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.