Contemplating boy Yashica-12 Fujifilm Velvia (expired 8-2006)
Inside Crown Hill Cemetery, as you go up what turns out to be the highest hill in Indianapolis, you find the graves of some of our city’s most prominent and wealthy citizens. The markers can be elaborate, sometimes even gaudy.
This statue of a kneeling boy sits on a concrete bench marked “Home Sweet Home.” No name is given. It’s unusual for this part of the cemetery. I’ve always wondered this statue’s story.
Here’s another photo from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. I used to drive over here all the time when testing new-to-me old cameras. There’s all sorts of interesting scenes to photograph here, and it was five minutes from my old house. When I had some business not too far from here the other day I made sure to bring my Yashica-12 along, as I was finishing up a roll of T-Max 100 I’d spooled inside.
I have no idea who this statuesque fellow is, but I’ve always wondered what he’s squinting at.
I developed this at home in Rodinal, at 1+50 dilution. My bathroom was a perfect 68 degrees so I didn’t have to adjust developing time for temperature.
Angel guiding the way Yashica-12 Kodak T-Max 100 2019
As I’ve been learning how to develop black-and-white film at home, I’ve stuck to 120 film and have mostly used my Yashica-12 TLR. The more I use the 12, the more I enjoy it.
I took half an afternoon off because of personal business that found me on Indianapolis’s Far Northside. I brought the 12 along and stopped at a couple favorite places I don’t visit much since I moved to Zionsville. One of them is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, which has lots of lovely scenes to photograph.
I love this little statue of the angel lighting the way and have photographed it several times. The TLR with its peer-down viewfinder easily let me get right down onto its level for a straight-on shot.
I processed this film at home in Rodinal. Everybody says Rodinal brings out the grain, but this looks plenty smooth to me.
The Birch Bayh Federal Building and Courthouse in Indianapolis, completed in 1905, features four allegorical statues by John Massey Rhind: Industry, Agriculture, Literature, and Justice.
I made these with my Olympus XA2 on Ultrafine Xtreme 100. More on that tomorrow.
In 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed 12 statues across the United States to honor pioneer mothers, those women who, with their husbands and children, went out West to build their lives.
These statues were all placed on the National Old Trails Road, an auto trail established in 1912 to connect New York to Los Angeles. Future President Harry S. Truman headed up the National Old Trails Road Association and worked with the D.A.R. to have these statues erected, one in each state.
The National Old Trails Road was routed largely over the old National Road in the east and the Santa Fe Trail in the west. Today, very broadly, if you drive US 40 to St. Louis and old Route 66 west from there, you are on or near the National Old Trails Road.
Having driven the National Road from end to end, I’ve seen five Madonnas, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Although the National Road begins in Maryland, the National Old Trails Road left the National Road so it could go through Washington, DC. The Maryland Madonna ended up on the road in Bethesda, which is not a National Road town. Also, the one time I visited the Ohio Madonna, it was inconveniently placed and I wasn’t able to photograph it. It has since been moved to a park with plenty of parking; I hope to go back and visit it one day.
The various Madonnas are colored from creamy white to reddish brown, and several of them have seen restorations, some of them more than once. Here, then, are photos of the Madonnas I’ve been able to see.
Beallsville, PA (2009)
Wheeling, WV (2009)
Richmond, IN (2009)
Richmond, IN (2018)
Vandalia, IL (2007)
Vandalia, IL (2014)
I’ve driven the National Road from its beginning in Baltimore, MD to its end in Vandaila, IL. To read everything I’ve ever written about it, click here.
Statue at Crown Hill Pentax ME, 35mm f/2 SMC Pentax-FA AL Eastman Double-X 5222 2018
I was in a Double-X groove after finishing shooting my Canon EOS 630, so I got out another roll for my next project: shooting the autofocus 35/2 SMC Pentax FA-AL on my Pentax ME.
I’ll soon write a whole post about the experience. But I wasn’t bonding with that lens on my digital Pentax K10D and wanted to try it on my favorite K-mount body. I figured that if I didn’t bond with the lens there, I wasn’t going to bond with it anywhere.
I spent a good hour in Crown Hill Cemetery with this combo. This is one of the best photos from the roll.
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