Old faithful.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100.

I’m not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, more of an obsessed enthusiast and I’m not really loyal to any brand, but over the past dozen years or so have used (digital) Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Leica, Fujifilm, Panasonic Lumix, and Ricoh cameras.

My primary shooter for more than three years has been the Panasonic LX100. I love that camera. It’s light, compact, and uses a 4/3 sensor @ 12.7 megapixels.

The lens barrel has a real deal aperture ring. Shutter speeds and exposure compensation are dials located on top of the body. It uses a good sized EVF along with a 3″ LCD.

The lens is 24-75mm F1.7-2.8. And it’s Leica glass.

It has some cool in-camera filters and 4K video recording capability.

I’m not sure how close Panasonic is to upgrading this particular model, but it’s pricing a bit lower than when I bought mine.

Great little camera.

Something a little different.

Carpooling to the nursery.

In an effort to meet other people that’re into gardening, I recently became a little more active on Meetup.com where I joined a local gardening group.

The group is limited to 50 people, and every time I tried to join, it was maxed, so it took a while to get in as I waited – somewhat patiently – for others to leave the group. My persistence paid off.

Sunday afternoon 3 of us carpooled down to Austin’s Tillery Street Plant Co. and East Austin Succulents.

Pretty cool little side-by-side nurseries. Lots of plants and pots and plenty of shade with good-sized electric fans spinning to keep everything and everybody cool.

My new friends, Kali and Chris, both purchased something from East Austin Succulents and I found a great terracotta pot at TSPCo for the red and white Vinca our neighbors gave us a few weeks back.

The trip was a little over 2 hours total and I had a blast. Always good to meet new folk.

 

Funny face.

Things I find when I walk around the neighborhood.

I’m back on track with my sunrise walks. Up at 6 and out the door by 6:15 a.m. for a 2.75 mile brisk walk around the ‘hood.

It’s a 5-day-a-week habit I started in early June to get back in shape after all the turmoil of job instability and relocating to Texas back in June 2015. The weight adds up quickly when I don’t pay attention.

I like walking early in the morning. It’s not hot, for one thing, but there are very few folks out-and-about at that hour. It’s quiet. Peaceful.

I’m always looking around – just like with photography – for weird things around me, plus I don’t like surprises as I’m walking around the neighborhood. We have critters.

The stuff I find may end up in a collage, it may end up in a jar or folder with other found items, or it may end up getting tossed.

I did the same thing in Santa Clara. No reason to change my habits here.

Up close.

A little macro fun.

I took advantage of the morning light to step out onto the patio with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1, the fun little Pentax C-mount 25mm ƒ1.4 manual focus lens, plus a coupla’ extension tubes to make a few macro flower shots.

At ƒ1.4 the CCTV lens makes really cool in-your-face portraits, with a lot of swirly bokeh in the background, but to get any kind of sharpness when shooting macros I have to knock it down a few stops to get a little deeper depth of field. Plus with an extension tube at wide-open it’s near impossible to hand-hold and focus.

Here are four that turned out…

White Vinca

Hibiscus

Coneflower

Tickseed