Indoor

Did a little bit of indoor photography today. Actually started out doing this wiht my Pentax, then moved on to the Nikon because it was such a nice day, but here I was using an old manual focus dedicated Macro. The wonderful thing about Pentax cameras is, as long as the lens mount is a "k", then they will work on a Pentax camera. Doesn't matter if it's from 1970, or 2009. 30 years of no exceptions compatibility is just one reason I love Pentax. In any case, a dedicated Macro lens will give you unparalleled sharpness.

If anyone cares, the pistol is a Russian Makarov in 9x18mm format, and the ammo is Hornady XTP custom hollwpoints. Fantastically accurate weapon, and of all the pistols I have owned, it's outshot them all.

Burning

If my memory serves me right, Heretics were burned at the stake. Compare this image, taken with the new Nikon, with one last year (or so) taken with my Yahica. You will see this image is superior. Much superior. Obviously this has much to do with the lens, and the old Yashica, medium format though it is, simply cannot compare with 20+ years of advanced lens technology. So much for Dogma.

Once again, taken from the same roll of film, the original image was sepia, which, while not unpleasing to the eye for this image, was not what I had in mind. A simple colour correction fixed that.

Heretic

Merriam-Webster defines a Heretic as "one who dissents from an accepted belief or doctrine" and of course Heresy is " an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth or to generally accepted beliefs or standards."

Today, I am a Heretic. For those that follow this journal, you know my absolute devotion to Pentax cameras (the old Samsung I had was a Pentax in all but name, and the Yashicas are medium format, and thus in a different realm) and my steadfast belief that they make some of the finest cameras ever created.

Well the other day a friend gave me an old Nikon N4004 film SLR. Pretty well mint in box (sans box) and I thought I might one day run some Black and White film through it and see what it can do. The lens, also donated by a friend, is a 35-70mm f/2.8, not bad for free.

So today was as good a day as any to see what it could do. Mind you, I was wandering around the neighborhood, snapping away at things that looked interesting, rather than actually taking proper photographs. I had no idea if the camera would function properly, or if the lens was any good.

I bought some Ilford XP2 super 400 black and white c41 film. C41 specifically so the local 1-hour joint could process it. Aside from the images coming out sepia, which I'm certain was a mistake on the developer's part, the camera performed flawlessly. I have colour (errr...) corrected the image, but here it is. I suspect this won't be the last time I will be using this old Nikon, and I'm going to have to get comfortable with the Heretic label.

Fame

I had the distinct pleasure of being chosen to photograph and author for her upcoming novel. This is one of my favourite images. Shot in a local cemetery on a rare bright sunny day in the dead of winter.

Every now and then, everything co-operates just so and the shots turn out exceptionally well. The lighting was perfect, the wind as mild and even the temperature co-operated, more or less.

With her permission, I'll be posting more images in the future.

Glow

Last bar shot I promise. I liked the subtle lighting over the bottles and the way the colours bounce off the mirror in the back.

Weirdly enough, the convention was a dress-up one, and yet the vast majority of people in nicely thought-out clothes, where too shy to have their picture taken, so, no pics of people, just pretty bottles.

Glasses

I like the play of light off the glassware. Same convention, same bar, yaddayaddayadda.

Bar

More images from the bar. I can't decide which version I like most, the natural colour one or the B&W image. So I posted them both and will let my readers comment.

Conventional

Went to a small convention this weekend. Nothing to write home about really, spent most of the time in the hotel bar, with friends. Though I don't drink, I do appreciate the look of a well stocked bar. I snapped off some images and I've posted a few here.

Obviously I've added some to the picture, mainly, a soft digital frame around the bottles. I felt the picture was missing something, and although the frame isn't what I was looking for, I deemed it close enough.

Harsh

I wished I was able to capture the ferocity of the rain coming down, but the last thing I wanted to do was expose an expensive dSLR to moisture, so I settled for the approach.

Digital image, converted to Black and White (as with the image below) and cropped.

Terminator

One of the last lines from the first Terminator film was "There's a storm coming."

And how. We got hammered here the past few days, but typical with weather around here, the harder it is, the shorter it lasts. I managed to capture these images of the stormclouds rolling in.