The time is changing. The weather is warming. Spring is upon us and it’s bringing a sundry of festivals with it. Last weekend kicked things off and this weekend we have another music festival. The Blues festival is right around the corner. It seems like every weekend has multiple festivals to tickle your fancy. Music. Seafood. Strawberries. You name it. There’s bound to be a festival for you out there. This weekend, I headed out to the Natural Life Music Festival at Jacksonville Beach’s Seawalk Pavilion. I wasn’t familiar with anyone in the lineup, but they still entertained. Heck, I even found myself tapping my foot to the beat a couple of times. This is going to be the first in a series. I’m thinking of calling it Festivals on Film. We’ll see if it sticks. Regardless, it was an opportunity for me to take out my Leica M6. I had a Summicron 35/2 v3 and several rolls of Kodak Gold 200. I shot everything at box speed. I didn’t stay for the entire day since it’s a small area and I felt like I just kept running into the same people. There were still some interesting characters out there, […]
I was scrolling through Facebook last night when an ad popped up for the 8th Annual Hastings Blvd Car Show and I felt like it’d be a cool thing to check out. I’m always looking for something to do on the weekend that allows me to take some nice pictures. So what the heck is a Hastings? Hastings is a small town in North Florida. It’s got a population of less than a thousand and it’s another one of those towns I’ve driven through countless times but never took the time to stop. The day started off pretty bad. I had this great vision to capture a nice timelapse with my GoPro only to realize that I’d forgotten the screw to secure it to the mount. I managed to find a hollow wall anchor in the car that actually held it in place, though. Win! Well, not for long. I was using the media mount and there seems to be some sort of issue with it. Every time I’d turn it on, it would just keep cutting and powering back on. As soon as I took it out of the media mount, it’d work great. Ok, no problem. Ditch the […]
In 1991, I purchased my first SLR. I was in the Navy and had come home on leave. I knew that I’d be traveling the world and I wanted to make sure that I’d be able to capture it all. I walked into Wal-Mart and walked out with a Canon EOS Rebel. It was an absolutely fabulous camera. This camera literally traveled the world with me. I had both a 35-80 and a 75-300 and they made a great combination. They weren’t the greatest lenses ever made, but for a poor sailor with an incredibly low income at the time, they were fantastic. I also had a pretty extensive collection of Cokin filters. Everything you could image. I had graduated filters, starlight, neutral density, and more. I built a nice collection of images from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. I had the opportunity to take pictures in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and many more exotic locations. It was so cool to see with my own eyes places I’d only seen in books. In the last image in this set, wild camels are roaming the banks of the Suez Canal, for example. I’m still in the process […]
I hate to see a weekend go to waste, but things weren’t looking so good yesterday. Not only was it pretty cold (high in the 50s, which is cold for us) but the skies were cloudy and overcast. This morning, I woke up to colder temps, but sunny skies. After breakfast and coffee, I loaded up and headed to St. Augustine to see if I could capture any new images on familiar grounds. Arriving in the early afternoon, I was rewarded with some pretty good lighting and shadows along St. George Street, the main tourist thoroughfare. The crowds weren’t too bad considering it’s still somewhat the holiday season. Unfortunately, many of the ideas I had never fully came to fruition. I’d hoped to take advantage of some nice juxtapositions of light and shadow with color-coordinated subjects but the crowd didn’t seem inclined to cooperate. I probably ended up capturing more empty scenes than I’d planned for. There is a landmark I’ve wanted to stop at so many times yet I never made the effort. And now I can’t. The Kings Head British Pub, an icon located on US1 between Jacksonville and St. Augustine has been providing British fare, beer, and […]
Ok, this isn’t my story of how I stormed Normandy on June 6th, 1944. No, this is the story of how I spent my longest day trip scouring for photo opportunities. I use the app Geotag Photos to record a GPX track that I can use to tag my images with GPS coordinates through my ingest workflow with Photo Mechanic. Yesterday’s track was only 99.64 miles but it took me just over 6 hours to travel. And that doesn’t include my travel to/from the start/end points. It was, indeed, a long day. But it was very productive. Worthington Springs My first stop was Worthington Springs. This is a very small community with less than 400 residents. It was incorporated in 1963 and is close to the banks of the Santa Fe River. I’d wanted to get some pictures of horses and spotted some very soon after turning off of the interstate. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to pull over quickly when you have other cars bearing down on you. Fortunately, I was rewarded a few miles down the road with the largest gathering of horses I think I’ve ever seen. The photo below doesn’t capture the scope of it since […]
New beginnings. Resolutions. Fresh starts. January 1st is different things to different people, but we can probably all agree that it provides a time for reflection as we start a new year. What went right over the past twelve months? What adjustments do we need to make? Are we on the right track to meet our goals, whatever they may be? For me, today marked two points: first, that time to reflect on last year’s photographic growth (hopefully) and second, the last day of my vacation. I dread the idea of having to actually set an alarm for the morning. To help clear my mind, I headed back out to look for fresh, new photo opportunities. Today’s target, the beach. There was a lot going on today. I decided to skip the pier initially because of the line to get in. I headed down the boardwalk in search of new things. I thought I’d see if I could find any interesting reflections with the sand dunes and people walking around. Some people wanted to be part of the action instead of just a reflection. 🙂 The annual Deck The Chairs event just wrapped up so I thought I’d take a […]
Well, here we are. It’s time for the last photowalk of the year. 2024 is coming to and end. I struggled as usual to decide where to go and finally ended up at my regular stomping ground, downtown. I didn’t stay too long. I knew I had to get home in time to make dinner with friends so I put $4 on the parking meter to cover me for a couple of hours and set out. I really wanted to make this a fresh experience. I don’t want to just shoot the same things until everyone, myself included, is sick of seeing them. You have to really stretch and look for new things. Maybe it’s an alley you’ve never stumbled upon. Maybe it’s the glow of a neon sign you’ve ignored every other time you’ve walked by. One thing that I always seem drawn to is shapes and patterns. I love shadows and leaving it to the viewer to decide what cast it. I definitely found myself in new places just by wandering a few extra blocks. I suppose it’s true, there’s a lot to see around us if we only open our eyes. It doesn’t have to be serious, […]
I’ve had the Leica M4 loaded up with a roll of Santacolor 100 film since I started my vacation but the weather has been nasty and cloudy for the most part. Today, however, the skies cleared, the sun rolled out, and I grabbed my bag and ran for the door. I had a two options for nearby towns that I thought would be good candidates for Christmas decorations and opted for one to the north. It was an hour trip to get there but I lucked out and scored a spot not far from the Historic Downtown district. Unfortunately, I was surprised at the lack of decorations. It’s a very popular area, especially during the holidays, and I was expecting a lot more. I wandered about 10 blocks or so before turning around and heading back down the other way. It wasn’t all for naught, however. I met a cool, older gentleman with three adorable dachsunds. It was a mother, father, and their daughter. Apparently they’re a very rare type of dapple dachsund and the male is the only AKC registered one in the US. They were very cute and the daughter was more than happy to hop up on […]
Every time a new year rolls around, I look for a way to improve things. Whether that’s my outlook on life in general, a certain area of my photography, or whatever floats my boat. As 2025 looms just a couple of short days away, I think I’ve settled on Zen. I’m not really speaking in terms of the religious aspects, and I’m not ready to convert to Buddhism. I’m talking more in the sense of awakening my creativity. Digging deep to find out who I am. What, with respect to photography, makes me tick? As I look at the thousands of images which make up my portfolio, what motivates me? What’s my style? Do I have a style? Learn to see what is. Something I want to do is, pardon the phrase, to be more focused. The weather has been hit or miss since Thanksgiving so I’ve been spending a lot of time cleaning up my Photo Mechanic and Capture One catalogs. Something that has become painfully clear is that I hit the shutter button far too frequently. It’s time to embrace the spirit of my Leicas and slow down. I actually purchased a screen cover to turn my M10 […]
Not a whole lot to say today. I spent a little time pulling gear together that I think I might be hauling to Arizona and Utah in a couple of weeks. One of the things I’m really looking forward to is seeing what places like the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion look like with Portra 400. That’s right, I’m stocking up on film! Since I want my unexposed film hand searched by TSA, I don’t want anything in the camera. I knew that I had some shots left on the roll in the Nikon F3 that I needed to wrap up. I went out to the beach yesterday to do just that. Well, technically I was at the “town center”. But close enough. And I did actually walk out to the beach. So here are a few shots from the M10 and filmicized (?) with DXO FilmPack 7. I think they came out pretty good. I’m not sure the mural turned out quite how I’d seen it in my mind, but I definitely like the beach and pizza colors. Let me know what you think!
I recently embarked upon a journey to my past. Where it all began. Film. It all started with a Canon EOS Rebel. I had joined the military and was home on leave. I grew up near a lot of Air Force bases so I took my freshly minted military credentials and headed to the Exchange. I walked out with the Rebel kit and it began a love affair. I took that camera all over the world. One of the few benefits of being in the military. It’s taken pictures across Europe. Spain. France. Italy. I’ve carried it through the Middle East. Egypt. Jordan. It was a great camera and I still have it to this day. Though I’ve been shooting digital for many years now, I’ve felt a resurgence in my desire to shoot film. I’ve been picking up film here and there and Santa (aka mom) presented me with some Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X. I’ve also picked up some expired film on Etsy. Film definitely slows you down. I’m more intentional with the firing of the shutter. My son ribs me because of the work I do. Taking the picture is just the beginning. Next is countless minutes […]
This is actually part two of yesterday’s post. I decided to break it up since it’s a little different but related. So, WTH is CoRK? It’s a cool little name for the arts “district” located at the Co-rner of Rosselle and King streets. Rather than trying to explain it, I’ll just link to their site. Unfortunately, it’s not really open to get public (unless they’re doing a special event, I suppose) so you’ll just get to see the outside of the building. Still some cool art, though. It looks like there are some nice artists affiliated with the venue. I’m going to have to keep any eye out for upcoming events.
Despite having work to do around the house today, I decided to not be a responsible adult and I took the M10 out to shoot another area of town I’ve been through hundreds of times but never really explored. When I was still working downtown, this area was the home to several lunch spots. Today I stopped driving and started walking. These photowalks are really opening my eyes to the community I’ve lived in for over 30 years. The area is known as Murray Hill. This is definitely an older part of town but it’s seeing some revitalization as evidenced in the first image. There are several modern structures in the area now but it’s still full of its “old town” charm. The streets are lined with plenty of options for craft beer, food, and more. Boutique shops provide a number of specialty services. But I was here for the murals. There are around 20 murals scattered around the area and some of the work is insanely detailed. They certainly lend a charm to the area. Even as I was walking around, there was an arts market going on next to the historic Murray Hill Theatre. If you decide to […]
I learned about a new park today and decided to check it out after work. I have to say that I really like having daylight remaining when I log off for the day. I almost didn’t go but I’m glad I did. Not only was it good to get out, but the light was actually pretty good through the trees. It’s a small park but has a nice boardwalk through some surprising wetlands. Not what I expected to find in the middle of a metropolitan city. There is also a nice playground for the kids and a skate park as well. I decided to try a couple of black & white conversions for this trip but this last shot deserved to stay color. Even at 1600 ISO I kept the shutter speed low to get some blur. I think it worked out and it’s even a layered shot with some action in the background. Unfortunately, I left too soon. As I was driving home I realized the amazing sunset I was missing. I said the last one was my last one, but I guess I changed my mind. I wasn’t going to post this but what the heck. I can […]
