Another three day trip in the books. Always good to be back home, even if it’s 110°F. The greeting/love you get from two dogs swells your heart and makes you smile. 😊
Another nice 20-hour layover in BOI. Extremely smoky skies and brutally hot. Got in a 4.5-mile walk, and I was able to get today’s picture. Many similar shots from previous overnights, but I’m always trying to improve the ones I really like.
This was such a quick shot; I regret not framing it better. In Silvertone, it looks pretty good.
Had a doc appointment for my bi-annual FAA physical today. Then spent the rest of the day developing a roll of Tri-X, scanning it, and converting it.
Hopefully, I can get a post up about it tomorrow. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and am stunned at the old-school grainy beauty of Tri-X even shot through a cheapo Kodak Snapic camera. My wife had no idea what I was doing, and she came into the office while I was converting photos, looked at the monitor, and said, “What is that? It’s beautiful, just so classic. It reminds me of photos from my childhood.” (She is 59).
Have you ever had those days? Feel like you’ve walked a mile, only to find out ⤴️.
Click for Stray Pixels & a Film Journey Update
Spent some time today setting things up in the spare bathroom, making a “task card” of the process, and dry-running it to make sure I haven’t missed something. It’s always worth taking the extra time; I learn something each time.
The crazy problem I have right now in the Summer is my water temp. My cold running water is at 34° C, and I need my chemicals and wash water around 20° C. So, I’ve put a 3-gallon jug of water in the fridge and will mix it with warm water to get my desired temp. Kind of crazy.
It’s all kind of exciting. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the first roll done.
Crater Lake last erupted 6,600 years ago but is still considered dormant and may remind us who’s boss whenever it chooses. It’s the deepest lake in the U.S., at 1,949 ft (594 m) deep.
Shot and processed on iPhone.
I hope today brought you a little laughter and lots of smiles.
Good day on the photography front. All the shots today were shot and processed on the iPhone. Had a nice 4-mile walk around Boise today and was able to shoot two rolls of film, as I need some “test” rolls to make sure my developing process is sound. Hopefully next week I’ll get my first black & white rolls developed.
Today was my first day walking around with the Kodak Snapic. I liked it. It’s very small and light, fits nicely in your pocket, and certainly small enough not to cause attention while shooting pictures. I’ll post the pics when I get them developed and scanned.
Two hours before sunset, I loaded up two bags of gear: three cameras, 5 lenses, two tripods, a big jug of water, and a very large towel to wipe sweat off with, and headed up the trail, trying to find a nice high vantage point for sunset. One backpack on your back and the other one worn on your front works pretty well. The hardest part of the evening was keeping sweat off the gear.
Sunset was a bust, just hardly any colors, and very few clouds in the Western skies. My saving grace was this big thunderstorm starting to brew off in the distance, which gave me a nice subject to focus on. It ended up petering out, leaving me with just about nothing, but by that time it was getting too dark, and it was time to head down. I wanted a bit of light because the area is rife with rattlesnakes. The last thing I need is to be out there alone and trying to deal with a rattlesnake bite.
I know there is a weather app out there that is focused on photographers and alerts you to good sunsets, fog, the Milky Way, and things of the sort. I would like to read some reports on how it’s working for people. All sunsets are beautiful, but only some are worth lugging gear up a hill in 100°F/38°C heat.
135 frames with the Z8 and I came away with about 7 that I like. Hopefully some good film shots as well.
The daily shot and the others in Stray Pixels are from the Nikon Z8. I also used the Rollei and the Nikon F3, but of course those will come later. I’m very interested to see how I did with my exposure settings; sunsets can be challenging.
Struggling with adding more film photography to my allotted time, which reduces my daily photo stock. The past few days I’ve been shooting with my Rollei and the Nikon F3, but that doesn’t give me anything for my daily post. I still haven’t started developing my own film yet, and I haven’t been to the lab. This is a problem I need to sort out. Hopefully, when I get a good developing routine down, I’ll have more photos to work with.
When I go out for dedicated photography time, I’ve been carrying one digital and one film camera, which increases complexity and weight. Not sure if I should keep doing that or just make dedicated time for one style. All good problems but ones that need tweaking.
Click for Film Journey Update
Film Journey Update: Getting really close to trying my first few rolls of B&W developing. My nature makes me read and study far too much before I do something, so that is slowing me down but should minimize errors.
You can go super simple and use a developer/fixer combo (Cinestill DF96) and just be done, but I want to understand some of the chemistry and the pros and cons of different developers with the film I’m using: Ilford DDX, Rodinal, Bellini RDL, Pyro, Cinestill DF96… which Stop to use, which Fixer to use. Pros and Cons of using a WashAid or PhotoFlow. How hard is my water, etc. You don’t need to know any of that, but I want to. I’ve been watching YouTube videos, reading Darkroom books, reading blog posts, and mostly reading film and developer documentation. That has been the best source of factual information.
I’m getting closer and will probably start with a Paterson tank, AP reels, and Ilford DDX developer, Stop and Fixer. Next, I’ll try Adox Rodinal developer, then the Cinestill DF96 Developer/Fix combo, which seems to have mixed results, so I’ll use a roll of film with nothing too important on it.
I’ve had three sessions of practise in the dark bag transferring film onto the different reels. Which I will say is mandatory. You will find problems, I promise. Use gloves? Which reels do you like? What happens when the film binds on the reel? What are your options if you can’t do it and need to take a break? How sweaty do your hands get? Which scissors work best for you? 35mm and 120 are two different animals; you need to practice with both. Just bite the bullet and sacrifice two rolls of film and practice with them. Trust me, it will pay dividends.
I’m happy with my film scanning setup, so no issues there for now. Just need to shoot more film and start developing.
I love big gate numbers. Maybe I’m just getting old, but some jetways have really small numbers, are hard to see, or have no markings at all. Boise does it right. Big and Bold!
Well, what a day. I had planned to get up early, take two cameras to the Wildlife Park, and wander around before the heat really ramped up. But I woke up to text messages and emails saying I had used airline miles to buy tickets on Qatar Airways, along with two credit card charges for additional mileage purchases. I logged in to my account and found 185k miles missing. The one damn account I did not have 2FA on. WTF OVER!
So it took all morning to clean that up. By the time I was done, it was quickly climbing toward today’s high of 113°F/45°C, so my photo walk plans went by the wayside.
So you get this mediocre iPhone shot instead. I do like the moody feel, though…
I’m aiming for the Wildlife Park photo walk tomorrow. Planning a digital-and-film camera walk. I was able to get out a short while today with the Nikon F3, trying to get through a 36-exposure roll of Ilford Ilfocolor 400 Vintage Tone. I wanted to start tomorrow with a fresh roll.
Hope your day went better than mine.
Click for Stray Pixels and a Film Journey Update
Well, I’m convinced that developing at home will save money and might just be fun. Might be fun, heck, I know it will be fun! I have such fond memories of working in the dark room, and this will be a tiny step toward that feeling.
I’m waiting on some C-41 chemicals, and I have my black-and-white chemicals to start with. I’ve watched numerous videos to refresh myself and have practiced rolling film onto the spools in the dark bag a number of times, both 35mm and 120. I’m sticking with the AP plastic spools for now. You can see what I’m using, what videos I watched, and other resources here.
I’m going to start with a few rolls of black-and-white film. Get comfortable with that, then dive into the temperature-sensitive C-41 developing.
I’m starting with rolls that don’t have anything precious on them to make sure I know what I’m doing. Any great shots will be brought to the local lab until I get my process down. Too many ways to screw it up.
I hope to get a blog post up soon about my process, what I used, and how it went. I’m guessing within a week or so, I’ll have time to start.
Equipment for this first round of B&W developing
ILFORD:
Developer: DD-X
Ilfostop
Rapid Fixer
Washaid
Wetting Agent
Paterson Tanks, AP and Paterson spools/reels, dark bag, scissors, film retriever, hanging clips, Pec Pads, and distilled water.
Went to a new doc today. He had the coolest, laid-back, 1930s-style office I’ve ever seen. And it was peaceful and empty!
It was the best medical office I’ve ever been to. With that said, you don’t want to have to go here; it means you have a nodule on your thyroid. Ya, you can pass on that.
The Indigenous flag was designed by artist Curtis Wilson (d 2019).
The renowned artist was born and raised in the Ligwilda’xw territories, and he was a member of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation in Campbell River.
I probably shouldn’t write anything today.
I’m tired, didn’t get nearly enough sleep, and to top it off, I wasn’t happy with any of today’s photos. None of them.
My only bright spot was getting to futz around in my office all day, and my Ilford vintage tone film came in the mail. I’m excited to see what it produces. I promptly loaded it into the F3 and shot a few frames around the house. Maybe tomorrow, if it’s cool enough, I’ll take it out for a little outing after seeing the doc. I have to see a surgeon about whether he thinks it’s time to remove a thyroid nodule. Good times…
May you have good light!
Click for Stray Pixels
I wasn’t happy with any pictures today. I’m posting just because it’s what I shot today.
Curve-billed ThrasherCurve-billed ThrasherGila Woodpeckers, a male and his offspring from this year - I'm just amazed at the odd angle that they can hold on. How they push off and fly from such an awkward position is amazing to watch.Then, how they hang on to a vertical wall.
