Coming to a Close

Clearly I have been a poor blogger lately. Work and various freelance stuff has simply been taking all my time, even though I have shot some film here and there (and I've got half a dozen rolls to develop in my backlog right now).

Furthermore, I'm afraid my time here in Valdosta is coming to a close and thus this blog will be a bit superfluous. I don't plan to stop blogging, I might just have to move on to a more generically-named place or perhaps finally finish my actual non-business website and find a home for my blog there.

Regardless, as the school year officially closes I think I will do another overview post for the month of April, roughly.

First out of the gate are some images from the new location I mentioned in the last post. I went a couple of times more, once when the river was cresting and the area was dangerously flooded, and the other when it was back to proper height. I also found out the area was sold to a new owner so I may not be able to return unfortunately. Anyway, I shot 4x5 with either way 15cm or 21cm APO Lanthars when it was flooded:

   

I went back with my Linhof 70 and 38mm XL, 58mm XL, and 80mm Xenotar later and made it to the actual banks of the Withlacoochee River finally:

 

I still have a couple rolls of color to develop from here so that's all I have from that outing.

Last month I also took a trip to Jacksonville to buy something and went to Big Talbot State Park while there with my 2x3 Crown Graphics, with my 38mm XL, a 65mm Super Angulon I was trying, and 10.5cm APO Lanthar:

 

Now one more set from April - I went out and chased a big thunderstorm front one afternoon and shot some cool photos with my Nikon F2 and variety of lenses, including a new 15mm f/3.5 lens I was trying. Here are a few shots, on Rollei Digibase CN200:

 

 

 

Oh and I burned through some other film on my Leica III just for kicks and shot this with an old Elmar:

Okay that's enough photos for now. I'll be here for a while yet but later this summer I will likely have to close up shop for a month or more. Stay tuned for a new location.

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.

Pentax 67, back with a vengeance

It's been kind of weird the last few months, not having a Pentax 67 kit to shoot. Back in April my main Pentax 6x7 camera just totally locked up while shooting, and my backup body stopped winding film properly. This was after my first Pentax 6x7 body stripped a gear in the winding mechanism. So yes, I had 3 cameras break on me in a short period of time. Not a good time for the Pentax. I've been meaning to send all 3 to get repaired (and sell the extras) but so far I haven't had the chance.

Then I happened upon a very, very good deal on a Pentax 67ii kit. I took the plunge and bought it so I could upgrade to the 67ii model, which I've wanted to do for years.

I've been ecstatic with this camera. The Pentax 67 system is by far the most versatile medium format kit I've ever shot. It only has a few drawbacks - first, it's big and heavy. Second, the flash sync sucks, at 1/30 of a second shutter speed max (though the two available LS lenses mitigate this). Finally, the mirror slap can be a downer in those clench moments when you need a 1/30 exposure time or lower, sans tripod. But other than those issues, it's pretty much the perfect system. I almost have every lens made for the system, from 35mm through 500mm, so I use it for everything from landscape to portraits to wildlife.

Anyway, of course I needed to put the camera through its paces so I shot a few rolls in the last week. I love the AE mode in the newer model. So much faster and easier to shoot on the fly. The weight is a tad lower on the newer body, and if I'm not mistaken, the shutter is slightly better damped. With a careful approach and using MLU while hand-holding, I was able to shoot at 1/30 with a 2/3 success rate or so. Not bad.

Here's some images from Grand Bay and around Drexel Park: