a tree on treasure island. it’s an interesting place, for sure. a man-made island that was built for the world fair expo in 1939. today it’s a housing development with interesting abandoned structures left over from the united states navy.

fuji portra 160vc. pentax 6×7 45/4.

a quiet death in a chinatown alleyway, san francisco. i was intrigued by how its wings were folded down perfect. makes you ponder the order of nature.

fuji portra 160vc. pentax 6×7 135/4 macro.

this is some of the mussel-covered rocks below the sutro bath ruins in san francisco. as i was framing up this shot, a small airplane was making its way into my view. when something like that happens, it’s a gift. you just wait until the object is where you want it and click the shutter. thank you, world. i thoughtfully overexposed this by a stop to include the foreground detail, and sure enough, i was able to easily pull it out from the scan.

fuji portra 160vc. shot with a pentax 6×7, smc 45/4.

(2048×1632)

last weekend i went shooting on treasure island, roughly half way between san francisco and oakland. but after that, i went out again to go shooting with some flickr friends at the cliffhouse. we met there, then wandered down the hill to the coast line and sutro baths. along the path is where i took the picture above.

it’s not quite as sharp as i liked, but i was shooting downward at iso 100 on a cloudy day. i flipped the mirror up, paused,and took the picture blind. when i pulled this negative out of the fixer, i could tell it was something i wanted to put online. the first roll of color (160vc) i shot that day has the same shot, so i should see that soon.

i ended up shooting 13 rolls of film that day, roughly half color and half black&white. the second half of shooting was with friends. now that is what i call a good day.

ilford delta 100, rodinal 1+50 for 14 minutes. pentax smc 135/4 macro.

mom’s birdhouse, san carlos, california. this is a repost of the image with a better scan and more information. i’ve been slowly rediscovering all the negatives and prints i have tucked away in moving boxes.

i shot this in 2004 on her back patio wiht my shen-hao. it’s a scan of a polaroid 54 print. this is a good example of the magic of a circumstance and of polaroid. i had an idea to try to use two movements to bring the focal plane through a single point in the scene. it’s a technique i want to revisit, now that i’ve dug up this old print.

i just dropped off 7 rolls of kodak portra 160vc at the lab, rolls i shot (in addition to 6 rolls of black and while i’ll develop tomorrow) this past weekend. i’ve been busy, and having a lot of fun.

this week i’m attending rayko’s 2nd annual plastic camera juried show reception.

I was inspired by david on flickr to post an updated gear photo. Ya, I collect camera gear. I think this year I want to come up with some way to display cameras at home – some way they’ll look nice but I can grab one easily when I’m on my way out the door. ‘Cause, you know, you gotta carry a camera.

Not pictured here are two medium format folders I have at work. And the digital p+s camera that took this pic. I also have two complete enlarger systems (Beseler and Omega) and two Lighting systems (Novatron and Speedotron).

My post of this pic on flickr has a breakdown of gear.

according to this post on photo.net (and this), the pentax 1:4 135mm macro lens is a dynar semi-symmetrical formula. it is a variant of the cooke triplet design. it is extremely close to the f/3.5 “dynar” version of the heliar.

voightlander came up with the dynar (patent 756006) at the turn of the 20th century and it was supposedly a better performer than the incumbent heliars. they later returned to the heliar name in 1925 with the f/3.5 heliar layout, which is very close to the design above.

the heliar is the ancestor  to the 100/3.5 ektar (designed in 1942) and the 105/3.5 color-heliar found on the bessa II rangefinder.

a great reference for the pentax is antiquecameras.net

my recent shot of a ginko tree in the park was shot with a f/4.5 210mm heliar.

in the mission, two of the most lively spots are the bus/bart stations at 16th and 24th street. this shot is from the 24th/mission station, which is one short block and two long blocks from my condo. it’s a great location for peoplewatching.

i still need to practice zone- and hyper-focal focusing. i want to be faster on this camera, spending less time with the rangefinder.

tri-x in rodinal 1+25. canonet g-iii ql.

wine glasses from seghesio winery. kodak 160vc, 6×7, pentax 135/4 macro.

one item i managed to pick up a few weeks back at the last photofair camera show was the pentax 135mm f/4 macro lens. i’ve seen some amazing portraits done with this lens and it’s been on my to-get list for a while. i had a feeling this camera show was going to be a good one. i went, literally with a roll of bills in my pocket. sure enough, i saw the lens i was looking for at a decent price, and it went in my bag.

i just acquired an extra lens cap and a body cap, so i basically have a complete system now:

• pentax 67 body (w/ ttl pentaprism, mlu)
• asahi pentax wood grip
• smc pentax 67 1:2.8 90mm
• smc pentax 6×7 1:4 45mm
• smc pentax 67 macro 1:4 135mm
• smc pentax 67 1:4 200mm

not all the same vintage, but pretty close.

i was at the 24th/mission bus stop when i noticed the guy in the back of the bus. it looked like he was having a  moment on the bus, one of those poetic times when your mind is calm and everything goes quiet.

35mm tri-x in rodinal 1+25. canonet g-iii ql. newton rings by epson.

(2048×2048)

kodako 160vc shot on a rolleicord v (xenar).

this is one of the fantastic lamps from x-21 modern in the mission district. some of them are pretty crazy, and one day i hope to own one. x-21 is one of the great local shops in the mission.

Usually when I have to collect information from a lot of online sources, I end up resetting my password on half the sites I need. Usually this is because every site has different requirements, some of which negate the requirements on other sites. This prevents me from using the same password on all sites, which may be a good thing, but I feel I’m picking pretty strong passwords. What gets me is some of the ludicrous requirements, such as case-insensitivity and prohibiting vulgar words! Here are the requirements from some of the websites I use:

The best part of this is the difference between two arms of Capital One. Someone needs to update their COBOL!

since i had the day off, i decided to do a task i’ve been meaning to act on for a while: drive to annapolis winery to buy more of their zinfandel.

boman and i discovered this small family-owned winery in the town of annapolis by chance. we were on an aimless recreational drive and saw their “free tasting” sign on the main road. we decided to give them a try, and it turned out their zinfandel was very easy to drink and very tasty. we just hadn’t realized we managed to venture a good three hours’ worth of driving north from san francisco. so returning to this winery was a task to be deferred.

today i had the time.

i drove a round trip of 255.7 miles. the entire drive was incredibly scenic, beautiful and green, and calming. the rain was steady but not too heavy. i was warm in my car and listening to music. so theraputic.

i found my way to the winery and talked to the son (he and his parents own the winery). we talked about driving and cars. i tasted what they were selling and he let me try some of the 2007 zinfandel that was still in the steel. i asked him about their new labels and he told me a story about how they came upon getting art for their bottles. he ended up tossing in a bottle of their chardonnay for me to try (no longer for sale).

here was my end haul:

• 2004 Syrah (qty 1)
• 2004 Pinot (2)
• 2005 Zinfandel (4)
• 2004 Chardonnay

i came back to the city just in time to avoid the evening commute traffic, relaxed and refreshed. today couldn’t have been any more perfect.

it’s funny, i think this neighborhood is really inspiring me.

this is the most dense are i’ve lived, by far. it didn’t take long to recognize the patterns, scenes, schedules of the neighborhood. at least those that have crossed my path. it’s vibrancy is what is inspiring me to go out with a camera more often. for the past several years i’ve been turning my nose up at 35mm format, but now i find myself in a situation where it is perfect.

tmax100 in rodinal 1:25 for 6 minutes. canonet g-iii ql, my new travel companion.

shot on 35mm kodak tmax 100 with a canonet g-iii ql (thanks jimmy!). souped in rodinal 1:25 for 6 minutes. negative scan, as evidenced by the bad newton rings.

well, this is a pretty atypical image from me.. pretty much everything about it: the format, the focus, the subject. it feels weird, especially since the last negative i touched was 8×10. for this image, i didnt look through the camera view finder nor did i stop and focus. the focus in this image still bothers me in some way, maybe from my desire to be a perfectionist.

my message to myself is this: relax, don’t worry about it, jason. just keep shooting.