All this week I’m sharing single-subject photo series I’ve made.
The subject I’ve photographed by far most often is the shed at my old house. It was certainly easy to reach: just step out the back door.
It was in middling shape when I moved in, and it deteriorated from there. I finally invested in stabilizing and repairing the structure, at which time its blue hue gave way to tan.
All week I’ve shared pretty much every photo of each subject, but not this time, as I photographed the shed a whopping 51 times. Here are the 28 I think are most interesting — to the extent a shed is interesting. These are roughly in chronological order.
Kodak Signet 40, Fujicolor 200
Kodak Signet 40, Fujicolor 200
Minolta Hi-Matic 7, Fujicolor 200
Kodak Tourist, Kodak Plus-X.
Pentax ME, 28mm f/2.8 SMC Pentax-M, Kodak Ektar 100
Ansco B2 Speedex, Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros
Canon Dial 35-2, Fujicolor 200
Yashica-D, Kodak E100G
Voigtländer Vitoret LR, Arista Premium 400
Canon Canonet Junior, Kodak Gold 200 (found in camera, expired)
Kodak Monitor Six-20, Kodak Gold 200 (expired, processed as b/w by mistake)
Kodak Brownie Starmatic, Efke 100
Olympus Stylus, Kodak Gold 200 (expired)
Polaroid Colorpack II, Fujicolor FP-100C
Yashica Lynx 14e, Kodak T-Max 400
Polaroid Big Swinger 3000, Fujifilm FP-3000B
Polaroid Big Swinger 3000, Fujifilm FP-3000B
Olympus 35RC, Fujicolor 200
Kodak 35, Kodak Plus-X (expired)
Canon PowerShot S95
Minolta Maxxum 7000, 50mm f/1.7 Maxxum AF, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200
Nikon N90s, 50mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor, Eastman Double-X 5222
Yashica-12, Kodak Tri-X 400
Pentax IQZoom EZY, Kodak Gold 400
Minolta AF-Sv, Fujicolor 200
Nikon FA, 50mm f/1.8 Nikon Series E, Fomapan 200
Argus C3, Fujicolor 200
Pentax Spotmatic F, 55mm f/1.8 SMC Takumar, Konica Chrome Centuria 200 (x 12/2003)
Get more of my photography in your inbox or reader! Click here to subscribe.
Last updated on 19 March 2020 by Jim Grey
I learn from this. Photographing the same in different angles, at different times will give different impression. Nice series.
I’m happy you enjoyed it!
Actually a very interesting post. It’s great to see how those different cameras and films compare against the same subject. The variation is much more than you’d think.
…and what a great looking shed!
The shed was actually not in best shape. The floor near the door was rotting with water damage. As you can see I had to repair rot in the doors. But it worked well enough keeping stuff dry.
I have often devoted a frame or two in many of my old cameras to a little garden statue I particularly like. It does help me to evaluate the capabilities of the cameras, but those differences turn out to be quite subtle compared to the quality of light at different times of the day and my readiness to engage with the opportunity.
It’s true, the available light and how much your head is in the game do matter an awful lot, more than the camera unless you’re photographing with a toy.
My favorite is the tourist black and white shot. You could write a good short story about how the shed came to be haunted by the ghost of a newspaper mailbox, something about the death of printed media.
At any rate it certainly adds interest to the shot!
That’s a double exposure of my street-mounted mailbox and the shed. I hated the Tourist and got rid of it after one roll of film!
I’ve read your story about the shed an saw the photos . Think it would look better with a stamp cement floating around one side an the front of it
I’m not sure what a stamp cement is. No doubt any number of improvements would have made the shed look better!
Sheds are handy things. Especially if you want a consistent subject to try out different photographic techniques – and don’t happen to have a cathedral nearby. ;)
What makes this series most interesting, I think, is how the shed and my back yard evolved over the 10 years I lived there.
https://youtu.be/CA8xTGP_M8g
Just the one shed?
Just the one perfectly ordinary garden shed, and no, I’ve not blogged in it!
I saw your photos and I liked them an I think if u put a stamp of plane cement patio an turn it into a bar or a hang out it’s still would look kool because I just put a patio by a similar shed a couple weeks back an it came out looking awesome
I get you now. That would have been fun.
Very nice photographic techniques and awesome
Thank you!
It’s a nice shed jim and an interesting set of varying views of it.
It did its shedly duties with distinction.
The same colour as my shed but four times bigger. An interesting series
The many moods of the old shed. Glad you liked it.