Kismet happens.

Feelin’ lucky?

We celebrated our 5th year of Texas Life back around mid-June. A milestone that prompted me to look through the many TtV shots I’ve made so far here in Central Texas, picking out these 9 faves.

That simple exercise got me thinking about photography and kismet.

Fate, I believe, is a more powerful force than luck.

What’s the famous quote about luck? Samuel Goldwyn said “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” He was right. Being prepared is always an advantage.

Luck runs out. Fate doesn’t.

Fate is always peeking around a corner. In your face. Even if you don’t recognize it, fate’s knocking on your door. Tapping you on the shoulder. Fate is the wrong turn you made. The person you met. Fate is the walk you took.

Years of looking through a viewfinder has taught me much, but the one thing I know for certain is magical photos are made when least expected.

Sometimes, kismet happens.

Not quite Spring.

Felt like it, though.

I spent the first Saturday morning of February walking around Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin. Around 10 folks showed up for Simi’s PhotowalksATX gathering.

There were a few familiar faces – Greg, George, Ed, Ana – and a few folks I’d not met before – Justin, Derrick, Another Ed, Scott – and some folks whose names I did not get nor hear.

It was a beautiful Winter morning in the garden.

It was a beautiful Winter morning in the garden. A little chilly to start, but by the time folks were heading to lunch, it’d warmed up nicely.

It was my first visit to Zilker Gardens. Beautiful grounds. It has a lot of nice winding, gently sloped, paved paths, for ADA compliance I’m guessing, but there were also steps to use. Thoughtful.

I brought along the Sony RX100 III, my trusty Panasonic Lumix LX100, and it was my first outing with the Fujifilm XQ1.

There were a few paper whites popping out of the ground, and rose blossoms, pansies, and a few other flowers, but since it’s the dead of winter, mostly palms, ferns, and well, just a whole lot of green.

… it was my first outing with the Fujifilm XQ1.

Entrance into the gardens was $7 US for me, a senior, but that included parking. Not bad really.

There was a beautiful waterfall in one section of the gardens that I’m pretty sure everyone got a shot of… my picture was a little off-center, but it managed to catch a little cool lookin’ sun flare.

I was so busy focusing on getting into the gardens that I didn’t notice the front entrance gates, but the Rose Garden Gate on the north side of the property was something to behold. The only reference to the artist that I could find online was Lars Stanley and Louis Herrera.

Lunch was at Schlotsky’s on South Lamar. There weren’t as many folks as on the walk, but it was still a good crowd.

Simi’s photo strolls are always awesome.

Butterfly

Stack-o-washers

Fire

Anna

Ed

Spigot

Cracked

Weathered

Granite Rose

Simi

Symmetry

Walking among the dead.

Austin’s history under foot.

I met Kevin Thomas at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin last Sunday morning for a film stroll.

It’s a place I’ve been wanting to shoot since I saw Kat Swansey’s cemetery shots in her IG stream and her recommendation for a visit to Oakwood.

Foggy and a little chilly, it started clearing around noon. The drive down I-35 wasn’t bad at all.

I brought along the Yashica-Mat 66. I loaded a roll of Tri-X 400 in it the day before. Everything seemed pretty normal. Sunday I couldn’t get the film to advance properly. Hmmm.

Also on hand was my little Instax Mini 8, and I burned through two packs of Mono Chrome. Got a coupla’ keepers.

I thought I was prepared. Apparently not!

The Minolta XG-1/24mm ƒ2.8 + mystery roll, too.

I had the Sony RX100MIII in the bag, as well. Sadly, when I tried to use it, I discovered it had a dead battery.

So, I shot bunches with the iPhone 8 and Blackie App.

I thought I was prepared. Apparently not!

It was a good 2+ hour walk.

On my way back home I stopped at Austin Camera to pick up the negs/prints from the 4 rolls of C41 I left there last Saturday. Pretty cool to see what they contained. Around 20 keepers, plus I still have to scan the shots from the Sprocket Rocket.

Order

Early

Cross

Path

Bark

Flag

Dove

A.B.N.

Detail

Moody.

Willie, too.

I made it down to Austin this morning for a stroll with the PhotowalksATX gang. Simi had us meet beneath the sculpture of Wille Nelson, outside the legendary Moody Theater of Austin City Limits fame – attending a show there is on my bucket list – and by 8:30 am we’d reached a quorum of 8.

Besides Simi, I knew Michael and RJ (that’s his Kodak Pony, above) from previous walks, plus Ed, who I know from NAPƒS, showed up. That was pretty cool. George, Ina, Sean, and Timothy were the new folks I got to meet this time around. (I hope I got their names right!)

We started out by walking over to West Cesar Chavez St., stopping to shoot around Austin City Hall.

After that, we slowly made our way west on Cesar Chavez until we reached the Austin Library. We made our way to the butterfly bridge, crossed it then inched our way eastward on 2nd till we ended back at Lavaca Street.

I… found myself shooting in B&W mode. And square. A lot.

I took the GX8 and X100s with me, but used the Panny mostly and found myself shooting in B&W mode. And square. A lot. That’s okay, though. I got a few decent shots.

It was pretty close to 11 a.m. by then, so everyone headed over to the downtown Whole Foods for lunch. We had a hell of a time finding enough chairs to seat all 8 of us around the larger of the two sizes of tables they had, but eventually everyone had a place to sit and we ate then talked for at least an hour.

Great fun. Simi is awesome. If you’re in the Austin area, you should give this once-a-month gathering a try.

I headed out a little after noon, driving up Lamar until a left on 45th then a right on Burnet Road got me closer to my last stop. I finally dropped off the 4 rolls of 35mm C41 at Austin Camera. It’ll all be ready for me to pick up next Sunday. Yay!

 

Jenga

Bare tree

Celebration

Michael

Nun

ONO S

Registered

RJ

Shadows and silhouettes

Willie

Ready to roll.

It sure took long enough.

I finished shooting these four rolls of C-41. Finally.

I’m still deciding who’ll do the processing. There’s a nearby shop, Austin Camera, on Burnet Road. It’s a little over 20 miles and a half-hour away.

Another possibility is Old School Photo Lab, they’re located in Dover, New Hampshire. I’d be sending them the rolls via their free pre-paid mailing label. I used them for the roll of XP2 I shot earlier this year at the Civil War reenactment at Camp Mabry. The Shitty Camera Challenge.

My main concern is the Fuji 800 roll. It’s out of the Sprocket Rocket and I want to make sure the negatives don’t get cut in the middle of pictures.

The XP2 Super and Gold 200 were in my Nikon One•Touch Zoom 90. The Ektar 100 was in my Olympus Stylus Epic.

Decisions, decisions.

Sculpture garden.

A stroll through Laguna Gloria.

I finally had a chance to visit Laguna Gloria in Austin last Saturday morning, participating in a photowalk put together by the good folks that run Round Rock Image Creators.

It was well attended, bunches of fun, and getting to see all that amazing art was right up my alley.

I walked around the sculpture garden with the group, then after everyone else left I wandered around the art school that shares the grounds, peeking into classes that were in session.

I used the Panny GX8 and a couple of different lenses, the Fuji Instax SQ6 instant film camera, and the Blackie App on my iPhone 8.

I shot some 35mm film, too. The Minolta XG-1, Olympus Stylus Epic, and the Sprocket Rocket. All C-41. I have a few more shots left before I can get those processed.

Pretty cool.

 

Anna

Driscoll Villa

Room number three

Raised Laguna Discussion Platform

Pottery

Leaf detail

Road Angel

Watching

Looking up

Road Angel

Queen Victoria Agave

To see if time was there

 

Austin streets.

 

A Thursday morning photowalk.

I got out for a film-shooters photowalk in Austin this morning with Chris Ullrich and Amy Jasek.

The only digital camera I had with me was my iPhone 8.

I brought a bunch of film cameras, but mostly used my recently rediscovered Nikon One•Touch Zoom 90 loaded with a 24 exposure roll of 35mm Ilford XP2 Super and my little Olympus Stylus Epic loaded with a 36 exposure roll of Kodak Ektar 100.

Chris had his awesome Leica M6, and Amy had a really slick black Contax G2.

Chris and I walked from the new-ish Austin Library to Intelligentsia Coffee at 3rd and Nueces Street to meet Amy.

After conversation, coffee, and a light breakfast, the stroll began. Cameras in hand, we headed east on 3rd street to Congress Avenue, headed north where Amy broke out her new Ondu 4×5 pinhole camera.

Crossing over around 8th , we headed back down Congress Avenue to 2nd, then winding our way west, back to the library, where – before we went our separate ways – we talked at length about the current state of the Film Shooters Collective.

Great walk. Great conversation. Great people. Great fun. I hope I got some great pictures!

 

A perfect day.

Sunny skies, awesome hot rods, and friendly people.

I made it to the 18th Annual Lonestar Round Up on Friday, April 12 down at the Travis County Expo Center in Austin.

It’s a two-day event. I make a point of only attending on Friday. There are fewer people millin’ ’round than there are on Saturday, which makes it much easier to get shots of the cars without folks standing around.

Friday’s weather was perfect.

Just by pure luck, Friday’s weather was perfect.

Saturday morning there were thunderstorms blowing through this part of the state – but it all cleared up by afternoon.

Hopefully that little bit of weather didn’t deter folks from showing up on day 2. It really is a great show.

There were lots of great cars and the people watching was unbelievable. I got plenty of shots of both, here are a few examples…

Styin’ couple

Seven of hearts

Black hats

Rumble Cats

Sinister

Golden flames

Baby blue ’53

Tail lights

Sittin’ pretty

Slick shoebox

Flying A

Shag and Rocco

Window sticker

Rusty

Stephanie

Rockin’ threesome

V-12

Freckles

Hangin’

Rusty Balls

The real deal.

A grey (and blue) morning @ ISO 400.

It’s been a while since I’ve shot film – I don’t mean Polaroid, Fuji peel-apart, or even Instax instant stuff. I’m talkin’ real-deal film. You know, 35mm or 120 – so it felt pretty good to get some shots earlier this month to post this week for the Shitty Camera Challenge.

As mentioned in a previous post, Battleground 1863 was a pretty nifty event and I had a great time wandering around the camp. The weather was semi-cooperative, with temps in the low 50s accompanied by a misty fog. Great for ISO 400 film.

That little Argus 520 did an admirable job, all things considered. Plus it was a great conversation starter with the guys dressed in uniform for the reenactment and many of them shared stories about old cameras and camera collections.

Here are nine shots from that 24 exposure roll of XP2 Super that I’m kinda’ partial to…

 

Battleground 1863 – 5

Battleground 1863 – 8

Battleground 1863 – 6

Battleground 1863 – 9

Battleground 1863 – 3

Battleground 1863 – 2

Battleground 1863 – 1

Battleground 1863 – 7

Battleground 1863 – 4

Journey through the past.

Drop it.

It must have bothered me. Not enough to act immediately, but I’ve felt compelled lately to right a wrong that occurred some 10 years ago.

I really liked it. Was getting a lot of use out of it, too. I even took it to Omaha, Nebraska. Walked all over town with it while attending a conference for the university. Got amazing results with it. I absolutely loved the user-interface and menu system. Check out the specs on DPReview…

And then one day after work I was getting out of the truck and I dropped it. It wasn’t the first time that had happened. It was the third. And final.

It came with one strap lug and a hand strap. Not my favorite set-up. I’ll never be a fan of that configuration.

I absolutely loved the user-interface and menu system.

Over the years, I’d occasionally scour eBay to see if anyone was selling theirs. In early November I finally found a used Samsung NV11 in near mint condition for an extremely reasonable price. $66, including shipping.

When it arrived, I spent a couple of days reacquainting myself. Played with all the settings and took a bunch of meaningless pictures that eventually got deleted.

It was one of three cameras I used yesterday while on a photo stroll near the Texas State Capitol in Austin. PhotowalksATX. Great gang of folk.

I purposely set it to black and white and ISO 1600, and off I went…

 

 

Rodney

Backside

Flower

Looking up

Dome

Bald guy with glasses

Kevin

Texas star

Sixth

Bird

Ridiculously

Peel