Flickr a Day 105: ‘Mickey’s Diner Take 2’

File today’s selection under category “less is more”. Joe Dammel borrowed a friend’s Nikon D3000 to shoot self-titled “Mickey’s Dining Car” on Oct. 26, 2011. The original was a “7-shot HDR image” that nearly two years later demanded re-processing “to better-reflect my editing tastes today”—June 2013, according to the metadata.  “I realized that the original single image kept all of the tones I’d ever need”.

Hence, we have “Mickey’s Diner Take 2”. He adds: “My workflow now is about isolating the subject in a more natural way, emphasizing the tonality of the image rather than tone mapping the hell out of it”. Please compare to the original; I, too, prefer the second take. Vitals: f/8, ISO 100, 1 sec, 18mm. 

Four years later he admits to “a problem acquiring gear. He’s working through it and appreciates your concern—and, really, he loves speaking in the third person”. Joe’s stash is a mix of digital and film cameras:

  • Fuji x100s
  • Graflex Crown Graphic
  • Hasselblad 500 C/M
  • Holgas
  • iPhone 6
  • Mamiya RZ
  • Nikon D610
  • Nikon FE
  • Polaroid Land Automatic 250

Based in Minneapolis, Minn., Joe joined Flickr in September 2010. He shoots professionally—film, landscapes, and people—and his work is best appreciated at Dammel Photographic Works. He loves to experiment with unique techniques, like this.

Photo Credit: Joe Dammel