Some old, some new

George Cutright

— 4 min read
Some old, some new

Thanks for signing up for my photo newsletter. I'm hoping that it's a way to share photos and not be stuck on instagram all the time. Here we go!

Back in the fall of 2024, a crew of us set out to Boise for some skateboarding and sunshine before the rains really settled in on us in Portland. We've done a version of this trip a few times now and it has always been fun. I find it's a good opportunity to make some photos with friends. A new setting and the excitement of being on the road help with inspiration. This time I brought my Yashica Mat 124-G. I love this old camera. A TLR and a square crop are a nice change. And there's a lot more thinking using the ground glass view finder. Looking at everything in reverse slows it all down. I paired this with some Ektar 25 speed film that expired in 1998! Thanks to my buddy Sam at The Portland Darkroom for passing along some weird old film. I tried to over-expose it by a stop, but that's kind of difficult when it's already so slow. I really enjoyed the results below. The colors turned out great and I shot almost every photo wide open at 3.5. So there was a nice depth of field.

2 guys sitting on their skateboards on the ground with their backs against a fence.
Brent and Ryan.
4 guys sitting and standing around a picnic table on a bright sunny day.
The crew at one of Boise's amazing skateparks.
1 guy standing in an empty skatepark. The ramps are red and the sky is blue.
Brent.
1 guy standing in an empty skatepark with red ramps in the background and a blue sky.
Dorian.
Close up portrait of a a guy in a black t-shirt and faded hat.
Jake.
Close of portrait of a guy in a white shirt contrasted against a deep blue sky.
Ben Graham.
Portrait of a dark brown dog with white paws and a thick tan and white dog against some fall foliage.
Juniper and Otis.

Now with some new. While talking about film with Erik he was hyping up the newish Cinestill XX black and white film. So I got this roll to try it out and put it in the Minolta CLE (before I thought it might have light meter problems. See my last post) and got to tryin it out. I'm really digging the contrast! But can't help wonder if the current weirdness with that camera skewed my results. I definitely pushed the limits shooting at the Nug show, even at ISO 800. I did get some stuff I liked, but was hoping for more good photos. I've shot another roll on a different camera and will hopefully have that back and scanned soon. Maybe next newsletter! Thanks to Erik for sending me a roll when he heard my camera might've botched the first go around. The film is fun because Cinestill bills it as a variable speed. Which means you can pick 250, 400, or 800. This roll I shot at 800. And another shoutout to The Portland Darkroom and their DSLR scanning set up. Makes scanning very easy.

black and white photo of many triangle shaped pennants for a variety of sports teams.
Bar pennants.
A disco ball on a ceiling making a spiral of blurry lights.
Disco ball.
2 guys playing guitars on a very dark stage and they are the only to bright things visible.
Nug.
A black and white photo of a dark colored dog on a big patch of white snow and a fence in the background.
Juniper on a snow day.
A black and white photo of a guy talking while holding a coffee and has a plate with a bagel on it.
Andrew.
A black and white photo of 2 dogs sitting and facing to the left. One is panting and the other is yawning.
Juniper and Otis.
A black and white photo of a dog laying on the ground with his ears back and mouth open, panting.
Otis.

Some really rad photographers contributed to a zine that's from our time at Slow Impact this past February. There are a few left if you'd like order one. $5 from each zine purchase goes to Skate After School.

A couple things I've been stoked on:

One is a book called Landing by Maen Hammad. It's a look into the lives of skateboarders living in the West Bank of Palestine. I've just received it and started to dig in. Maen does incredible photo work and seeing his related piece on Skate Jawn, and having heard him speak, I know this will be a very moving book.

The other is a book by Anders Nilsen called Tongues. It's an amazing graphic novel that I haven't been able to put down. Wonderful work by a talented friend.

Until next time, it might have been.

George

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