Half Frame Church
More from the first roll of film I put through the Olympus Pen half frame camera. Today I concentrate on making the most of some of the images with some editing in Lightroom. I have described the testing process and since I have comparison shots you will find at the bottom of this post the brackets and the DSLR comparison shots (not edited), as well as a detailed crop with both cameras. I must say I am very pleased with the quality of these images. The first is the only one that is scanned as a single image only, and not subsequently cropped from a series of negatives scanned together, and yet there is very little grain, good definition, loads of information lurking in the shadows and so on – nice to work with.
This is the Ukrainian Church of St Nicholas The Wondermaker on Cook Street at Caledonia. I know (not very well mind you) a guy who got married here – in the middle of the wedding service the chimney collapsed and came through the roof. No one was injured, but that was sheer luck. As far as I know they are still married. The chimney used to be on the side of the church I did not photograph. For years there was a patch of newer looking shingles on the roof as a reminder of his close call.
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From the looks of it, the church does not seem to welcome the poor and homeless sleeping on the porch – the sign on the chain is no loitering, no camping, etc – police authorised to remove you. This is a standard sign that has come into use in the past couple of years, probably with the passing of a city bylaw of some kind. There is on in the area under a solid awning at my office, and by the back exit in the parking lot where homeless people used to sit soaking up the sun and cheap wine. It seems odd to see the sign on a church (especially one that proclaims as the first words on its website “Our Doors Are Always Open”, but perhaps that is just me.
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Second shot above cropped and edited from this scan (middle left), Detail crop below also from this scan.
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Detail cropped from the film scan above
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Third image in the post above was cropped from this scan – bottom image.
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DSLR shot – unedited except conversion to B&W
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DSLR shot, unedited except conversion to B&W
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Detail from DSLR shot above
Olympus Pen, Half Frame, 28mm lens, Fujifilm Neopan Acros, ISO100, Epson V700 Scanner
burnt embers 
Some interesting compositions, especially that last one. And I don’t think it’s just you that sees a dissonance between the church’s “all welcome” message and the signs on its blocked-off porch!
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Thank you Laurie. I think I am ready to use this camera to make some pictures, not just to test it out. I still don’t feel confident in the exposures, except on a bright day. A dull thickly overcast rainy day like today is a bit out of my testing range. If only I could find my lightmeter…
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What about carrying a second camera with you (one whose metering you trust) once or twice, and comparing the metering results of the two of them?
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That is what I am going to have to do I think. I did some of that in these tests, like the bottom images in this post are taken on my DSLR for comparison, and for the metering, and for note taking too. Worked out well. I guess I can get out and do some of that till I am comfortable guesstimating.
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Re. the sign on the porch: Nope. Not just you.
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Perhaps they don’t expect the homeless to read their website – that might even be a reasonable expectation.
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I remember that church well, but I don’t recall seeing the porch blocked before. Quite a statement when a church won’t let homeless people sleep on the porch during winter (much less come into the big, warm, empty building). One might think people who claim to follow a homeless wandering saviour would see the irony in their actions.
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I missed the shot on this porch – just as I was arriving a priest emerged and scuttled off the other end of the porch and down to a house next door which I assume is the parsonage. He was very orthodox in appearance and would have made this shot far more interesting. But, I was just testing a camera, not trying for interesting shots which seems like a weird space to be in now that I think of it.
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