Twenty-dollar beauty

Twenty-dollar beauty
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

Sometimes I luck out on eBay... this Nikkormat FTN body -virtually flawless, great working condition was $20 + shipping. I never had one this good when I paid a lot more. I once had a Nikkormat FTN, an FT2 and a Nikkormat EL. The old FTN was all-black, and well-used. I'm sure I paid at least $75 for whichever one was cheapest, and a maximum of $125. All were sold several years ago, as I acquired other Nikons I liked better, or to pay for lenses. This one stays....

Uptown Bar, Downtown Monroe

Watering hole
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

This was taken in Monroe, MI on May 6. Marjorie and I drove down for a couple of hours of shooting, discovering interesting little things about the city. I shot a roll of Eastman5222, which is rapidly becoming my favorite film. I tried using HC110 developer (dilution B) and guessed at 6 minutes, because there are no guidelines for this film as a pictorial film, other than what is on Digital Truth. I think I guessed pretty close, as the negatives looked good and scanned wonderfully. I'll try 5 minutes another time and see how it compares.

It's too bad Kodak does not market this as a still film. It's sold as movie film stock. I think I'd better buy a 250 foot reel from Film Emporium.

one of many kisses

one of many kisses
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

Today is our 28th wedding anniversary. May 13, 1978 seems like such a long time ago, and I guess it is-- over half our lives. Adrienne and I were married between our junior and senior year of college, because it seemed like the thing to do. I guess we were right!

Her cousin Chris Murphy, shot the wedding photos for us on Ektachrome slide film, and I'm glad he did. I scanned in a few slides today, and the colors look like they were taken yesterday.

hands --like ours but different

hands
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

This morning was atypical. A large male low-land Gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo arrived at the loading dock of the Museum, and I was asked to document it for the UMMZ. Unfortunately, I did not bring my D70 or even my little coolpix today, so I had to resort to a 2MP Fuji Finepix that sits around my office. It did the job, but it was painful. This is an unusual occurrence, and I spent 45 minutes later in the day taking photos of Collosus up in the Mammal Division. Most of those shots were taken on film, except for a few that I did on the 2mp camera. The one above is of the gorilla's hand, desaturated, duotoned, and saved as an RGB image. I'm hoping the shots on TRi-X come out anywhere near what I imagined.

This was a rather awesome experience. Being so close to a lowland gorilla, and being able to photograph him at will gave me a profound appreciation for their similarities and many differences from us.

Small Shows

Matt Exhibit 1
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

Today I attended the artist's reception at Bombadill's Coffee House in Ypsilanti. Matt Callow's "Ypsilanti Through a Pinhole" exhibit is hanging there, and Matt was on hand to answer questions and chat. It's always fun to see his work, and there were other photographers there, so we had some good conversations. Ross Orr (another Flickrite from Ann Arbor) showed up and brought along some of his interesting pinhole cameras, and it was a pleasure meeting him in person.

These small shows are a way for photographers to showcase recent work to a variety of people, and considering the paucity of gallery space (for photographers) in our area, I commend the local businesses that encourage such displays on their premises.

Best of all, Matt sold at least three images today. Now, let me see... I guess I need to do the same soon...