Nephew

I'm not normally one for photos of people, because it's not something that I do particularly well. However, this Labor Day weekend we headed to Dallas for my nephew's first birthday party, so I figured I ought to do my darnedest to get some good results. And without further ado, here are my humble offerings...

These photos taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i and Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II.

Agfa Billy Record

One of the cameras I find most endearing is my 1930s-era Agfa Billy Record.

It's a 6x9cm folding camera with leather bellows. Some really nice photos of a Billy Record that appears to be in better condition than mine can be found at 3106 photography.

In Memorium of 9/11 :: September 11, 2008 :: Gardendale, Alabama

There are several variations of the camera. Mine has a JGestar 105mm f/7.7 Anastigmat lens. There are four shutter speeds: 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, and B; and three aperture choices: 7.7, 11, and 16. I almost always meter the light by eye and estimate the appropriate combo of shutter speed-aperture with this little charmer.

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens :: May 2008 :: Dallas, Texas

When I first purchased the camera, the lens was somewhat hazy, which led to the glow that can be seen on the photos above. But I thought that I could fix it. I was wrong. After disassembling the three-element lens, cleaning the components, and re-assembling the pieces, I now have a camera that is haze-free but delivers photos that offer some interesting and inconsistent distortion (see below).

Horton Mill Bridge :: Blount County, Alabama

Yet with all of its idiosyncrasies, it's a camera that I go out of my way to reach for. I think particular photographs are ideal for it. Both the covered bridge above and the Billy Record have weathered the test of time, and one seems the perfect subject for the other.

The Riverwalk :: San Antonio, Texas

Spring Break: Dallas and San Antonio (Installment 1)

I've flown from Birmingham to Dallas more times than I can count, but the arrangement of clouds and sky is a landscape that is ever-differing. On a particular occasion it even sparked a poem; now I don't claim to be much of a poet, but it must have struck a chord, I suppose.

The Kingdom

It was a pillar of cloud

so magnanimous

as if to seem that its only purpose

was to dwarf

the other, smaller,

more sporadic clouds,

to lord over them

as a fief his serfs

And yet it was only

so much accumulated vapor

This is only a modest representation of the Thunderhead, that was the poem's inspiration

 On this particular trip, Anna and I went to visit my family for a few days during my Spring Break. And while in Dallas, there is one particular site I had in mind to see. Previously unbeknownst to me, there is an area of downtown called Thanksgiving Square; in that square, there is a chapel; and in that chapel is a really impressive stained glass window (or rather a series of windows), called the Glory Window. I ran across this while perusing Bill J Boyd's photography. So I had in mind to see it.

Panasonic LX3

 And I was as impressed as I had hoped to be. 

 But that I wasn't all I was to be impressed by. While we were wandering about, and in honor of St. Patrick's Day, Anna set out trying to jump and click her heels like a leprechaun.

Her success is self-evident.