A Year In Photos -- Week Twelve

This past week was rainy and miserable with constant drizzle and intermittent showers. So I had few opportunities to get out and shoot photos. In fact, I only got out three days. So I'll still have five posts this week, but three of the days will only feature one or two shots and a discussion on how I achieved those shots. Without delay, let's take a look at what some of what this week holds:











With the color images, for those and more we'll discuss how they were achieved and then have a candid examination of why they work and don't work and where they succeed and fail. An artist needs to be their own harshest judge. No one else will be totally honest. Anyone commenting on an artist's work will invariably filter their views through their feelings about the artist and his work.

This week also has an exciting and diver lineup of cameras and films.

Monday: Canon AE-1 (4120937), Canon FD 50mm (4229124), Kodak Plus-X 125 ISO, and a yellow Nikkor filter to bump contrast a bit. Since I only own the one Canon FD lens, I need to be selective in the films I use with it if I plan to go the whole year and both no repeat any film and use it a decent amount. Since I don't think Plus-X can be bought bulk, I don't use it often. And that's unfortunate since it's one of my favorite films.

Tuesday: Pentax KX (8390811), Pentax-M 50mm (3165867), Foma 100 film, and a red filter. I haven't used this KX yet. I bought it in 'great' shape used, but it arrived with a smear in the viewfinder. I haven't yet taken it apart to clean it or see if it can't be cleaned. So that's frustrating and may complicate my photography on Tuesday.

Wednesday: Nikon F3 (1635441), Nikkor-Q 135mm (885501), Tmax 400 ISO, and a green filter. I've had the F3 sitting with a roll of Tmax, 30 exposures, with five frames shot for about a month. So I'm going to finish the roll and open the F3 up to have some Efke or Adox in the coming weeks. Why a green filter? No idea. Gut feeling.

Thursday: Nikon Nikkormat FTN (3634551), Nikkor-Zoom 43-86mm (506282), Ilford Delta 100, and no filter. I've never used Ilford Delta 100 in a 35mm camera. As is my standard policy with new films: no filter. I need to see how it operated with no color correction.

Friday:
Pentax K1000 (7834930), Mamiya/Sekor 55mm (87084), Foma 400 ISO, and a CPL filter. This will be the M/S 55mm's first outing this year and first use in about six months. This was my dad's standard lens that came with the Mamiya/Sekor he got about 43 years ago. With an M42-to-K adapter, it will work on the K1000. However, it won't properly meter, so I'll have to switch it between manual and automatic mode to grab the meter reading and adjust the settings. No quick-turn shots this Friday.

Oh, and for the last week in March we'll have a very exciting experiment. I'll go through the four Pentax K film cameras from Monday through Friday, Thursday and Friday each being one of my K2s. They'll all have the same lens, same film, and same filter each day. It should be fun to see how each level of the K family operates under similar conditions.