Photography by Naomi Drew
Sewing projects – summer blouses of 100% cotton are nearly impossible to find these days. Everything has spandex. I hate buying clothes these days because of it – all it does is make me sweaty. I guess it’s time to learn how to make pants, too, because of all that crappy spandex. Or start wearing dresses.
This is another metered image from the Pentax 6×7 on Lomo 100.
I loaded up my OM-4Ti with film last summer! The intention was to really master the camera. Well, half a year later, not mastered, but so totally love the OM cameras that I wanted to see what I had. This was taken probably around October 2019, through the studio window in the morning as the light was coming through the leaves. So, of course, “before the fall” – season, and leaves.
Recently I acquired a Pentax 6×7, probably from the earliest manufacturing date of 1969. It came complete with a 135mm f4 macro lens and an eye-level viewfinder. Of course, other lenses are available, as well as a waist-level viewfinder.
The first roll of film I shot was rubbish. Only 3 of 10 images emerged, and all were dreadfully under exposed. Having read that the loading of the 120 into the Pentax 6×7 could be tricky at times, I loaded up Lomo 100 color negative film into it twice. Light meter and tripod.
The results were very good. I had a very limited number of images as the goal was to bracket and see how upping the f/stop and dropping the exposure all worked. I am of the opinion that the shutter needed to be warmed up simply because all my images were exposed.
I took this picture to capture the light falling on a table, a couple of books, and a shawl early in the morning. There are 3 or 4 images of this, bracketed, so I decided it would be fun to merge them into an HDR. Photomatix did the trick. Composition isn’t great, but the colors are good. The sharpness of the lens also becomes evident.
The end result is the camera is being kept – I seriously considered returning it. Now I see adventures ahead for the two of us!
Bark – as individual as a fingerprint.
Toyon is a bush that grows in Southern California, and has bright red berries in the winter months – hence the name “Christmas Berry”. It’s a beautiful plant with dark, glossy leaves, and reminiscent, too, of holly. Perfect for the winter season!
This is an incredibly over-processed image from a badly under exposed photo. However, I did manage to retrieve the berries, which was the whole point!
Winter where I live varies from cold (for us!) to hedonistically warm and pleasant. This day was cold and drear but I loved being out in it – a pleasant cold and drear that is savored for its very briskness.
From a walk last spring . . .
About a week ago, on a cold, dreary day (sounds like “once upon a time” or “it was a dark and stormy night”!), I went out with my Yashica D and a roll of color negative film, Fuji Pro 400H. Colors everywhere were muted, more so as it was in the latter part of the afternoon. I guestimated all exposures, and found that I had been too conservative in my estimates as many of the pictures were under exposed. Fuji Pro 400H makes for beautiful colors in the sun, but perhaps Ektar would be better suited for a cloudy, dull day. Perhaps, too, colors would have been better rendered with more light? Hard to judge at this point – the more I use film, the more I have to think about beyond exposure!
These are the last of the Mira Sol peppers, waiting until they are ready to be harvested for seeds. I have never seen this pepper before, but we like it a lot, so we figured best to save some seeds for next year’s planting.
A bit past prime, but the Mr. Lincoln is one of the loveliest deep red roses.
