Probably Photos

I didn't know when it would happen, but I shot some more film

I've been thinking about it more and more. With the rise of AI, it might be one of the only ways someone can be reasonably certain that certain moments actually happened.

And I'll be the first to admit, I lost some of my film mojo. There was a ton of dust my scanning setup, and my backlight was uneven for some reason.

But even despite that there were a lot of shots on these two rolls that I really liked.

Like almost to a frustrating degree.

Recently took a work trip to Lubbock.

Was I visiting Texas Tech? Yes, of course I was.

I'm not really aware of anything else that's out there.

Jokes aside, I think it was a pretty fun place.

Now would I go again and spend significant time there?

While I was in Boston, I took the chance to go to a few museums. Two outstanding museums were the MFA and the New England Aquarium.

Both were very busy, which is to be expected since it's the holidays, but both were a blast.

Big grand views, open spaces built to inspire and awe.

The MFA especially reminded me a lot of the time I spent taking pictures in the Met.

For winter break, we decided to go visit Boston.

I did undergraduate there nigh on a decade ago and haven't returned since.

Besides the usual touristy stuff, I found myself doing... a bit of street photography??

All in all, the trip was great.

The weather was all over the place though. We got a few days of super cold (below 20 F), some snow, and we got a day of heavy rain, then a few days of 10-20 mph winds, with gusts up to 50 mph.

I was prepared for... some of those.

But all in all? Great trip. If these pics look like a good time, I encourage you to go if you have the chance, especially if you want a break from Texas heat!

Just some snaps around. A little here, a little there.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. They don't so much record a scene/place and time, as a ray of light or a pattern of shadow.

Sometimes it turns out well,

and sometimes it doesn't.

Encountering a cool bug or lizard doesn't hurt either!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with these. I think that's because there's no consequence for missing a shot. Instead of "I missed a one-time moment", its more like "I saw a cool view or perspective and was able to capture it."

I wonder if those two impulses will ever converge, the need to capture something important and the discovery of a visual scene.

I recently went with the family to a local state park to camp for a few days.

I've only gone camping a few times, but I definitely wish I could do it more.

It's just the logistics that are a hassle, you know? Gotta get all the gear together, and pack it all in, drive a few hours, and hope that you didn't forget anything.

This time, everything went mostly smoothly. There were a few things I wished I'd brought along, and a few things that we realized we didn't need.

But that's life right? That's the way it goes.

Plus, the people we we camping with were more than gracious with sharing what we needed.

All in all, it was a great trip.

The pictures were... okay?

I started off with an Astia recipe that I was trying to work with, but then decided to switch over to Velvia. Somewhere along the way, I found myself using Pro Neg Standard?

In the end I went back to Classic Chrome. I used to use classic chrome a lot. In fact, it was the one thing that drew me towards Fuji in the first place.

But am I ready for the crunchy contrast? The desaturation? The muddy browns?

There's a camera that's been a really slow burn for me. It's the DXO-One. I have a soft spot in my heart for 1-inch sensors, and I love pocketable cameras, so when I found out about this camera, I really wanted to try it.

The thing I honestly loved about this camera is that it could slip into my pocket next to my wallet really without adding any bulk.

So then the camera hunt is over, right? I found the one perfect camera?

Well, unfortunately not. The original design of the camera was for it to primarily be attached to a smartphone. And for moral reasons, I refuse to do that. I tried it once and hated it.

But that's what the UI was built for. Well, more accurately, the camera itself has no UI. You can configure one custom setting in the app, to use when it's detatched, but beyond that, if you want to actually choose camera settings, you need the phone to do it.

This means that for every shot I got that was well exposed, in focus, and didn't have a ton of shutter blur, I got a lot of misses.

A shot like this could have been good, but it probably was too low light to properly focus or maybe had like a 1/15 shutter speed.

Not getting to focus is a big thing too, because you can't just set a focus point to the center so you end up with shots like this.

Sooo the man on the left is where the camera decided to focus when it's nowhere near the center or even that major an element of the scene?? Okay camera.

Dynamic range is also an issue, as it tends to be on 1-inch sensors.

This could have been cool... if it wasn't blurry and the highlights weren't completely gone. It does shoot DNG Raw, but clearly, what's gone is still gone.

But... those are the happy accidents? maybe?

There were some shots I got with this camera that I honestly like, and because the framing guide and stuff is so hamstrung, there's a bit of the filmic waiting to see what you get. In fact, this is my first time seeing photos from this camera besides some test shots I took when I first got it years ago.

I recently took a trip to Portland OR. Here are some shots from the trip. I say trip, because there were some layovers, and I honestly don't remember which shots were taken where.

Of course, as you all know, I love taking pictures in airports. The glass, the reflections, the transience all feel so unique.

But what about the city itself?

When we were there, there was so much going on. In addition to stumbling onto a weekend market, there was also a bustling pride parade.

The weather was also great. Coming from central Texas, I got to wear a light jacket in the mornings. a LIGHT JACKET! I usually don't get to touch those until November!

Although I never got to get out there, Mt Hood and a ton of beautiful hiking seemed always off there in the distance.

I feel like its so easy to get inspired to take pictures when I have trips like this.

It's very clear to me that the chance to grab these shots are rare and fleeting.

Found some pictures from my visit to DC over the winter. There was no snow on the ground, unfortunately.

This was mostly just travel snaps that I actually quite like.

I feel like some of these are interesting to how I used to take pictures around New York.

It was probably due to the fact that I was bumming around a city again.

Although something I've been thinking about more and more is what my pictures do. Sort of a silly question, but do they spark some aesthetic enjoyment in me? Do they remind me of a time? Do they serve as documentation of a place and time?

The answer, for me so far is sort of unambiguously... no? And honestly, I'm okay with that, but then what am I taking them for?

Some pics from a trip to Norman, Oklahoma.

There doesn't seem to be much to do there except the University of Oklahoma, which honestly, can be very pretty.

I don't feel great about these pictures. I don't think they're interesting or all that much to look at.

I still felt like I was in a bit of a shooting funk. Not inspired to take pictures, not inspired to carry a camera.

One thing I've had the chance to do semi-recently is visit a few museums.

One of them was the National Portrait Gallery In DC

Another was the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman, Oklahoma.

Both were good, but very different. Fred Jones felt more like a standalone museum than a university exhibit space the way many of them do.

The National Portrait Gallery was, of course, huge. Some of these remind me a lot of how I used to shoot photos all the time at the Met in New York. I think on that time fondly, and even looking back, like a number of those pics I took.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

Life has gotten... boring? Maybe it's less that and more so that I've been less able to see the good shots in it.

I feel like as a consequence, I just take fewer of these these days. I don't carry a camera as much as I used to anymore.

Sometimes, when I do, I'm happy with what I get.

Other times, not so much.

I feel like it's a cycle up and down. I try to do too much watch too many videos, then I get burnt out after a bit.

I recently went to Charleston for a friend's wedding, and had a little bit of time to walk around the city and visit some fun spots.

I was very reluctant to take photos both because we were traveling with some other friends and often feel insecure that taking photos can be intrusive or annoying.

I also feel like I'm burnt out on taking and editing photos after some intense travel last winter. Yes, 10 months ago.

I knew I wanted to bring a camera, but I didn't know which one to bring, because I struggled to imagine how I wanted to shoot.

In the end, I ended up bringing two. I always knew I wanted to bring the Practika point and shoot (I think it was a 1200 AF?) since the idea was to take photos and then give the happy couple the camera at the end.

For the other camera, I decided on the... RX100 M1. Yes, my first and oldest camera.

It was such a weird experience. I'd forgotten how that camera feels in the hand. I'd forgotten how the top plate on the flash was missing, and I had to hold it down with a bent piece of brass stock. I'd forgotten what Sony menus used to look like. I'd forgotten how to time that camera, to power on and wait for the long,

long,

zoom,

to

fully

extend.

When I took these shots, I still wasn't sold on the idea that I wanted to be taking photos again anyway.

It wasn't until I started pulling them and editing that I started liking these shots. Well, some of them at least.

I'm not going to do the meme thing and call this camera "filmic". I will, however, say that I love the way this camera handled light. I think the roll-off is probably my favorite from what I've seen from a digital camera.

Over the long weekend, I took a trip to the Padre Island National Shoreline, and figured I'd bring along a camera.

We drove out onto the beach and ended up having about a quarter mile of beach to ourselves. We set up a tent, but I ended up sleeping right under the sand. It was a beautiful full moon.

I decided to go big (both literally and figuratively) and grabbed the Sony A7II. I was about to roll with my usual 40mm since it has weather sealing, but, but at the last moment decided to go with the the Mamiya 645's 80mm f/1.9 and a Kipon focal reducer.The temptation here was definitely to shoot everything wide open and get a crazy small DOF, but I tried to avoid just using that as a default.

As a side note, upon coming back to taking photos, I found out that Capture One Express isn't a thing anymore??? I guess it's time to actually learn how to use Darktable.

This lens situation is pretty weird. Sometimes the bokeh is smooth, then sometimes it can look a little jittery. Sometimes it vignettes, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's tack-sharp at a given aperture, and sometimes it seems to have a lot of artifacts. I've shot this lens quite a bit on the Mamiya, but mostly with black and white film, and the character is quite different.

Last fall, I went to the beach. Specifically, the beach on Saint Croix. I brought several cameras, specifically a digital point and shoot, a fi;m point and shoot, and a gopro. In the end, I didn't use the gopro at all, I used the mirrorless the most, and the film boi when I was getting into the water.

The film camera I brought was the Sea & Sea MX-10 shooting Fuji Superia 400. I was planning on selling it, but thought I'd hold onto it until after the trip.

The camera was what I thought it would be- not the best camera with not the best lens. The camera has a meter but manual controls, but I just used sunny 16 for everything. I'm proud that I've gotten quite good at it!

These shots were struggle to invert and color balance. For one, I've been largely shifting towards editing on iPad, especially when I'm traveling. However, the application I use, lightroom mobile, is not good at flipping shots at all.