Coffee Break

I shot a few photos with my camera on the tripod today to test my newish lens(Canon EfS 17-55mm f/2.8) - I've had some concern about chromatic aberrations with it. I'm not sure what is an acceptable amount but since this lens cost more than my car I want to be sure it is performing as it should. Notice the red line on the coffee cup in the below photo(its corrected for with Photoshop in the above version) - all highlight edges seem to show this color-fringing. I called Canon and they said to take my filter off and test it - then send the lens in if I still notice the problem.  I intend to post this in a few forums and get some opinions before doing so....

More Hikes, More Remnants

Co-worker Dave and I were checking to see the condition of our fence in one of our fields. We ended up wandering over to the old Bender Farm(Jim Brown Farm) and looking around. We found some cool old bottles and a few deer skulls - not to mention old farm implements and the device pictured below. It seems to be some kind of old well but many of the parts were confusing...

We ended up hiking for a ways along the old roadbed for East River Road - lots-o-bottles in the Cuyahoga Valley....
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Weekend Potpourri

Random weekend fun...


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Ring Flash Portrait Session II

Kyle needed a serious, business-style portrait for work-related things. This is not that portrait. But I like it.

Botzum Area on Film

Another home development success(Tri-X400 and HC-110) - I'm getting my process down pretty well. I think that I'll shoot a few more with the same development method and then start to try some other things(push/pull maybe?). Most of these photos were taken on the Conrad Botzum Farmstead but a few were just random places I found in the woods. I always like to search for the blocked-off driveways on Riverview Road and then hike around the area looking for what was...

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Conrad Botzum Farmstead

Today I went for another Towpath hike - but I spent a lot of time off the trail exploring some more remnants of old properties. I mostly shot film(Tri-X) but as usual hedged my bets with a bit of digital.

I also think I stumbled upon an old farm trash pile(above left) - there were tons of really old glass bottles everywhere. I saved a few of the really cool ones with "Akron" on them.

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Signs of Life 2012

Wow, it came a full month earlier than usual. The average date of these plants/flowers showing up in my yard is March 15th. So much for a post about Spring relief after a hard Winter.

It can all change fast for the worse, though...

Melt Bar and Grilled

Today was Laura and my three year dating anniversary and we celebrated at the newish Melt in Independence. It was exactly what you'd expect from Melt - great, cheesy sandwiches and an extensive beer list. Its in a strip mall so it doesn't quite manage the atmosphere of the first two Melt's - but they're trying....we liked it.

Valley Bridal Trail

After work I went for a hike on the Valley Bridal Trail - I hiked north from the farm past the goat farm and the remnants of older farms too. Its a very pretty hike(especially with the sun setting) that I had always wanted to take but never had. I'd like to walk more parts of this trail and find more old remnants of the farms and houses of the valley. I know parts of the trail follow the remains of East River Road - a road that wound its way through the valley around the old farm fields until Akron-Peninsula Road was built.

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Botzum Hike

Today Laura and I went for a walk on the Towpath. I had wanted to take the above photo for a while. The background is the canal-era Yellow Creek Culvert that I wrote about last year. More square crops too...

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Silhouettes and Crawlers

I had my camera at work today to capture the Yanmar C50R(below) that we rented to move dirt through the muddy fields. Its a great tool - fun to drive and super useful. I guess these things are quite a hot commodity, even though none of us had even known about them before Big John saw one in an auction. We have it for a week and we've already got a ton of work done with it.  To bad some kook from the EPA showed up and tried to claim a flood-damaged part of our field was a "wetland".  I consider myself an environmentalist but it doesn't mean common sense has to be thrown out the window....he really slowed us down....

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Film Flats

My second attempt to develop film at home was a success. I used the exact same method as the first time - Kodak HC-110 for 6 minutes with 5 second agitations every 30 seconds at 68 degrees. I shot a this roll of Kodak Tri-X400 with my Minolta X-700 and a Rokkor 55mm 1.7 lens -I always love the cylindrical background blur I get with this lens.

As mentioned yesterday, I shot most of this roll in The Flats and then finished it in the north part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

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Make-Shift Light Table

I put lamp under Laura's frosted glass desk and it will stand in as my light table for the immediate future.
Deal with it!

Square Flats

Today I went to Dodd Camera to pick up a few things - I bought a new thermometer for my film chemicals and developer for paper. I might have bought more but they are so unpleasant there that I just left. I than went over to Aperture which is the exact opposite - Scott is super-nice and helpful - and got some Impossible stuff(more on that later in the week).

I went a walk in the flats where I shot most of a roll of Kodak Tri-X but I decided to hedge my bets with a few digital shots too. I finished the roll in the Cuyahoga Valley and tried out a new red filter for black and white film....those will be developed and posted tomorrow...

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Failed Polaroid Valentine

I'm soooo crafty! I turned this failed Polaroid into a Valentine for my sweetie - Laura - who I re-met three years ago today...and the rest is history!

Love ya babe!

Timmie

Porta VC 400

Today I got an expired(2004) roll of Kodak Portra 400VC developed at Akron Commercial Color Lab. I shot the roll with my Minolta X-570 and a range of Rokkor lenses over the last few months. Unfortunately it will probably be the last roll of film shot with my favorite Minolta - the shutter is no longer working properly. While shooting this roll I would often have to remove the lens and push the shutter to its fully closed position to get the mirror to drop back down. Due to this, most of the roll is a loss, and many of the photos are only half visible. I do have two other Minolta's that are currently in working order - a X-700 and a SRT-101. The X-700 is supposed to be a better version of the nearly identical X-570 but I prefer the full information in the viewfinder of the 570. I shoot the SRT-101 mostly for a "historical experience" - its is a late 60s/early 70s SLR.  

I doubt I could handle fixing the X-570(though I might look into it) and I don't think I could justify the repair costs.  So the camera will probably be relegated to a life on a display shelf in my collection.

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Lagerhead's Smokehouse and Brewery

If you love BBQ and micro-brews and you don't mind a trip to seemingly the middle of nowhere(especially at night and on the back/country roads Google map routed us on) than I have the place for you. Last night Laura and I took the 40 minute trip to Medina to eat/drink at Lagerhead's Smokehouse....and it was worth it. After we started off with some great draft micro-brews in the bar we moved to the dining room and ate some of the best wings of our life(if not the best). We had a few more beers with our diner - I ordered the brisket and Laura had the pulled pork - both absolutely amazing. The building is a restored 19th Century barn and has a pretty good atmosphere - it is definitely a place we would visit again.

World's Best Wings?
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Suitcases

These were today's estate sale finds. We love these old suitcases - can't wait to take a trip now! I shot these on the fictional film "FitzChrome 330" - more of this to come I'm sure....