This little illustration was one I shot this afternoon in our back yard. It was blistering hot, and with the humidity, it had to be over 40C, and my lenses on my cameras both fogged up so badly, I was only able to shoot for about 5 minutes max. Now that I am feeling somewhat more energetic, I would like to be able to get outside a little more, but this is real heat stroke weather right now. Thankfully it will be a bit cooler next week. It would be nice to go for a little walk down by the Detroit River, and take in the scenes around Coventry Gardens, which is about 4 or 5 blocks away from our place.....until next time, have a good one. Cheers!
 

It was approximately 2 or so years ago that I was experimenting with doing some table top still life with my medium format Mamiya RB67 SLR camera. The lens was likely the 90mm, and tonight I thought I would give it a go on the Epson V550 Photo film scanner, to see what the outcome might be. My experience using the scanner for black & White film processing is minimal to say the least, but everyone else seems to be having a fair amount of success with this procedure, or work flow, as they say nowadays. It will take a bit of getting use to, and I may even try my hand at making a digital print of some negative that I would happen to like. This image is of a white Datura plant, also known as the Devil's Trumpet flower, so I thought the inclusion of a little gargoyle that I had laying about, might add a bit of a sinister touch. At any rate, it was a lot of fun, and I hope some might get a bit of enjoyment from it also. Cheers! 
 

Recently, I have been contemplating going back to my first photographic love, and shooting black and white film again. It finally got the better of me, and after digging out my old Minolta Maxxum 9, 800si, and XE7 film bodies, which have been stored for some 20 years now, they all seem to be working perfectly after replacing the batteries. So I bought some film and processing chemicals, and it is back to the peace and quiet of the darkroom again for me. It is like trying on an old pair of slippers, or jacket that used to be a favourite for many years. Why would I do this you might ask? Well, let me see, no more checking the white balance, no more looking through an electric view finder. The optical view finders of the above cameras are just super. The tactile experience of loading a roll of film into a camera body, and being very deliberate to pay attention to the quality and direction of the lighting, makes one feel like they are actually in control of the process, and not some built in computer that insists on doing things its way. The only controls you need to worry about, aside from the ASA or ISO of the film, is the aperture and the shutter speeds needed for a decent exposure. The rest is all darkroom magic. No more special effects filters, or special effects modes built into the camera. Just find a pleasing image, determine the exposure, and go click, make a nice simple image in black and white. This image that I am posting tonight was one that I shot about 40 years ago on a visit to Florida, and it was shot with probably an old Minolta SRT101, and 28mm lens. Since I do not have my darkroom set up yet, I scanned the Ilford FP5 negative on my Epson V550 Photo scanner, and added a little sepia in Photo Shop Elements. So I ask myself....in 40 years from now, will any of my digital images still be useable? I certainly won't be making any images of them, and I doubt anyone else will care to either.....let me see, that would make me 119 years old...LOL! Anyway, for what it is worth, I am looking forward to putting some fun back into photography again. Stay tuned....Cheers! 

Happy Canada Day!!!

The last two months have been very trying to say the least, and it has now been 2 weeks exactly since I finished my radiation treatments. Hopefully they did the intended job, but I will not know the level of success for a few months yet, after a few follow up consults with my Oncologist. As a result, I am happy today to be back to posting again, and hoping things will return to normal soon. This little image is a celebration of these recent personal events, and also to show my appreciation for this country that I am fortunate enough to live in. Yes, there are forces at work that wish to trash our history and indoctrinate the masses with mixed messages, etc., but what goes around, comes around, and I have every faith that Karma will make her rounds in her own good time. We get back what we give out, and it is my wish to add a little quiet beauty to this old world, even though most of what I post on here is likely not viewed by many, and will be of no significant consequence in the over all scheme of things. For those who do view my blog, thank you for checking in. The future is very uncertain for a lot of folks, and about the only thing that I can say about that is that there is a lot to be said for living in the now. Be engaged in what makes the soul satisfied and share it with others.....Cheers! Happy Canada Day! 

P.S: Camera ~ Sony a900 DSLR

       Lens ~ Minolta 85mm, f1.4 @ f11 for 1/3 sec

       Lighting ~ 2 Aputure Light Storm Mini 20C LED lights at 5500 K

       Photo Editing Software ~ Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo