2019 Retrospective

2019 was a good year for me from a photography perspective! I didn’t do as much as I would have liked to, due to physical limitations, but I did get some great shots.

I compiled my favorites from the past year into a short video that I put on YouTube, but I have it here so you can watch it. Don’t fret; it’s just over a minute long.

I hope you enjoyed it. It’s definitely a diverse collection, featuring digital film, scenery and models, and I even decided to sneak a concert photo in there that I took with my old point and shoot camera that I has an awesome zoom lens (I was in the nosebleed section).

Have a wonderful New Year, and here’s to your endeavors, photographic or otherwise, in 2020!

Film Fun: Fisheye Lens on a Holga

I got a fisheye lens for my Holga 120 CFN camera. I stuffed some 120mm film in there, attached the lens per directions, and proceeded to shoot some photos.

My pupper Sputnik

I think this lens is a fun gadget to noodle around with. I always have been fascinated by the fisheye effect, and was happy to get this lens for my Holga. I was actually surprised at how decent my results were.

See below here for more of my photos. The descriptions for each one is in the caption.

• 

  Poop Bags at Grater Memorial Park. I always grab a handful while walking Sputnik.

• 

  Outside the Eicher Arts Center in Grater Memorial Park.

• 

  There are the most adorable goslings on the other side of the Cocalico Creek.N

• 

  No, just mud.

• 

  Pretty flower from a neighbor’s bush.

• 

  More pretty flowers.

Do I recommend that all Holga users go out and grab their own fisheye lens? Nah, but if you want to give a try, be my guest. You can get them for some of your hard-earned scratch over at lomography.com.

Film Fun: Chinon CP-6

I’m still shooting film, and I just got some back! I FINALLY got around to developing my expired film prints that I took with my Chinon CP-6 SLR. I took it along on a riverboat trip on the Susquehanna River by Harrisburg, PA, USA, on the boat, The Pride of the Susquehanna. You see, one of the lenses I have for it is a magnificent zoom lens.

The Photos

I’m really please with the results. I didn’t fix them up in Lightroom or anything. I know the horizons are crooked and wonky, but I don’t care. I’m just happy to have my photos back. See the captions for more information.

• 

  The Pride of the Susquehanna

• 

  A view of the Front Street Bridge.

• 

  Water churning from the boat’s paddles

• 

  One of the bridges over the Susquehanna River

• 

  The Commonwealth Capitol building

• 

  Cool shot of the river and the USA flag

• 

  My father-in-law. He’s the one who gave me this particular camera.

• 

  The Front Street Bridge

• 

  A cool shot of one of some of the many bridges

Chinon CP-6 Film SLR Photos

I hope you enjoy these photos and they inspire you to get out and shoot, with film, digital, or both!

This poor neglected blog.

I really should update here more. Still, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been taking photos. Quite the contrary.

Here are a few things that I’ve done since I’ve really done a proper update.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I hope you enjoy this peace offering for not updating in like forever. Let me know what you think. (Be nice, please)

Notre Dame: 2002

Yes, yes, it’s been a looooong time since I really posted here, or on any of my other blogs, for that matter.  I will get into that another time, but I do feel the itch to write today here, and take it slow, because something happened that tore at me, and many other people around the world.

The beautiful flying buttresses of Notre Dame.

In December of 2002, my dear friend Joan and I took a bus tour around Europe. The last big stop on the tour was Paris. I loved Paris. It’s gorgeous. One of stops on the tour of the city was the magnificent Notre Dame cathedral. I got some photos of the outside. Unfortunately, I believe the did not allow your to take photos inside for fear of people using their camera’s flash. Flash lighting is damages old tapestries and stained glass windows.

Entrance Details

I do recall a sense of awe and quiet while in there. I know many people have described that same feeling when entering Notre Dame. It is a magnificent piece of architecture, engineering, and beauty. It breaks my heart for the loss of this work of art that so many people over the centuries have marveled at.

So, that’s where I leave it today, but are two more photos.

Notre Dame Details

Heading towards Notre Dame.

Fire!

Holy cow, I am so sorry that I haven’t been posting much.  Things have been extremely busy on my end, so life got in the way of updating.  So, I have some down time right now, and you’re getting a badly needed blog post.

I recently attending a friends huge birthday bash that was outdoors and featured food, camping, libations, and games.  I was asked to bring hoops for people to try, and I did, but he also had another one of his friends, Inger, bring her fire flow toys.  I was fortunate enough to get a few shots of her spinning, responsibly I will add, with fire.  That’s her spinning a fire staff above.  She also did fire breathing, and spun fire poi, complete with glittery sparks!

 

It was a great party!  I had a ball, and it was great getting some great shots of fire flow arts.

 

Zenkaikon 2017

Every year Lancaster, PA, USA experiences a strange, but very cool, invasion.  If you see people in cosplay wandering around downtown, in must be Zenkaikon.  The convention, which ran from April 28-30, 2017, brings in a lot of people in costume, and features events in anime’, science fiction, and Japanese culture.

I happened to have my camera at work for a, well, work reasons, and had left it locked in the office.  I was glad I did, because on the opening Friday of the convention, I got to take a few photos of some of the attendees arriving, like the one above.  Here are a few more.

I have more photos over on my Flickr photo stream in an album.

Perhaps next year I’ll get more photos of the fun, and it looked like people were have a great time.  I am also impressed with all the work people put into their costumes.  Well done, cosplayers!  I hope you had a great Zenkaikon!

A Good Friday Stroll

First off, I apologize for not updating here more regularly.  Truth is, I was really burned out from blogging.  I maintain a few of them, and it was starting to wear on me, but I’m back and ready to post.

Good Friday was a lovely day here where I live.  My husband Sam and I took Sputnik out for a walk.  I didn’t take may, but I got a few nice photos on my phone during out stroll, including one funny one.

See the eggs toward the top? A pair of ducks made their nest in this tree which grows over the Cocalico Creek in Ephrata, PA.

And poor Sputnik was caught in the act while I was trying photograph this lovely bush.  Yes, we do clean up after our dog.

 

National Puppy Day

It’s National Puppy Day!  I was informed by a coworker that’s what today is, and since I have a puppy, I thought I’d celebrate here by posting a few new photos of him.  National Puppy Day is a day to celebrate puppies, and to encourage people to adopt dogs and puppies from rescues and shelters.  We got Sputnik from a rescue and he’s still a puppy at nine months old ( and over 70 pounds).  It’s great time to share these photos!

Now, you may notice the photo above has a blurry, dreamy effect to it.  That’s because I used a Diana F+ lens on a special camera mount made for Canon DSLR’s.  I haven’t used it in a long time, so I figured it’d be fun to experiment with it, taking photos of Sputnik.

Since you have to shoot your photos this way in Manual mode, you need lots of light and a subject that stays still.  I had neither, but I managed to get a few good photos.

Here’s a few more.

I have a few more in a Flickr album, if you’re interested.

Have a great National Puppy Day!  Hug your puppy, even grown up puppies.  I know I will be.

 

Views from the Delaware Shore

I was recently in Rehoboth Beach and Lewes, two beautiful spots along the Delaware shore.  Some college friends and I had a small place to stay for a long weekend, and it was fantastic.

I did get some nice photos of the trip, too.  I didn’t bring my Canon 7D, but rather my Canon point and shoot, a Canon PowerShot SX210 IS.  It’s an older model, but it has a great optical zoom.  I also used my iPhone 6s for a few shots, too.

I’ll share a few of my favorite shots here, but to see the rest, head on over to my Flickr album of all the photos, and take a look at them.  In the meantime, take a look at my favorites.

Oh, what the heck. here’s the embedded Flickr album.