mattelier

coneflowers, driveway flower bed. canon a1, provia 100, hand-held, no filter.

early morning, palo duro canyon state park, canyon, texas. pentax me super, cinestill 50d, hand-held, no filter.

milagro phillips 66 gas station, exit 240, i-40, encino, new mexico, right before the rain fell. pentax me super, cinestill 50d, hand-held, no filter.

oasis restaurant & motel, raton, new mexico. pentax me super, cinestill 50d, hand-held, no filter.

“uranus is a tourist attraction in unincorporated rural pulaski county, missouri, united states, along the former u.s. route 66. all the businesses are owned by louie keen, who calls himself the ‘mayor of uranus’” (source). our country is a...unique place, in so many ways...

so this is from the first roll i shot with a new camera - “new camera” as in “new camera to me” - a pentax k1000. manufactured from 1976-1997, the k1000 is probably one of the simplest, most direct slr’s one can use: there are only three controls to manage - focus, shutter speed, and aperture. that’s it - which attributed to it being tremendously popular. and if you think you’re pretty good at guessing shutter speeds, forget a battery - it’s only needed for the built-in straight-forward light meter - literally a small needle that rises or falls as shutter speeds change. the mirror is remarkably smooth and clear, as is the lens that came with the body. with a minimal amount of shutter speeds to choose from, though, the proper film for light conditions needs to be loaded - otherwise, things tend towards dense saturation, even moreso as evidence here by the already high-contrast provia 100 film. but the clarity of the scans, this camera will be set firmly in the rotation for landscape and walk-about work. welcome k!

love the sky and distant background in the top photo - like an old postcard. this cinestill 50d film offers lots of surprises with each shot - it’s fun getting to know its comfort zones and limits...

i wasn’t sure this if this would come out at all - hand-held at a shutter speed of 8 with 50 speed film? the blue in this is definitely a result of cinestill film being a photo film made from color negative motion picture film stock - the “old school” vibrancy of the blue gives it a kind of over-saturated cinemascope of the 1950s and panavision of the 1960s look - think “rebel without a cause” and “lawrence of arabia” and “the birds”...

clematis, around the front-yard lamppost. pentax me super, provia 100, tripod, no filter.

...have a restful weekend all...canon powershot a1100 {$39.00, pawn shop; still has the price sticker on it}.

...three buckets is a lot of yard work for one heat-wave day - extra two buckets courtesy of neighbors, thanks...canon a1, provia 100, hand-held, no filter...

...memory is a time machine...canon a1, pro image 100, hand-held, no filter.

...about a week away...backyard vegetable garden. canon a1, pro image 100, tripod, no filter.

still life of stiller objects - “watering can, saluting sunset”, inspiration provided by william egggleston. canon a1, provia 100, hand-held, no filter.

flashback - the goddess fortuna, “fortune”, weathervane atop a golden orb held aloft by two atlas-like figures, all on top of the watchtower for the dogana da mar, the old customs house, in the dorsoduro sestiere {”district”, “neighborhood”}, venice, italy. pentax me super, pro image 100, hand-held, no filter.

...walking through the woods, following behind, waited for the right moment when both emerged from the shadows simultaneously. upped the shutter speed  - 30 to 60 - to make certain the shadows turned nearly completely dark. glad it worked...laurel hill state park, somerset, pennsylvania...canon a1, ektachrome 100, hand-held, no filter.

firewheel, sundance, {or “indian blanket”} flowers {gaillardia pulchella}, backyard flower bed. canon ae1 program, provia 100, tripod, no filter.