philly

So I've been working at Reading Terminal Market for the last almost 3 months. I've been taking a camera to work most days as well. Lately, it's been one of my film cameras. Above is a shot of the scene at Pearl's Oyster Bar by the 12th/Filbert entrance to the Market.

I've gotten to know the Market pretty well in the last few months. The ebb and flow of crowds. The rush of convention goers at lunch. The tourists marveling at PA's finest foods. And the people who work there. The camaraderie of the people who make their living at the Market is remarkable. To me, it's like how people used to be like with their neighbors. Add in the regular customers and it's quite the community.

The market's bright enough to shoot at ASA400 with a fast prime and a steady hand. Better with Neopan 1600 like the shot above though. I'm really digging Fujicolor Pro 400H lately and just picked up a bunch of rolls off of Craigslist which I split with Thad and Kevin, 2 of my film shooting friends. Now I have a total of a dozen rolls of 400H in the fridge (also had some left over from a wedding shoot where I had film as a double backup). 400H was one of the first rolls of film I shot since picking up a 35mm camera for the first time in 7 years and I really like it over Kodak's offerings. It being a tad cheaper also helps, but not the deciding factor. 400H also looks pretty good under mixed light.

I've shot 40+ rolls of film in the last year with 3 more rolls in cameras right now. It's been fun adding to my film collection on flickr. It's been fun trying out different film stocks and talking film with new friends.

I was walking around my neighborhood with one of my film cameras last week and came across a bunch of sugar maple leaves, on the 2xx block of South Sartain St, which had already turned colors and fallen from a tree above. The colors came out a little warmer than it really was, but I really like the photo. There's more of a purply color cast to it than straight up red.

Lady just game back from gorges Ithaca and she said the colors were crazy up there. Haven't seen too much color change in the city, just going from green to yellow to on the ground without an orange-red phase.

Is the election over yet?

James Nachtwey is one of the greatest documentary photographers out there. In 2007, he won a TED Prize (TED profile) and his project has been unveiled today. Watch the video above to learn about Extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis. You can go to xdrtb.org to watch the video in higer resolution or download it in other formats.

***UPDATE***
You can see 14 of the images from the video in large format over at The Big Picture. They are as beautiful as they are graphic. And also, I was thinking of everyone who doesn't know who this guy is (or many other photogs out there) and how it doesn't matter – you know his images as well as many others. It's not the documentary photographer's job to get noticed on assignment or having their egos show up in the final product. You can see their passion in the images they create, but not in a definitive style stamp like studio photographers.

The Obama team has been out freakishly strong all over Philly for the last few weeks. Everywhere I walk in Center City there are card tables set up registering people to vote and handing out information. People are walking around with Obama buttons like nobody's business. I can count the number of McCain/Palin stickers/buttons I've seen in the last few months on one hand.

The volunteers above were out 2 days ago at 11/Market working hard.

Biden killed it in tonight's debate. The best I've ever seen him. He countered every single taken out of context point that Palin made all night. He spoke fluidly and personably directly to the camera in a succinct manner for all to understand.

Photo info: Nikon F3 + Nikkor-UD 20mm f/3.5 AI @ f/8; 1/250s shot on Fujicolor NPS and developed/scanned at Photo Lounge.