Some Rain Would Be Nice

 I have been carrying around the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim for a couple weeks, trying to finish off a roll of Kentmere 200.  I got close to the end with an early walk to the river.  Only a trickle of water in the Rio Grande these days.

 Just enough for Roxie to get her feet wet.

 The riverside forest looks surprisingly good considering the heat and sparse rainfall.

 I am told that the Yerba Mansa is blooming profusely and there is a. bumper crop of wolf berries, though I may not make it to that part of the river to see them this year.

I was disappointed with the results from the Kentmere 200 as the first roll I tried some time ago showed a much nicer spectrum of tonality.  I can't rule out processing issues, but doubt I'll shoot another roll of the 200 any time soon. 

I'm also unhappy with the GIMP photo editor at present as it seems to be under constant revision.  I had it working pretty well for a while,  but now some of the tools seem to interfere with each other. 

Spring Bloom

The yearly spectacle of blooming Yerba Mansa along the Rio Grande is something I always look forward to  It came along right on schedule this year at the beginning of June following some nice Spring rains.

Last year a little patch of Yerba Mansa I planted in our yard bloomed at the same time as those in the riverside forest.  That planting is spreading and looks healthy, but this year there are no blooms, or even buds. I'm wondering now if the lack of blooms is related to the fact that the plant is genetically incapable of self pollination. Perhaps I just need to provide a companion that is not directly related to my planting

There is some doubt about the origin of the plant's common name.  Yerba Mansa literally translated means Tame Herb, but what that might refer to is not obvious. An alternate name, Dragon Tail, would seem to be derived from the conical structure which bears the tiny flowers.

Yerba Mansa was used for medicinal purposes by all the indigenous people in the plant's western habitats. It would be interesting to know what names it was known by among  those people.

Easing into Film Photography

 The gift of a '90s era Nikon N8008s got me to thinking about how someone might be introduced to film photography who comes from a generation that has known only digital.  I have suggested meeting that challenge by starting off with the simplest of film cameras.  An alternative might be to work backward from the point where film cameras like the N8008s were digital in all but the recording medium.

By the start of the 1990's film camera makers were offering a lot of choices in cameras with fully automated control of focusing, film advance, speed and aperture adjustment, all under the supervision of miniaturized electronic circuits. The camera from that period I am most familiar with is the tiny fixed-lens Olympus Infinity Stylus which slipped in a pocket as easily as the bar of soap it resembled.

For photographers with bigger ambitions and pocketbooks, Nikon and others put interchangeable lenses into the mix. That came with a cost in complexity and weight.  The N8008s, for instance, requires four double-A batteries to power interchangeable lens focus operation along with the continuous digital display of all control settings. In compensation, the user could choose a fully automated point-and-shoot mode, or opt for full control over each aspect of the process, including shutter and aperture-priority, single or multiple exposures with a single button press, and a variety of metering styles. 

I test drove the N8008s with a roll of Arista 200 over two days in familiar surroundings: Old Town Albuquerque and the Rio Grande where our dog, Roxie, likes to run and splash in the river water.

The AF Nikkor 35-70mm Zoom which came attached to the camera of course was unsurprisingly excellent in image production.  While I have never really warmed to zooms, the very smooth operation of this compact lens and its easy support of frame-filling compositions makes it a real pleasure to use.

I can't justify musing further about the N8008s based on a singe roll experience, so will just suggest exploring the subject further with real Nikon experts like John Smith, aka Fogdog, and James Tocchio at Casualphotophile.

Twin-Lens at the River

 I took my Yashica-Mat twin-lens reflex to the river to make a few more pictures of the Yerba Mansa in bloom.  There are still abundant flowers, but many are starting to turn red now as their seeds mature.

 

 

It was nice to get back to shooting with my Yashica-Mat, which has a very sharp lens and a bright viewing screen.

I have not made a lot of pictures with this TLR, but I am motivated to do more with it now since I have acquired  a No.2 close-up accessory lens, which allows focusing as close as 14 inches.

With the accessory lens the Yashica-Mat still does not have the focal range of the Mamiya C330, but the viewing lens requires no adjustment for parallax and there is no need to adjust exposure as is the case when the C330's bellows is extended.

High Water

 Snowmelt and rain have pushed the river over its banks to flood the riverside forest.  I walked about half a mile parallel to the river with my Mamiya C330.  

I-40

 I took the pinhole camera the I-40 bridge where the highway heads west toward Arizona.  The sky cast some nice light on the water.

I'm getting a little better at visualizing what will end up on the film, but I'm thinking it might be helpful to devise some kind of wire frame viewfinder which will help with my pinhole compositions.

Arista

 I have had somewhat inconsistent results from my Arista Edu Ultra 200 with Rodinal and in this last roll with PMK Pyro.  I'll likely try to give it a minute or two longer in the developer.  I have a hundred foot roll, so plenty of time to get it figured out.

We are having some cool overnight weather in Albuquerque, but still a lot of sun most days and some great light along the river.

At The River With The Nikon F

 Cool Fall weather has brought the Sandhill Cranes back to the Rio Grande Valley.  I've taken a couple long walks along the river to photograph them with my Nikon F and the Vivitar 70-210 Macro Focusing Zoom.

The Vivitar lens seems a versatile performer, though I found it challenging to get it well focused at maximum extension.  I think I likely just need more practice using it.

5222

 I retrieved some Kodak Double-X(5222) of unknown age from my refrigerator drawer and shot it in my Olympus XA. I started the roll on a walk by the river and finished it up at the Albuquerque Art Museum where there was a landscape exhibit including some big camera obscura works by Shi Guorui.

I shot the roll at ASA100 and processed the film in hc110b for 6 minutes.  The negative density and the grain looked good, but the gray tones were kind of muddy.  I probably would have been better off shooting at box speed and allowing less time in the developer.  The real expert in 5222 is jon caradies who shoots that film almost exclusively and processes it in D-23.

My little Olympus XA has an excellent lens and it works fine in bright outside light, but the dim rangefinder makes low light shooting a frustrating experience.  

Autumn Comes to the River

 Late summer rain caused a burst of growth in the riverside forest and cooler weather has brought some color to the foliage.  Trails beside the river are muddy and there are big white mushrooms growing everywhere -- something I had not seen here before.

I shot a roll of expired Fuji 400 at 200 in my Nikon F with the Nikkor 1.8/50mm lens.  This was the 12th roll through my current Cinestill C-41 kit.  I developed for seven minutes at 95 degrees.

I heard a few Sandhill Cranes during my walk, so I'll get back to the river soon to try for some pictures of them.  I managed to clean the fungus off the front elements in a Vivitar 70-210 zoom which was given to me some time ago, and am looking forward to seeing how that performs.