Photo by John Bohn, 1990.
For your delectation today, a T-Max P3200 picture, which seems only appropriate.
The photography staff at The Boston Globe were among the first photographers to ever use the film—they received several pre-production batches, in unmarked black cassettes and plain yellow boxes. Among themselves they referred to Kodak's gift as "magic film." Former staff photographer (and TOP reader) John Bohn says, "Lots of smiles on those of us shooting sports at night!" Months later, the film officially went on sale, and they finally found out what they'd been shooting with.
Here, Edmonton Oilers Captain Mark Messier hoists the Stanley Cup after the Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins in five games. About the middle third of a 35mm negative, John says. A 16x20 print of it hangs in his office to this day.
Mike
(Thanks to John)
John Bohn adds: "The photograph of Mark Messier was shot at ASA 3200 in the old Boston Garden. The film was developed in an eight reel stainless tank, using T-Max developer. We found that by using minimal agitation, three gentle agitations, no more, that P3200 film was able to deliver very pleasing grain structure. Please keep in mind that this work was done quickly, while on tight newspaper deadlines, after a late night Stanley Cup final game. Shot while using a Nikon F3 and a 300mm ƒ/2.8 AIS Nikkor lens, hand held. Several pints of locally brewed Boston area beers were consumed after all was said, photographed and done. Thank you for your interest."
Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
A book of interest today:
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
GKFroehlich: "Looks like it's been photoshopped—the hockey player has all of his teeth."
Steve Smith: "That's some lens he is holding. If I remember correctly, that's a silver-plated ƒ/1.2 2000mm."
Greg Mironchuk: "John is a terrific photographer...whatever the media...and a terrific guy. A very nice surprise to see his name on TOP...and one my favorites of John's photos."
That is a terrible photograph that would be much better - if Boston had won.
Posted by: mahonri | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 03:30 PM
It's reassuring to see that people with congenital body differences could nonetheless be accepted and successful in sport, even back in 1990. I don't know whether it advantaged or disadvantaged his play, but Mark Messier is clearly gripping that cup with two right hands - unless of course, it's all just a Photoshop fail (grin).
Posted by: richardplondon | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 03:50 PM
I'm curious as to what ISO setting they used, since they were not told anything about the film.
Posted by: icexe | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 03:52 PM
Was the fact that the NHL is announcing cancellation of games a contributing factor in this pick? ;)
Posted by: Jason | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 04:04 PM
Looks like it's been photoshopped -- the hockey player has all of his teeth.
Posted by: GKFroehlich | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 04:25 PM
oh that's terrible just look at how noisy it is they should have used Topiary NoNoyz 7 to clean it up proparly i meen, pleeez... My OM-D EBT-S54/N97\ZZX!! could make a much better print at 30 by 20 inches from a smaller part of the capture
im just glad film is dead
Please be aware the above comment may contain some level of satire. Great picture.
Posted by: Mike | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 04:34 PM
That's a nice picture. Of course it seems to have some noise. And it's in black and white.
Posted by: Dr__Nick | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 05:43 PM
"since they were not told anything about the film. "
icexe,
Who said they weren't told anything about the film? I'm sure they were told a great deal about the film. I was one of the beta testers for T-Max 100 and 400, and I got all sort of technical information about it, including EI's and development times in various developers. It wasn't in final form or printed up nicely, of course.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 06:43 PM
I have a great affection for that film. Wonderfully useful stuff and kind of amazing looking if you take it for what it is. A friend of mine and I made some 40 inch prints from P3200 35mm negatives--you get some pretty serious grain with that much enlargement, and it is quite beautiful.
Posted by: Robin Dreyer | Thursday, 04 October 2012 at 09:00 PM
I used this wonderful film for a lot of my sports assignments, especially hockey in dimly lit arenas. For myself it had the the same wow factor that I now have when looking at digital images shot at 3200 iso and higher, but the digital images are of much better quality. The T-Max P3200 seemed pretty good at the time, it was cutting edge film technology.
Posted by: Gary Nylander | Friday, 05 October 2012 at 12:15 AM
I wonder if anyone knows why this shot can be connected with the Ian Tyson song Irving Berlin is 100 Years Old Today.
Posted by: Earl Dunbar | Friday, 05 October 2012 at 07:09 AM
Sage pro advice too. I would get the sequence wrong by downing the pints of beer before photographing:)
Posted by: Jack Martin | Friday, 05 October 2012 at 11:25 AM
Now that's a real trophy. When is the damn lockout gonna end...
Posted by: Ben | Thursday, 18 October 2012 at 08:31 AM