Canon PowerShot S3IS, downtown San Jose back around January 2007.
I’d just started working at San Jose State and lunchtime walks in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus were a nice break in the day.
I really can’t recall where this bike shop was, though…
I received a envelope in the mail last week. It was totally unexpected.
After looking at the return address, I had to think back to an eBay win I had back in November 2019. It was the Minolta Spotmeter F w/Case, through a seller known as Classic Camera Authority.
… this is the first time something like this has happened.
The envelope contain the original manual. They sent it gratis. Amazing.
In all the years I’ve been buying photography stuff on eBay, this is the first time something like this has happened.
Ahem… save this seller!
Annie and I got out for her morning stroll today.
As we crossed the road that serves as one of a few main entryways into our neighborhood, I noticed this pattern in the ADA walkway at the corner on the other side of the street.
The sun was still low in the sky so the small, short bumps cast a long shadow.
They reminded me of LEGOS.
iPhone 8 + Blackie app.
An eBay purchase from around mid-2008, specifically to use on World Toy Camera Day, which was on October 18 that year. I loaded it with 35mm Kodak Elite Chrome 100 and had the film cross-processed at the local Ritz Camera store. Remember those?
I joined a photo stroll that day in San Francisco, walking around The Mission District on a bright, sunny day.
All plastic – including the lens – the VUWS is a simple point-and-shoot, but the camera’s tiny aperture requires a lot of light.
At 22mm, the pictures are super-wide angle with plenty of vignetting.
I was happy with the results.
Cool little camera. Still in my collection.
Film type: 35mm
Focal length: 22mm
Aperture: ƒ/11
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec
Focusing: Fixed focus
One of my favorite things about photography is learning new methods and techniques.
For example, my return to large format has uncovered a multitude of new tools and toys while combing the internet for info about the process of developing 4 x 5 negatives.
I don’t have a darkroom, so I’ll be using a dark bag to not only load and unload film holders, but to transfer the film from the holders to a nifty new device I came across online, called B’s Reel.
I’d been looking at the Stearman Press SP-445 Compact 4×5 Film Processing System to handle the task of development. And I’d pretty much settled on the SP-445 until I came across a YouTube video made by Dave Rollans titled Developing 4×5 at home with B’s Reel.
Good video. Convinced me to change gears and go with the extremely cool and useful B’s Reel.
The SP-445, because of its small in size, can only develop 4 sheets at a time. B’s can develop 6, using a standard Paterson 3-reel tank.
And with 6 Lisco film holders, this developing system will work just perfectly if I head out to shoot with two different types of film.
Check out Benoît Barbé’s website and goodies shop.
I shot this photo with my Panny GX8 and a Pentax 25mm ƒ/1.4 (m43 50mm equivalent) c-mount CCTV lens, ISO 200, wide-open, using the Dynamic Black and White in-camera filter. A Manfrotto 785B Modo tripod and the camera’s timer set to 2 seconds helped keep things steady. I unscrewed the center bar from the pod to make the camera sit closer to the ground. The camera was just short of 5 feet from the subject.
The only post-processing is simple auto-levels in Photoshop.
I love the swirly bokeh this little lens produces.
The setting is the north side-yard of our home, sitting on a flagstone step, beneath the shade of our neighbor’s Live Oak and you’re looking east here.
A neighbor had set this pail out next to their garbage can for pick-up one Wednesday and I spotted it on my early-morning walk. I made a point of walking back past their house to snag it on the way home.
I store charcoal in it.
I love the swirly bokeh this little lens produces. It’s a great portrait lens, as well – you just have to get up in people’s faces with it!
A long while ago I started a blog on Blogger.com for the purpose of highlighting photos I made using film cameras. It’s called Dog Bone Soup. I abandoned it in 2011, but it still exists.
Well, I’ve resurrected the name and premise on Instagram. In my goal to use up my film stash it made sense to start again fresh on the now dominant platform for sharing photography.
The simple logo I’d created for blogger needed attention, so I tweaked the design slightly and added color and a little shading.
I also created a Photoshop template that’s 1080 pixels square with the IG handle @dogbonesoup centered near the bottom, a consistent location for branding.
Over time I’ll be posting 100+ pictures made in the past and new images made from my fairly hefty stash of film.
Speaking of film, I’ve ordered many of the items on my list of film dev stuff from this post, awaiting their arrival.
Time to get out and shoot some black and white. I’m jazzed about the prospects.
Please, visit and follow @dogbonesoup on IG.
I had a ton of rusty fun at the Georgetown Airport Car Show yesterday, but I should’ve worn a hat. My face got a little too much sun. It was windy, but warm.
I walked around with Dennis Isenberg, ran into Miguel Ortiz and his brother Geraldo, and talked with David Valdez about the March 16 GTX Photo Fest.
I also met Matthew Magruder, who was shooting and developing tintypes on site. Pretty cool.
Great show.
The above tangle of trunks is what’s known in these parts as a Cedar tree. Texas Cedar, I’ve heard it called. Also known as Ashe Juniper, Mountain Cedar, Rock Cedar, Post Cedar, Mexican Juniper, and Break Cedar, to name a few.
This particular specimen is located on an empty lot in our neighborhood – a cave lot, as the developers are fond of saying – not more that 20 feet from the sidewalk Annie Bell and I make use of on our near-daily walks.
These trees are everywhere and they have a long Texas history. They’re drought tolerant, help with erosion, provide shelter for wildlife and livestock, and many a fence post has been made from their trunks.
There are portions of the nightly weather report dedicated to talking about this tree. And during the Winter there is much consternation over the amount of pollen these trees generate.
Now, me being relatively new to Central Texas, these trees being referred to as Cedar by everyone set me up for a certain amount of confusion.
Everyone I’ve met here seems to think these are actually Cedar trees.
Honestly. People have fallen for the ruse. Everyone I’ve met here seems to think these are actually Cedar trees. Even my doctor, who thinks my ages-old morning congestion is due in great part to the Texas Cedars to which I’ve only just recently become exposed.
Nah.
To me, these are Junipers. Or, at least, part of the same family as the Junipers I know from my life in California. Juniperus ashei, to be exact. So whenever I hear someone speak of these trees, I always conjure up the image of a real cedar tree in my mind, not this poor, scraggly excuse for a Juniper.
A couple days back I finally heard the weather person on our local TV station admit that they’re Junipers.
Whew! Finally. Now I can get on with the rest of my life.
iPhone 8, Blackie app.
Levitation
I received Keith Carter: Fifty Years today.
I’m slowly flipping the pages, soaking in the beauty of each photograph.
There are so few photographers whose work can put me in a trance. Carter is one of them.
Magic.
Russ Morris. Slightly Obsessed With Photography since 1964. 