Olympus XA 4

Tapestry, Vatican Museum, Italy. 2009

by EveNSteve

Here is another example from my recent photographic trip to Italy where I had to work through a difficult situation with many restrictions but in the end was rewarded with an image I really like. The artwork was made in the Vatican Museum which is really beautiful and amazing, but as you can imagine very strict with rules about what and how you can photograph. This image is an overlapping frame panoramic (3 frames, in camera) of two different tapestries… I visualized my final image and selectively chose different elements from  two different tapestries to create a new tapestry of my own.

tapestriesvatican_triple_schaub_2009

Tapestry, Vatican Museum, Italy. 2009
Triple Overlapping Frame Panoramic Technique
Capture: Olympus XA 4, Kodak Ektar 100
Image Size: 9.5″ x 25″, Printed on Fabriano Rough 640 GSM
Edition Size: One.
Copyright Stephen Schaub 2009

NOTE: Stay tuned for my next two articles on REDSCALE film and thoughts on the Black Cat Extended Exposure Guide.
Viva la Revolution- Stephen

Overlapping Frame Panoramic Technique

by EveNSteve

Below find new artworks from my recent photographic trip to Italy. All of the images below were shot on an XA 4 using Kodak Ektar film. I am still scanning and editing my film and anticipate finishing this body of work in a month or two, at which time I will post a complete portfolio. No titles yet; just basic information with each image for identification purposes. The last image in the series however is a photograph of a finished printed artwork from this series and as such has additional information.

To view additional artworks made using this technique please view my A New Eden Artworks.

One last image made since my return and after figuring out how to do this technique on the Rollei 35… experimentation is key!

setsoftreesbenningtonvt1
Sets of Trees, Bennington, Vermont. 2009
Copyright Stephen Schaub. 2009

The Olympus XA 4 – My Everyday Carry Camera!

by EveNSteve

xa4

The Olympus XA 4 is a wonderful merger of Zone / Scale Focus, sophisticated photographic creative control and an amazing 28mm macro lens… released in 1985! In a previous video blog I compared the Olympus XA to the LOMO LCA and LCA+  for the purposes of pointing out strengths and weaknesses to both systems- the Olympus XA 4 strikes the perfect balance between these two very different cameras and has now found itself as my everyday carry camera.

VIDEO:

IMAGE:

powerxa4

TEST EXPOSURE…Olympus XA 4 focused at 1′. Exposed on Kodak Ektar 100… exposure was hand held at under 1/30th of a second (interior light glows at exposures under 1/30th) at F5.6  (at the 1′ focus setting the minimum f stop is f 5.6. Note the nice crisp detail and beautiful  out of focus (OOF) rendering. Yes I know it is not “Leica Sharp” but damn it is really good for a Point and Shoot from 1985! One additional thought… I love the new Kodak Ektar 100!

LINK:

Fantastic sites with lots of information on the XA line…

http://diaxa.nfshost.com

The XA Way