Print: Piggy Rider

Here's another spring rider from the drive-in theater I visited in Galesburg. This time, it's a pig! I quite like his bow-tie, and admire how he wears a shirt with no pants. I did a fair amount of dodging on the left side of his face, which was in pretty heavy shadow. I'm really trying to get better at dodging and burning, but it's haaaaaard. I think I did I fine job with it here, though.

I used my Mamiya C330 with a 105mm lens. Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Argus AF

I've been sick with a cold the last few days, so I thought I'd show off a camera I bought a few years ago. Enjoy!

The Argus AF

The Argus AF (1937) was the second camera made in the "Argus A" line, and is one of the first American made 35mm cameras. I bought this little guy at an antique shop back in Galesburg a few years back. The camera features a pop-out focus ring that focuses from 1.25 feet to infinity, and shutter speeds ranging from 1/200th to 1/25th, plus Bulb and Time modes. The 50mm lens needs to be zone focused; no rangefinder to be found here.

Deco lines!

I really love the art deco lines that accent the front and back of the camera. Even through the Argus AF was pretty much a cheapish point-and-shoot, the design team clearly didn't cut any corners in the camera's design.

I used this camera a couple of times, with pretty disappointing results. Granted, I didn't really know what I was doing back then, so it wasn't completely the camera's fault, I'm sure.  Here are a few shots I got with the Argus AF (please don't loose respect for me!):

Well, thanks for looking! Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. I have a few projects I've been meaning to complete, so stay tuned!

Extra Frame: After the Nuke

Here's a photo from my last OM-2n roll that didn't quite fit in with my golf shots. This is the same doll from "The Marsh" print that I did a couple of months ago. She's decayed quite a bit more since then. I choose to photograph her in bright sun, to make it look like she was nearly burning.


...Thanks for looking!

Roll: For the Love of the Game

A couple days ago I went golfing with my dad and my two friends, David and Sparkles. I hadn't been golfing in about 6 months, so I was pretty rusty... not to say I was ever any good in the first place. I brought along my Olympus OM-2n and a roll of Fuji Color 200 film to document the occasion. I'm always shocked by how sharp my Olympus Zuiko 50mm 1:1.4 Lens is. Most of these shots were taken in aperture priority mode, and I was impressed on the exposure accuracy, given the very mixed lighting I was dealing with. Take a look!

Oh, and it was Katie's birthday yesterday! Here's a photo I took of her with her birthday rose:

Thanks for looking!

Print: Humble Bumble

This bumble bee was one of the several spring riders I found in the Blue Moonlight Drive-In Theater. He looks real friendly! I used a my Mamiya C330 with a 105mm lens (with a yellow filter to bring out the distant clouds). The print has some flaws, but I quite like how it turned out just the same.

Thanks for looking!

Roll: Avon and Quincy on the Retina iiiC

I hate rolls of 36 exposures. Even 24 exposures is a lot to have on one roll. When you're thinking carefully about each shot, 36 is a lot to get through in one day. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been working on a roll with my Retina iiiC. I took it to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and a trip to Quincy Illinois for a juried show my dad and I were in. I saw a lot of interesting things on both excursions. While passing through Galesburg to get to Quincy, we stopped at an old drive-in movie theater to take some shots. I used my Mamiya C330 in addition to the Retina, so I expect to turn out some sweet darkroom prints sometime soon.

Here are my Retina iiiC shots:

Thanks for looking. I'm going to try to get in the darkroom this week and make some prints of the theater. Stay tuned!

Spotlight: Sunpet

A while ago, in college, I came across a little camera at the local Salvation Army. It was called "Sunpet", and came in its original box, with the words "never used" scribbled on it in sharpie. I think it cost me fifty cents. The camera is almost completely made out of plastic, including the lens, which is a fixed focus, fixed aperture 35mm POS. The only metal part on the body is the standard hot-shoe, which is actually a cool feature to have on a camera this cheap. The Sunpet is meant to be operated comfortably with one hand; there's a surprisingly comfortable right-hand grip on the front of the camera, and textured plastic on the back of the camera where your thumb can rest. Film is advanced with a little thumb-wheel; the kind you used to see on those Kodak one-use cameras.

The time has passed where I would waste my time with cheap little cameras like this (I have slight standard now), but back when I first found the Sunpet, I was more than willing to try out any camera. Here are a few of the shots I took with it.

Though my days of using cameras this crappy are long gone, the Sunpet will always hold a special place in my collection.

Thanks for looking!