21 Years Furthur

The first Grateful Dead song I ever heard was Friend of the Devil played by my college roommate a few years after the release of American Beauty. While, I do not possess a tie-dye shirt nor am I a self-described "dead head," I've enjoyed both the music, the people and the colorful "scene" since my early twenties. Over the years, I've seen several shows, the last one at Chicago's Soldier Field on Saturday, June 22, 1991 (see set list below). Jerry Garcia passed away in August of 1995, the day after our daughter was born.

Fast forward to 21 years to July 17, 2012 and I am once again near Soldier Field, Northerly Island to see Furthur, a band featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, who are still touring, still helping to create the colorful scene that began in San Francisco when the Grateful Dead formed in 1965.

While much has changed in the world and within myself, it was a completely wonderful evening with friends and great music (see set list below). And, I brought back a set of the colorful "souvenir" photographs below. Each of these "dead heads" were incredibly kind and graciously accepted my request to take their photograph.

Soldier Field Set List - 6/22/91 

Set 1
Hell in a Bucket
Shakedown Street
Wang Dang Doodle
Friend of the Devil
Masterpiece
Brown Eyed Women
Let It Grow

Set 2
Foolish Heart
Looks Like Rain
Crazy Fingers
Playin' in the Band
Terrapin Station> 
drums>
space
Playin' Reprise
Black Peter
One More Saturday Night

Encore
The Weight

Northerly Island Set List - 7/17/12
Set 1
Here Comes Sunshine
Mississippi Half-Step
Cumberland Blues
Cassidy
Doin' that Rag
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance

Set 2
Feel Like a Stranger
Passenger
Truckin'
Viola Lee Blues
Mountains of the Moon
Watchtower
Morning Dew
Throwin' Stones

Encore
Attics of My Life

35mm Film: The Adventure Continues

During the summer of 2011, I experimented with 35mm film while visting Cape Cod. I used a Pentax ZX-50 camera with Ektar 100 negative film and was pleasantly delighted with the results, particularly with the blue hues. See blog entry Adventure in 35mm Film.   

Several months later, I decided to "return to my roots" and get a little more serious about using film. I acquired the Nikon N6006 camera, shown below. 

Also, I started using The Darkroom, a lab in the San Francisco Bay area that was established in 1976. For $10 per roll, The Darkroom will process film and post 1,024 X 1,536 scans of each image online. Enhanced scans can be made for an additional $5 per roll. These 2,048 X 3,072 images are placed on a CD and shipped to you with the negatives and a mini-proofsheet.

Below is an example of an image of Lake Michigan that was made with the N6006 and Ektar 100 film processed at the Darkroom.

Inspired by my friend and fellow photographer Dan Fogel, I even used a roll of black and white film. Below is an image made with Ilford HP5 film also processed by the Darkroom.

Carrying both the film camera and the digital camera in the same bag offered the opportunity to make some comparisons. Below are two images that were exposed a few moments apart. The contrast is rather dramatic. Aside from a minor adjustment to straighten the horizons, no alternations were made to either image.

Digital image made with a Nikon D300

Film image made with a Nikon N6006 using Ektar 100 negative film