I went out today to test a new half frame camera and I screwed up the exposures big time and the focus was way off.
Bur then I realized that I’ve been looking at some photos of Josef Sudden - famous photographer of Prague and his early stuff looks like mine.
So maybe there’s hope for me after all. Here’s a video about the photographer
Hogg House in detail. It has been featured in some of my other posts.
I finally broke down and bought this camera again. It is a rangefinder film camera that was made by Konica. It took M Leica lenses although some folks back in the day said it didn’t focus right. Many people have had zero problems with this. It has standard 35 mm loading and motor wind build in. It is what the Leica M7 should have been.
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver is hosting a rather large exhibit about THE Cowboy. It takes up essentially all of the gallery space.
Still after all these months of listening to Charley he is still a talent hard to beat.
I know it’s pathetic but I did sell some of my “Prairie Madness” book out of a bricks and mortar store and got paid for it. Parthenon Books in Syracuse, NY to be specific. And because the Nobel Prize in literature has already been given away this year I’ll just have to wait patiently for 2024 !!
Advertised as a budget B & W film it clearly does a nice job.
In my travels thru rural eastern Colorado I travel thru several small town. Joes, Colorado is one such town. I noticed that right on Highway 36 there was a motorcycle club. I stopped and talked with two guys for the better part of a half hour. Unfortunately the man on the right lost his battle with lung cancer.
Vicki’s two brothers came for a brief stay before shoving off to Kansas.
WE just got back from the East Coast. First stop was Asheville, NC. Our friends had moved from Denver to there to be closer to kids. We’d been meaning to visit them and things just slipped by. At our age there is no waiting to a better time. Just do it!
NO we did not go to the Biltmore Estate - it was $90 a ticket so we made the decision to spend that money on going to dinners with our friends.
Which is not the same as bad photos of weather. These were shot on my way home from Goodland, KS. While it is the middle of September we can still experience pretty violent weather. Fortunately no hail just wind and rain.
When you’re an adult you can extend summer camp. We just started our August Summer Camp which takes us to Carbondale, CO and we’ll finish in Meeker, CO. Here are a few pictures from the iPhone
Most couples fight about money but we do that AND about how each other’s office is a disgrace to the household. Well the gauntlet was thrown down last nite so I spent from 7 am to 5 pm cleaning - no nap just cleaning.
Vicki’s office to the left and mine to the right. Below is the results of 8 hours of cleaning
Some images from my Garmin Dashcam Mini-2. To be sure they have been manipulated - tone, contrast, cropping. I like the Mini-2 because you can voice activate the camera while driving ( be sure to turn down your radio first).
From my friends at AmericanPrairie.org is the 60 minutes segment about them
This is a rather unique camera that I purchased several months ago and I finally wanted to review it. I’ll be honest it has taken me this long to decide if I like it and how to best use it. This is a departure from most of my camera purchases where I know quickly whether there’s buyer’s remorse. The Pixii is a French camera which right there makes it unique. It accepts Leica M mount lenses. It does not have a viewfinder so you are not able to view your shot unless you use the Pixii app on iPhone or Android. Those of us who have shot film this poses no real problem and you do have the ability to see the shot on the iPhone. This arrangement frees you from “chipping” and allows you to move on to the next shot.
You have the ability to shoot in Color and Monochrome DNG as well as JPG. The company touts the Pixii as the first camera to allow monochrome DNG. The Leica cameras that compete for BW digital include the M11 and M10 monochrome at over twice the price of the Pixii. Although to be sure the size of the sensors in the Leica are much larger. The Pixii is an APS-C sensory. Leica also makes the Leica MD which is a digital camera without a back screen similar to the Pixii.
Drawbacks
- Very short battery life - I have four batteries because of this
- You have to manually go into the menu to select the focal length of the lens to bring up the correct frame lines
- Closeups don’t seem to be sharp as if the Rangefinder is letting me down.
- DNG require tweaking to get the images the way they should be.
Postives
- Very quiet shutter
- Framelines easy to see
- Like a smartphone it comes with fixed storage and doesn’t rely on a memory card. Given that I’ve never filled a 32GB card on my other camera this is not a problem - I opted for the 64 GB size.
Interesting shots taken from I70 with the iPhone 14 and then converted to BW
Today was a very special day as the Land Library held one of their book club discussions. It was centered on “Buffalo for the Broken Heart” which over the last three or four years has been on my top books to read. It was great to meet some really nice people and exchange ideas. The location of the Land Library in Park County is so special. I encourage folks to look at their website, get involved - you will be richly rewarded.
Jason Aldean’s recent song/music video has caught a lot of flak. I’ve put the video link so others can judge for themselves. It is a very dark/negative view of things. It does nothing to talk about the positives of small towns. It really shows the small towns = small minds attitude which I think is unfair to rural living. The courthouse that is the back drop is where a lynching took place in 1927 - just a horrible optic! There is nothing uplifting about this video.
Without putting too fine a point on this - you will be judged by the company you keep - in this case Aldean has consorted with Trump at his golf club. So expect to hear / see this on Trump’s campaign trail
Don’t take my word for it - CMT ( Country Music TV) has taken it off their rotation.
Finished my two lecture series on Black and White Photography at CPAC ( Colorado Photographic Arts Center). This was the first lecture at the new CPAC studios. While I only had 4 attendees it was fun to just sit and talk photography. It was daunting because I put together this lecture without knowing who was going to show up, their level of interest/knowledge. My worst fear was that the students would know a lot more than the lecturer. We’ll wait and see what the reviews are like. I was really happy when I learned that the tuition was a meager $69 so I don’t think anyone can feel ripped off. I spent double this in seminars about BW photography that I took to prepare this class. It will be telling to see if I am asked back next year.
After over 20 years of faithful service my Nikon Coolscan 4000 has gone to scanner heaven. It had malfunctioned in a way that I’d seen once before - it wouldn’t release the film strip module. I remembered taking the cover off and messing around and eventually got it give up the module - however not before I broke an essential part of the scanner!
I grieved for a minute or two and then decided I would eBay the accessories - while listing them I found someone with the exact scanner in almost new condition for a reasonable price. So I am now complete again. I did sell some of the accessories which helps defray the cost of the new (used) scanner.