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The official photo blog of J. David Buerk Photography.

2014 Year-End Film (More Mamiya Super 23)

This film was due back sooner, but I have it now, after delivery was straightened out.  This is only one roll; as you may know, medium format 120 film only takes 8 exposures, since the frame size is so big (LOVE it!).  If you'd like to know more about the camera I am shooting these on, you should read this post about the camera and the first shots with the Mamiya Super 23 Press Camera, as well as my experimentation with different film labs.  I am totally in love with Richard Photo Lab, so these are more photos processed and scanned by them.

This roll is my first trial with Fuji Pro 400H; shot at box speed.

Here we have the very first portrait shot with this camera; I made sure it was of Mr. Munson, my high school geometry teacher who graciously gave me the camera after his father passed away.

1/15th, 100mm, f/2.8:

Fuji Pro 400H is daylight balanced, so I knew this tungsten photo would come out yellow, but it's not as orange as I expected; this is a good thing.

Next is Omar; a man I don't see often enough.  Setting up for this photo taught me that I need to make a few changes to my setup for daytime portraits with this camera; I need to A) buy 100ISO or lower film, and / or B) get a few ND or polarizing filters for this camera's lenses.  This was right after grabbing our traditional lunch feast of buffalo wings.

1/500th, 100mm, f/ 11:

Finally we have David and Spencer.  I brought the camera along on the last leg of their engagement session on the Alexandria waterfront.  The sun had already set, so dusk was well underway, with light fading quickly.  I shot the remaining five frames quickly before moving on to my digital setup with off-camera flashes.  The Super 23 relies on direct lighting to illuminate the focusing reticle - unfortunately it was so dark when I shot these photos, that I couldn't see where I was focusing - all of these photos are back focused... but that's the charm of film: the imperfection.  These photos were for fun anyway, as this was the first time I'd ever used a film camera on a paid shoot, especially since I *knew* I'd get solid photos from the digital, made better with my two-light setup.  I'd use the Super 23 on a paid shoot again, but only during daylight or the golden hour, when there is enough light to properly focus.

You can see the digital photos from this session with David and Spencer here, as well as their later wedding photos.

1/15th, 100mm, f/2.8:

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I do like the blue tones of Fuji 400H, and quite frankly I am more impressed with its tones than the Portra 400 I have traditionally shot with.

I already have another roll of Fuji 400H loaded into the 6x9 film holder, so I will need to shoot this next, however after that, I want to try a 100ISO film next.  I have always liked the rendering of Provia 100F simulated presets, so that film may be my next experiment.  Velvia has always seemed too saturated for my taste, but that is judging from others' photos - I'd really need to try it myself to make a proper judgement.  Same goes for Ektar, although I'd want to try shooting it again, since it's been several years.

The adventure of medium format film continues...

David and Spencer

David and Spencer are a cute couple who met locally but now call Las Vegas home.  Planning their wedding photography was always interesting since David and I share a name; emails from either of us always started off, "Hi David, it's David..."  Their shoots were also made interesting because their Engagement and Wedding Dinner Party were two events I photographed after losing my voice - an experience you can read about here.

Engaged

For David and Spencer's engagement photos, we explored the waterfront along Old Town Alexandria's Union Street, on a cold, but sunny, Winter day.

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Married

Surrounded by family and friends, David and Spencer celebrated their marriage at Restaurant Eve, a French restaurant in Old Town Alexandria.  It was a night filled with joy, laughter, and amazing food, with two families coming together to share in David and Spencer's love and new life together.

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After dinner, David, Spencer, and a few remaining guests descended upon Columbia Firehouse for a few drinks and a small afterparty.

Behind the Scenes

Just a funny BTS; David snapped this photo of me shooting their portraits from an odd spot - through a bush / traffic sign.  So why was I standing in a bush instead of 2 feet forward where I could stand regularly?  Easy: David and Spencer had stopped where they were and naturally were in the moment, and I needed a little more distance to get the frame I wanted with the 85mm f/1.2 I shoot so frequently with.  Rather than tell David and Spencer to move back (ruining their moment) I backed up myself... and shot through a bush / sign.  After a minute of shooting, David noticed and laughed at the crazy spot I had ended up (I've actually shot from much sillier), and had to take a photo.  So this is us taking photos of each other.

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And of course, the photos I originally backed up to get.

St. Louis, Missouri, Winter of 2014

As many of you know, practically all of my family is from or lives in St. Louis, so as I often do, I recently visited for Christmas.

All of this is personal photography, but of course I always take my photos seriously, and never leave home without a camera.  Here I'm sharing some highlights of my trip.  Even though I spent more time visiting with family than exploring the St. Louis metro area, I still got some interesting stuff.

Let's start with the reason for the season; Christmas Mass, which my family traditionally goes to at midnight Christmas Eve.  This is All Saints Catholic Church in St. Peters, Missouri.  It also happens to be the church where my parents were married, and I was baptized.

There are a few Christmas movies I make sure to watch every year.  Early in December I always watch "Jingle All The Way," along with the first two "Home Alone" films.  Come Festivus, I always pay homage by watching Seinfeld's "The Strike" on December 23rd (even when I travel, I still always manage to bring a pole with me - no joke).

On Christmas Eve every year, I always curl up in bed and watch "A Christmas Story;" it's thanks to this movie that my friends and I have developed the tradition of going to dinner at Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church for a fresh Peking Duck at some point in late December - that is what we did for New Years Eve this year, since I was back from St. Louis so late.

After "A Christmas Story" I made some Linguine with White Clam sauce paired with a Sauvignon Blanc and watched "It's A Wonderful Life;" another Christmas favorite of mine.

Christmas morning is of course when we get to see what Santa brought us.

My cousin and his family is also stationed in Alaska, so I set up a FaceTime so they could join in and Paup can not just talk with them, but also see them when talking.

On the other side of my family, Christmas is incomplete without Grandpa's Rudolph.

Everyone who knows me knows I love wine.  Not only did I find this great Sauvignon Blanc (my favorite varietal), but I was also gifted a few bottles.  And what better opportunity to try out my new Fstoppers Flash Discs than this?

Some behind-the-scenes geekery:

Canon EOS 1D X and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, Speedlite 600EX-RT with HONLphoto CTO gel and Fstoppers Flash Disc, mounted to a Nasty Clamp (these things are the best!), triggered via an ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter.

Before leaving town, my aunt and cousins went to the St. Louis Zoo with me for Wild Lights - the zoo's annual light festival.  All the animals were sleeping, sheltering safely out of sight, but this was more about the pretty lights anyway.  The only animal we spotted was an otter, as they were still swimming about, and just barely visible with the available light.

Soon it was time to hit the road and head home; the morning I left St. Louis, a cold front had moved in, coating the area in a heavy frost and thick fog.

Upon returning home, I got to try out some of my new stuff from Christmas.  Here is the first photo of 2015!  Norah Jones' "Little Broken Hearts" on 180g white vinyl.

In addition to loving all the directions Norah Jones can take her music, I've always admired the cover art to "Little Broken Hearts" - an homage to "Mudhoney."  Norah Jones' cover for "Little Broken Hearts" was shot by Frank Ockenfels III - go check out his amazing work!

If you haven't already, check out the highlights from 2014 in my "Best of 2014" photo gallery, showing highlights from the past year in my photography.  Happy 2015!

Best of 2014

As 2014 draws to a close, I not only want to thank everyone who made this year as amazing as it was, but I also like to do so by sharing with you 50 highlights from the past 12 months in photography.  2014 offered quite a few new opportunities which I am forever thankful for; you can see my photographic journey throughout 2014 in the gallery below.  You may use the Left and Right arrows to scroll through images, and hover over photos to display caption information.

(This gallery may not work in newsreaders, such as Feedly - if so, view on the website.)

Thank you again to everyone who made 2014 such a fantastic year for me and my photography.  Here's to a just as amazing 2015!

2015 Dodge Dart SXT Review

On a recent trip to St. Louis, I spent two weeks with a brand new 2015 Dodge Dart SXT.  Think the Dart is just a sexy Neon?  Think again.

My rental Dart had only a couple hundred miles on the clock when it was given to me - I was only the second person to rent this car.  This Dart was a 2015 SXT in True Blue Pearl Coat equipped with the 2.4L I-4 mated to a 6-Speed Automatic transmission with AutoStick, and no other options beyond a spare tire; MSRP is ~$19,890.

Exterior: 7 / 10

I’ll reiterate that this was a rental car with not much more than standard options.  The Dodge Dart does have a number of appearance packages available which provide a more aero-aggressive styling, larger rims, dual exhaust with chrome tips, and a few other stylistic options.  This Dart had none of these upgrades.

That said, I have always been a big fan of the modern Dart’s looks.  The paint was a deep navy blue with slight metallic look (True Blue Pearl Coat), with color matched side mirrors standard.  The classic Dodge crosshair grille is a piano black plastic that fits the nature of the car; anything else would be out of place - chrome or some silver / grey color would bring back sour memories of the Avenger, and a flat / matte black would look really cheap.  The piano black is surely the best choice.  Thin chrome strips adorn the fog light covers; there is a strip of chrome on the inside of the crosshair grille, but it is darker (more like a gunmetal) and hardly noticeable.

And those headlights; I’ve always loved the mean headlight design, with deep orange “undercover” feeling parking lights - the combination really makes the car look as though it is a bulldog creeping up to pounce and attack, only enhanced by the side lines to the rear, giving the car a hunched down appearance.

The rear end has always needed some refinement in my opinion.  The taillights are perfect; a wonderful compliment to the Dart’s older brother, the Charger with its bright, grown up taillight.  Likewise, the trunk and decklid is well done, with appropriate shaping and ducktail spoiler-like flaring.  My complaint with the rear styling is the bubble-butt feel - the quarterpanels’ bottom corners are just too rounded and shaved for my taste.  I realize that the Dart is more rounded than the boxier Charger, but I feel design could have reached a happy medium in this area, making edges slightly sharper for a more aggressive look.

Dart and friends at Starbucks.

Additionally, the rear sports a very cheap matte plastic underneath the license plate.  Surely this is meant to be easily replaced by taking the brunt of your basic parking lot, shopping cart, and bollard dings, but everyone knows this material is a scratch and mar magnet.  The slightest scrape and the plastic turns white, or permanently takes on invading paint colors.  Left out in the sun, this plastic turns light grey in just a few years.  Over time, this will be the Dart’s fatal flaw in its exterior.

The rims on this Dart were the basic 16" painted aluminum 5-spokes.  They look fine, but of course the upgraded 17” or 18” rims would fill the wheel wells more appropriately.  Black painted rims offer a moody, aggressive attitude, however I’d like to see the addition of a 17” chrome rim option that I think would also look great on this car.

Overall, the Dart’s reimagined form is well done, but could use some tweaking in a facelift to really set it apart and even out the quality level among its components.

Interior: 7 / 10

Sitting down in the Dart was comfortable, and the car is easy to enter and exit.  Cloth mesh seats are supportive and well designed.  I am happy to report that there is no annoying knap.  The drivers seat was adjustable 6 ways manually, plus a perfectly placed headrest with standard height adjustment (no tilt adjustment, but I found the placement just right - something I am very picky about).  The Dart has optional bun warmers - this one did not have them equipped.

The steering wheel was 4 way adjustable, and had now standard controls which were easy to find and use.  The dash display had 7 screens which included Speedometer, Trip A & B, Instant MPG, Tire Pressure, Oil Life, Settings (Push to Enter), and Outdoor Temperature / Odometer.  The dash is brightly lit for easy visibility, but not too bright, or distracting / painful to look at.  The red dash surround does NOT illuminate.

Shifting was smooth with the firm and convenient shift knob.  Using the AutoStick was a breeze, and I was very pleased to see that pulling aft upshifted and pushing fore downshifted.

Plenty of storage is provided between the tray, which easily held my wallet and bluetooth, cupholders, and under-armrest storage bin, which also contained a power port and the AUX stereo connection.

The cupholders worked well, gripping drinks with rubberized bubbles along the outside.  Feeling these bubbles, however, indicate to me that after a few years of use, the rubberized plastic they are made from will surely crack and gradually deteriorate, particularly with prolonged heat and sun exposure.

I was shocked by how cavernous the glovebox was.  In the front tray I was able to place my iPad Air, plugged in, and easily close the glovebox.  Behind this front tray is the bottomless abyss - a storage hangar for your gloves, and probably an entire laptop if you really wanted.  I still can’t get over how large this glovebox was.

The rear view mirror contains the microphone for UConnect, and the largest safety concern I had with the car:  THIS CAR HAS A HUGE REAR BLIND SPOT.  It could be a lot worse, but I’ve driven a lot better.  The rear view mirror was manually dimming.

Sun visors had small, illuminated mirrors, and a surprise!  I didn’t expect it, but these visors also extended out on their arms!  Even in the retracted position, however, there was not enough headroom to avoid hitting oneself in the head when rotating the visor to the side window.  I’m not super tall at 5’8” either.

The door panel held the usual controls.  The only thing I found odd was that the mirror Left / Right selector had no off position, meaning if you bumped the 4-way pad, you're guaranteed to move one of your mirrors.

Honestly biggest interior complaint was the seemingly thoughtless placement of the trunk release.  I’m sure with extended ownership it becomes easier, but in the two weeks I had the car, I struggled to find that little button every single day.  It sounds silly as I write this, but this truly drove be insane to the point that I usually just resorted to hitting the FOB's button.

The back seat was also comfortable, and surprisingly roomy, although I never rode in the back seat.

Rear seats fold down to allow extra cargo storage, and the center armrest features a passthrough for smaller elongated items.  The rear armrest also contains a storage tray and two cupholders equivalent but shallower than the front’s.

Each rear seat also had the compact headrests we have all come to know.

Trunk space was bountiful for a compact car, and a temp tire and changing kit was nestled underneath.

Dovetailing with the exterior, the trunk does not have any handles or straps to grab onto when closing - for car guys, this is huge; it means you have no choice but to smudge your paint or leave dusty imprints on the exterior of your car.  This is such a simple design element; how was this overlooked?

When opening the trunk, it pops open about a foot.  Some may like this as it prevents your stuff from being exposed to rain and nosy peeps, while others may want the quick access of a trunk that opens all the way - I like it as-is.

Acceleration: 8 / 10

SXT Darts have the largest engine option of three; the 2.4 L I4 Tigershark MultiAir 2 which outputs the most power, at 184HP, but falls to second in terms of torque, at 171 ft-lbs.

Make no mistake; this isn’t a super fast car, but it certainly feels it, and definitely sounds fast.  At idle, the single exhaust SXT is near silent, but blipping the throttle, it extorts a loud, buzzing, belch.

Impressively, some wheelspin was allowed, even with TCS engaged.

Manually selecting 1st gear and slowly cruising through neighborhood at just 10MPH gets you a mean enough exhaust note that will earn you dirty looks from onlookers; the type of glare that says, “Hey, I have kids that play on this street - slow down, asshole.” as you just stare back creeping along, your eyes saying, “Hey idiot, I’m going 15 under the limit - it sounds faster than it actually is.  I'll keep off your lawn too."

Here you can get a sense of what the Dart SXT sounds like:

Please note that the video is NOT where I tested 0-60 times… but I did a few 0-60 runs with and without TCS.  Online, you will find numbers anywhere from low 8s to high 9s for the SXT; my results were pretty much in the middle:

  • 9.7s without TCS (wheelspin)
  • 9.2s without TCS (feathered throttle)
  • 9.0 with TCS

So, make of that what you will.

Also, here are two tidbits I was specifically asked about:

  • Idle speed is 700RPM.
  • 6th gear becomes available at, but not before, 39MPH.
  • Neutral limits revs to 4,000RPM.

I meant to keep track of gas milage, however between the rental company delivering the car with ½ tank and my topping the tank off and subsequently dropping it off with ½ tank, along with missing milage notations, I cannot report on the actual em-pee-gees I saw.  The Dart SXT is rated 24 City / 34 Highway with its 14.2 gallon fuel tank.  That may not be too far off, since I only used 1 entire tank of gas in almost 2 weeks just doing around-town driving errands, with my longest trip being a short road trip to snap photos and record 0-60 stats.

Additionally, some Dodge design intern nailed the owner demographic for the Dart, in a graphic atop the battery cover.  Dem glasses, brah.  Dat hair, dude.

Braking: 10 / 10

The Dart sports disc brakes all around.  There was no play in the pedal - braking begins as soon as you begin depressing.  I also had the experience of a true panic stop - I was going about 40, maybe 45, and was very late in noticing a quickly approaching stop sign.  Slamming on the brakes, the ABS kicked in… sorta.  The ABS engaged and gave me a thorough foot massage, but just like the TCS allowing wheelspin, I was shocked at how much skidding the ABS allowed.  In a billow of smoke, I did manage to just stop in time without entering the intersection.

Regular braking is very smooth and predictable.  Tying in with the suspension, the Dart’s sporty nature means it will only nosedive under heavy braking, such as a panicstop situation.

Ride: 8 / 10

The Dodge Dart SXT is very comfortable to ride in, even for extended periods.  Suspension is firm, and still soaks up bumps, but it won’t make bumps disappear.  This is a car that you will have to slow down for speed bumps to avoid a concussion, but if you do nail a speed bump, the car will at least concuss you politely.

Handling: 9 / 10

Steering is precise and responsive.  The wheel gives you plenty of feedback from the road, and has just the right amount of pressure.

The Dart stays true in a straight line, and it eats up corners at speed.  Go fast enough, and you will feel it stretch onto its toes and seem to hunch down for stability as it approaches understeer territory, but you’d really need to be pushing it beyond a safe speed for the front tires to begin slipping.  It will eat up any off-ramp you throw at it, and is fun to drive in the twisties, particularly if you can safely do so with a bit of pep.

Gearbox: 8 / 10

Although I’d much rather have a proper manual, the Powertech 6F24 6-Speed Automatic with AutoStick was great for an around-town kind of situation.  Clearly I had a lot of fun driving this car, and this is largely due to a quality transmission.  Shifts were smooth and quick, and I was never surprised or denied a gear except of course when you would have over or under-revved - in these instances, the car politely tells you you’re an idiot, and that a gear change is unavailable.  I’ve driven other AutoSticks where gearshifts have been inexplicably denied or delayed when they would have otherwise been safe to do so - that was not the case here, and as I think about it, I can’t ever recall a time this has happened to me on a Dodge AutoStick (Dart, Charger, Challenger).

Audio: 6 / 10

The base AM / FM / CD / AUX / USB / Bluetooth stereo was installed.  This stereo features UConnect standard, which I will address in a moment.  As you can see, the car was so new that some places still had the protective plastic still attached.

The stereo sounded great, and actually had too much bass response - the stereo only has a three-band equalizer, and cranking the bass swelled the curve too much.  An aftermarket stereo would do wonders on the bass end, simply due to more precise tuning.

Auxiliary input was located in the under-armrest storage console, but USB input was nowhere to be found.  It wasn’t on the dash, in the storage console, nor was it in the glovebox.  USB was selectable on the stereo; the screen simply said USB, and the stereo kept silent.  Not sure what to make of this.

Toys: 3 / 10

Dear Dodge,
We need to talk.
It’s about UConnect.
-Me

So, selecting UConnect on the Stereo is a combination of enabling Bluetooth and allowing you to use select voice commands through Dodge’s own system.  It is useful for tasks like making phone calls (Jake, you can’t touch it with your voice!  It’s not PHYSICAL!), or asking Siri to do something for you through the Dart’s own microphone.  At least, that’s the idea.  I barely got it to work.

Pairing UConnect with my iPhone was a breeze - I hit the UConnect button, and the Dart’s voiceover prompts had my phone connected in under a minute.  Instantly I was able to ask Siri to play me music, or ask UConnect to do the same task.  This only worked in practice for the 10ish minutes I was playing with it after initial setup.

Subsequently, my phone would automatically connect via Bluetooth upon starting the car, and I could play music wirelessly, but the stereo’s Pause and Skip controls were sometimes delayed by several seconds.  Although playing music worked perfectly, I could no longer use UConnect to give voice commands via UConnect or Siri.  UConnect voice commands would no longer activate at all, and attempting to use Siri would activate Siri on the iPhone, but she’d hear nothing; the iPhone’s microphone was disabled because it was supposed to use the Dart’s, however the Dart sent no audio to the iPhone, meaning Siri couldn’t hear anything you said to her.

The next problem with the UConnect system was how it randomly began playing music.  The stereo would unpause itself without warning, making for an annoyance and sporadic interruption of conversation among passengers.  The UConnect Stereo seemed to only work perfectly when playing audio - but if you aren’t playing music / audio, you’re going to have a bad time… it will just turn itself on.

Finally, with the iPhone paired, I used GPS (Google Maps, MotionX GPS) with voice directions - again, this worked very well… as long as you had music playing behind it… and if you didn’t have music playing, don’t worry, the Dart would still randomly unpause and start your music library at random whether you like it or not, as described above.  When the GPS did not have music behind it, the UConnect stereo had the unfortunate problem of cutting off the first 1-2 seconds of directional audio.  “In ¼ mile, take Exit 225 South toward Cave Springs / Truman Road, on the Right” would be mangled and redacted by UConnect to just “ight.”  Really helpful UConnect.

UConnect gets a lot of praise, but I found it to be the Dart’s absolute worst feature.  I loved the Dart, but the UConnect system was a train wreck to the point that it was often easier for me to just disable Bluetooth on my phone and let the Dart think I left my phone behind.

Full Disclosure: The rental company had removed the Dart’s Owners Manual, so I had no way to troubleshoot beyond the Internet (which I honestly didn’t have time for on my trip).  So if anything, my experience may be typical of your average owner who is tech-savvy enough to use Bluetooth, but be computer-illiterate enough to not know where to find the answers.

Value: 8 / 10

With an MSRP of ~$19,890, the 2015 Dodge Dart SXT with just a few options isn’t a steal, but it is definitely a worthy competitor in the market currently dominated by cookie-cutter Corollas and Civics.  What sets the Dart apart is quite apparent just by looking at it, but it doesn’t fully register until you’ve actually driven one - The Dart has a soul (and an affordable leasing program, Jake).

TOTAL: 74 / 100

The Dart lives up to its name as a muscle car’s little brother, with more horsepower (except for the much more expensive Civic Si with just 17 more horsepower), more torque, and much more attitude than its boring classmates.  Quite simply, the Dart is every bit as reasonable, but infinitely more enjoyable.

So I implore you; go ahead…  Please DO touch my Dart.  You’ll just want your own even more.