Jake Rohde | Valo Photography

As a thank you gift for shooting his wedding (coming up real soon) my friend, and partner in crime, Simon McConico and his fiance, got me a Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S Instant Film Camera. I took a week off with my wife and headed down to Mexico, and they thought I might be able to use it down there, so they gave it to me a little early. It was also my birthday on the 26th of Feb, so this was a very pleasant surprise. I took a lot of instant images while in Mexico, and learned a lot about the camera, as this was my first time using one. The main thing I learned was similar to the lessons learned while shooting with a Holga: Let go, loosen up, and don’t take things to seriously.

So here are some of my favorite images from the trip:

And since I am feeling good from the vacation I am going to give away 10 prints of these scanned images. So these won’t be the original instant film, but they are the next best thing. They will be printed on a 5×5 archival photo paper, signed by me. All you have to do is leave a comment below with the image you would like, and I will get it printed and mailed out to you. I will take the first 10 comments here on the blog. Make sure to leave your email when commenting (you dont have to leave it in the comment area, but there should be a spot to enter it so only I can see it). I will then email you to follow up, and get your shipping address. So here we go… first 10 people.

Jake Rohde
Valo Photography

11 Comments | In: Fine Art, Lomo, Travel | tags: 7S, Camera, film, Fuji, Fuji Instax Mini 7S, Fujifilm, Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S Instant Film Camera, Instant, Instax, Jake, Jake Rohde, Mexico, Mini, Playa Del Carmen, Vacation. | #

So I have been going back and forth about the “Photo of the week”. The more I read and listen to people about business, the more I hear that blogs and sites should only be about a specific thing. So in my case the blog and the site should only be about one thing, a narrow focus into photography, such as wedding photography. So I took a break from the photo of the week, and was concentrating on focusing 100% of my thoughts on wedding photography. But the more I think about it, the more I really love the photo of the week. I love having something to share each week, and I love having something different to do and share… So I think I am going to keep the photo of the week going. I am going to try and make this blog a bit diverse, since I love to shoot a wide range of subjects. I think it will show a larger spectrum of what I do. Our main site will be a bit more focused, but here on the blog, I am going to roam a little, post things I love, things I am working on… Including the “Photo of the week…” So with all that being said, here is this weeks photo:

Emmanuel
Milwaukee, WI

This weeks shot comes from a shoot that Simon and I did last weekend with Emmanuel. We wandered the streets of Milwaukee and created some nice images. I am currently editing the shoot, so look out for some more of Emmanuel soon…

Let me know what you think about the “Photo of the week” I would be interested to hear what people thought? Should I keep it up?

7 Comments | In: General Information, Lomo, Model, Photo of the Week, Photography, Portrait, Stock Photography | tags: 5D, Canon, Canon 5D, City, Cream, Cream City, digital, Jake, Jake Rohde, McConico, Milwaukee, Photography, Portrait, Shorewood, Simon, Simon McConico, Stock, Stock Photography, Urban, Valo, Valo Photography, Whitesidh Bay, WI, Wisconsin. | #

This weeks photo of the week comes from a disposable camera. I have been having a lot of fun using low-fi camera such as disposables, Holgas, Dianas, Pinholes, and others. It is a lot of fun. What I think it does for me is lets me focus more on content and really push myself to try and make a good image with not much to work with. Sometimes it is very frustrating, because there is that lack of control, since there really is not a lot you can control… Pop some film in, you are stuck to that speed, there is no exposure control, so you kind of have to look for light that will fit with what you have… etc… It is a challenge and it is a lot of fun. I think it also shows that you can make nice and unique images with not a lot of equipment. Nice equipment is nice, and I love all the gear that I have, but sometimes it is so nice to reject it all, grab a lo-fi camera and go for a walk and just have fun…

This photo is from Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin. My wife took me there last weekend for a little birthday getaway. I brought a couple disposable cameras with me, and shot through two of them. This was one of my favorite images from the walk. The camera I used I received free from a friend, who had a bunch of leftovers from her company, so really it cost me next to nothing, since I didn’t even have to pay for the camera…

More images from disposable cameras can be found in my Flickr set Disposable.

“Bob 35″
Stugeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin
Jake Rohde
Valo Photography

No Comments | In: Fine Art, Lomo, Photo of the Week, Photography | tags: City, disposable, disposable camera, film, Jake, Jake Rohde, lo-fi, Lomo, Photography, Urban, Valo, Valo Photography, WI, Wisconsin. | #