On A Christmas Trip

Have been on a Christmas trip in the South. Very cool out for Southern Florida so we have been able to take lots of walks. Even time to squat, poke a dead lizard and giggle along the way.

Film Notes 20241223

Here are a couple more from that roll of film that took forever to finish. These were near the beginning of the roll taken earlier in the fall when it was warm. On a day I had visitors. Taken on Contax TVS using Ilford Delta 100 film

New Drone

 The minute I sold my old drone this past summer I missed it. I wasn’t using it very much at the time so I thought I could do without it. A couple of weeks ago I tried replacing it with a cheap drone from Temu  and what I should have done with the money I spent on that was throw it out into the middle of the street. That’s what a waste it was. When launched it was basically uncontrollable with the controller it comes with. So I boxed it up and put it in my electronics archive bin (honestly I don’t know why I just didn’t throw it out) and went on eBay and purchased a DJI Mini 3 combo drone. It came two days ago and man what a difference. There is probably a reason why DJI leads the hobby drone market. Had it up in the air yesterday morning at sunrise to shoot the moon setting over Portland, ME.

After the storm…

 Woke up a couple of nights ago to a lot of wind and rain and by 9 am the next day that storm had blown through. The temps were in the 50’s and I definitely overdressed for my walk. The view and the waves were awesome to see under a very animated sky.

December sky after a storm

Something Completely Different

 As I was finishing up lunch yesterday, I was taking my dishes to the kitchen and as I picked up my glass I got this idea to try it as a filter. I held up the glass to my iPhone oriented it towards my living room window and took this shot. Kind of kool the way it turned out. May put a different glass in my camera bag in the future to see what interesting results I can get at the cove.

Another From The Same Roll

 Because I took some of these shots in difficult exposure situations (looking into some harsh winter sun) I have been trying my hand at different scanning methods. I have been scanning the same negative at different exposure settings and then importing them into Infinite Photo 2 as an HDR stake. I basically uses exposure bracketing composite to give you a better image. It has worked with some images from this roll and not with others. Here is an example of one that worked.

Contax TVS, Ilford Delta 100

Finally

It has taken forever to finish this roll of film. Two months to be exact. My every day point and shoot is a Contax TVS. Carry it in my bag when I head up town from the island for the day. With time to kill between waiting for appointments and for boats I walk around the city and take pictures. Haven’t been up town all that much so have been using other cameras on the island. Developed this roll 2 days ago and this is the first scan from that roll.

Full Moon

Went out on the porch last night to take some recyclables to the bin in my shed and noticed the moon was full. Because it was early evening the moon wasn’t very high in the sky it appeared enormous. That really didn’t translate into this photo.

After the storms

Went for a long walk yesterday after two days of rain and high winds. The little bit of snow that we go is all gone and in its wake some excellent surf.

Another Day On the Bay

Snapped this photo the other day while waiting for the 8:15. I put my truck in line after the 7:15 left to be sure I was going to make the boat. The ferry only takes 12 cars; less if there are work trucks in line.

First snow

Suprised to wake up the other morning to find a dusting of snow. Broke out the Fuji gw690 and went for a walk. Been a while since I have used one of my totally manual cameras. This was shot on ilford delta 100 film using a red filter.

Another From The Portland Waterfront

 Here is another shot using my iPhone from my trip uptown the other day. The narrow gauge railroad runs as the Polar Express during the Christmas Season along the Portland waterfront. It would have looked quite a bit more festive at night with the lights on or if we had a little snow on the ground.

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Quick trip to town

Was uptown for a few hours yesterday for a doctor’s appointment. Trying to get over a cold that I have had for the last 3 weeks. Got out of the appointment too late for the 4:30 so had 45 minutes to kill at the terminal before the 5:35. Boy it sure gets dark early.

The “Machigonne II” making ready to load the cars on the 5:35.

Film Notes 20241202

Film Notes- Erosion. Taken out at the end of city point with Minolta Dynax 8000i, and using Kodak TX 400 film . I developed it in Cinestill D96. I have been using the camera in auto mode as I am still trying to learn how to use it in manual.

Headed South

Headed South for the holidays. Yesterday, today and tomorrow were and will be long travel days.Drove through a blizzard in PA this morning. Just awful conditions on I-81; blowing snow, white out and slippery road conditions. Trucks roared by me (I was following the reduced speed limit warnings) as if it were a sunny day and I was holding them up. Passed numerous cars off the road. What a difference 400 miles further South makes. In NC it is 57F and sunny. My kind of weather.

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On A Walk

Yesterday the weather finally broke enough to be able to take a walk. I woke up to a light coating of snow on the lawn but the temperature moderate later in the morning and it all went away with the rain that followed. Reports from friends in NH noted 5-8" of wet heavy snow.

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Keep forgetting

I keep forgetting to make an entry here. Sheesh! Must be that holiday time of year. I have been focussing so hard on trying to, no- willing, to make the $25 Minolta XD5 35mm eBay film camera work, that I have done so at the expense of everything else. But it has paid off. I finally figured out that it will work and I can get acceptable results developing the film so that I can take it with me on my trip south for Christmas. I guess I should have read all the manuals at the beginning, but then I am a visual, trial and error kind of guy.

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Totally Absent

Have neglected posting lately. Been focusing on learning how to use a new camera. The first roll I shot with my new to me Minolta XD5 was utter failure. The film didn't stay attached on the take-up reel so I spent 3 hours shooting photos that would never be. All that time and chemistry wasted. Yesterday I repeated the process shooting and developing another roll. Here is one picture from that roll. 

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Dissapointment

I was so disappointed by that last roll of film so I went for a long walk yesterday and shot another roll of my old standby Ilford HP5. Tried some different metering techniques with the app on my phone, using both incident and reflective light readings. When I got back I developed the roll. After dinner, when the negatives were dry I scanned them. The metering app is ok but not sure that it is the solution. I will probably have to invest in a proper meter. Going to try a roll today with an analog meter made by Sekonic and see if that works any better.

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Another from the Roll

Finding a few marginally better photos from a roll of FOMAPAN Creative 200, medium format film that I shot. In researching this on line, I think the time I used to develop the film was possible. The developer was probably much cooler than the 72 degrees than I estimated. It was more like 68 degrees or cooler which would have extend the developing time by 1min 45sec. So I will work on  making sure that I consider the temperature of the developer a little more accurately. Also reading the spec. on the fill I probably should have rinsed it a little longer. Live and learn. 

Here's today's post-

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