Another 22 bucks

I missed the Holga - its simplicity, its distortions. Ordered another one, one I figured would would have a tighter shutter release and offer less shake than the first one, which I'd worked over pretty well. I was struck with that camera's clarity and was hoping to recapture that. No such luck. Still, I'm really liking its limitations. This image is from the car on the 110 North as it merges with the 101, above.

Old School

Blame it on the film. Shot almost all film - with a new Holga and an ancient Canon SLR - over the last month, and the results finally arrived.


I pulled out the old Canon FTb, my first camera now nearly 30 years old (sheesh) and have been lugging it around downtown, mostly. It's amazing how much smaller - and heavier - it is than the Nikon, and I have to say I've been spoiled by auto focus. I have no idea what happened to my reaction time, but I'm guessing it has something to do with those 30 years.


Anyway, I've been taken for some time with the mix of early evening light and the mass and fluorescent splendor of City Hall East. Together they put me in mind of what I imagine Brasilia looks like or something from the set of Woody Allen's "Sleeper," all the more so with the belongs, below, of the homeless guy left abandoned for the moment.



That sort of bleakness here, certainly Downtown and in many ways across Los Angeles, will crop up in the coming days and weeks as I parcel out some of the raft of new images.

Passing By

Walking under the bridge leading to the Santa Monica Pier not that long ago, caught by the Treo's camera.

Back to B&W

One from the not-too-distant archive of the El Rancho Market on Alvarado just above Sunset in Echo Park, shot along with the other recent black-and-whites during the half marathon with the Mamiya. I still have a stockpile of Plus X film (125 ISO) and some 220 Tri-X (320) I've got to work through, and while I like the contrast and grain in those images I'm going to pick up some Ilford Pan F, a 50 ISO film that is supposed to render much finer grain and detail on these sorts of exterior shots.