Small loop of cord makes for a perfect safety strap. On the GR it helps facilitate even easier one handed use. This 1.5mm Dyneema cord from Z-Packs is the best product I’ve found so far. It’s highly abrasion resistant and has like 400lb test.
Smithaven Mall
Snow melt
Hot Dog Beach - East Quogue, NY
Pick up
Saint John The Baptist High Diocesan School - East Islip, NY
Thanksgiving, pandemic style
Had a lovely rainy day at home with the family, cooking, eating, and laughing. A FaceTime call with family, far away. 2020; Even in the midst of this strange and uncertain year, we are blessed. Thanks.
Lisbon, PORTUGAL
just happened upon this awesomeness
Camp Quinipet
Shelter Island, NY
The annual 7th grade class trip to Camp Quinipet was blast for kids and chaperones alike. Activities included team building, ropes course, hiking, kayaking, an outdoor mass, manhunt, pick-up games of volleyball, basketball, and of course, lots and lots of Ga-Ga Ball! We couldn't have asked for better weather and I'm truly grateful to have been a part of this wonderful trip.
Special thanks to Mrs. Hanley and Mr. Basar for coordinating this amazing event.
Spectra SE
I picked up a very clean Polaroid Spectra SE camera in Patchogue, NY for next to nothing. Came loaded with 8 pictures worth of original polaroid film from who knows when. It was expired and pretty much useless. I'll have to pick up some new stuff from The Impossible Project once it's back in stock. It's amazing that it sells out at $3/pic!
Poloroid Sprectra SE
The Family Camera
I uploaded a hundred or so "forgotten images" from an original iPhone today. I remember taking some of them, but others were clearly the work of my wife and two kids. I really like the picture that paints about how this smartphone camera functioned as a communal family device.
I just bought a used 4-1/2 year old compact digital camera and I'm pumped
I won my first ever eBay auction today. I must say, it was quite thrilling. I've never bought or sold anything on the site before. Not sure why.
The auction was for a Ricoh GR Digital IV with only a few thousand frames on it. I've had my eye on the GR cameras since before I bought the Rolei Prego Micron in 2002. In fact, I purchased the Rollei after determining the Ricoh GR1v was too expensive for me at the time. The Ricoh GR line has always intrigued me and I'm super excited to finally be getting one. I've sold and am selling some gear I no longer use to fund the purchase. It's all part of a restructuring of my approach to photography, a tune up of sorts. I sold a Canon 5D mkII recently and two prime lenses as well, the 35/2.0 and the 50/1.4. I never managed to get the 28/2.8 but always intended to as 28/35/50 provide the FOV I find most interesting to shoot in. I guess my smartphone filled the wide slot. I believe the iPhone 6 Plus has a 29mm equivalent lens. I'll still use the phone camera no doubt, but now have a dedicated machine for each focal length. I'm planning on using my wife Bridget's old Nikon D40 with a 35/2.0 to handle portrait and bokeh stuff as well as providing that nice old school normal perspective. There's something really exciting about moving into older gear. The 5D was amazing, don't get me wrong, but I just wasn't using it as it was too much camera to lug around with me everywhere. It made me feel guilty just sitting there unused, so I decided to just move on and switch it up. I've pretty much always shot with point and shoot style cameras (usually not the finest ones either) as that was generally what I felt I could afford. I loved them nonetheless and they helped me develop as a photographer. I suppose it's a natural progression; moving up to a big DSLR. They are amazing tools and can be fun to use in their own right. I'm glad I owned one. Perhaps I'll come back around some day and purchase another. Right now though I'm thrilled to explore my new setup. Each camera offers a unique experience in terms of image quality, perspective, and the limitations they impose.
Here are a few of the pieces on the web that resonated with me and helped push me in my current direction:
Rollei Prego Micron
From about 2002 - 2005 my only camera was a fixed prime lens compact 35mm film camera, the Rollei Prego Micron. Digital cameras were really starting to become popular, but after searching for one I came away feeling like I just couldn't afford anything decent and that I'd get a lot more IQ out of a film camera. In searching I'd been made aware of the Ricoh GR series of fixed lens point and shoots and man did I want one. But, again being young and poor, even they were more than I could afford at the time. The Rollei Prego Micron is a plastic camera with a fixed 30mm lens that, like the Ricohs was known for its exceptional lens, able to produce sharp images with beautiful renditions of light and color. It lacked the snap focus and manual control of the ricoh, but was within my budget so I went for it. I was blown away by the images and despite being a fully automatic camera found it to be a truly inspiring tool. With it I made photographs that I am still proud of today.
Unfortunately, the lens started to malfunction on deployment and retraction on start up/shut down and it became tough to use reliably. I ended up retiring it for a Fuji Finepix F10, another fantastic automatic P&S which I will discuss another day in a separate post.
I recently purchased a film/photo scanner and have been slowly digitizing the work created with the Rollei. It's fun to be able to share analog work created over a decade ago. I even purchased a few rolls of film to run through it again. It still suffers from the same lens issues, but I'm able to get it work with a little patience. I'm curious to see what comes back.
Loot
Lake Tahoe
Sugar Bowl
Product
Some product shots of my new camera and strap. I was going to make my own leather camera strap until I discovered Gordy's Straps. They're handmade to custom length out of nice thick Latigo belt leather. It's exactly what I had in mind and I figured I'd be hard pressed to make anything much nicer. Add to the equation their affordable pricing and I was unable to convince myself to even bother trying.
As to the X100T, I'm kind of crushed out on it at the moment. It's a really fun camera to use and the IQ is superb. I sold my 5D MKII which had fallen into disuse due to its size and weight to finance it. Though I'd had my eye on the X100 series for years now, my decision to finally make the trade was heavily influenced by my nostaglia for two former favorite cameras (the Rollei Prego Micron and the Fujifilm F10) and this great article.
In other news, it snowed on Friday which made for a great start to the weekend.
Snow Storm Beverages: Rosemary Old Fashioned
Canonball.
Fire Roasted Sriracha Cashews. First discovered these in our weekly NatureBox delivery. This here is my homemade attempt to replicate. It's not spot on, but *man* are they delicious.