Print: Laura

This is the awning above the front entrance of the main house at the Laura Plantation in Louisiana. The Laura Plantation is located along the Mississippi River, about halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I took this photo with my Pentax LX and a 50mm lens, and Ilford HP5+ film. I used a yellow filter to darken the sky dramatically. The physical print is 7x10 inches.

Thanks for looking!

Print: Vacancy

Katie and I found this closed down hotel while walking from the French Quarter to the Garden District in New Orleans, Louisiana. In New Orleans, there are Mardi Gras beads hanging from just about everywhere, and this hotel's sign is no exception. I used my Pentax LX with a 50mm lens and Ilford HP5+ 400 film. The physical print is 8x10 inches.

Print: Katie in Recline

I took this photo of Katie last night in available light, using my Pentax LX with a 50mm 1.4 lens, and Ilford HP5+ 400 film.  I love Katie's beautiful, expressive eyes, and wanted to feature them in this photograph. I really love how it turned out. There are clearly some imperfections on the print due to water stains on the negative, but I don't mind (It's film!). The physical print is 7x10 inches.

Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Pentax LX

The Pentax LX was first manufactured in 1980, and was Asahi's first (and last) foray into the professional 35mm market. It was designed to compete with the Nikon F3 and Canon F1-n, the two other "pro" models on the market at the time.

The Pentax LX has everything you could ever want in a manual 35mm camera. A Fast top shutter speed (1/2000). Mechanical shutter speeds if batteries fail (From 1/75th and up). Mirror lock-up. Full information viewfinder. Interchangeable finders, grips, backs, and focus screens. Aperture priority mode with exposure compensation. Double exposure button. Bam. This thing has it all. Asahi pretty much put everything they had ever learned in its sixty years of business into one camera (That's why it's called the "LX"... I guess that sounded better than the "Pentax 60").

The LX is the only 35mm Pentax camera with interchangeable finders

I honestly love everything about this camera. Everything just feels the way it should. The camera itself is quite compact; it's nearly as small as my Pentax MX or Olympus OM-2. However, the build quality feels way more solid than either of those cameras. In fact, it comes very close to the M3 in terms of overall build quality.  Sometimes I catch myself just holding it...and looking at it... as creepy as that sounds.

Over the weekend I shot two rolls with it, and was very pleased with the results. My first roll was with "Arista Premium 400", and the second roll was with "Fujicolor 200." Take a look!

Thanks for taking a peek! I'm headed off to New Orleans tomorrow for a much needed vacation. I'll be bringing along my LX and my Olympus Pen FT, so I'm sure I'll have lots to share when I get back. See ya!

Lost Negative: Bug Ride

Since it's been way too cold to go out and shoot the past week or so, I thought I'd share something I did a while ago. I took this photo in August of 2012, at the Berrien County Youth Fair, in Berrien Springs, Michigan. I used my Mamiya C330 and an 80mm lens, with a yellow filter attached. I believe the film was Arista 200.  I liked the creepy expression on the Bee's face, and how he was holding up a peace sign, for some reason. I'm not really sure why I never made a print of this negative. Maybe I will some day...

Print: Strangers

I made this print from a negative I shot a few months ago in Michigan City, Indiana. I was by the dressing rooms in a clothing store, and saw these figures standing by the exit. Pretty weird! I found out the negative was scratched after making my test strip, but decided to print it anyway. This was shot on an Olympus Pen FT, using Ilford HP5+ film. The physical print is about 5x7 inches.

Thanks for looking!