Photography by Naomi Drew
Here is another camera I have taken pictures with, and which I am considering as a 120mm folder for our road trip. The Voigtlander Perkeo II and the Color Skopar lens are a great combo. I used Kodak Portra 400 in it, and really did not appreciate what the camera and lens and film can produce together. These were taken last year in August, and produced some of my favorite images.
What are your thoughts about this camera for a road trip?
These weeds – oat grass? – are typical grasses in open areas of southern California. The seed heads are sharp and stick into your socks and shoes and work their way in. Pity the poor dog who doesn’t get these removed . . . Mother Nature’s way to ensure a new generation is propagated someplace!
This was taken late in the day, and really underexposed. Cleanup was not the best, nor composition, but I rather like it despite that. Roads leading into the horizon are always fascinating.
Prickly pear are everywhere in my area of California, dotting hillsides and roadsides. They are really quite beautiful – from a distance – but also a wonderful food source. The pears are sweet when ripe, with a deep red fruit. The paddles are also edible, but a bit bland, and are used in making nopales. To eat a prickly pear requires a prickly pear, a pair of gloves to pick what you want, and a fire or blow torch to remove the thorns, which are long and pointy. I don’t go out harvesting, but I always enjoy photographing these cacti. Oh, and before the pears show up, the flowers are really beautiful.
Lizard’s Mouth is a promontory toward the eastern edge of the park, and as the sun rises in the west, it begins to glow.
These leaves are soft and fuzzy, a spot of green in a patch of dried grasses. I rather liked the pattern these leaves made in the field.
While this is a pretty bleak looking landscape, it also shows you how the heat of summer dries the winter grasses. One match, and whoosh! Too many fires already in California.
I thought I had put the kabosh on this blog. Cancelled the domain. Now I am having second thoughts. So, here is a recent photo, taken with a folding camera, the Perkeo II, ca. 1952, using Portra 400 120mm film.
The Glass Aerie 