Roll: Pentax LX Randomness

Last weekend, I bought a pack of Kodak Portra 160 film for a multiple-exposure project I have started to work on (See above photo). I took some time this last week to fool around with the film, since I rarely shoot color, and have never specifically used Porta 160 before. I took my Pentax LX, loaded with the Portra, with me estate sale hunting, hiking through the woods, and for another walk along the old train tracks in Highland Park. I used my SMC 50mm f1.4 and SMC 35mm f2.

Thanks for looking!

Print: Rocket Rider

At the same park where I found the rocket slide, I also found a cool little rocket spring rider. I was annoyed because a group of fat old people was sitting just behind the rocket rider, so I had to position them directly behind the rider in the frame. I used my Pentax LX with my SMC 35mm 1:2 Lens, and Ilford Delta 400 film. I also used a yellow k2 filter for a little boost in contrast. The physical print is 10 x 10 inches.

Print: Atomica

Last weekend, Katie and I took a trip over to St. Charles, Illinois, to celebrate our birthdays. St. Charles is a sleepy little tourist town that sits along the Fox River. It's home to many restaurants and shops, along with being the closest town to the Kane County Flea Market, which we enjoy going to. During our stay in St. Charles, Katie and I found a small playground on the outskirts of the town. In the middle of the playground stood a gigantic four-story rocket-ship slide, straight out of the 1960's. Katie and I took turns climbing to the top of the crooked, rusty, creaking monstrosity, and felt very unsafe.

I photographed the rocket with my Pentax LX and SMC 35mm 1:2 Lens, on Ilford Delta 400 film. The physical print is 13 x 8 1/2 inches. Sure, there's some imperfections in the sky, but I think the photograph accurately captures the grandeur of the aging structure. 

Spotlight: Olympus OM-4

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of buying a bunch of Olympus equipment from a nice guy I met over Craigslist.  Among the plethora of camera gear I bought from him was an Olympus OM-4; the last main entry in the OM camera line (It came out in 1983). The OM-4 is the successor to the OM-2 (both have electronically controlled shutters), and while it might not have the same classical look as the OM-2, the OM-4 has a few much appreciated improvements.

Probably the best improvement over the OM-2 is the fact that the OM-4 actually has a manual shutter speed! Yes! If your batteries run dry, you can still shoot at 1/60th of a second. It's always nice to have a back-up plan. Other improvements include a faster maximum shutter speed (1/2000th vs 1/1000th), light up display, and a non-removable hot-shoe. There is a whole new advanced metering system where you can aim the camera at your brightest point, and your darkest point, and have it calculate the correct exposure, but I didn't mess with that feature.

I mainly shot in aperture priority mode, and switched to manual mode for a few tricky exposures. I took the OM-4 around with me to some estate sales, and also just played around in my backyard with a 50mm 1:3.5 macro and a 24mm 1:2.8 (plus fisheye adapter). Everything was shot on Ilford XP2 400. Here are my results:

Thanks for looking!