Toledo Medieval Fest, June 2014

These images from Toledo (some sections and one of the June Medieval Festivals) are brought to you by:

My Leica M4-2,
My Konica Hexanon 35mm f2
My Leica Summicron 90mm f2 
My film stock Kodak BW400CN ISO 400

But enough with the technical babble.  Here's the goods!

This is the surviving mosque in Toledo, now a museum. 

View of Toledo, from a street that goes down to the Puerta Bisagra (Bisagra gate). 

The arches under which one walks to exit the city through the Bisagra gate.  This one leads to a small courtyard in which there's a statue of Alfonso VI (I believe). 

This very jovial man serves up churros and chocolate in the Kiosko Katalino, right outside the walled city, across from Puerta de Bisagra. 

Festival Medieval, in the beautiful park right across from the Puerta Bisagra. 

Band of musicians performing during the "Festival Medieval." 

This lady was not only the juggler and stilt-walker but also their gymnast/entertainer. 

The banners all over the place.  I thought they offered a nice abstract... and at the same time expressed very well the spirit of the celebration. 

Artisan/vendor at work. In fact, I bought a nice piece of jewelry from him... using a credit card!

So, these are memories of a town to which I'll return in the summer of 2016 (and I intend to make it happen), when I take another group of students to Toledo, with my university.  This time, I know what to expect, and not only will I take my Leica with again, but will probably pack my Summicron 50mm, just to see what happens.  In the meanwhile, I'll go back to my routine, but will return to look at these images (and others that I'll post later), and hope that you get interested in going there too. 

So long!

Using Transparency Film

Transparency film doesn't scare me. I load it in my camera and shoot it calmly, without any worries... And then, I get my results back. These photographs, made with my legendary M4-2 and Hexanon 35, simply show that slide or transparency film gets the job done as long as the metering is adequate. Look at the detail in the first image...

Farm equipment in a field in Sycamore, IL, fall of 2010. I really like Provia ISO 400 because not only shows all the detail there is, but also can be pushed up to ISO 1600 without a glitch.

The same tractor above, only now, from a distance, showing all its glory.

And now, the human touch: Mr Larsen, baker, on one of the last days of the farmers' market in Sycamore, IL (this one was done with my Summicron 90mm). Not too bad, huh?

Well those were the photos I have been offering for a while. But don't despair, there are more... And I'll be back soon with additional results from the M4-2 and a Nokton 35mm f1.4.