Des Moines Photowalk

Maggie and I took our film cameras for a walk around town the other day. Here are some of our results:

Java Joe's coffee shop

Maggie shooting something on 4th Street. I wonder how her picture came out?

The Old Spaghetti Works building on Court Ave.

Old Glory and a cubie taking a break :)

Maggie and the big umbrella.

Java Joe's coffee shop.

All taken with the M6/Summicron 50 on 1998 vintage Tri-X, and developed in D-76. The only post-processing (if any) would be straightening, dust removal, and very slight cropping.

Chicago

Here are some more photographs from our recent visit to Chicago.

The Chicago Theatre (and they even spell it properly!) is a really beautiful building with a fabulous marquee.

Maggie waiting for the bus.

Chicago skyline from the platform of Halstead station.

Chinatown

Here are a few images from our trip to Chicago. These are of our visit to Chinatown - a truly fascinating place....

China Square

The main gate to Chinatown

Two cultures

Woks - many of the shopkeepers asked that we didn't photograph in their stores, but this is from the very wonderful "Woks 'n' Things" on South Wentworth - it's an oriental Williams Sonoma, but with very much better prices!

All these were taken with the Leica M6/50mm Summicron on twelve year old Tri-X 400.

Maggie

I took this portrait at the fibre show on Saturday, just to finish off the roll of film :) I think it worked pretty well!

Music on Vinyl, Pictures on Film

We had an analogue-fest yesterday, at the Des Moines Music Collectors' Show. We had great fun, got some nice records (including Abbey Road, The Dark Side of the Moon, and The Táin (probably my favoutitest album ever)). And I got a few nice photos with the Leica. Here are the scans, totally unretouched:

There was a huge selection of records of all genres for sale...

...though some preferred digital distractions.

Leica M6 / Leitz Summicron 50mm f/2 / Kodak Tri-X / D-76
f/2 @ 1/30 sec.

Minerva

This is one of our foster cats, Minerva. She came to us with a litter of kittens, having had apparently, a most unpleasant kittenhood. She is only now learning to play, and to do normal kitty things. She had been spayed, and is up to date on her shots and vaccinations. If you think you can give this beautiful girl the wonderful home she deserves, contact Panora P.E.T.S.

Leica M6 / Summicron 50mm f/2 (1/30 sec f/2) / Tri-X / D-76 

Scanned with an Epson V500

IKONIX Workshops - Part 2

I brought my Leica along to the workshop, and a couple of rolls of Tri-X. I developed and scanned them yesterday, and here are the results:

These images are of our wonderful and talented model, Kari Shannon, who did a really marvellous job.

And here are all the workshop participants having a great time!

Daphne Willis sings...

...at a private house concert last year. These are from one of the first rolls I put through the Leica, some 18-year old Kodak 3200 - a very unfair way to trial-run any camera! The negs turned out extremely thin with boulder-sized grain, and I think it's a tribute to our scanner that it was able to pull these images out of the gloom.

For those of you not in the know, Daphne is an extremely talented singer/songwriter who fairly regularly plays in the area. I strongly recommend you check out her Website or Facebook page.

More Scans

The day after Christmas was really beautiful, and Maggie and I took a walk on the bike trail, with our cameras, of course. Here are a few that I got...

To see the pictures that Maggie took, go to her Blog.

More Scans...

First Leica Images

So I finally got my first films developed! These black and white pictures were taken on a roll of film that expired in June 1996, so the negs were very thin. I boosted the contrast a bit in Photoshop. I have no idea about post-processing B+W images, and to be fair to the camera, I really should test it with fresh film, but I'm not too displeased with the initial results :)

These were taken in Court Avenue, Des Moines.

Leitz Camera Action

I went to an antiques market in Des Moines today, and found this:

It's a Leica M6. It looks nice and clean, the battery cover and body cap are missing. The guy who sold it to me said it doesn't work, but the shutter seems to work on all speeds, and the winding mechanism seems OK too. I'll need to get the missing bits and a lens so I can test it.

Oh, yes, I paid $12 - that's twelve dollars - for it :)