Ten Pictures I Took With My Rejuvenated Camera

I've shot my first roll of film with the camera post-rehaul. For the geeks among you I shot with 800 speed Kodak film. Some of the stuff I thought would come out great really didn't. There are some pictures of flowers I took for their gorgeous colors that got all washed out. I did not include them here.

Here's probably my favorite flower shot of the roll.

You know, one of the many differences between shooting film and shooting digital is that film makes you stingy. You don't want to waste film that already cost you something and that's going to cost you something more to get developed just to show people the Madonna in your grilled cheese. So I had to talk myself into taking this next shot and pretend I could make it all artsy. This is some monstrosity that's being built in the 'hood. The unfinished balconies give me vertigo and I wanted to show you.

This is a gorgeous pair of brownstones also in the vicinity. Would it not be a fabulous place to stage excerpts from Romeo & Juliet?

I'm finding that there are some lens issues to be dealt with, too. My camera is old school. Legend has it that it's the make and model of camera that journalists took to Vietnam and used both to take photos and pound tent stakes. It's made of metal, you wind it with your own damn thumb and it still sports the same hard core 1978 style camera strap I got when I got the camera. I own one lens for it. So you shoot things that are exactly as far away from you as they are in real life. No zooming when you're going Old School. This is, apparently, a lesson I haven't quite grasped yet. If you can see the Vespa that's the subject of this next shot then you don't need glasses.

I painted that. Then I took a picture of it.

Here's another one of my favorites. I love the warm colors and it looks all treated, right? But its not. I was shooting in really low light and wasn't paying attention to shutterspeed (yeah, I have the ability to change the shutterspeed which would be another of those basics that it took me a day or so to make second nature again) and mostly was just getting off on working the whole depth of field thingamajig and I took this shot. When I figured out the shutterspeed thing the next day I was sure this one would come out all wrong. Nope, not bad. On the other hand, how can you take a bad picture of that face?

Cheesy first shot of first new roll of newly rejuvenated camera. I was sitting in a B&N, there wasn't a lot of variety, I did the best I could. It's nicely composed at least, no?

Hey! I got a new dress and new haircut and new hair color and I took a picture with my "new" camera taken on the same night where I hadn't figured out the whole shutterspeed issue. What do you think?

Taking pictures while walking your dog on her 16 foot leash? Challenging. Hard to keep everything steady and upright. Thankfully she understands "Stop." Sadly she often thinks it means, "Stop, turn your head, look at me, then keep walking." And it takes me longer than that to set up a shot these days. Anyway, the fact that this place used to be an actual "Home for Old Ladies" (click to enlarge and read) cracks me up so I always try to make pretty architectural pictures of it as an excuse for the same old laugh about old spinsters being shunted off to a home (Gah! Shut up my future!). Sadly after I got it lined up my dog walked off, so this is what you get.

Teddy's Girl took this one. I was taking some shots that didn't come out very well and she and Teddy were waiting patiently for me. The whole time this butterfly stayed on my bag. She was able to stop me, get me to hand her the camera, pose me and take the shot. I have cropped out my double chins and my bunchy elastic waist shorts. Sue me.

Did I warn you that there'd be a lot of photos once I got my camera back? I'm having so much fun, I can only tell you with pictures!