Sally's Swamp

This was a while ago but just now getting around to developing some of this film over the weekend. A few weeks ago I went canoeing with my friend Sally at some swampland she owns, along with Dominick as well. This swamp is pretty amazing, and teeming with wildlife. We saw a turtle laying eggs:

Later on an armadillo hiding:

And what I didn't get a photo of was lots of ospreys flying around and nesting! I need to bring a big birding lens to this location.

Anyway here are a bunch of photos from in and around the swamp:

 

 

 

 
All of the above were with my Bessa R2S and 3.5cm f/1.8 Nikkor lens. I also had my Travelwide Wanderlust camera and a new 90mm f/6.8 Rodenstock lens that I shot from the canoe on HP5+ film:

That's it for this trip, now I gotta go as I'm going canoeing this afternoon as well...

St. Mark's - Shooting Wildlife

It's Labor Day weekend and I didn't have to work, so I went to St. Mark's yesterday. There have been Roseate Spoonbills there for the past few days so I was hoping to see them, but sadly I missed them (they were sighted about an hour before I got there, but disappeared).

The day was hot, humid, and hazy, and the yellow flies near the Lighthouse were awful. I still grabbed a few shots but overall it wasn't the best day. Oh well, that's life.

Here's a few shots, all taken with my Nikon F5 and 300mm f/2.8 or 500mm f/5.6 (a Pentax 67 lens adapted to the Nikon):

 

 

I also had my GoPro attached to the hot-shoe of the F5. I shot some video while shooting which was kind of cool, with the lens jutting out in front:

Wakulla Springs and St. Marks Trip

My parents came down to visit Wakulla Springs and St. Marks with Meagan and I a couple of weekends ago. At Wakulla they have a neat boat ride down the Wakulla River to see and experience the local wildlife. We saw manatees, herons and other waterfowl, alligators, and even a couple of bald eagles. I brought along my Pentax 67 with 500mm f/5.6 lens for the wildlife, with some other lenses for general landscapes, as well as a new camera to shoot and try out, a Voigtlander Bessa II with Color Heliar 105mm f/3.5 lens.

Here's some images of wildlife. This was really tough to shoot. The boat was always moving and focusing the huge 500mm lens on the Pentax on the fly is brutal. A lot of images turned out out of focus (usually back-focused, the worst), but it was fun nevertheless. Frankly while I could shoot one of my DSLRs and use my 300mm f/2.8, I just don't get the same "rush" as with a big 6x7 camera. It is a little crazy but when I get a shot it's pretty exhilarating. These are all on Portra 400:

 

Here's some landscapes with the Pentax and 55-100mm f/4.5:

Finally, here's the images from the Bessa II. I had just gotten this camera back from a CLA since the lens was firing slow and sticking. Unfortunately a lot of frames got ruined because there was a small light leak around the lens mount. It was really strange - it actually leaked around the jam nut where it is notched for tightening, something I've never seen. A bit of electrical tape fixed it but very annoying. This camera also is so small and light that the shutter kick blurs the image even at 1/100 so I tried to keep it at a higher shutter speed. Here's the images (taken with Ektar, FP4, and T-Max 400):

Great Blue Heron at the Okefenokee Swamp

I was at the entrance to the Okefenokee in Fargo, GA last weekend, and snapped several images of this Great Blue Heron. He was a bit skittish but less so than some I've shot.

I shot with my recently purchased 500mm f/5.6 Pentax 67 lens. This huge beast is like 7 pounds, not including the camera! I hand-held these images and shot at f/5.6 or f/8 and 1/500 or 1/1000 as needed. The closer ones were with a #1 or #2 ext. tube.

This lens is quite remarkable and sharp considering its age. I used to have the 400mm f/4 Pentax 67 lens and I think this 500mm exceeds it slightly in performance at the widest aperture, but they are about the same stopped down.

Here are the images, shot on Portra 400:

 

Nonchalant Deer at Grand Bay

Over the weekend I was hiking a little bit at Grand Bay. Every so often I'll see a deer there, but only briefly before getting spooked and running away. This time though, I was able to watch and photograph a yearling for the better part of an hour as he nonchalantly ate some leaves barely 20 feet from the boardwalk.

I had nothing but my 4x5 camera, but luckily brought my 300mm f/9 Nikkor-M. But f/9 is pretty slow and it was getting dark as the sun was setting. I was persistent though and nailed two shots of him! I was pretty lucky, as I more or less guessed where to focus as he was constantly on the move:

The second shot was even better, and luckier. He was very close, and not staying still at all. But then another hiker showed up with a dog, which he reacted to and stood stock-still long enough for me to shoot this:

I shot both of these wide-open on the 300mm. Even that wasn't really fast enough, but instead of attempting a 1/8 of a second exposure, I just shot it at 1/30. I then developed it in Acufine, stock, for 4:30 at 70F. This developer gave me a bit of a speed boost - just enough to get really nice shadow detail at an effective ISO of 800. Normally for T-Max 400 I rate it at about 200 for development in Pyrocat HD. But it worked out, and I also now know how to get some extreme speed from my TMY if I need it!