Italian

Laura at D'Agnese's Trattoria and Café Spare yourself this kind of look(and an $80 bill)- just go to Luigi's.

Wood Splitting/Splitting Wood

Part I - Splitting Wood

I developed another roll of Tri-X tonight that I shot with my Minolta X-700. I shot the first half of the roll at my parent's house while I was helping my Dad split and stack some trees that he had cut down. I'm very happy with the style of contrast I get out of my negatives but I think I need to get more mid-tones in my shots that have people in them. Something to think about...

A Superior Machine

I shot and had developed my first roll of film with a Nikon F3 I was given a few years ago. This camera is all business - I had to read the manual online to know what all the buttons do. It truly is a pro camera - I even claimed that it was nicer than my 7D. I mean - the camera was still sold well after the F4 and F5 came out and went for 1200 bucks in 2001! Now I know why. This was mostly a test roll(Fuji Superia 400) to learn how to use it and see if it was working properly(it looks a little beat up) - everything came out great and I think this is going to become my color film camera. I rarely gush, and I never expected to over a Nikon, but I really, really enjoyed shooting with this - I can't wait to get the Ektar 100 I just bought loaded into it! Oh Baby! Take it!

Non-Digital Day

There are various "What's In My Bag?" groups on flickr - I used that idea today to make my own photo of that style - primarily because I didn't take any digital shots so I have none to post. What you see in my bag is what I took on today's hike - a Nikon F3 loaded with Fuji Superia 400, a Minolta X-700 loaded with Tri-X 400, a couple extra rolls of film, and lens cleaning supplies. It was a different experience heading out to shoot with a "color camera and a "black and white" camera - plus no instant gratification! We'll have the gratification tomorrow....

Gabriel's First

On Sunday Laura's nephew had his First Birthday Party. Like a dummy I forgot to put my flash in the bag so I shot most of this at high ISO(2500). If you don't pixel peep the photos look alright - at 100% crop they are pretty noisy....but the point of these kind of shots is to capture the moment - quality isn't that important....

The Stash

I shaved my beard into this - you're welcome.

The Farm with a Box

I shot another roll of T-Max 100 in my Target Brownie Six-20(a 1940's box camera) - this time at the farm. After re-spooling the film onto a 620 reel and carefully into the camera I was ready to go. I love the big 6x7 negatives this takes and the vignetted edges. I realized though that I didn't use enough developer in my tank - you can see every image has a dark edge.

Step Outside Summertime's in Bloom?

This record heatwave is truly mind-blowing and a blessing. Spring is my time to get outdoors and hike and explore - after the misery of last year(non-stop rain) I couldn't be happier. We are even getting the tractors in the field at the farm. Dave has been ripping and I've been spreading some fertilizer. I know it can't last....but I'll take what I can get.

Riding Run Hike

I parked my car on the side of Wheatley Road and went for a hike along, what I believe is, Riding Run(a small creek). It was a very pretty hike but as always I was on the lookout for remnants of the old populated Valley. I started to get back toward my car with a few nice nature photos when over the hill I saw some rust lurking. I came upon a two old farm implements with woods grown up around them - I love hiking off trail in the Valley.

Expired Gold

For the last few weeks I've been carrying my Minolta SR-T 101 around loaded with an expired roll of Giant Eagle 200 film. I finally finished it and got it developed the other day. The expired, cheap film had a really pretty gold-hue to it. Its also a fun challenge shooting this classic camera and using its match-needle metering. I shot most of the roll with a 135mm Promaster lens that my parents bought in the 70's.

More Superia 400

Here are a few more shots from my St. Patrick's Day roll of film that I shot with my Canon Canonet 28 - these were taken the next day. It was fun shooting with that little Canon - the only problem being that the rangefinder focusing takes some practice. The below shot is a perfect example...but I liked the light so much I still posted it...

St. Pat's w/ Canonet 28

I recently replaced the light seals on my early 70's Canon Canonet 28 and placed a WeinCell(mercury replacement) battery in it. Everything seemed to be working well so I took it for a test drive on St. Patrick's Day. I shot one roll of expired Fuji Superia 400 and a brand new, fresh roll of the same film. Everything thing came out well(besides a few missed focuses) but you can definitely tell the faded, hipstamtic* look of the old Superia vs. the vibrant more saturated colors of the new roll.

So feast your eyes on a photo essay of Laura and my St. Pat's Day - replete with bar crawl down West Market!

First and Second stop: Larry's and Arnie's

Hocking Hills on Film

I've already posted a bunch about my trip to Hocking Hills - I finally developed and scanned the roll of Tri-X 400 that I shot there. I'm getting pretty good and getting the contrast I want from my shots. The red filter with an under-exposure of a stop or two(depending on the situation) gets me what I like. I can't wait to take this to the next step and make some prints from these negatives.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Laura at Annabell's last year - my favorite St. Pat's Day photo. Note the fingerless glove.

Grilling Out

The front grill of the Oliver Row Crop 77. I saw the way the barn door was making the light fall on the tractor and knew I had a chance for a great shot! I took this with my Minolta X-700 and Kodak Tri-X 400 film.

Downtown Digitally

Yesterday when I was shooting my box camera Downtown I also took some shots with my Canon 7D from the top of the parking deck on the corner of High and Market Streets. A few of them came out pretty cool. Now I'm off to develop a roll of 35mm Tri-X and take a roll of color up to Akron Commercial Color Lab....photo overload....

New Camera, New Film, New Format

As the title indicates I tried out three new things today/tonight. I shot an early 40's box camera(Target Brownie Six-20), with Kodak T-Max 100 film, then developed it in HC-110 developer. The camera is pretty much as simple as it gets - 2 aperture sizes and two shutter speeds(bulb and around 1/50 second). I shot with the smaller aperture being that I was using a faster film then the camera was originally designed for(ISO 100 instead of ISO 64).I also had to respool the film from its 120 reel onto a 620 reel so it would fit in the camera - the film is the same size the reels are different(Kodak did this back in the day so you had to use their film with their cameras(620 film is no longer made)). Since I had never developed T-Max I went with Kodak's recommended time of 6.5 minutes and I agitated every thirty seconds for five seconds. With all the variables involved I was surprised at how well everything turned out. The only problem I encountered was getting the film on the reel for the developing tank - it was my first time developing 120mm film and I did rough it up a bit in the process. There is also a lot of dust marks(from the lens and drying) which I chose not to Photoshop out. I didn't see the point of doing things an old-timey way just to digitally fix it......

Country Roads

This is my third and final post on the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. There were to many good photos for just one or two - and I could have taken even more but I did want to relax, enjoy the scenery, and talk to that girlfriend of mine a bit. Anyways, the old farms in the rolling hills were one of the most scenic things I've viewed. Many of the of the farms had beautiful rustic barns and cool old tractors. Ohio truly is a beautiful state.

I know that barns falling in on themselves has been done a million times in photography - and there is a reason - its just plain photographic....not to mention the national sense of sadness/nostalgia over the constantly disappearing rural countryside.

Hocking Hills State Park

Laura and I went for four main hikes while we spent the weekend in Hocking Hills. We didn't venture very far from the main "tourist hiking sites" ...because neither of us had ever been there we wanted to see as much of the park as possible. When we go back I'm sure we'll do some longer hikes and get away from the crowds. The four main areas we visited were Old Man's Cave(the most crowded/popular), Ash Cave(less crowded, beautiful waterfall), Conkle's Hollow(least crowded, very pretty), and Rock House(completely amazing, tons of photos).

Being such an avid hiker I always felt that it was ridiculous I had never been to Hocking Hills - especially with all I had heard about it. I'm glad I finally made it and I know I will be back...

Cabin in the Hocking Hills

Laura and I had been planning on getting away to the Hocking Hills area for a while - this past weekend we finally made it happen. After hours of sorting through the many, many cabins on the internet we settles on the Lazy Hollow Cabin at Autumn Ridge. Its was a perfect choice. A completely private cabin on a hillside in the woods with a wood burning fireplace, hot tub, covered front porch, fire pit, picnic area, and the whole thing just minutes from all the great hiking and scenery of Hocking Hills State Park. Besides the parks, the area is filled with old farms and scenic country roads - I could have shot thousands of photos(I did bring three cameras). Anyways - this post is the photos from our cabin and its property - I'll have photos of the State Parks tomorrow.