Mike Makes

07/25/2025

Film Friday - Bloom
Mamiya C330
Kodak Ektar 100

It's been a while since I have loaded up a roll of Ektar, and it's a welcome return. Go for a walk, check out the views, but admire the little things.

07/18/2025

Film Friday - The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Film Washi 100 X
Pentax Spotmatic

Back in May, I had the opportunity to visit New York, and The Late Show has always been on my bucket list. I applied for a ticket, received the confirmation email saying I had a ticket, but it didn't guarantee a seat, flew to New York, did the work I was there for, got in line a little late, but I still got in. I was 5 away from being on the main floor, and then the line was diverted to the balcony stairs. I was disappointed, but I'm still glad I made the show.

But then I hear a voice, " We need one person!" I turn around and yell, "I AM ONE PERSON!" They say, "Come with me," and I end up with a front row seat next to the band and sitting right next to the trumpet player's mother. We talked for a while as the show was being set up. She was there as a Mother's Day gift, and the show was to wrap up her Mother's Day weekend. At the end of the show, her son came down and shook my hand, and I got to stand in the midst of the Late Show Band before a page politely ushered me out.

Everyone from the pages, the cameramen, the band, everyone behind the scenes, and Stephen Colbert were a class act. When Stephen came out, he had time for 3 questions, and I wish I had been called on. My question was going to be, "Every show has to come to an end, and when yours finally does, who would be your last guest? They do not have to be famous. They could be anyone from your wife, your best friend, a stranger, or someone you always wanted to meet but never had the chance. Who would it be?

I saw the clip yesterday of Stephen announcing the show's end in 10 months. I think I can speak for most that we are very disappointed in Paramount. I have been watching Stephen since The Daily Show, and I have grown up with his style of humor and watched his career throughout the years. My main form of news is late-night hosts, because with the state of the world currently, if there wasn't a joke thrown in, I would lose my mind.

I hope someone gets to ask the question, and if Stephen sees this, maybe he will answer it.

07/05/2025

Fireworks view from the La Crosse Center.

It's my favorite spot to catch the fireworks. Although I wasn't planning on capturing fireworks this year, I changed my mind at the last second, and thought my mist filter would add a glow that most people wouldn't have on their cameras.

06/27/2025

Film Friday

Lush
Mamiya Universal Press Camera
Mamiya Sekor 50mm f6.3 Lens
Lomography Lomochrome Purple 35mm film on a 120 adaptor

One of my favorite trees for those who have a favorite tree. It's surprising how much of a color shift the sky has compared to the last image I posted.

I wanted to test this out with my adapters again. Compared to the 6x7 view, the 2x1 panoramic look feels more dynamic. Finding a way to use the full height of the film gives a more unique view. I am slowly acquiring adapters for other film types that are no longer in production, like 118 and 116, so I'll be testing out those cameras soon.

While the 4x5 Graflex is my largest film format camera, this Mamiya Universal Press Camera is probably my physically biggest and heaviest camera. So if you see me walking around with this unwieldy thing, say hi, and I'll let you hold it to give me a break.

06/16/2025

As part of The Artsiders, I helped with the booth during this year's Artspire put on by the Pump House Regional Arts Center. We had a community painting going on, but if anyone took notice of the old Graflex Crown Graphic Camera, I offered to take their photo with it, free of charge, but a donation to the Artsiders was always appreciated.

It was interesting to see people's reactions to the idea that the camera even worked. I was able to disassemble it, demonstrate its functionality, and get people excited about film. I was also able to show off the Lomography Lomograflok instant back, which allows it to take instant photos, rather than the sheet film I usually shoot with.

At the end of the day, I took about 50 portraits, but only had the chance to document a few. If I took your photo, let me know! Show it to me!

And if you ever want your photo taken, let me know!

06/14/2025

Come on down to Artspire La Crosse today and let me take your photo!

06/13/2025

Film Friday - The Badlands
Mamiya Universal Press Camera
Kodak Portra 400

Even though I have been flying to a lot of new locations this year, I am itching for another road trip.

Have you been?

05/17/2025

Film Friday

Mack on 4x5 Film
Graflex Speed Graphic
Film Photography Project The Mummy 400 B&W 4x5 Film

When we first moved into the studio, it was an empty, echoey space highlighted with amazing natural light. I always try to take an Instax-wide photo of each person I work with, but I happened to have some 4x5 film ready to be tested.

I do portraits of any kind, so if you ever want a family photo, professional head shots, model photography, or more, reach out!

05/09/2025

Film Friday, 900 miles in the making.

My 1940s Voigtlander Bessa is my go-to medium-format travel camera. Every so often, I forget to wind the film after a shot, and then I take another photo, creating a double exposure. I didn't finish this roll of film in D.C. and ended up taking a photo of a tree here in La Crosse after forgetting to wind my camera.

05/01/2025

With the La Crosse Film Academy's 2nd Annual 48-Hour Film Fest coming up tomorrow, I thought I'd do a throwback Thursday post to before Mike Makes ever existed, way back to college Mike and the 48-Hour Film contest UW-Stout used to have. This was my second year competing, and we won second place. A whole lot of 2nds in this post.

Our acting is top-notch.

Come see all the films at the 48 Hour Film Fest tomorrow at the Rivoli!

Reality TV show from a not too distance future where robots look very human. 48 Hour Film Festival submission that won 2nd Place. We had to use a Q-tip, a robot…

04/04/2025

Film Friday will make a comeback. This week I thought I would feature 1/6th of my series currently hanging at Turtle Stack Brewery.

This was an experimental shoot. Shot on Lomography Postdam 100 Film, in my Rollop Automatic medium format camera. This camera was new to me, and I did not know I had to screw the door shut, so at one point the door ended up popping open.

I also had never used this film before and was excited to see how it would perform, but my trip to DC was time-sensitive, and I needed to pull this film out halfway through the roll so I could shoot a film better suited for nighttime, which could have added more light leaks to the roll, but I was in a dark bathroom. I did finish the roll the next day.

Finally, when I got back home and developed the film, I didn't test my developer to see if it was still good. I am assuming it was starting to go bad based on the results, but the results could also be from light leaks.

Either way, the results are one of those happy accidents. I will never be able to reproduce what I am calling the "prosciutto" look.

You can see all 6 of the series with varying degrees of distortion hanging over at Turtle Stack!

04/02/2025

I've been going to their shows for years, and they never disappoint. These photos are from their show in February, but I hope people saw them at the Rochester Thaw, and also go see them at Mid West Music Fest (MWMF) in a month!