1point4photography brings you clear evidence of our robot overlord’s mind control device, the waves of which have been captured on film here, for the first time ever, through our exclusive Reveal-a-Ray-O-Vision. Stay tuned.

Er, clearly the CV has some flare control issues . . . This one is going in version 2.0 of the book for sure, though.

A robot family in front of the homestead.

The rough draft of my SOFOBOMO book, Our Robot Overlords Revealed, is done. I still need to add some bits of text, touch up a few the photos, and maybe replace a few of the weaker ones, but the basic bones of the book are in place, and I’m happy with the results. I’ve still got a few days left for tweaking, but if I get no further before the deadline slips, I’ll let the rough draft stand. Comments, critiques and suggestions are appreciated.

Technical Notes

I used Open Office Writer to layout the book. Writer combined the virtues of simplicity and availability. It also has a built in PDF generator with a variety of compression settings. A more complex layout would have been possible with tools like Scribus, but Writer is fully capable of realizing my limited design abilities.

Download Our Robot Overlords Revealed in PDF format.

Fast Lens (CV 35 1.4 SC) + Slow Film (Plus X) + Rainy Day = Robot Overlords

I won’t do any serious editing until sometime next week, but I think I can use all of these. I’ve given myself three weeks to shoot, one to edit and put together the book. By next week I’ll have shot about eight rolls, which is less than I should have shot. I can’t process/scan much faster than a 2-4 rolls a week though, so eight rolls in three weeks isn’t bad for me. I hope I have enough to put together 35 keepers.

BTW, the Robot Overlords have taken over Scotland as well.

I’m not sure that I can think up a way to use any of these in my SOFOBOMO book, except for that first one, perhaps. Unlike Colin, I have a hard time staying on topic. There’s a bit of self-doubt at play, but mostly it’s a matter of photographic habit. Photography is a way of letting my mind wander, so staying on topic scratches a different, less insistent itch.

It turns out that our Robot Overlords are really hard to find when you go looking for them. For overlords they spend a lot of time hiding. I’ve caught a few out in the open, but at this rate, I’ll be lucky to finish the book in three months let alone three weeks. In light of this, I’ve decided to take drastic measures. Knowing that our Robot Overlords first arrived in the Fifties, I’ve ordered a bunch Adox CHS, working on the theory that 1950’s film might help me catch a few more of them. I’ve also noticed that Robot Overlords are suckers for really wide open apertures - something about seeing all the pretty colors reflected in the glass - so I’ll be shooting the rest of the project at or very near 1.4. I’ve dug up the ND filters, so I should be able to catch them even in daylight.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my SoFoBoMo project, but it hasn’t amounted to much. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

• PDF Generation: I’ve played around with Scribus enough to know that I won’t be using it to make my PDF. I suspect I’ll just put something together in Open Office. The production of the PDF is not my primary goal.
• Physical Output: This is the only piece that is settled. I’ll be gluing tiny prints into a Moleskine Japanese Notebook. This is a 3X5, 60 page gate fold book. I’ve been wanting to do a pocket photobook for a while, and this seems like a suitable project.
• Gear: For a brief moment, I thought about buying a Lomo LC-A for this project. One of my Flickr contacts has some gorgeous photos done with one of these, the first photos that have made me want any type of toy camera. My moment of infatuation died when I checked out the price of the LC-A. $250! Thank you, but no, I think I’ll pass. I also briefly toyed with the idea of buying one of those big Fuji 6X9 rangefinders and contact printing the negs on actual photo paper. I like that idea, but I’ll be saving it for later. It’s unlikely that I’ll use anything other than my Hexars and assorted lenses.
• Film: After I discarded the idea of the Lomo, I considered using something goofy like infrared or Delta 3200, and then I realized that any sort of alternative process would just be an attempt to polish a turd. I’ll probably end up using Tri X, since that is what I have on hand at the moment.
• Start Date: Probably April 1. It’s my eldest sister’s birthday, and I have a dentist appointment that day, so why not start SoFoBoMo too?
• Topic: Can you stand another 35 pictures of our Robot Overlords? This isn’t so much a topic as an idea for coherent titling of otherwise random photos. I’m not sure how I’ll do the titles in the physical book.

So, that’s the plan, such as it is. I still reserve the right to order that Lomo or maybe a Speed Graphic or a pinhole camera or some other crutch to creativity. If I start posting photos taken with something other than my normal gear, you will know that I’ve chickened out in some way or another.