I haven't been posting much lately as I haven't really been happy with my recent photos and forever delving into my back-catalogue seems like cheating somehow. Once in a while it's OK but as this photolog was supposed to be my impetus to create new work I shouldn't rely on my old shots. This picture comes from a project I am helping a friend with to document his progress in yoga. It's more technical than artistic but it's interesting to see the human body contort into shapes I could never hope to achieve without surgery. I also got to play with the new digital SLR from Nikon, the D70, for this shoot last week. It's a great camera and I love the bright optical viewfinder but I can't justify spending more that $1K on a new camera and system just yet.
As far as inspiration for future photos goes I've done what I often do when I get blocked - dig out, or acquire, some new (to me) equipment. Recent bargains include a battle-weary Olympus 35 RC for $25 from Craigslist; I had to go into a dodgy part of town to pick it up but it was worth it. I can't wait to finish cleaning it up and shoot off a test roll. If it performs like everyone says it may take over the XA as my favorite compact rangefinder. The last roll I got back from the XA I was a bit disappointed with as the lens, although sharp, seems to have a propensity to flare too easily. I also picked up a 500mm mirror lens for my Olympus SLR system for less than $30 from ebay. It's slow and I'm not expecting too much in the way of sharpness or contrast but it might be fun nonetheless. I also just won a Zuiko 28mm for $30 from eBay - hopefully it is in good enough working condition to replace my old Vivitar. Prices for the less popular film equipment continue to go down so I'm getting stuff while I can - at some point people are going to realize how good this old, film,manual focusing equipment is and then I won't be able to afford it anymore.
I also noticed that the wide angle converter that I bought for my digicam neatly fits on my Olympus SLR's 24mm lens with no apparent vignetting, giving me a 19mm ultra-wide angle for free. I've got to play with that some more.
I'm going to be on a road trip down to San Diego for the next week with my wife and puppy so there will be no posts for a few more days unless I get inspired to hunt down a hot spot with my laptop. Hopefully I will get to recharge my batteries, encounter lots of photo opportunities and come back with many gigs of new material. Until then, have a good long weekend.
- Martin
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