Randomness

It has been several weeks and at the least I wanted to post a few photos. Once, long, long ago, I would occasionally post a photo or two of a cat. I haven't done that for a while, so I thought it time. Here is the cat that shares my space, though she would say she deigns to let me share her space. Perspective, I guess. I have mentioned that the $1,000 "kit lens" that they threw in with the Canon 5d is a good lens but not a great lens. That may be true, but these photos do show that it can still make an image. Click on them to make them bigger, and to count the hairs on her chinny chin chin...

It is spring in Minnesota, which means that we have had the extremes of weather. It will be in the 70s tomorrow, but a mere 2 weeks ago we were blessed with a foot of snow. There is a photo from that snowy morning and a more recent one from a foggy rainy morning when all that snow was melting.

Full moon, and full life...

A few early portraits

I am telling you, the lens is amazing!!! It even makes the cat look good!

A new old lens

Those who have followed this blog will recall that sometimes I like using old lenses on newer cameras, but this is kind of extreme even for me. With some help from a colleague who made some adaptations to a camera lens board and a camera mount, I was able to mount a 1950s 250mm Rodenstock Imagon onto a Sinar view camera, and then mount my Canon 5D onto the camera. Cool, eh? I know, all of you are dying to try this at home. With a machinist and about $3,500, you can have the same set up.

The lens is classic design but its main attribute is that it is a soft-focus lens. In the early 1900s, before the Ansel Adams generation came into vogue, there was a movement or genre of photography called pictorialism. These photos were characterized by being in focus, but also being soft. I know, a bit confusing. Pictorial photos were both in focus but they looked soft. It wasn't the photographer, but the lenses that they used. These lenses were just very poorly corrected compared to today's lenses, and then on top of that, they were often more diffused by the photographer, who put things like disks with different size holes in front of the lens elements--the great thing about them is that the level of softness is adjustable. They were used for landscapes, but they were more often used for portraits. What a great idea! There are no dramatic wrinkles with a soft focus portrait lens, and women, and honestly men, too, loved theses lenses for that reason. These old lenses are now in high demand, and some of them cost thousands of dollars.

I found and bought one of these are few years ago, but haven't used it--film is too hard to use. The adaptations that my friend helped with allows me to use it. Certainly these photos don't touch all the potential of the lens, but I am learning with the lens. The photos are in order, and show the lens without a disk, the lens stopped down, and then with some of the disks and the different affects. The street scene is the lens at its in-focus softest.

It's about time...

It has been almost six weeks since I last posted, a length of time I think has been matched only once in the almost four years I have had this blog. Certainly it has been far longer than usual since I posted anything. My apologies to the reader, but a small chastisement to the writer. This blog is important to me for several different reasons, and I should be more diligent in writing and taking photos.

It isn't like I have done nothing, or that I have just sat on my (growing) backside. There was the end of the semester, the holidays, the beginning of a new semester, work in general, and all of that stuff. But I also was a participant of sorts in buying a house, getting it ready, and then moving into the house. I know, how is that for an "oh, and by the way" statement. There may have been a few understated thoughts about life-changing moments in that sentence. And they would all be true. And they would all be positive, too. Imagine the changes, from shoveling snow to painting for the first time ever to changing an occasional diaper to having someone to come home to every day to sopping up water from broken pipes to consolidating and sharing things and space.

It hasn't been entirely easy. The phrase, "old dog, new tricks" comes to mind. And probably not just to my mind. This is the first time that I have shared space full time with someone since 1997. Certainly that has been by choice and by circumstance and by necessity, but that is a long time, or at least long enough to make the transitions noticeable.

But in all the changes and in between the coats of paint and the dripping water and the things lost and misplaced and in the clutter of a move to a new house, something has happened. We are making a home out of this house, a home that will evolve and grow (and be more organized) in the future. It is good space, and I am glad to be in it, and I am glad we are in it.

I have taken very few photos, but here are a few that I have made. There are few of the house, and there are others of the recent foggy days. Hopefully more will follow in the next few weeks.

Winter Solstice

It's all of 10 degrees or so, but with only about one-half inch of snow on the ground, it hardly feels like the the middle of winter. This was about as good as I could do at 9:15 tonight which was about 15 minutes early. One can only hope that the next half of the the winter is as easy as this half--I have heard that it will be lighter.

It has been so long...

It has been so long that I can hardly remember how to do this. I will correct this over break, but you know how it is this time of the academic year. And then there is that life stuff. I know, no context or good cutlines, but here are few shots from the past month.

More soon

Foggy morning...

It was foggy on my way to work, and photogenic enough to tromp through the snow to find these pictures. A new camera but a lens that is 45 years old, and one with very shallow depth of field... You can still buy a version of the lens but the new one is $1700. I bought this Nikkor 55mm 1.2 for less than a $100 when I was in Bellingham. I have taken a few photos with it already (check out my Lake George photos from this summer) but I am just learning about all its capabilities and quirks. I suppose if I had to name a photographer who inspired these, I would say Harry Callahan, though I have a ways to reach his level!

Changing seasons

It seems that is no longer fall, as we have snow, snow, and a bit more snow. Certainly not a blizzard, but we should end up with 4-6 inches. While there are a lot negative things to say about it, it also is very scenic and worth at least a photo or two. I will go out more this weekend for more, but this is the blog's first taste of winter.

A great November day

It is the eve of a long weekend. Thank heavens. Though it has been a short week, it has been a very long week, too, if you can follow that. Yes, I am glad I have a job. I am not always sure that I completely love the job I have, but I think that most people feel that at one time or another. It is just so busy that to find time to work it requires time beyond those 40 hours. I mean beyond those 50 or 55 hours. I am pretty much OK with that, but sometimes it makes for long days/weeks. I need a vacation.

What I know I need to do is take more photos. Here are a few from my way home tonight. Hopefully more from a long weekend will follow.

It is still fall, thankfully

It has dipped into the 20s several times these past few weeks, signaling the end of fall-like weather if not the actual end of fall. It is hard to imagine that it is already November. Brrr.

I looked back in the almost 400 posts on this blog and though it covers almost three and a half years, it seems that this is the year for fall colors--certainly the yellows and oranges and reds of the season have populated more posts this year. I am not sure why--availability, probably. Last year I was in Italy for much of fall leaf season, and I guess that does trump pretty leaves.

But not by much. We have had an exceptional fall for weather and for colors. And these colors have lingered. Though I lament that fall is, well, failing, in reality it has hanging on far longer than it usually does. A few days of (fall) wind and rain with end their tenure, but until then, it has been nice to drive around and see splotches of blaze orange that aren't armed with high- powered rifles.

First light

Several times a week I do my work at St Cloud State University, our neighbor and partner in many things.  I even have an office for those visits.  An amazing office, actually.  With a huge window and a beautiful tree just outside and in full view as I sit in my chair and ponder life's little and big questions.  Or while I think of what those questions might actually be.

I have taken pictures of this tree before, but these are with a different camera.  It seems to work, and successfully captured its first light.