|
|
 |
| This is the cover of the 13-month calendar
that features eye-catching shots of Chestnut Hill locations.
|
|
|
New Chestnut Hill calendar
by RACHEL CARSON
An experiment in using simple, traditional tools and
techniques has resulted in a striking collection of Chestnut Hill photographs,
now available either as a set of single prints or in a 13-month calendar
produced by Penguin Photo, Inc., 7928-30 Germantown Ave.
The collection, titled “Chestnut Hill in the Rain,” consists
of photographs taken on two gloomy afternoons between Christmas and New
Year’s Day, 2005. Penguin owner Bill Stroud, who has been shooting
mainly with digital cameras for the last couple of years, decided to see
what he could do with a 35mm rangefinder film camera.
From a display case in the store, he pulled out a Rollei camera that
had been sitting in stock for four years. The camera, with its super-sharp
German-made lens, is no longer made, although it is hardly obsolete.
Stroud’s photographs, all made on Germantown Avenue, display a
remarkable range of color and detail — a woman in a red coat walking
past a single bright red chair on the steps of a corner store, a turning
car’s headlights reflecting on the cobbled street in front of Robertson’s
Florists, a dog in a red cape, waiting alone on the bench in front of
Starbucks.
The pictures take advantage of the distinctive and varied architecture
of the Chestnut Hill business district, attractive window displays along
the avenue, a streetscape that includes old-style lamps, stone paving
and trolley tracks, and the warm light of store interiors contrasted with
the cool, saturated colors of the rain soaked exteriors.
“I was astonished by the visual contrasts,” Stroud said.
“When I was shooting these pictures, I was struck by how the gloomy
weather helped emphasize the colorful facades and fanciful architecture
of O’Doodles and 10,000 Villages, the cool classical look of the
Woodward doorway, the special Victorian character of Bredenbecks’
building, and the sexy retro-style window display in Anne Hopkin flowers.”
Although Stroud operated the camera, image selection, printing and calendar
design have been a team effort at Penguin. Staff member Arthur Ryan selected
the cover photograph. Stephen Quinn participated in the design of the
calendar and he, Rachel Kotkoskie and Matthew Rose handled the scanning
and printing.
Production required a mixture of new and old technology. While the camera
design was reminiscent of the classic rangefinder cameras of the 1950s,
the film used was two recent Eastman Kodak formulations — Ultra
Color and High Definition color print films, Both of these films combine
excellent low-light capabilities with rich color rendition and very fine
grain.
After developing, the negatives were scanned at high resolution, then
printed on a system that combines laser exposure with conventional Kodak
color chemistry and paper. Calendars were laid out in Adobe PhotoShop,
using special calendar generation enhancements created by Jim’s
Photo Lab of El Paso, TX.
The portfolio and calendars didn’t start out as a planned project,
Stroud said. “If I set out to do a project like this on purpose,”
he said, “I certainly would have timed it so the calendars would
have been ready for Christmas. I just started by playing with new films
and an old-style camera and the project took on a life of its own. Fortunately,
our software allows us to produce calendars that begin with any month
of the year.”
For more information, call 215-242-2712.
|
|
