After four+ months of lockdown, I really couldn’t take it any more and drove to Arkansas to visit Mom. I took some cameras and some library books along, and managed to shoot a few rolls (finish a couple and start a couple), and read at least a book a day (I finished 8 in 7 days or 7 in 6 days, something like that). All in all, it was a good time, and I’ll be doling out pictures from the visit over several posts, of which this is the first.*
I requested a visit to the lake—Mom co-owns a nice-sized boat dock with my aunt and uncle there, so there’s always the opportunity when I’m there, though I rarely take it—and planned to swim some, but chickened out and just read and took a few pictures instead.
At the top and just below here, one of my aunt & uncle’s neighbors enjoys a beer in a floating lounge chair.
Framing isn’t the best and my color correction is off… I don’t know what the problem is. Well, I mean, I’m a bit out of practice (and rarely pay a huge amount of attention to framing anyway) and I think Lomography changed suppliers for their Color Negative film or something, or maybe the new computer is the issue. (I left my mid-2012, non-retina Macbook Pro behind earlier this year for the new 16″ Macbook Pro… it’s a great machine, and the first Macbook Pro that tempted me, really, but I’ve had some trouble getting used to the way the screen renders color.) I don’t quite know, but you’ll see some variations.
After a half hour of reading or so, I heard a speedboat in the distance, and grabbed a camera to shoot the fun.
Sadly, I think I left the excellent little Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Ai-S pancake (the Japanese one, all metal, with the closer focus**) at f/2 or something, because the boat and all are not in focus, but the trees and things are. Gah. F/8 and be there, James! F/8 and be there! smh.
Still. Makes for a nice, fun series, I think.
A couple of days after this, I drove back home. Mom and I spent 2 weeks on total lockdown, just to make sure, and it was worth it to see her and get out of North Texas for a bit.
*This may very well be the only post about this visit to AR… God alone knows what the future holds. But I tested out Lomography’s underwater housing for the Simple Use camera, loaded with Lomochrome Purple and shot a roll of Lomo Metropolis in the Zero Image pinhole and finished a roll of Lomography Fantome, so there’s some fun posts to be had…
**Earlier this year, my beloved Nikon 50mm f/1.8 E-Series developed a stiff focus ring. I planned to just buy another E-Series as it’s a great little lens, but prices have gone crazy lately and I found the all metal Japanese pancake, an actual Nikkor lens that focuses down to .45 meters, for about $10 more. The bokeh isn’t quite as pleasant, but it’s still tiny and light, and fits just right with the FM3a and my style of shooting, so it’s my new other go-to, the first being the 35mm f/2 D.
