new PhotoJazz Five interview as a some short news towards the end.

SELECTED IMAGES FROM THE DIGI CLASSIC GALLERY
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Twitt

BUNKERING IN THE MID-ATLANTIC

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Bunkering – ”The act or process of supplying a ship with fuel.”

RE-SUPPLYING

Our common endeavor made it necessary for us to rendezvous with a supply ship in the mid-Atlantic. Bunkering fuel and taking on other provisions we are now prepared to continue our mission of capturing the most amazing street pics and entering them into the Yard Autumn Contest. Just remember that you are only allowed three entries, so do not be overly eager submitting your final three…

Today you will also get to enjoy the latest selected feature from the Filmie Gallery, read about the latest Veteran’s Badge Award, find out more about our vision regarding the The Yards .com (www.the-yard-collective.com) as well as browse through a few short news.

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ENGAGING THE TARGET!

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OCTOBER 4, 2011:
Target! -  ”In so far as objects are concerned, limited to those which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to action and whose capture or, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a defining moment”*.

A for street photography purposes modification of a the Geneva Conventions Protocol I, article 52, section 2 [link]

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Twitt