Photography and Blog.
{ Monthly Archives }
A hot summer afternoon sitting on the backyard porch in Carmel, Indiana. All of these with the Pentax ME Super and Kodal Professional BW400CN film.
Mmmm ice cold juice.
A bird soars above.
Aspen and Roxie wrestling.
I didn’t do anything, I promise!
So, fell down a waterfall last weekend… took a few bruises and cuts but no major damage to me. The camera it turns out is not so robust; long story short, the EF-S 18-55mm, the XTi body, a 2GB CF card, and a battery are being chalked up as total losses right now.
I debated replacing the XTi, but came to the conclusion that this is an opportunity to branch out. Thanks to digital, I was able to take hundreds of dud pictures in a row at no expense while I was learning how to use the myriad functions on an SLR camera. Now that I know a bit more about exposure and photography in general, I think I feel more comfortable diving into the real craft of photography… not to mention that semi-pro film SLRs with lots of advanced features are about half the price of even entry-level digital SLRs.
Long story short, in the mail is my new primary kit:
Canon EOS Elan 7ne 35mm film SLR
Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM
I also ordered UV and polarizer filters, as well as a new tripod and several highly reviewed films to try out:
Kodak High Definition 200, for general use.
Fujicolor Superia 100, for landscapes and nature.
Kodak Portra 160NC, for portraiture and people.
I will still be posting digital images, though obviously the workflow has changed somewhat. There is a pro lab in Lancaster that I will be using to get high-def scans of the negatives, or if nothing else I can always use film mailers to the major pro labs.
I’m thinking about selling the two lenses for my XTi and replacing them with a single Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC.
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
Retail new: $139.00
Used 7 months, excellent condition.
Sigma 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DC (for Canon mount)
Retail new: $149.00
Used 7 months, excellent condition.
Email me with an offer if interested, quantumcowboy@gmail.com
Met this lovely lady while in Amish Country for a wedding.
Exposed for the whole scene, focused on the gate. (XTi)
Exposed for the horse exclusively in this one, so the rest seems dark… brings out the animal though, I think. (XTi)
(Pentax, Kodak Ultra Color)
(Pentax, Kodak Ultra Color, channel filtered in PSPXI)
(Pentax, Kodak Ultra Color)
“Excuse me, what?” I was lost in south Philly and had decided to get a real cheesesteak from a street vendor while I was about it.
“Dem onyonsh!” He gestured to a pile of chopped, grilled onions with his spatula.
“Oh!” It all became clear. “Oh yeah, sure.” Armed with the genuine article (and yes it is as good as they say), I ventured out into Philadelphia. Mind you, a real philly is not just twice as good as any other you’ve had anywhere else, its twice as heavy… the gf’s digestive tract was none too pleased for quite some time.
Here are some images from my foray into the City of Brotherly Love.
State highway 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway, extends from its junction with I-5 south of Santa Clarita, through Palmdale, Lancaster, and Rosamond, and then on upward into the stark Mojave Desert until it reaches US-395, the desert spine highway of California. The lower, more mountainous stretch was covered previously.
The desert stretch is not devoid of mountains however, it just skirts by them instead of plowing through like its southern counterpart.
These imposing desert peaks divide the Mojave Desert from the Los Padres National Forest, hoarding the moisture from the Pacific for the western side, and not sparing the east so much as a drop. The joshua trees distinctive to the Mojave Desert coax moisture from the air and from a dry soil to survive.
Check your engine temperature and oil level often… and don’t get lost out here.
Sorry about the long dry spell. Work and travel have kept me very busy this last month, and I have also been working on getting Hartog’s Den back up and running. My cameras have not been idle however, and I promise I will get to that enormous backlog of RAW files as soon as I can. There is another birding trip, the shuttle landing, Philadelphia, Amish Country, Cincinnati, and Indiana currently in the to do list. Stay tuned!
