25-1-15

 

25-1-14

 "Tuna Gray" is a great name for an ink colour. 

25-1-13

 

25-1-12

 

25-1-11

 

Elizabeth Ellen is a short story writer. The following is an excerpt from one of her stories.... 


Saul and I went for a walk. I had a plastic bag and a video camera. I set the bag on the sidewalk and waited for something to happen.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Saul said. He'd never seen the movie. He didn't know how much beauty there was in the world or whatever. I stood and waited for the bag to take flight. I stood there a long time and Saul stood next to me. I kept waiting for the beauty. I felt like I was always waiting.

So it's not a photograph. What are you going to do about it? 

25-1-10

 It's been a sunny winter. It's been nice. 

25-1-9

 

25-1-8

 

25-1-7

 Photos this year, so far, brought to you by Leica. 

25-1-6

 I usually shoot TMAX for black and white. This is Tri-X. I'm not sure I like it as much. 

25-1-5

 

25-1-4

 

25-1-3

 Pictures of old things taken with old things. On film.

25-1-2

 

25-1-1

 Old themes. Old camera. Film. 

24-12-31

 

24-12-30

 Sold this once. Bought it back again. Not sure it was a smart choice, but for now it's a choice I've made.

24-12-29

 

24-12-28

 I nearly bought an Instax camera today. Cheap fun. But very little control over exact framing. I rarely if ever crop photos on here. Or anywhere else. 

I'm also playing with Lightroom filter presets lately. I usually do the adjustments manually. This is from the cinematic collection. The colours are muted, but I like the less contrasty feel for this photograph. 

24-12-27

 My first office. Ever. In the bike shop days I had a space where I did paperwork, but it was hardly an office. I managed to avoid it for most of my life. Even now, I'm doing my best to not sit there. That's a real Eames chair. I don't think they make them like this anymore. They make them without wheels. Or with wheels and arms. 

An office. Huh. 

24-12-26

 Trombones make excellent Christmas presents. In case you were wondering. 

24-12-25

 One more day with the Canon S120. It really does show its age and limitations when there isn't much light to work with. It's an 11 year old compact digital camera. It wasn't good at night then. There's no reason for it to be better now. 

Christmas. 2024. 

24-12-24

 A last day with the Canon S120. So why not end that sentence with two photos? I feel like every bit of that first photo was an accident. "The plumbing runs where? Who did that? How can we fix it? Wrap it in metal and insulation?" 

The second photo was hit with a black and white photo in Adobe Lightroom. It is grainy and contrasty like film. Better than film, right? No chemicals. No time. No room for errors. 14 days. 2 weeks of Canon S120 photos. 12 megapixels on a 5.5 x 7.4mm sensor. Compare that to the Nikon Z9 sensor size of 45.7 megapixels on a 23.9 x 35.9mm sensor. The S120 holds its own. 

I don't know what camera I'll use tomorrow. Maybe it will be this one. Maybe I'll move on to some other camera for 2 weeks. The days are short, but getting longer. More light each day. I'm still some weeks away from shooting film on the regular but I do have a Nikon F100 that I've been itching to use again. That'll have to wait a few weeks. 

24-12-23

Still running the Canon S120. It's an 11 year old camera. Its limitations are its asset. And it's a pocketable camera that actually fits in a pocket. 13th day in a row with this camera. What blows me away is I bought this one used for about $100 a bunch of years ago. They are now selling for over $200US on eBay. Cell phone cameras killed the camera industry. 10 years later, we want our real cameras again and are willing to pay a premium for them, used, old technology. I like mine. I know someone with an S130. If this one breaks, I'll give him a call. "upgrade." Or something like that. 
 

24-12-22

 So much access. But nobody knows to what. There's more in another envelope. "Can you figure out what these do?" "Nope" was my answer.

24-12-21

 Rainbows. Little rainbows. 

24-12-20

The ongoing Canon S120 experiment. Crap experiments? I don't think so. 

24-12-19

 

24-12-18

 Canon S120 experiment continues...

24-12-17

 Canon S120. I bought mine used for $100 CDN a few years ago. They are commanding $200US or more on eBay right now. It's a crap camera. And I like it a lot. The experiment continues.... 

Camera makers need to make a portable camera of some quality again soon. We want them. 

24-12-16

 This is social housing. This is where human beings live. 

24-12-15

 I've been having some email conversations with a good, long time friend of mine about cameras. There are lots of large, high end cameras. Lots of phone cameras. But there's a distinct lack of portable, pocketable, photography focused cameras. Mid range things that let you take a decent photo without the investment or back strength required to carry one around town. 

The main makers, the Nikons, Canons, even Fujis (though less so than the others) have neglected the pocketable, quality point and shoot camera for about a decade now. I bought one, about a year ago, but even then it was a 3 year old model and it was hard to find a store with one in stock for me to buy. 

Cell phones continue to take mediocre photographs. Proper cameras continue to be too big and too expensive. Even the Canon G5X I bought about a year ago doesn't quite fit in a pocket. But I have an old Canon S120. It was first released in August of 2013. It's an antique in every way when it comes to digital photography. Since December 11 of this year, 4 days now, plus today, I've been using this camera daily for this thing, whatever it is. The reflection in that mirrored globe is a giveaway, maybe. No viewfinder. Small. Kind of crap resolution. But maybe our nostalgia for film and its feel is bleeding over to the world of decent but not great point and shoot digital cameras, at least for as long as we can get memory cards for them and they don't give the dreaded Canon Lens Error message. I've had it happen to one of my Canons. I can probably find a picture if I look long enough. 

Little cameras are lovely things. They require very little effort and if you can invest in their limitations, you will be happy with the photos they create. But still, it would be nice to have something more....modern. 

24-12-14

 Out of camera. 

24-12-13

 

24-12-12

 

24-12-11

 The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen.

24-12-10

 

24-12-9

 

24-12-8

Homeward.
 

24-12-7

 

24-12-6

 

Rem Koolhaas designed the Seattle Public Library. It's an amazing space. Highly recommend visiting. 

24-12-5

Seattle bound. 
 

24-12-4

 Caution.

24-12-3

 

24-12-2

 Savouring the sunny fall days. Winter? I've gotten too used to the west coast climate. 

24-12-1

 Two different cameras. Two different times of day. Two different photographs.