We have had a bag containing the last of the season’s apples on the counter for the past few days. Just before Joan began turning the apples into applesauce, I convinced a few of the more interesting heirloom apples to sit for their portraits. Somehow, a lone pear also found its way into the mix.
These heirloom apples might not look particularly appetizing, but looks can be deceiving.
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This morning I took the new camera on my walk down the road to the lake with the following results.
The new camera is so small and light one barely knows it is there. Having a fairly wide and fixed lens is going to be an adjustment!
The experiment continues…
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I bought myself a new camera* as an experiment in creativity. It works very differently from the cameras I am used to and is probably best suited for street photography, a genre that I have not really explored.
It is going to be interesting to see where this camera leads.
On Saturday afternoon I made the rounds of some of my favorite nearby “photo spots”and made photos more to familiarize myself with the camera than anything else.
The results are not at all different from my usual photographs… not yet, at least!
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* Photographer talk ahead, proceed at your own risk! The new camera is a Fujifilm X100F and is very different from the dSLR s I have been using for the past sixteen years. The X100F is styled like and works similarly to an old-fashioned rangefinder film camera. Its an interesting mix of old (with actual dials for shutter speed, aperture and ISO) and new (it has menus galore and all of the bells and whistles that Fuijfilm cameras are know for). It also has a fixed (i.e. unchangeable) wide angle lens. The camera is small, unobtrusive and light… an ideal street photography camera.
Electric trains were a holiday tradition in our house when I was young. The trains came down from the attic with the Christmas decorations in mid-December and went back up in early January.
There were two sets of trains. A “modern” set that my brother and I got for Christmas one year in the early 60s and to which a new car or two was added on each subsequent year. The second set was one that my father had when he was young. It probably dates from about 1940.
Both sets ran on the same tracks and we played with both. My father’s set consisted of a very sleek engine and two passenger cars. I seem to remember that the were somewhat balky in their operation. Not surprising, given their age. The “modern” set, consisting of freight cars including a missile launcher car (this was after all, the cold war!) made for more interesting play.
I have no idea what has become of “my” set. However, my father’s set recently came into my possession. When we moved my Mom to assisted living this Fall one of the boxes that ended up at our house contained the train set. When I got the box home, I stowed it in our garage and did not think much about it until last week.
When I opened the box last week, I found the three trains (engine and two passenger cars) that I remembered (in their original boxes) along with a receipt dated 2005 for their refurbishment. Also in the box are four unopened boxes of brand spanking new train track and a modern power supply. I don’t think that my father ever set them up after getting the trains fixed up.
I was inspired to make a photo of the engine. The box of trains is currently sitting in our house, I should probably set them up and give them some exercise. We’ll see…
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I haven’t made any cyanotypes in about a month. It has been too cold in my basement “dim room”; about 45 degrees. A few days ago the house was chilly enough that we started the basement stove and suddenly it was warm enough in the basement to work again.
I printed three 4×5 inch negatives from exposures I made several weeks ago, coated some 5×7 inch Rives BFK paper and made these prints.
It is satisfying to be at a place with the cyanotype process that I can get nice prints without much fussing about. I am not sure that I ever got to that point my first “go round” with cyanotype a dozen plus years ago.
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Friday morning I visited my friends Joe and Diana in Laconia.
I took an indirect route home and stopped to photograph in East Andover and at Potter Place (a historic rail station) in Andover with the following results:
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