Quiet Corner

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"Quiet Corner" was shot in 2017 on Kodak Gold 400, a personal favorite film for me.  At the time, I was using a Contax G2 and the associated 28mm f/2.8 lens, a stellar performer let down here by my uncalibrated (at the time) scanner.  The film was self-developed using one of the C-41 kits available at the time (potentially one by Rollei, although I do not recall).  I snapped this photo while walking through Times Square on a particularly bright day upon seeing the distinctive L-shaped light illuminating this man.

Composition sketch, showing the strong set of intersecting lines framing the man using his phone

While there's a lot of bright regions and colors throughout the frame, the strong contrast of the L-shaped "reverse shadow" and the lines of the building and sidewalk around the man at (33%, 33%) keeps the eye rooted around the subject.

The purplish hue to the shadows may have been an artifact of improper processing.  I was not, and still am not the most fond of self-developing color film-- but by and large, the enormous cost savings (particularly in New York City) compared to lab development continues to win me over in this regard.

Although the 28mm focal length is not a particular favorite of mine (as it requires one to get in a little closer than I'd like), I often miss it when I'm shooting at 35mm-50mm, and several standouts from my collection were taking using various lenses of this type.



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