Of Reflections and Symmetry

It seems like one of the most common things I shoot is any kind of water reflection or symmetrical relationship. I just enjoy seeing that and photographing it.

I thought I would post a number of images made in the last couple of weeks that have reflections or symmetry, or close enough.

First, this photo I actually shot back in October. I posted the same photo in b&w back in early October. But I just now developed the film (Velvia 100F). I like the longer streaks of water in the b&w image due to a longer exposure, but the subdued early-morning colors are quite nice here. Taken with my Voigtlander 21cm f/4.5 APO Lanthar, and cropped slightly to make it more even:

I took a similar water reflection picture a couple of days ago at Banks Lake. I was trying out an interesting lens that I bought for all of $25 - a Rodenstock 13.5cm f/4.5 Trinar lens. This is a 3-element lens likely supplied on a cheaper 9x12 folder from the early part of last century. Fairly uncommon to find by itself, it's a nice little lens and pretty unique. Here's two images of the same subject, shot on either Fuji 160S or Velvia 50. This is an interesting comparison of the two films. I won't say which is which - though I think it's obvious:

I also shot this one afterwards, also on Fuji 160S, as the sun was setting:

On all of the above, I used a darkslide to cover up half the lens during 2/3 of the exposure to have the equivalent of a 2-stop GND filter, as I do not have a proper adapter to use one on this lens, yet.

Moving on from water reflections, here are a few symmetrical-ish photos I took last week wandering on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi during Christmas, with my Pentax 67ii and 55mm lens:

And now for something totally different, two photos from my Leica M9. Meagan and I were again wondering at a pier in Mississippi on Christmas morning. I found the repeating pattern of these logs interesting:

And then this line of seagulls and the pier behind them lined up in a very graphical symmetry to me (cropped slightly to enhance that feeling):

The first image above was with a 25mm f/4 Voigtlander Skopar, the second with a 8.5cm f/2 Nikkor.

Okay, that's enough for today. I hope you enjoyed.

Christmas Parade in Valdosta

Every year there is a parade around Christmas time, but I always forget about it. My friend Sally texted me one afternoon and asked if I was going to photograph it, but I had no idea it was even happening - and only a couple blocks down the street from where I live to boot.

I grabbed a camera and took some b&w photos for fun, with my Pentax 67ii. Here's a few of the Valdosta High Marching Band, which always brings back memories of my parade days:

Here are some floats:

And some people (the kids on the second photo were fighting over a huge batch of candy that was thrown from one of the floats):

Supposedly Winter?

For the past couple of weeks, Valdosta has been unusually temperate, in the 70s and 80s. Where is Winter? Perhaps we will get a cold snap for Christmas.

I spent an enjoyable afternoon at Grand Bay the other day in the warmish weather. I shot some T-Max 100 and Portra 160 VC 4x5 film I've been meaning to finish up (in my Grafmatic holders), as well as finishing a roll of Delta 100 in my 6x12 back. Here's a few b&w shots from the day:

Here are the color shots:

You'll notice some of these are a bit different than my usual style. Some have pretty short depth of field. I was just experimenting. This day I was shooting with my 75mm f/4.5 Biogon, 150mm f/2.8 Xenotar, and 21cm f/4.5 APO Lanthar lenses - some of my favorite glass.

Okay a few more photos - they harvested the cotton just recently but about a week before this I shot just a few photos of the cotton fields. I was experimenting with a new lens I bought, a Cinephor projection petzval that's around 120mm and f/2.8. This creates quite a striking image. Here are the b&w and color images I took with it of some cotton:

Wondering what it would look like normally? Well I also was testing out an old Rolleicord camera this day so I shot a frame with its 7.5cm f/4.5 Triotar lens at about f/13 and the minimum focus distance:

I really liked how the Triotar performed, by the way. This camera is now on its way to get a CLA.

More Air Show Photos

I posted a bunch of images from the Moody Air Force Base airshow a few posts ago, but I also shot a bunch of film that I hadn't developed/scanned/edited yet. Here's a few more images, all taken with my Pentax 67 / 67ii with my 35mm fisheye, 45mm, and a 500mm f/5.6 for the telephoto images:

 

 

 

Abandoned House near Homerville, GA

Meagan and I drive to Waycross often to visit her parents. The road between Valdosta and Waycross is pretty interesting and has many small cities on the way.

Many years ago, we stopped at an old abandoned house right off the main highway. It was tucked away in the woods and you could just barely see it from the road. I had just started shooting film seriously and shot a few photos of that house. I had also just bought some materials to develop my own film. I had no idea what I was doing, but I managed to get something on the film. Here is an incredibly dusty scan from way back then:

So when we passed by this house again, I thought it'd be great to stop. The forest around the house had been cut back and a huge swath of the forest behind the house was being logged. Here's a shot from the back of the house:

I've learned a bit over the years! I was shooting with my Rolleiflex and 7.5cm f/3.5 Tessar lens and Tri-X 400, developed in SPUR HRX. The door was open...so I looked in:

Since I could get in, I decided to go ahead and look around. Here are some images from around the house:

It was really dark in there of course and I could barely shoot these without a tripod. It was fun to shoot film again here, after having learned so much in the last 5 years or so.

Playing with new ideas

A couple of months ago I had a few interesting ideas I wanted to try, inspired by seeing some images that by accident had an interesting reflection.

I finally got around to going out and trying some things last week and have been scanning the film...so without giving away what exactly I was trying to accomplish or how, here are the images:

 

 

I also took a self-portrait:

All of these were taken with my Pentax 67ii and either 55-100mm f/4.5 or 90-180mm f/5.6, on Tri-X and Plus-X developed in Rodinal.

Moody Air Force Base hosts Thunder Over South GA Air Show

I've always loved airshows since I was young. Moody Air Force Base doesn't do them particularly often (the last one was in 2012) so I knew I had to get out to the show this year. They had a lot of different events as well as the Thunderbirds.

Sadly I had to work the Saturday morning but I was able to catch the second half of the show. I had planned to go back on Sunday but the second day was cancelled due to rain.

Here are photos I shot with my Nikon D800E and 300mm f/2.8: