Photography by Naomi Drew
In California, we have been dealing with increasing drought over the years. Usually this creek runs with water falling from Nojoqui Falls in Santa Barbara County, but here it is dry. With the winter’s rainy season beginning, I want to return, perhaps after a storm, as this really is a lovely little creek when it’s moving along. Even dry, it’s nice.
One thing nice about a TLR is that it hangs around your neck at waist level. Tilt it up, tilt it down, and the world and perspective changes. With my old, creaky knees, it’s really a pleasure to be able to get closer to the ground without falling over!
Another tree, a shadow, and a curiosity to see how well the Yashica D’s Yashinon 80mm f3.5 lens could handle the distance. I think it did pretty good!
Inktober was not a big success for me this year!
We were hiking up an ever-narrowing canyon. Light disappeared the further we went. Suddenly, there was this tree, bright against the shadows.
The leftward movement caught my attention . . .
I have been taking my Yashica D TLR out a lot! Color and black and white film. I am finding it so much fun to use and I seem to be getting better pictures in medium format with this camera than with any of my others, all of which are vintage folders. Composing an image in the Yashica is a lot easier than with a small rangefinder view.
Besides using the Yashica D, I also did a roll of a new (to me) film: Ultrafine Extreme 400. For all 12 images in the roll, I applied the Sunny 16 rule, and nailed the exposures on all of them! As far as focus goes, I think my focus was good for most of them, but I think my scanning is a bit off as the film was rather curly even when I tried to flatten it. I am using an Epson V600 with Vuescan and Negative Lab Pro for this batch, but plan to use a digital camera and light table to scan some negatives as well.
These trees were taken on a hill near my house in the late morning.
This summer I had my first really great crop of figs. This is one of the last, a few days before picking. We had some bird or rat problems – not sure which, maybe both. Rats are fair game to kill, but birds are our friends. However, birds are not really the best diners as they peck a little and take off, leaving behind damaged fruit. Netting helps. Hopefully the squirrels haven’t heard about the figs, or they don’t like them . . . No serpents thus far.
While we waited for our food to arrive at a restaurant, they kindly brought out bottles of water. The day was in the 90s (F) and we went through about 4 of them before the meal was over. This restaurant was one of the best Middle Eastern ones we have eaten at – food distinctly flavorful and unique and worth the wait for it to arrive.
Macros of flowers and other things is like a voyage into a hitherto unexplored world.
