Sunday, August 30, 2009

Crutchless Photography

Not long ago, I started playing with meterless Leicas. Especifically, a 1957 DS M3 purchased from National Camera Exchange for something below $500. Highly recommended, by the way...

Back to the issue... that purchase perhaps was not a good idea... Or probably it was, because it helped me start flying without electronic help.

Here come some early efforts with the M3 and Kodak Portra or Ilford XP2.

DeKalb garage, on the way to my office.


Stairs inside a university building.


Who said "no" to landscapes with rangefinder cameras? I did... once, a long time ago, before realizing I had done the one above (the Kishwaukee river flows around my university campus).

Something similar with my M4-2... on BW400CN film and with my Hexanon 35/f2 lens.

Hot dog vendor in campus.

Mimi stalking a chipmunk in the back of the house.

Table and chairs for not so terribly hot days (I'm curious about how they'll look in winter).

I admit having to do a bit of Photoshopping on these images, but mostly an exposure adjustment of maybe one stop. Considering that I tend to overexpose, and that I had to adjust the levels only one bit, it's not too bad.

BTW, these are all Walgreens scans off the film I left with them for developing.

More later!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

About a year ago..

About a year ago I started this blog. On a whim... while awaiting delivery of my newly acquired Leica M4-2 camera.

Lots of things can happen in a year. Little did I know, for instance, that we'd be adding one family member in May 2009. Above is Edmund, our son, just in July this year. Not his first Leica portrait... but the best (I think; I know, the photo needs a bit of editing yet). BTW, it was with my Konica Hexanon lens at 1/30th, f2 on BW400CN Kodak film.


An old favorite from Denver CO, where I took my M4-2 in a type of maiden trip. Done at 1/1000 at f5.6 on Fuji ISO 400 Superia film.


Nice sample of my eye-meter at work: 1/60th at f2.8 on Fuji Superia ISO 400. This is our cat Mimí, doing what she does best: showing her moxie!

Something we'll apparently need in the years to come...

More on whatever later!