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Here is an old article I wrote years ago on the history on infrared flash photography. It is not up to date, but it was up to date at the time I wrote it. I had some more samples of Weegee's IR flash work, but they got removed due to broken links. If a photo looks fuzzy or distorted, click on it. January 8, 2016danielteolijr A little history on infrared flash photography… Article Dedication in honor of Araki & Bill ‘Zippy’ Griffith <><><><> Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Graflex 4×5 Speed Graphic press camera with GE 5R Infrared Flashbulb. The Speed Graphic was a mainstay of Weegee. Loaded with 3 zinc ‘D’ batteries and a film holder, it weighs nearly 9 pounds! The camera fondlers are spoiled nowadays. They complain their cameras that weigh a pound are too heavy. The old press photogs were real he-men lugging this thing around all day. Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Two of the founding fathers of IR flash photography were Weegee and Kohei Yoshiyuki. From my limited research, they were the only two photogs in history that have done any meaningful projects with IR flash photography. see footnote ( a) Here is some of their work with IR flash… Weegee... Lovers at the Palace Theatre – Weegee Source: ICP There are many variations of this photo showing Weegee took various poses of the couple. The dates for this shot vary all over the place…1940, 1943 and 1945. Weegee said he prided himself in reality based photography, but he was not getting what his client wanted for movie theatre shots. So Weegee staged some of the infrared movie theatre shots….”helping realism along” as he wrote in his autobiography. Weegee talks about his infrared flash photography on pages 117-118 of his book Weegee by Weegee. He said he picked up a female model with a “peek-a-boo dress” and a male model from the Art Students’ League. He brought them to a theatre and told them “Don’t look at the camera and don’t laugh. Just make love.” Weegee reenacting how he did his infrared flash theatre photography. He disguised himself as an ice cream vendor. Here is another version… Weegee’s account of his infrared work is confusing. Many of Weegee’s early infrared photos date from the early 1940’s. He would have used a Speed Graphic 4 x 5 press camera in that era. In his autobiography he said he hid his camera in the ice cream tray, which sounds more like the 1950’s when he used small format cameras. It is pretty hard to hide a press camera. While the photo of Lovers at the Palace Theatre fits the bill for his staged infrared theatre photos, it was dated in the 1940’s. From his books timeline description his staged infrared theatre photos were done in the early 1950s. So, there is no telling which infrared shots are candid and which are staged when it comes to Weegee. I’ve been in a number of theatres and have not seen any love scenes as yet. I keep looking. Until then let me offer Weegee this IR theatre homage…part of my yawning series. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. The next photo is by Yoshiyuki…from his project ‘The Park’ Yoshiyuki’s project centered around taking IR flash photos at 3 parks in Japan (Chuo, Yoyogi, and Aoyama parks) where people would go to have sex (both hetero and homo) and voyeurs would stay in the shadows to watch them. (Sometimes the voyeurs would see how far they could push things and try to sneak into the action!) In a 1979 interview Yoshiyuki said that just as he started to test Toshiba infrared flashbulbs, they were discontinued. Yoshiyuki replaced the discontinued bulbs with Kodak (infrared) flashbulbs. A quote from the 1979 interview done by Nobuyoshi Araki and Kohei Yoshiyuki: Kohei Yoshiyuki “I found out that Toshiba made flashbulbs- infrared flashbulbs. Before I had a chance to use more than a few of them, they were discontinued. Then I looked around for filters, and ended up using two tricolor separation filters. After a while I heard that Kodak had some flashbulbs, so I used them. At that time infrared flash units didn’t exist. Sunpak came out with them after I took these pictures.” I have done extensive research on infrared flashbulb history and have never been able to find any information on Kodak making infrared flashbulbs or any flashbulbs for that matter. I contacted flashbulb historian, dealer and expert Bill Cress about Kodak infrared flashbulbs. Bill’s reply: “Kodak did not make bulbs, if anything they may have had some private labeled by others but not made by them.” Chuck Baker, another historian and collector concurred stating; “As far as I know Kodak did not make their own flashbulbs.” I polled the Flashbulb Collectors Page, a Yahoo Group, on this subject. Unanimous consensus was Kodak never made any flashbulbs whether they be infrared or visible light. Private label or not, nothing ever shows up in the historical record or on the second-hand market for Kodak flashbulbs either in the visible light spectrum or infrared. While it is possible that the Japanese had access to products not available in the USA, it is only conjecture. Yoshiyuki started his Park project before IR strobes were on the market. But as he approached the mid-point and end of his project, IR strobes were readily available from Sunpak. The bottom line is; it is a mystery as to what infrared flashbulb or strobe Yoshiyuki was actually using for his Park project. The General Electric #5R, #22R and Sylvania Blackout 2 and Blackout 25 were the most common infrared flashbulbs of that era. The most popular infrared flashbulb of these four was the GE 5R. In the December 1947 issue of Popular Photography, Weegee said he used “midget infrared flashbulbs.” He goes on to say in the April 1956 issue of Popular Mechanics that he used 5R infrared flashbulbs. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Infrared flash photography was developed during WWII as a means of taking photos in complete darkness also known as ‘blackout.’ I don’t know how much the 5R’s cost in the early 1940’s when they were first commercially marketed, but a package from the 1960’s was priced at $3 a dozen. A trade announcement in the May 1949 edition of Popular Photography said Sterling Howard Corp of N.Y.C. was selling infrared flashbulb coating kits to turn white light flashbulbs into infrared flashbulbs. The list price for the gelatin & dye kit was $4.75. https://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-infrared-basics.html BLACKOUT PHOTOGRAPHY This document was taken from Photography: Naval Training Course, Vol. 1, NAVPERS 10371-A, prepared by Bureau of Navy Personnel, 1951. A flash lamp pierces darkness about the way a 16- inch gun salvo rends silence. The ordinary flash lamp, that is. There’s one which is decidedly “un ordinary.” A photographer takes a flash picture in pitch darkness. Only a few feet away there is not the slightest hint of it. But what about the flash? There wasn’t any. A flash picture with no flash? Well, for all practical purposes-yes. Actually there was a flash. But it was made up almost entirely of infrared light, which is invisible. Yet the lamp illuminated the subject quite enough for a clear picture. This is infrared flash photography or “blackout” photography. The special flash bulb is coated with a Lacquer which transmits a maximum of infrared rays while holding back nearly all the visible rays. It must be used only with infrared film and in total or nearly total darkness. Slow shutter speed (1/25 to 1/50) and wide lens opening (f/4 to f/8) are required. The phenomenon of blackout photography will work only at very short distances-usually 10 to 15 feet. But at close quarters it will produce a surprisingly satisfactory photographic record. This procedure might have numerous military uses. An example would be in taking a vital picture when a brilliant glare of white light would tip off your presence to the enemy. There are also less ominous circumstances which would make the use of the conventional flash impractical or impossible. http://www.graflex.org/flash/navy/ An early blackout infrared flash photo from 1945 of Kodak’s Aero Pan film spooling operation. A single GE 22R infrared flashbulb was suspended above each operator for illumination. Photographed with a 4 x 5 camera with infrared film. In 1974 Sunpak introduced the first commercial infrared strobe. The Nocto 400. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. The Nocto 400 was a revolutionary strobe as it was the first and only commercially produced dedicated infrared flash ever made. It weighed about 886 grams without batteries. It’s downfall was it produced a visible bright reddish / orange glow when it fired. It had a high and low setting and ran off of A.C. or 4 ‘C’ batteries. The low setting produced a slightly lower glow that was only visible if you looked directly at the head. The high setting produced a visible orange glow that would reflect off the object if it was within a few feet and had a reflective nature. The recycle time was 7 seconds on high and 1.5 seconds on low powered by the AC cord. The guide number calculator had a range of 57 feet for the high setting. A few years later Sunpak introduced the model 622 which incorporated interchangeable heads – one head being a dedicated infrared flash head. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. A technical tidbit… On Flickr, member ‘t6b9p’ wrote : “…the Sunpak 622 IR head is actually fitted with two IR filters. An inner 0.2mm flexible IR filter with 50% transmission at 730nm and a hard outer filter that has 50% transmission at 850nm.” I took apart a Sunpak 622 IR head and sure enough there are two filters as ‘t6b9p’ reported. Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. The spec sheet lists the following information for the 622 Pro IR head: Peak Spectrum: 840 NM Guide Number: 30/100 Angle of illumination: 65 degree horizontal by 45 degree vertical. Coverage: 35mm lens on 35mm camera Weight 3.8 oz / 100 g The beauty of the Sunpak was its systemized design that allowed rapid change of 7 dedicated strobe heads: Standard Head Zoom Head Wide Head Ring Head Infra-Red Head Diffusion Head Bare bulb Head Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. A vintage 622 with IR head installed and the zoom head. The Sunpak 622 was a monster to lug around. While the head is light, the weight of the entire flash unit is very heavy at 1109 grams without batteries. Recycle time with 4 alkaline batteries was 12 seconds on full power and almost instantaneous at low power. This is a very powerful strobe that is said to be roughly 250 watt seconds. Although the flash head still emits a reddish glow it seems a little less than the Nocto 400 emitted. The dual filter array does a good job in keeping this strobe stealthy. http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/sunpak_auto622_pro.pdf Photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Sunpak Nocto 400 compared to Sunpack Auto 622 with IR head. If you would like to use one of these vintage film era IR strobes on your digital cam you will need Safe-Sync adapter. Amazon In the 2000’s, third party cottage industries came out with IR flash adapters that slid over small, modern strobes and commercial strobes modified for dedicated IR use. An interesting aspect of infrared flash photography is how it highlights the veins of the body. Dr. Lou Gibson did a number of experiments in this area. http://medicalphotography.com.au/Article_04/09.html A little history on infrared flash photography was taken in part from my forthcoming artist’s books: Piercing Darkness Practice & Techniques of Infrared Flash Photography https://danielteolijr.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/piercing-darkness-update/ Footnote: (a) Ikko Kagari also did some work with IR flash in his project ‘Crowded Train’ on the practice of ‘chikan’ (groping women on the train or subway) in Japan. I think it is from the 1980’s but not sure. And maybe book title is wrong. Very underground and not easy to find the right info as it varies from source to source. <><><><> 10 Minutes after Midnight (Candid) Infrared flash photo by Daniel D. Teoli Jr. **End of Article** ---------------- At one time, from what I gather, I was the world leader in infrared flash photography. Of course it was not hard to do. The few others that had revived the process weren't very good at it. And one never knows everything that is being done worldwide, so who can say. I have not kept up with street photography or IR flash photography. My health went downhill after covid, and I could not pound the pavement like I used to do. Some days I was lucky to just go to the market. I pretty much stick with working archival material now and have retired from still photography with the exception of snapshots and still photography dealing with the archive. When I first got into still photography, I wanted to be a fashion / commercial photographer. Over time I learned I had no skill at it, at least nothing special. So, I found areas that I am skilled at and never regretted it. I took the studio photos in this article and hated doing it. I don't like doing commercial photography. But I had no other sources for the material, so I was stuck with the job. Some of those photos may be fuzzy in the article. That is just how the photo host I used degraded them over the years. When you do street photography...you go through lots of shoes. Photo: D.D.Teoli Jr. Here are some of my infrared flash photos. Everything is candid. Piercing Darkness book - Ohio 2015 Transwoman and Friend - North Hollywood, CA 2015 Araki exhibit / Midori ropework - Museum of Sex, NYC 2018 Homeless Couple - Hollywood Blvd 2015 Pucker Up! - Hollywood Blvd 2015 Living in a cardboard box - NYC 2018 Sad Buskers - NYC 2016 Dancer - OH 2015 Piercing Darkness book This is raw IR flash. You can't overexpose it or the highlights burn out. This is post processed IR flash. From The Americans...60 years after Frank book - Las Vegas 2016 Hollywood 2016 Homeless man selling a candy bar - Las Vegas 2016 Selection from Wide Open book - NYC 2016 I liked to take photos of people yawning and pointing. They help out with boredom when on the street and you can practice fast shooting. When you are on the street, have multiple projects and you will always find reasons to press the button. They may not be masterpieces, but they are good for practice and to keep you warmed up and ready. If you are no good at fast shooting...practice shooting your TV screen. It helps with timing and comp. Here is the deal... You pound the pavement, keep your camera in hand and on the ready, keep your eyes open and you will find stuff to shoot! Downtown L.A. c.1971 NYC I've got thousands of IR photos I never went through. Plus, tens of thousands of non-IR photos from back in the day that need looking at. The archival work took over and there is just no time for it all. If I just worked on the cine' film archive I would we swamped. Here is Bruce Glidden from 2016. Ran into him on the street in NYC. Not IR flash...just IR. Point is, if you pound the pavement there are tons of things to shoot. There is the yawner! Did you notice her? Subway NYC Times Square Food Stand - NYC 2016 I got dual pointers here! NYC From the earliest days of photography, people have been interested in candid photography. IR flash offers the ultimate tool for candid photographers. Source: Internet This was an early IR flash photo I took. c. 2014. I had been working on IR flash for a number of years and getting nowhere. But one day...things clicked! OH 2015 This was the first yawning photo I took in a casino in 2015. That started my yawning project. I got an interesting IR photo of a pointer but can't put it up. Just too much for the forums. Same with much of my other IR flash work. I was an underground social documentary photographer. That means I had no limits. And no limits do not always work on the internet. I hope you found this useful and interesting. <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

I'm a conceptual artist. I get art ideas that pop up in my head, but I need to work with a concept artist to make those ideas be translated into visibility. In other words, I have no technical art skills of my own...I just have ideas. I posted before on the question of 'is this art.' Art can be divided up into 2 areas. You can have technical skills or creativity skills and if lucky you have both. Plain and simple, if judgements have to be made, and the outcome is uncertain, there is art in the process. I used photography as an example in the other discussion. If there was no art in the process, one photo would be as good as the next. It is the same with bread baking as photography. One loaf of bread would be as good as the next, and on and on with other areas of questioning art. I can't show you most of my conceptual art portfolio. Too graphic, too sexual, too political. Here is something that is milder in nature. It marked my leaving of working in NYC. Covid had just hit and I was out of NYC in January of 2020. The artist uses their art to make sense of the world. It does not matter what the area of art is, it helps them deal with life. I was already working on the Cell Phone People Series, so I made a few panels in the series trying to make sense of covid. It is called 'First Date During Covid.' This one is censored. (I had 2 panels done of this, censored and uncensored.) I had mailed this censored version in the form of a RPPC's to curators and gallerists around America I had contact with to mark my leaving NYC and to thumb my nose at covid. 'First Date During Covid.' 2020 Teoli / Dagger I've worked with artists for decades with bringing inner visions to life. I learned early on, before things get too far with the job; I want to see a rough sketch to see if we are on the same page. Sometimes the art works out fine, other time it does not. I'm not rich and the jobs are generally in the $20 - $30 area. So, I don't want to squeeze the artist too much for little money jobs. Generally, the artist is a digital nomad type of person working overseas. Either they get it or not. If they can't get it to work in an edit or three, then I just pay them and move on to the next idea. I basically give them a script and let them go! One artist remarked, "So much freedom" in doing work for me. A lot of the artist end up doing work in an assembly line kind of thing. One artist may outline the drawings; another artist may ink it up with color, another does the text and so forth and so on. I seldom give them drudgery copy work. I give them the script and it us all up to them to work out the details. Once in a while I give them a copy job that is drudgery. But it is very seldom. If rich it would be interesting to give the same job / script to a bunch of artists and see what they come up with. A person could run a monthly contest and give out $ for awards for such art contests on the Deviant Art forum. But someone would have to run it. Even if I had excess $$, I don't have the time. I just want to see the outcome of creativity and technique. And the subject matter may be in question on such contests when it comes to art of my liking. I'm of the 'old school' Robert Crumb comix era and like that type of art. But it is very pricey trying to have art done in the pen and ink style like Crumb did. Simplified panels of digital art work best for a low budget. Whatever the reason, whether seeing or producing...humans like art! Workup sketch to 'First Date During Covid.' 2020 Teoli / Dagger <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

Have not seen any posts by him since the Spring. He said he is going into large format glass plate photography. Anyone know what's what with Frank? <><><><> Selection from NYC Gallery Archive Photo: D.D.Teoli Jr. Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

Hello fellow DPs and camera conisseurs! We are a newly opened boutique rental house in the heart of NYC. We'd love to be helpful! www.camerarentalsnyc.com (you can order directly through the site) 1460 Broadway, New York, NY, United States, New York (310) 350-5384 rentals@camerarentalsnyc.com We love supporting creative vision with high-quality gear and personalized assistance, and a seamless rental experience from start to finish. We provide convenient equipment rental pickup in the heart of Manhattan, right next to Times Square / the 42nd St Subway Station for the N, Q, R, W, 7, B, D, F, and M lines. The rentals are truly “by filmmakers, for filmmakers”: all our gear and kits are battle tested / optimized through our own projects. We rent out equipment in the camera department that we feel is forward-thinking, useful and fills gaps. If you’re looking for innovative and budget-conscious tech to tackle your productions, you’re in the right place. We do full camera department rentals – from the seminal Alexa 35 to the all-time favorite ARRI Alexa Mini to RED Komodo, Atlas Orion Anamorphic lenses to Sigma Cine Zooms, BMPCC 4K and BMPCC 6K camera bodies to wireless video & follow focus, Director’s Monitor, camera rigs, MoVI Pro Gimbal, Video Village, tripods, lighting for high-end documentaries, corporate interviews and a lot more. Cheers, and please feel free to reach out! Toby

A while back there was a member on the forum in NYC that complained their movie career was not evolving as fast as they had hoped. I can't remember all the details, but my feelings on that would be...if you can afford to live in NYC, even just, you are a success! Recently photographer Elliott Erwitt's NYC Central Park's residence came up for sale after he passed away. I seldom study NYC real estate prices. I could never even afford the co-op's maintenance fees, let alone the sales price. So, I was kinda shocked it was so high and it sold so fast. It is a whole different world in NYC. Erwitt had a little studio downstairs as well. Between the 2 co-ops, the monthly maintenance fee was just under $20,000 a month. Here are some of Erwitt's photos... <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

At The Foot Of The Flatiron 1903 LOC D. D. Teoli Jr. A. C. : D. D. Teoli Jr. A. C. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive An interesting tidbit of history from 120 years ago in 1903. On a windy day, at the foot of the Flatiron building in NYC. The Flatiron Building was built 1-year earlier in 1902. Film via LOC with added music. <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

Been downsizing and cleaning up things. I finally found the lost SD card from a 2018 IR flash shoot at B&H in NYC. It got lost a short time after I shot it. As in...lost so fast I didn't have time to put it on the computer. It was Christmas time and I was out doing some street photography on a Sunday afternoon in Manhattan. It started to rain. I was in the area, so I thought I'd step into B&H to give them some infrared radiation. I spent about 20 minutes looking around. Took 109 IR flash photos then left. All candid stuff. I was in a rush to get back to Jersey City as I was leaving that night for Ohio. Being is a rush, the card got misplaced when I packed up. Glad I finally found it. My worst nightmare was finding the card after the data had degraded. You can't keep SD card data forever and not plug it is every few years to keep the data fresh. I was told they hold data for 10 years without a plug in. The longest I've gone is 5 -6 years without a plug in and data was still good on the SD card. Nothing spectacular from the shoot. But it was interesting to do and sure beats standing in the rain! Zir can also go in 'Burkas & Hijabs of New York' project. I like it when I get photos that are useful in other projects. More bang for the buck so to speak. IR flash does not go too far. It is not the best thing for long distance shots. You benefit very little from available light unless you are getting tons of it. But if you were doing staged work you could set up a bunch of IR flashes for distance. They got a room when leaving B&H for people to unbox and fondle their new gear. If it was a gun store people would want to unbox and start loading up! Still doing post work going through the photos. Lots of post work. These are all shot from the hip with zone focus and zone exposure. Consequently...lots and lots of PP! <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

Click to view larger size This was a 1991 public service announcement in P.O.N.Y X-Press magazine. A publication put out by Prostitutes of New York. (An informal guild of sex workers.) I was scanning the mag for my Curator-at-Large in England. He supplies me with material he finds in the USA he wants scanned and I scan for him. And it is also shared with my Archive, so, we both benefit. Normally I don't read much of the text I'm scanning; I just look at some of the photos. And even then, not much time for the photos. I scan many tens of thousands of pages a year, so can't look at everything. And I'm not much of a reader anyway, I like photos. Point of all this is...I'm lucky I found this interesting tidbit because I usually don't read the mags.

I got this email from Leslie-Lohman Museum. (NY museum that specializes in homosexual material.) I had emailed earlier offering a donation a number of rare DVD's that are up their alley, but I never got a reply. Well, at least they are trying. But first step is to answer your email. -------------------------------------------------------- Calling all queer collectors, media makers, artists, and hoarders! It’s time to get your old tapes out of the closet...and over to the Leslie-Lohman Museum so you can get those tapes digitized! CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS Community Digitization at the Leslie-Lohman Museum August 21 - August 25 SIGN UP HERE Do you have home movies or art projects trapped on audio or video tapes? Maybe you wish you could watch that video you made of that performance your best friend organized in 2000? Or the one you shot at a protest you attended in 1995? Or that experimental video art project you edited in 1987? SIGN UP SIGN UP to participate in XFR Collective’s week at the Leslie-Lohman Museum as part of the exhibition Arch during the month of August. Or just stop by our exhibit! See us at work, watch selections from our collection of digitized community videos, poke at old media hardware, or hang out and chat with us about media archiving. Too often, works created by and offering documentation of queer communities get trapped on hard-to-play, degrading, magnetic media in basements, under beds, and (yes) inside closets because the cost to store, preserve, and transfer media is too high. It is vital that independent, queer, low-income, experimental, community based artists and artists groups have the tools and knowledge to preserve their own work. If we don’t lead to take care of our own work, it’s likely that no one else will. XFR Collective, an all-volunteer archiving and education group, is hosting a video and audio transfer station in the Fritz Lohman Gallery at the Leslie-Lohman Museum. In addition to offering free digitization services by appointment, the station will also offer a space to discuss strategies for preserving personal and community media. Visitors will be invited to watch tapes as we transfer them, and to seek advice from XFR Collective members about preserving AV materials. We believe that it is important to include “preservation” as part of the conversation around queer visual history - we believe that archiving, preserving, and making accessible community media that lies outside of the mainstream is essential for the creation of a more inclusive understanding of our past and present. Appointments. All appointments are facilitated by XFR members and volunteers trained in digitization and preservation. Transfer appointments are intended for both the process of digital transfer, and also as an opportunity to engage in a dialogue about the content of each tape and the question of how to care for digital files. Participants should be aware that the works they bring for transfer will be publicly viewable during the transfer, and they are expected to remain present for the duration of the appointment (approximately two hours). Visitors to the exhibition are also welcome to watch and ask questions while we work. If you are unavailable or unwilling to make a public appointment, XFR collective offers small scale digitization services. Learn more on our How We Work webpage. To apply for an appointment please complete the following form: https://forms.gle/NSErN5bcvuxhX2Pe7. Completing this form does not guarantee an appointment. An XFR member will follow up with a confirmation email. Formats. All media submitted must be original material that was created by the participant, or original material that the creator agreed to allow the participant to have digitized. All rights and permissions to material must be attended to by the participant. The following media formats can be accommodated: Video (NTSC only): VHS, Hi8, and MiniDV Audio: Compact audio cassette Process. For each appointment, XFR members will advise participants on best practices for preservation and transfer. Appointment times include both inspecting the tape, gathering necessary information, and digitizing the tape. To determine what work to select for digitization, participants are asked to consider a 2:1 ratio of digitization to assessment time. For example, two hours of tape transfer necessitates one hour of preparatory or troubleshooting time. Since old tapes can be susceptible to deterioration or mold, participants are advised to select the media you would most like preserved, but also to bring back up material in case your first choice of tape requires more in-depth conservation work than we will be equipped to perform at your appointment. Storage and distribution. All materials that are digitized by XFR Collective will be made publicly available on the Internet Archive, a nonprofit institution whose mission includes offering “free and open access to all the world's knowledge” and providing permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public to cultural heritage collections. All participants will be able to download preservation-grade digital versions of their materials from the Internet Archive. Selections from the digitized content posted on the Internet Archive may be informally screened at future XFR Collective events. Since access is an important part of XFR Collective’s mission, appointments will be prioritized for those that agree to online access. However, if you have concerns regarding access to your content on the Internet Archive, we are happy to discuss this in advance of your appointment. More information regarding XFR Collective’s use of the Internet Archive is available upon request. What is XFR Collective? XFR Collective is a non-profit organization that partners with artists, activists, individuals, and groups to lower the barriers to preserving at-risk audiovisual media – especially unseen, unheard, or marginalized works – by providing low-cost digitization services and fostering a community of support for archiving and access through education, research, and cultural engagement. At its core, our collective aims to support the inclusion of all peoples in the preservation, and circulation of media created by artists, individuals, and organizations. For more information about XFR Collective visit our website. The exhibition. Arch is an exhibition that presents new opportunities for liveness, audience engagement, collectivity, worldmaking, and preservation. During the exhibition’s four weeks, visitors will have the chance to interact with the work of four different collectives/artists — Savannah Knoop, micha cárdenas, XFR Collective, and Memory Foam — each of whom will occupy the Fritz Lohman Gallery for one week. From digitizing analog archives to excavating institutional histories to storytelling and time traveling, the exhibition focuses on practices that dually emphasize collaboration and temporality. Images: (c) XFR Collective, 2019. Wednesday - Sunday: 12-6 PM Thursday: 12-8 PM LeslieLohman.org ‌ ‌ ‌

You don't see many people using this cam nowadays Manhattan Marriage Bureau - December 2018 (Candid)

If you have never been to Strand, give it a visit. Outstanding art and photo, cinema book sections as well as almost anything else you could want for books. The son of the founder just died and his daughter is running it now. You never know how long these family affairs keep going. Her kids may not want to take it over, so I figured I better archive the Strand a little. I visited the store before Xmas in Dec 2018. Spent about 1-1-/2 hours walking around. Shot 274 photos and just finished the first set. Still have lots more photos to look through. https://180thecircularfisheyeatlarge.home.blog/2019/02/12/strand-bookstore-nyc-set-1-of-3/ 4 floors of books and they claim 18 miles of books including their warehouse. 4th floor has some great lectures and presentation as well. It is a fixture of NYC. Here is photo of photographer Eggleston along with Steidl at the Strand. Internet Photo - Fair Use (forum blocked photo use)

When it opened in January 1970, Westbeth became the first and largest federally subsidized artists’ colony in the country. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-inside-new-yorks-remaining-artists-housing

If you're shooting in the winter in NYC, work some steam into it. Even in the daytime, good steam possibilities. (If you do use steam, don't forget to give me some credit for creatives.)

Hi everybody. I was wondering if anybody could give some advise on where I'd be good to apply for internships/entry level prep technician in NYC. I know Abel, Arri CSC, Adorama but I wanted to know if you know any other smaller/worth applying ones. Google is not being super helpful! Thanks so much, Davide

Howdy, y'all- I'm a 27 year-old DP in the New York/New Jersey area and as I've been looking for more and more work over the years I feel that I have been hitting a wall. I come from a G&E background so I've been more used to forming relationships with DPs, owner/ops, and production companies, but I find getting work as a DP to be a different ballgame, so I wanted to know what the pros and cons of hiring an agent are- do they actually find you work, is the cost of hiring someone offset by the increase in gigs, is it better to wait until you join local 600 to hire an agent versus having one in the non-union world, what are some better agencies for less known DPs, is it better to hire someone local or can they be on the other side of the country, etc. etc. Any advice would be appreciated because anything's gotta be better than blindly giving resumes to people who don't know you or scouring Mandy.com. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm currently a junior studying at NYU. I will be graduating around January 2015 and I am trying to plan for my future afterward. Long term, I'd like to become a cinematographer but I'd like to get there through gaffing because I genuinely enjoy working with lighting. I figure I gotta start getting grip and electric jobs. I am pretty skilled working with most basic to intermediate grip equipment and lights and am able to run power from breaker boxes to distro boxes to lights while adhering to the ring of fire. I'd prefer to join a union as soon as possible in order to get consistent work rather than freelancing too long. I'd love to stay in NYC if possible but it seems pretty difficult to get paying work for legit productions and impossible to get union gripping jobs without being in the union. From what I hear and can tell it is extremely difficult to join Local 52 the NYC gripping union. Alternatively, I could move to LA. Joining Local 728 seems decidedly easier than 52 with lower union dues. Also, from what I hear, it seems much easier to get legitimate production work in LA. Does anyone have advice on how to start gripping in NYC and joining the union? How much easier is it to get work in LA and how difficult is it to join 728? How plausible is it to join 728 soon after film school? Thanks guys.

I'm working on 2 docs and would like to find a good colorist to work with. We're primarily shooting on a Sony NEX FS100. Thanks! drapershreeve@yahoo.com

I'm working on 2 docs and would like to find a good colorist to work with. We're primarily shooting on a Sony NEX FS100. Thanks! drapershreeve@yahoo.com