Thinking about Film

Aspens and Lodgepole Pines at DeMotte Campground north of the Grand Canyon.

 

My film cameras and film stock.

For a number of years I've been keeping a few rolls of film in my refrigerator. (Refrigerated film will last a long time without changing color.) You can see what I have -- three rolls of Fujichrome Provia in 35mm, a roll of 35mm Fujicolor 400, three rolls of Fujichrome Provia in 120 size, and three rolls of 120 Fujichrome Astia.

The photo of the aspens and pines at the top of this post was made with the Autocord, the camera in the center, above. That was way back in 2018, on our wonderful camping trip west.

Six years is a long time to go without shooting any film. No excuse. Digital photography is just too easy, and cheap. Film is more difficult. It requires more precision, and it's expensive. But, no excuse.

What brought all this on? A few days ago, I noticed my film sitting in the refrigerator and thought hmmmm. Also, my 87-year-old body is giving me a few hints that it may not last forever. As I thought about it, I knew I didn't want to go the old folks home or to my grave with that film still in cold storage. Maybe this fall's colors will give me inspiration to take out the film and shoot it up.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

If you would like to have a print of any of my photographs, check out my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  If you don't find what you want there, let me know and I'll arrange to include it in the gallery.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    film photography      travel          Fujichrome Provia film        Minolta Autocord camera    Twin-Lens Reflex     Fuji Astia film     120 film     35mm film

The Backroads Traveler: Two Courthouses

 The Romanesque Revival Macon County Courthouse, Oglethorpe.

The Macon County Courthouse in Oglethorpe, Georgia, was built in 1894. Although Oglethorpe is currently a sleepy place with a population of about 1300, things were once much different. In the mid-1800s it had a population of 16,000, making it one of the largest cities in Georgia. It missed becoming the state capitol by just one electoral vote. Things are much quieter these days.

I used a nifty little software program called PT Lens to make the vertical lines parallel in this photo. Current versions of Photoshop have this feature built in, but I'm too stubborn and too cheap to pay a monthly subscription fee to Adobe for something I can work around and get by without. 

The Romanesque Revival Henry County Courthouse, McDonough.

Another Georgia courthouse in the Romanesque Revival architectural style is the Henry County courthouse in McDonough. This style was very popular in Georgia's courthouse-building boom years of 1890-1910.

This is one of my favorite compositions. I love the way the courthouse is framed by the flowers and statuary of the downtown square park. The photograph was made with a Minolta Autocord twin-lens reflex, my favorite camera, and Fujichrome Provia film in 120-size. Unfortunately, the high cost of film and processing keeps me from using the TLR much.

By the way, while many Georgia counties have their courthouses located in the downtown squares of their county seat towns, many others are located off the square, with the square itself being a city park.

About the equipment: the photo of the Oglethorpe County courthouse was made with a Canon EOS 6D digital camera with the Canon EF 24-85mm lens. The Henry County courthouse was, as I said above, photographed with a Minolta Autocord twin-lens reflex and its 75mm Rokkor lens, loaded with Fujichrome Provia transparency film.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

If you would like to have a print of any of my photographs, check out my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  If you don't find what you want there, let me know and I'll arrange to include it in the gallery.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    digital photography     film photography      travel      Georgia      courthouses      Canon EOS 6D camera     Fujichrome Provia film        Minolta Autocord camera    Twin-Lens Reflex    Canon EF 24-85mm lens

More Preaching about Noticing Things

Above the crowd. U.S. Highway 441, Clinch County, Georgia.

 It occurred to me last night that it's been a while since I nagged  my readers (both of them!) about my favorite photo-subject: noticing things. 

Actually, noticing things will benefit more than just your photography. It's also important in all of life. When your eyes and mind are open to everything around you, your entire life will be enriched. 

Noticing things benefits others, too. As the great American photographer Tony King said, "The photographer is like the kid who discovers something really cool -- a new kitten, perhaps, or a birds nest with the fledglings still in it -- and runs to tell his friends to come see what he found."

Photographs can give us new insights, kindle our sense of wonder, and increase our appreciation of the world around us.

The Best Iron Works in Town. Orange Walk Town, Belize.

 But it all begins when we open our eyes and minds and notice the things around us. As the great New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a whole lot just by lookin'." (Did you know that Berra is the most quoted person in the English language? Yes, even more than Shakespeare. Look up some of his sayings. You will be amazed.) 

About the equipment: The tree standing above the crowd was photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Classic digital camera and the Canon EF 24-85mm lens; the Best Iron Works was photographed with an Olympus OM2n film camera and the Olympus Zuiko 85mm f2 lens on Fujichrome 100D film.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

If you would like to have a print of any of my photographs, check out my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  If you don't find what you want there, let me know and I'll arrange to include it in the gallery.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    travel     Canon EOS 5D Classic camera     Fujichrome 100D film    Georgia    Olympus OM2n camera    Orange Walk Town    Canon EF 24-85mm lens    Olympus Zuiko 85mm f2 lens     Belize    Yogi Berra quotes

The Passing of Lifelong Friends (Repost)

Barbara plays the ukulele for Cindy.

(This is a repost from July 8, 2022, in honor of another friend and basketball teammate from my college days who passed away recently.)

I received word today of the passing of two lifelong friends. One was the wife of my roommate my first two years of college; the other was a teammate on my college basketball team. Later, I was the junior varsity basketball coach at the private school in Miami where he was the head coach.

I am saddened, but realize that I am blessed that so many of my lifelong friends are still alive.

Louise and I were on the founding faculty of Florida Christian School in 1968 and were there for two years before moving to Chattanooga. In 1968 and 1969 the staff and many supporters of the school spent the Thanksgiving weekends camping at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on south Florida's east coast. The photograph of Barbara Krall playing the ukulele for Cindy was made on Thanksgiving weekend, 1969 with my first "good" camera, the original Nikon F with the bulbous Photomic pentaprism, and a Tamron 135mm f2.8 lens. The film was Kodachrome 25, which I bought out-of-date for very cheap at the Eagle Army-Navy stores in Miami.

The photo below is the young Jenkins family at Jonathan Dickinson the previous Thanksgiving. It was warm that year, not chilly, as it was in 1969. The photo was made with a Kodak Instamatic, the camera that got me started on my life in photography. The film was color negative of some kind, probably Kodak.

 

The young Jenkins family, 1968

Time passes, and so do we all. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

If you would like to have a print of any of my photographs, check out my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  If you don't find what you want there, let me know and I'll arrange to include it in the gallery.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    travel     Nikon Photomic F camera     Kodachrome 25 film    Florida    Florida Christian School     Jonathan Dickenson State Park    Kodak Instamatic camera     Miami