Red leaf
Kodak EasyShare Z730 Zoom
2012
Once in a while I’ll take a day off work just to go out into the world and be alone. I usually do it after a particularly stressful period. Exploring the world distracts me for a while, and being alone recharges me.
This particular day I chose to stay close to home. I took my old Kodak digital camera over to Holliday Park for a hike through the woods to take in the autumn color.
That Kodak digicam sure can render color.
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Tiny shrubs
Pentax KM, 55mm f/1.8 SMC Pentax
Fujicolor 200
2012
Here’s one more photo from Juan Solomon Park, when the landscaping was still new. Unfortunately, the landscaping is the one part of the project that has not succeeded. Most of the original plants died and have been replaced, sometimes more than once.
Let me also explain that yesterday’s post about this park was the first in a series of Favorite Subjects posts I’m writing. Several places near my home have become favorite places to test cameras, and now that I’m getting ready to move away I’m looking back at my favorite photos from these places.
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Rainy dawn
Kodak EasyShare C613 Zoom
2017
Over the past few months I’ve casually shot my son’s discarded digital camera, a ten-year-old Kodak. That’s positively ancient in digital camera terms. It’s performed reliably, even under some rough service my son dealt it when he was younger. I’ll review it here tomorrow.
I’ve photographed my yard a lot this year. The front garden is better than it’s ever been and I’m excited to see it!
It was probably about 6:30 this rainy morning when I stepped onto my stoop for this photo. I wanted to see how the camera handled the available light. It decided it needed to fire the flash, but given the distance to my subject all that served to do was illuminate the raindrops. Still, this little camera managed to capture the dawn light’s quality very well.
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Dusky daisies
Kodak Retina IIc
Kodak Gold 200
2017
update: Like a doof, I thought this was from my Spotmatic when it was from my Retina IIc. I fixed the description above but not the text below. The comments all refer to the Spotmatic so this is a right mess. Whatever. Good discussion.
Here’s one more photo from the Spotmatic F after yesterday’s review. I’m sure, however, that this won’t be the last photo from the SPF as it is a delightful camera and I’ll use it often.
I’ve reached a breaking point with my SLRs. I have more good ones than I can possibly shoot. Over at Casual Photophile recently, James Tocchio wrote about paring his collection down to one of each kind of camera, for simplicity sake and to improve his photography. Our experiences match: even though we enjoy trying new-to-us old cameras, if we used fewer cameras more often we’d become better photographers. I experienced that in 2014 when I shot a Nikon F2 almost exclusively all year. I left this comment:
I can see me having one TLR, one rangefinder, one P&S. Well, maybe two rangefinders: my Canonet QL17 and one of my Retinas. But I will not be able to get below seven or eight SLRs. Gosh, I love SLRs. I can’t imagine selling off my Nikons F2 and F3; my Nikon N90s; my Canon A2e; or my Pentaxes KM, ME, and Spotmatic F. I am likely to keep a Canon FD-mount body and a Minolta MC/MD-mount body because you never know when you’ll stumble upon an interesting lens for them cheap.
But even then, this will cause me to part with some cameras that I simply adore. My Konica Autoreflex T3. My Miranda Sensorex II. Oh, I could list a dozen more, but you get the point.
Given that camera reviews remain very popular on my blog, and given that I really enjoy the experience of trying a new-to-me old camera, I can’t see myself not buying more. If I don’t become 100% the photographer I could be because I didn’t pare down to one SLR, one TLR, etc., then so be it. The journey will have been worth it.
But I have at least implemented one rule: for every camera I buy, one camera has to go. Period.
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Phlox in bloom
Kodak Retina IIc
Kodak Gold 200
2017
I love phlox! I first noticed phlox on my many road trips, as I encountered it over and over again growing roadside. And then when my parents sold our childhood home and moved to Indianapolis in retirement, mom dug up the phlox from her yard and planted it in mine. It’s so fragrant!
As you can see, I put more film into my Kodak Retina IIc. It worked fine. I don’t know why it failed on the first roll I put through it.
Fortunately, I wrote most of a review of this camera a couple months ago and was just waiting for my test roll to come back from the processor to finish it off. So despite my time being severely limited by home projects, I was able to quickly finish the Retina IIc review. It’ll run here tomorrow.
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Bug on a leaf
Nikon F3, 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor
Fujifilm Superia 100
2017
My yard provides endless photographic opportunity. The property is about a third of an acre, and all sorts of plant life covers it. I forget what plant this leaf is from, but I was fast enough to catch this little bug as it scurried across.
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