Don’t do flower shots, normally, but this one was just hanging around right over the roof of the truck, and I thought it’d be an insult to a very pretty tree not to take the shot.
One thing and another I haven’t been able to make it out chasing wildflowers this year, but there are still things in the files.
This is in Brenham, up nor’west.
Spent most of yesterday evening checking out a couple of the FotoFest2008 exhibits with a friend and colleague. A three-photographer show spread over two galleries, Elder Street and Laura Rathe. Magnificent work. I’ll update later with the names of the photographers but they’re Chinese (of course, being the Fotofest theme) and they’re in the car… and I’m too asleep to remember them now.
This is the aforementioned colleague at one of the galleries, looking at shots from the Snow Festival in Tibet.
Mas, mas tarde.
Oscar De La Rosa and La Mafia performed at the official preview party for the new “Discovery Green” park in downtown Houston. It’s still under construction, but last Saturday night they had a party with concert to celebrate. It’ll be finished RSN I’m told, and based on what’s done now it’s going to be a very nice place.
There are several large lawns, fountains, restaurant$, a small lake, lots of green space and public art pieces, a permanent stage with a sloped lawn making something like an amphitheatre, a playground for kids. It’ll be a great place for the folks who live downtown or close, a good place to go for lunch if you’re stuck downtown, and a nice venue for events. It’s also convenient to both the convention center hotel and the GRB convention center.
And it TRULY beats hell out of the prior function of the space, which was Convention Center Parking.
There are several very nice spots in there which will make nice photo backdrops for portraits of one kind or another, so I give it two weeks, tops, before they have to put up “no commercial photography” signs – unless that’s actually in the city ordinances anyway and the signs are implied. (It may be so; I don’t do the kind of work covered by those rules so I’ve never run across them.)
But it’s a nice place and the music was great. Several HSPVA alumni including Sebastian Whitaker and Chris Ruiz, plus La Mafia and Al Jarreau. I’ve had worse assignments.
It’s nippy out tonight, but tomorrow should be gorgeous. Go shoot.
but this guy… he’s a close second.
This is Clint Smith.
He gives out samples.
(You can’t see it because of the angle, but he gets to wear a kilt. And he teaches people about the verities and varieties of Single Malt Scotch Whisky.)
“Would you like a wee dram, then?”
Frame #3. (actually frames #1 and #2 came out too, but I’ll want to print them before scanning.)
Pond, Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary, Houston Audubon Society
Houston, Texas.
ZeroImage 612B, 6×12, 4 seconds, Ilford FP4+ @ EI 100, 12 minutes in Xtol 1+1.
Scanned with Epson 4490, two images stitched.
It’s a start.
First rolls came out a trifle underexposed and maybe a tad underdeveloped, but definitely printable with a little help from a #4 1/2 filter, and definitely close enough that I can call it well for next time.
Darn that’s a wide angle camera. No, wider than that. Wider. Yeah. There you are. Like that. I am happy to report, however, that I did not photograph my feet or any other stray body parts.
I’ll make prints and scan them tomorrow if I can, along with a few reflections on the subject when I get them sorted out. It’s an interesting experience using one of these.
This is gonna be fun.
with a nice little Serpac case, about 10 x 12 inches, 3 inches deep, perfect size for camera and a dozen or so rolls of film.
The sun came out for a few hours this afternoon and I was able to spend a little time in a nature reserve here with some decent light. It’s been so long since I used a camera that didn’t have a frame advance/shutter cock mechanism that I lost a couple of frames off the first roll not being able to see the numbers in the view window, but I did get it sorted and so we’ll see what happens. I hope I’ll have time to run the film tomorrow but there’s paperwork to do as well, so we’ll see. If I had the exposure anything like right I may have something to show; the light was fine in any event, which I needed desperately.
Lock and load; time to hit the streets.
Well, the new camera is here… and it’s absolutely gorgeous. 5 days from Hong Kong, including a weekend and a US holiday, is very very good.
And it’s RAINING for a week or so, according to the Weather Channel. Officially we’re at 40-60% chance, but with the weather patterns here that makes intermittent rain almost bankable.
I know, I know, it’s quite possible to shoot in the rain, but the pinhole is brand new and not even a little bit water resistant, so it’s staying safely indoors. I need to find a hard case; at the moment it’s being swallowed up by a far too big but temporarily disused F5 Domke, but that’s not a permanent solution. The Pelican 1400 would be a workable size for the camera and a two year supply of Acros, but it’s also a hundred bucks, which is more than I wanted to spend. I’m going to try EPO (a local shop for guys who like to build their own electron-shunting devices) which always has a decent selection of off-brand and odd cases for things.
Aside from the obvious (I’ve totally lost my mind) I’ve ordered another camera, to the consternation of a couple of photographer friends and the unutterable (though she did try, and that was an …interesting sort of noise) delight of my artist sister, who knows she’s probably going to get to play with it. See, this one’s an oddity for me; I’m normally a stickler for lens quality and this is about as far from lens quality as you can get – it has no lens at all. It’s a ZeroImage 612B Multiformat Panoramic Pinhole. (I’d rather have the 612F but there’s not a budget line there just yet.)
Quite aside from its thoroughly interesting photographic qualities, this thing is very much a work of art on its own merit and I am very much looking forward to its arrival….
(I cheated and linked back to the manufacturer’s website for the pix since I obviously can’t shoot my own until the camera arrives.)
However if you’re at ALL interested in lensless photography I can’t urge you too strongly to check these cameras out. They LOOK gorgeous (lady here in town uses the 4×5 model), the design is quite ingenious and very nicely executed, and the craftsmanship appears to be first-rate. The company website is http://www.zeroimage.com.
It should be here soon and I’ll probably make myself photograph it before I photograph WITH it. Or soon after, at any rate. I will probably head out with backpack, tripod, and a few dozen rolls of Acros or Efke 25 when spring arrives, especially if I can get out to the wild western world….
I feel strongly that I should look around and see if I can’t find a vintage teak or mahogany tripod for it; I’ve already got a pocket watch for exposure timing, handmade leather-bound books for exposure and field notes, and a leather-clad hip flask for the necessary … well, let’s just say that at f/158, focus isn’t as much of an issue as it might be….
Much fun and many interesting photos lie ahead on this little journey.
Until it arrives.. lock and load; let’s hit the streets.