The rest of the roll still needs to be scanned, but here’s my first Holga pic… (Velvia 100)

Film pics (Fuji Reala 100 with an old Minolta SR-T MC-II)

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some bee butt

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these little yellow buggers looked like plastic

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more backyard plastic

Digital (DSC-H1)

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which one of these things is not like the others

I am only a couple of rolls into this film thing, but I am loving my minty new minolta.

All taken with Fuji Reala 100.

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I received a camera and some lenses yesterday from EBay (great deal and Saturday delivery too). I am now the proud owner of a rather minty Minolta SR-T MC-II vintage 1973-75 SLR. I am fairly sure I had a Minolta metal body back in high school photo class, but it died after a 1994 mud wallow at Saugerties.

Also appearing: Kalmimar 1:3.5 35-70mm MC auto zoom, MC Rokkor-PG 1:1.4 50mm, Kiron 1:4 MC 80-200mm, and a Soligitor 2x teleconverter

So, it’s been a while since I fumbled around with manual focus or film. Here are some initial test shots. I wasn’t going for much, just a feel for what works. I’m just thankful anything came out. I have some half-decent film en route (Velvia slide), but these were taken with Walgreen’s very-own 400 speed 35mm color negative film.

Also, I still have to get my transparency adapter to work on my scanner so I can get a decent scan — these have been pulled off of the poorly compressed one-hour photo CD. Like I said, I am just (pleasantly) surprised anything developed.

most of these were taken with the Kiron 80-200mm lens and the teleconverter

a couple of grainy crops — some of it is probably from the high-speed film, but some of it is also from the low-res Walgreens compressed/sharpened scan

and Walgreens color negative 35mm film versus

my DSC-H1 digital

I am used to full manual control on my digital, but it was a blast to have no auto-focus. Although I need to get better scans, I am not unhappy with the results of the trial — I didn’t expect them to look like my usual digital photos, and I am glad they didn’t. Either way, it was great fun to look at the world through a viewfinder instead of squinting at a glared-over LCD.

Thanks for looking!

My offer of free work went over a little too well. Aside from a general winter lull and a car accident, I have been illustrating. Unfortunately, it’s all under wraps until the various non-disclosure periods pass.

Unfortunately, all this attention means that I probably still won’t have anything to post here for the next sixth months or so. I’ll most likely occupy myself by posting photos and a lot of filler.

Also, do not buy the cola champagne headlight repair kit. The owner wasn’t around to answer questions or brag, but I don’t see this fix working out too well or for all that long. However, I do have a feeling that there’s a working bulb in there — I just have to believe he or she had some specific motivation behind sticking a water bottle into the mess. Maybe it does a great job of channeling the light and the cola label gives it a nice ruddy orange glow. I just don’t know.

These were taken around 7:30-45.

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from wtnh.com

New Haven (WTNH) _ New Haven firefighters are still trying to knock out a now three-alarm fire at a bar in the downtown area.

Video taken by News Channel 8 shows firefighters attacking heavy flames inside the Brass Monkey Restaurant at 29 Center Street, near Orange Street.

News Channel 8’s Crystal Haynes reports pretty much all that’s left is the facade of the building.

A section of Chapel Street between State and Church has been closed so firefighters can put out the flames. Chapel between Elm and Orange Streets is also closed

Firefighters are concerned the fire might spread to a neighboring building.

We don’t know how the fire started. Right now there are no reports of injuries.

In an effort to gain exposure I am offering free original illustration work for any published / printed jobs. This includes book illustrations, magazines, product packaging, advertisements, and other such media.

Visit my free offer page for more information.

This is simply for the sake of practice. I’ve been working on it here and there for a few weeks. I’m drawing in colored pencil and then using alcohol to blend it and then going back over it with the colored pencil. Some things I’ve left untouched by the alcohol and whatnot.

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older man with walking stick - watercolor and ink on hot press watercolor paper

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In case anyone has been wondering where the hell all the art is lately, here’s the anti-climatic story: I spent half a month working on the Creature of the Week month-long challenge. I realized that I was not going to make the deadline, so I bailed. That left me with a semi-wasted half-month and 100 creature sketches that I may never scan. I have two smaller watercolors going, but I haven’t finished either. And, since November 1st I’ve been writing a novel for the NaNoWriMo challenge. So far, I’m on track. Aside from all that I have a number of sketches I will eventually scan.

So, for now, here are a couple of photos..

literally the ear of a stranger

squirrel today from Lake Wintergreen in Hamden

Had a great time at Lake Quassy with Sonia. Took this carousel horse using my Sony DSC-H1 (F/3.2 1/25sec ISO-64 9mm) and adjusted the levels using photoshop.

I went to West Rock for lunch today. So, I took these pics of downtown New Haven and East Rock using a Sony DSC-H1 and an Opteka near IR filter. It seemed fitting — yesterday, I took some photos over by one of today’s subjects, East Rock. If you’re curious why everything looks all snowy, click here to learn more about near-infrared photography.

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