Number two in an ongoing series of pond abstracts done at the duck pond across the street from my home.
pond abstract #2
roots #1
lower falls — yellowstone
wall abstract
hole in the wall
doors
As quick and convenient as digital photography may be, I still like to take an old film camera out for a ride now and then. I still have a few of them — the newest being an old original Nikkormat from 1967 with a few Nikkor lenses to crank onto it. It’s still a great piece of equipment, even after all these years.
This photo was done with an Agfa Silette. A simple camera, probably made in the late 50′s or early 60′s, it has three shutter speeds and a pretty good range of f-stops. You focus by guessing how far away you are from your subject. You get pretty good at that, and if the exposure allows you can stop down and gain a little fudge room. It’s primitive, but a hell of a lot of fun to play with. Besides — it only cost me two bucks at a yard sale.
leaf and needles
You don’t always have to look far for interesting subjects. I stepped outside one morning and found this on the sidewalk right off of my front step. It’s amazing what you can find literally right at your feet.
sand dollar
I was prowling the apartment one day with a little point-and-shoot digital in hand, looking for interesting objects to play around with. In my daughter’s room I happened to stumble across a basket of shells. Stashed right next to it was a box of rocks. I dug around in the basket for a couple of minutes, found this sand dollar, set it in the box of rocks, put the little camera on macro, and got this.
It’ll never hang on a gallery wall, but I kind of like the pattern on the shell and the contrast against the rocks.
It never hurts now and then to grab a simple camera and just play around with it inside your own home. You never know what you might come up with.
