Category: photography

Cactus Jack’s

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This place is a Carson City landmark. There are many images of it, particularly at night. Shot with the Fuji X-T5 and Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 at f/8 and rendered to a Tri-X 400 Film Simulation in-camera. SOOC.

It was a busy day and is not quite over yet. I am working on a hydrology report for a client that I need to get out. Then there is another hydrologic analysis that needs my attention. I am called to staff the radio room at the NV EOC tomorrow morning. The EOC was stood up this week in response to the Davis Fire south from Reno and north from Washoe Lake in Washoe County. That is just north of me about ten miles.

Next week and the week following are field work. So I am busy this month. Busy is good.

I checked Facebook this afternoon, briefly, to post a music video I came across from one of my blog posts. It was good when I posted it and is still good. So I decided to share.

After posting the link to YouTube with a smile and small chuckle, I noticed a PM waiting. I opened it and it was from my friend Sandy. Then I nearly hit the floor. My old friend Jim M. died Monday. I have no other knowledge than he is gone.

Just. Like. That.

I felt that heart-hit that comes with such news. I wept, openly. Jim and I knew each other since back in the 90s when I came across his weblog, long idle and soon to be long gone. His love of photography and words match my own and we became friends. I still remember Sunday Morning Coffee with Jim. We would type back and forth on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) for an hour or so every Sunday morning.

He was there for me during my clinical depression. He was there for me when Wife died.

I do not carry much regret, but I carry this one — I was close enough to visit earlier this year. I did not take the time. Now, that time has passed.

Now his wife Sandy has a long row to hoe. Her griefwork will be different than mine, but yet it will be the same in that it has to be done.

I have a few more thoughts, probably. But they need to rattle around in this brain of mine before I can make sense of them.

Vaya con Dios, my friend. You are missed.

The image? Well, with The Girl sick I walked from the house and made a few circuits through downtown Carson City. Old Cactus Jack is still there, beckoning the tourists to come in and spend a dime, or a dollar. I saw the setup and made the capture.

Good News

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The Girl sleeping on her mat on our sofa. She is healing. Shot with the Sony A7Sii and a Canon 55mm f/1.2 SSC FD at f/2, post processing to a Tri-X 400 Film Simulation.

The ongoing story of The Girl’s second encounter with Jacob-No-Shoulders continues. After a turn for the worse last weekend, which likely caused me the loss of several years of life expectancy, she is being treated with an antihistamine and steroid. The cause was a reaction to the antivenin administered to counter the effects of the rattlesnake bite she got ten-days ago now.

That was after a few days home from hospital from the initial treatment. She was improving until she was not. That prompted two more visits to the clinic to identify and treat the problem.

Yesterday was the third day after her retreatment for the symptoms that developed. From what I can determine, the serum sickness that resulted from her body’s reaction to the antivenin is not life threatening. However, the symptoms were dramatic and concerning (for me). I feared that I was losing my Girl and was unprepared for that.

Yesterday morning she seemed a little more interactive, giving me a bit more energetic wag when I greeted her after rising. I carried on with my morning routine, making my coffee, going through my morning ablutions, and giving her the prescribed medications and her food.

I left to take the 4Runner to the Toyota House for service around 1000h. She was sleeping on her mat under my worktable. I got the rig checked-in and then walked home, looking for an image on the way. After attending to some work, a call came from the dealership that my rig was ready to be picked up.

I gathered up my things to walk back and retrieve the rig. As I was about to step out the door, she walked into the living room and asked to along. She did not know where I was going, but she wanted to be part of the going.

So, I picked up her leash, affixed it to her collar, and out the door we went. Although not particularly energetic, she was more her normal self — sniffing at most every blade of grass, marking territory, and finally eliminating (which I policed up).

The Sun was a little warm on us, so she panted a bit. But it was only a mile to the shop and I had water in the rig if she needed it.

After clearing my bill, we found the rig and loaded up. After sitting in the Sun for however long, it was hot inside… the kind of hot that emanates from the rig’s body. It needed fuel anyway, so we headed to the Shell station to refuel and run it through the wash bay.

The wash really cooled off the rig and also The Girl (although the air conditioner helped). We headed back to the house and indoors so I could finish my day.

She was tired (of course) and retired to her mat. However, my heart was lifted because she is more herself now. She is not yet 100 percent, but she is on the mend. I am encouraged and grateful. I gave a little thanks to God for looking after us.

Life is good.

NB: Yes, it is 11 September. I remember. I will not forget. I will not forgive.

On Pens and Lenses

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My journal and a vintage Esterbrook J Series in the demi size. Shot with the Sony A7Sii and a lovely Canon 55mm f/1.2 S.S.C. vintage lens, SOOC.

I write with a fountain pen most every day. In fact, I think I write with a fountain pen every day.

This year I returned to using an analog (paper) bullet journal from using a digital notebook (SuperNote). Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but in the end I enjoy the analog experience much more than the digital. So, despite the convenience of an unending supply of pages, I returned to my paper bullet journal.

I have been thinking about downsizing my possessions. Over the last year, this is a topic that was recurrent in my thoughts. (This was written as I laugh out loud looking at the additions to my camera, lens, and radio collections!) But, in the end, I want to reduce the load to include only those things I use often enough to justify a place in my life.

There are clearly cameras, lenses, radios, books, and so forth that fall on the used often enough list. There are also clearly such things that are not on said list.

As we move into the fall, I expect my workload to reduce somewhat. The field work will definitely fall off and work will turn to the desktop. But I also think I will have time to use the light tent I bought to photograph and offer for sale items from my shelves that do not pass the used enough muster.

A good (as in simple) place for me to start is with my collections of fountain pens and vintage glass. There are a good number of vintage pens in my collection that I am not going to use to any significant degree. Similarly, there are a number of lenses.

I think I should make it a fun project to try these things on paper and camera and use that exercise to filter out the unwanted. I certainly have enough items from each class that fall onto the used often enough list.

It is time to let them go.

A problem is figuring out how/where to sell the books. I used Half.com for years to sell books. But, eBay decided to kill the service. I remain unconvinced that eBay is the better platform to sell books.

My buddy loaned me a lovely Canon FD 55mm f/1.2 SSC lens to play with. The capture above was made with this lens affixed to my Sony A7Sii camera. The aperture was wide open (f/1.2) or thereabouts. The depth of field is razor thin. I should get out my Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 and shoot some comparison shots. I think the Canon might be a smidge better wide open.

I no longer have a Canon film body. I considered finding a nice Canon F1, which was a suitable object of lust when I was a young photographer. But then I might go off down the vintage Canon glass rabbit hole.

I think that, however, might be a topic for another entry in my weblog.

The Girl is doing better. I am grateful. Life is good.

Tilted Stump

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A tilted stump in the Toiyabe National Forest. Shot with Fuji X-T5 and the Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 at f/4. In camera conversion to Kodachrome 64 film simulation.

The Girl and I are walking up at the Spooner Summit site again. The heat returned this week, so we seek altitude to find cooler temperatures during our hikes. In addition, I just love the forest this time of year. The bear brush is beginning to show signs of fall (yellow leaves). Very soon the days will cool and snow will come.

This old stump is a remnant from a fire that occurred in the area some years ago. The floor mast has mostly recovered and signs of the fire on the ground are limited to a few burned remnants of trees and the plethora of stumps where dead trees were felled as a matter of safety. I presume the wood was recovered and used for gainful purpose.

I have been carrying the Fujifilm X-T5 body with the Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 lens quite a lot. It is a standard lens for the APS-C sensor of the X-T5 and I think renders one of the better images from the Fuji glass.

I used one of the Fujifilm film stock recipes from Ritchie Roesch’s Fuji X Weekly website, the Kodachrome 64 simulation. I loved K64 back when it was available. The warmer colors suit my vision well. It is a pity that Kodak stopped manufacturing the stock. I would shoot it now.

On Overwatch

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Sera on overwatch. Shot with Fuji X-T5 and Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 at f/8. Kodachrome 64 film simulation in-camera.

Yesterday was a good hike, once I got up the hill. I was huffing and puffing on that first steep climb out. But the rest of the hike was good even if I was a bit pressed for time.

I paused, briefly, along the way to make a few captures. I like this one of The Girl. She was not completely on-alert, having just surveyed the area for chipmunks. But, she had taken the high ground and was holding it.

She is a blast. I love her so much. Life is good.

Lucas Test Shot — Nikkor 105mm f/2 D Defocus

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I got out the Nikkor 105mm f/2 D for a few test shots with the Nikon D750. This one is at f/2 with the Defocus set to f/2 R.

In conjunction with yesterday’s post, here is the shot from the Nikkor 105mm f/2 D Defocus lens shot wide open. The background blur and bokeh are lovely, as expected. This is a big lens and wants to be carried on a big camera. It is probably not a lens I would walk around with. However, the 85mm f/1.8 is such a lens. It is on the chunky side of glass, but not unforgivably so.

However, for staged captures, the Nikkor 105mm f/2 would be an excellent choice.

I have the Nikkor 135mm f/2 D Defocus in my inventory. I need to get it out and spend a little time with it as well. These are some of the best Nikkors in existence and a reason why Nikon is one of the best manufacturers of cameras and lenses.

Lucas Test Shot — Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 AI’d

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This is a test shot with the new-to-me Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 shot wide open on the Nikon D750.

A couple of weeks ago a new-to-me Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 AI’d lens arrived. It is one of the lenses that established Nikon as a major camera manufacturer and is still revered by photographers. The later f/2 version was changed optically and does not have the same quality as the earlier f/1.8, although the AIS capability offers some advantage with more recent camera bodies. (Note: I posted an image from the Nikkor 85mm f/2 here.)

I generally prefer the AIS version of Nikkor glass because most of my cameras use the feature to improve exposure during the making of the image. However, I will always choose optical quality1 if there is a better version of the lens.

I made the test shot of Lucas at my desk this morning. I had the D750 close at hand, after making a couple of test shots with a Nikkor 105mm f/2 D (Defocus) lens. (I will share this in another entry, later.) The shot was captured wide open (f/1.8). Sharpness is very good, I like the image quality, and the background is nicely out of focus with a lovely bokeh-ball from the living room lamp.

This lens will be fun to take to the field. It will also work on my Nikon film cameras just fine.

The week begins. I have work to do. I am grateful. Life is good.

1While this is generally true, I certainly have a lot of vintage glass in my collection that exhibit character over sharpness. Therefore, the definition of image quality is somewhat subjective.

Howdy!

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I do not recall where I found this sign. But, I made the capture with the Fujifilm X100V at about f/8. Light post-processing with Photolab7.

I do not recall where I made this image. I found it in my archive from earlier this year. The light and color struck me as I worked through my images (as I am sure it did when I made the capture).

I just like it. Life is good!

Washoe Lake and Slide Mountain

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From the gazebo overlooking Washoe Valley, I shot this frame with the Fuji X-T1 and the Voigtlander 27mm f/2 at f/8 raw. I post-processed the image with Photolab 7 to look like Kodachrome 64.

When The Girl and I paused at the gazebo that overlooks Washoe Valley from the south yesterday, I made a few captures with the (now ancient) Fujifilm X-T1 and the Voigtlander 27mm f/2 manual focus lens (in X-Mount).

I really like this vantage point and should probably get up really early and hike it so I can catch some morning Sun just striking the valley floor. That would probably make it worth dragging the Pentax 645Nii and shooting some film.

While I stood there just taking in the scene, I thought how interesting it might be to bring a large format film camera to this location and make some captures on black and white film. With the proper filtration, the sky could be darkened to make the contrast pop. That would be best if there were a few clouds.

A couple of color frames might be interesting as well.

The Girl ignored my thoughts, of course, and focused on cooling down and her water bowl.

When I put away her bowl and stowed my camera, she jumped up, ready to continue the lizard hunt. We headed back down the hill, both satisfied and a little warm.

It was a good day. Life is good.

Not All Who Wander are Lost

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The Girl leading me down Deadman’s Creek Trail out at Washoe Lake State Park. Shot with Fujifilm X-T1, Voigtlander 27mm f/2 at f/8, and post-processed to a Tmax 400 film simulation using Nik Silver Efex Pro 6 and DXO Photolab 7.

After my physician’s appointment this morning, I decided to take The Girl out to Deadman’s Creek trail for our daily outing. It was not too hot (could have been on the south facing side of the climb) and I was surprised at the amount of vegetation growing along the creek and the coolness caused by said vegetation’s respiration. It was very cool, literally and figuratively.

The climbout tested me a bit and I was very watchful of the girl as there can be rattlesnakes there. It seems that previous traffic motivated the snakes to stay away from the trail, so The Girl had some fun chasing lizards and rodents while we hiked.

We paused at the gazebo overlook for a water break and for me to make a few captures of Washoe Lake and Slide Mountain. I finished the test roll in the Fujifilm Klasse and made a few more captures with the Fujifilm X-T1 and a lovely little Voigtlander 27mm f/2 lens. That X-T1 has been carried a lot and the body shows it. But the shutter does not have a high count because I shoot all of my cameras like I do film — deliberately.

I saw another hiker with two dogs depart the staging area, so decided to be watchful on our return trip. But, they took the cutoff (which is marked “Do not cut the trail“) and there was no canine encounter. I think that is just as well as they seemed pretty active and Sera would have loved to engage.

Maybe it would have been alright. I just never know until the dogs meet. Don’t start none; won’t be none.

As we reentered the cool of the vegetation along the creek (still water in it too, which she enjoyed), I noticed her waggle as she advanced down the trail. I made the capture.

When I arrived back home, got some stuff done, and then reviewed the images, the caption came to mind. We do wander quite a lot, The Girl and I. We are rarely lost, though. We simply like to wander.

I am grateful. Life is good.