One More for April 2020

Strange times cause strange behavior. Such as scouring your library for something to edit.

Came across this image, taken on a dinner walk, while away on a work assignment. Walking back to my hotel, I saw this image, devoid of people, so I walked 20 yards or so out of my way, composed an iPhone image and moved on. Filed it away thinking someday...

Finally picked it up and did a quick edit. Not bad! It was at the blue hour, just after sunset. And thus perfect light, blending artificial and some ambient. Look close and there is a bit of noise... oh well. Next time I'll bring one of my film cameras!

What makes you stop? Are you always looking? Part of having a photographic vision is seeing well, and keeping your eyes open. Fleeting moments pass us by so often. Glad I stopped for this one.

Shelter in place - Roll #2

A few chores at my daughters house, so I brought the RB67 along to photograph her yard, which is in full bloom. These tones with Portra400 are awesome! So good to get out, and honestly surprised with these colors. These scanned great with hardly no corrections. All shot with a 90mm f3.8 non-C lens.

Stuck at Home!

Due to Covid-19, I have been working from home, and needed to take a break, so... below are a few studio images taken with the 120mm Macro on the Pentax 645, just for fun! Let's pray this all ends soon... I'm ready for "normal" whatever that looks like in the future.

Ruth McKenzie Table Mountain Preserve

Had a wonderful day hike with our S2 photo group a few days back. We scheduled a hike during one of the Preserve's "open day" events. Ruth McKenzie Preserve is nearly 3,000 acres, just above Millerton Lake. Managed by the Sierra Foothill Conservancy, the open (free) event drew a decent crowd and was very organized by their team.

We explored the roughly 4 mile loop trail, and detoured up to the top of Table Mountain via the Bolin Gap trail, to take in the views. Nearly 6 miles in total.  And the views did not disappoint!

There were a good amount of wild flowers, considering the lack of rain so far this year. But, the rain did come, and we barely escaped the downpours that came later that afternoon.  And there were a few red bud down in the canyon.

My attempt to capture a few good B&W images paid off. Captured in color with the Pentax 645 on Ektar 100 film, and converted in post, below are a couple of those images.

Up Top

Lone Oak

All in all, a very nice 6 mile hike in a beautiful sierra foothill setting. Definitely recommend this hike to locals in our area. Check out the Conservancy website for event details.

 https://sierrafoothill.org/events-listing/

Testing the new Pentax 645 Macro 120mm

In an effort to refine my Pentax 645 system, I decided to sell the 150mm (a sweet little lens), since I had the 200mm as well, and fill the void with a 120mm Macro lens. This rounded out my kit with the 45mm, 75mm, 120mm and 200mm lenses. A nice combination!

These are equal to 28mm, 50mm, 80mm, and 135mm in your typical full frame digital.

The lens came in great shape, with clean glass, and only a stiff aperture ring, which a VERY small drop of mineral oil cleared up rather easily.

So I headed out to test the new Macro this last week, on a few wild flowers and fruit blossoms. The results were very encouraging.

Almond Buds 

Peach Blossom

Wild Lupin

I can see this could get addictive! Will be having more fun in the future with this lens!

Merced National Wildlife Refuge

Okay, this one was tough! Shooting birds with an RB67 is very difficult!

I arranged the trip for our local photo club, at their suggestions, knowing this one would be difficult for me, the only film shooter in the group. The weekend turned out to align with a full moon, so there was a backup plan in place, if bird photos seemed too fleeting.

I packed up the RB67 kit and threw in the monopod, along with the tripod, and loaded some Portra 400 rated at 800 to keep the shutter speed high. I also grabbed the Think Tank belt system, to allow for more mobility as I explored.

Upon arrival we found lots of birds. Mostly white snow geese, a few egrets and some cinnamon teal ducks. I mounted the Sekor C 360mm F6.3, and put the camera up on the monopod and started exploring. We stopped at the main visitor area and took a few picks.

Strength in Numbers

Gathering our photo club, we slowly drove the 5 mile loop around the refuge, stopping periodically to capture a few more images.

A Hiding Place

Let's Go!

Finally the sun set and the moon rose, and we wrapped up shooting a few sunsets and a few moonrise images before heading home.

Moon over Marsh

A fun day, but a serious test on equipment and vision. The RB67 worked great. (2) rolls provided 20 well exposed frames.  The 360mm (equivalent to 180mm) was fairly easy to use on the monopod. Pushing the Portra 400 to 800 helped to keep the shutter speed at 1/250th or 1/400th of a second, at f8 to f16. Fast enough to get good clarity at that focal length. Overall a good experience. But, for one who prefers the still landscape, this one tested my "general" photography skills.

If you want to visit, plan on the Jan - Feb time frame to catch the migration patterns. Get there early afternoon as the flocks started departing between 3-4pm, and that is a sight to see! And bring a long lens! 200mm-400mm or better. And if you are shooting digital, consider renting a longer lens and a teleconverter.

More Testing - preparing for a busy year!

So, where did January go?  I was hoping to get up to the mountains, only to be thwarted by work and family issues.

But I did manage to acquire two copies of the Sekor non-C 127mm lens for my RB67. Why two copies?  I took a chance on a really cheap copy, that looked to be in great shape, but the seller did not know how to test the lens. We communicated and I took a chance, only to discover the shutter was acting up. So... back to the bay, to find a working shutter. The second copy was rough looking, but the shutter was in good shape, so the dissection began!

After a few nights of cleaning and reassembly, I ended up with a clean and fully functional lens!

Final step? Go out and test in the field. So on a recent sales trip, I took a 2 hour detour to Castle Air Museum in Atwater, CA. Side note: this place is incredible!

Here are a few pics from that day, using TriX @400. Definitely need to go back with more time and film!

This air museum is one of the best I have seen. Almost all the planes are outdoor and easily accessed. And they have a bunch! including the SR71 shown above, and a B36 with H bomb casing, and a B52D along with many others.  $20 admission is a bit steep, but well worth it if you have a good 3-4 hours.