Spring @ Reed Bingham

I hiked around the southern part of Reed Bingham on Saturday. It was really hot and the first mosquitoes of the season were out in force, but it was still pretty fun. The whole area near the old railroad path was flooded out the last few times I've been to the park but it was back down to normal. I made a bunch of images under the bridge that goes over the Little River and near the railroad with my 4x5.

I was also testing something new - a couple of Grafmatics. I never really thought I would use them, but I ended up getting one for free. After trying it out I actually liked it and decided I might look for some more, especially for travel. Not even a day later I found three of them for really cheap so I scooped them up. It turns out they had some film already loaded so I gambled it was in decent condition and shot these b&w images with the Delta 100 film that was loaded:

 

These turned out well but I screwed up most of the sheets in the other holder because when I got them, I opened them up to test and the film was exposed. I took out the first sheet but that was a mistake since it exposed the top of the rest of the sheets. Oh well. But at least I got some free shots still. Now I have to reload them...

I also shot a half dozen sheets of Kodak EPP 100:

 

I also threw my little Bessa II in my bag to finish up a roll of Plus-X I had been shooting. I shot this image that I had been trying to get for a while. Occasionally you'll find these huge masses of gnats flying in a big ball (reminds me of bird flocks flying in unison). If the light is just right it glints off of them and is a very interesting sight. In this instance if I moved even a few feet either direction to get the tree out of my shot you couldn't see them (they also need to be in front of a dark background). This isn't a perfect representation but it's close. It was really hard to focus with an RF. They move very fast so a fast shutter speed is essential:

Overall it was a pretty nice day to be outside.

Spring is Here

I can't believe it's already springtime. These last few months have really flown by.

I went hiking today - still scanning images but here is a nice springtime image that I thought I would post. I never remember what these flowers are but I found this one patch way back in the woods today. Early bloomers I guess.

Taken with my Chamonix 45n1 and Voigtlander 21cm f/4.5, on some expired Kodak Ektachrome Plus 100 Readyloak film:

The Valdosta Azalea Festival 2015

It's spring again in Valdosta, and that means of course the Azalea Festival!

This year it was again on the weekend of a Valdosta Symphony concert, so it was a hectic weekend - but I was able to shoot a few rolls of film.

I shot a roll of Provia 100F in my Nikon SP with a vintage lens - the rare 8.5cm f/1.5. This beautiful telephoto was the big brother of the 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar. It's a hefty lens for a rangefinder but it is fun to use. I also shot my Bessa R2S with mostly the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Heliar (with F-S adapter) and 50mm f/1.4 Millenium.

I also shot a few images with my new Linhof 70 and either 105mm f/2.8 Planar or 180mm f/4.8 Sonnar. More about that camera in a later post. There's also a couple of random photos in here from my friend Ed who was trying out my Leica III and 5cm f/3.5 Elmar, shown in the first photo below.

Wet Plate Collodion Workshop @ VSU

One of our VSU Alums gave a workshop on Wet Plate Collodion and Tintypes a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time and had a ton of local and regional photographers join us to learn and shoot both wet and dry plates.

I took a bunch of documentary photographs with my Leica III, Bessa II, and Pentax 67: