Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650
No ride lasts forever and all stories come to an end. So it goes with creative projects and I think this one has come to an end, or at least a place where it’s time to let it rest. I may post here now and again but for now my mind is traveling different roads.
A passage by T.S. Eliot comes to mind:
“In my end is my beginning.”
Best wishes to everyone for smooth roads and safe journeys!
I decided to upgrade to the new Blogger layout templates. When they say you might lose some things they mean it. So bear with me as I slowly wade through my notes and see if I can restore links to sites, RSS feeds, and such.
The above picture started with me sitting in my office. Photographer Billie Mercer made the Mexican landscape image. During a discussion about the empty space I stuck myself in the picture. Another photographer, Frank Armstrong created the triptych. You never know what might happen to your pictures on the internet.
Hopefully that distracted everyone long enough for me to get Scooter in the Sticks back in order…
This week I gave the digital camera a rest and was back to shooting film. I use 35mm Ilford Hp5 processed in Kodak D-76 developer diluted 1:1 with water. I’ve been using D-76 for over 30 years now and it still gives reliable results. In case you are wondering how I fit this into my schedule I carry the Leica M6 around with me from Sunday until I have two rolls exposed. Generally I have that done by Wednesday or Thursday, process the film on Thursday or Friday evening, and print sometime during the day on Saturday.
It takes more patience than time. Shooting is incidental and done while doing other things. Processing the film takes about 45 minutes. Making three prints takes another hour or so. Depending on my mood and how the week goes this can seem easy or impossible. Luckily it doesn’t matter how I feel. I just need to do it.
Still not sure where I am going with this project but I believe something good will happen. Photography remains a mystery to me a lot of the time.
So here are this week’s pictures:
Kim at Barnes and Noble.
Twisted vines in bird paradise.
Trees in the wind at local park.
I have driven or ridden by this place for over 25 years and never saw it. It’s a small ravine surrounded by trees in the middle of a farm field. An ephemeral stream that runs into a grotto and disappears. This place lives in the spring and vanishes as the world dries and the weeds grow up to hide it’s secrets. I’ve literally spent weeks of my life in this specific area but never managed to stop and walk into the trees to see what was hidden within. The extent of my blinders never fails to amaze me.
This past week I have worked exclusively with the Canon G9 digital camera. I find myself exploring freely with it and pleased with the RAW files it produces. Since I am a couple days late posting these I have already run through a roll of film in the Leica and as I look at these I am aware of how different the experience is using the different cameras. I can’t judge one approach better than the other. Just different for now.
