Tag: California

Against the Sky

 

Today we went out to the California Poppy Reserve near Lancaster, California.  In Los Angeles County, this is in the middle of nowhere, and here is where you see the beauty that was California before Los Angeles and urban sprawl took over.  The rains of the past winter have produced an abundance of flowers – more than in many years.  Here is the first of a series I took today.

It’s funny how weather can change from one place to another.  We drove 70 miles, through canyons and back roads to get here.  From our 71 F city we came into a cold (50 F) and very, very windy environment (30-50 mph winds).  All I had for cold weather was a vest and a short-sleeved T-shirt.  Brrrr!

This is a panorama of about 5 images.

About to Fall

Last week I took five rolls of film for processing.  This was taken with Kodak UltraMax 400 with an Olympus Trip 35.  It was a dark and stormy day when I wandered out, but even with 400 iso film, the images came back extremely noisy.  I had to do a bit of work to get the roll even somewhat acceptable, in my eyes, but some of the pictures were really nice.

My cheap “go to” films for 135 are Kodak UltraMax 400 and Agfa Vista 200, but I think I am going to use up the UltraMax to see how it works in different cameras.  It could be that the Olympus was at fault as it died a bit later.  I don’t want to just be done with it, but want to see if there are other issues involved.

This sycamore curves and twists over a steep fall into a barranca.  How it hangs on is rather amazing!  And when the leaves change, it is a stunningly beautiful tree.

In case you don’t know, I absolutely love trees.

 

Adventures with a Kodak Retina IIIc, a Xenon f2 Lens, and a Romp in the Garden

Last week, a new vintage camera arrived, an immigrant to our shores from afar.  It is a Kodak Retina IIIc with a Xenon f2 lens, from Chris Sherwood in New Zealand.  And it is a beauty of a camera and lens!

The Retina IIIc has a built-in selenium meter, with an initially-confusing way of using it.  I figured it out, and it is pretty accurate.  My first roll of film came out well-exposed, but I must admit, that I prefer the Sunny 16 rule and used it, along with some guestimates.

You know, when you get used to digital, you can shoot-shoot-shoot, but when you have to manually do everything, including thinking, it slows you down a lot!  I had to really stay in the moment to take 36 images in one place.  I also put together some shots to create panoramas, which I love to do, and they turned out okay, too.

More later . . .