Mamiya Pics

I shot a couple of films through my new Mamiya RB67, and got them processed today. There are a couple of minor problems - the darkslide interlock isn't working, which means that it's possible to shoot frames without actually exposing the film, and the flash sync is intermittent, so not all flash pictures work. But apart from those hiccups, I'm quite pleased with my new toy.

Here's the very first frame I took, of our house. The light was really hard and contrasty, and not very good for testing a new camera. I used Kodak Portra NC, and the exposure was 1/250 sec at f/11.

This one is of the lovely Hippie Bus that Des and Karen sent me for my birthday, using available light. The exposure was 1/8 sec at f/4.

Adel Sweetcorn Festival

One of the highest points on Adel's calendar is the Annual Sweetcorn Festival, which is held in August every year. There's a parade, market, sideshows, bouncy castles, food, music, rides, and....

...sweetcorn. More than seven tons of it. And it's free!

All sorts of vehicles took part in the parade - there was even a lawnmower!

Some of the corn being unloaded...

...cooked...

...served...

...and enjoyed!

Shoppers at a vendor's stall in the Square sporting this year's festival tee-shirts :)

Festival goers enjoying the sunshine and atmosphere by Adel's beautiful courthouse.

Taking a break!

Getting Agait

One of my latest projects down on the farm - building a new gate for the horses' paddock:

Now all I have to do is hang it!

iPlod

What a fabulous birthday present! I got it a couple of weeks ago, but have been too busy playing with it to put it on my Blog.

It's an Apple MacBook Pro, with Intel Dual Core 2.6 GHz processor, 4 Gb RAM, high resolution display, and a 200 Gb 7200 RPM disk drive. It is loaded with Adobe CS3 suite and Apple Aperture, and has the marvellous Mighty Mouse.

I'm a happy camper!

(BTW, Plod was the name of my old computer, so this being an Apple is iPlod)

Mama Miya!

One of the lovely birthday presents I got - a Mamiya RB67. This is a completely manual, all-mechanical camera (it doesn't need batteries!), that produces negatives or transparencies 60mm x 70mm. I'm looking forward to exploring the world of film photography again. I got a few rolls of film the other day, and I'll go out during the week and shoot some landscapes and product pictures to see how they turn out. I hope to post some of the results here, if they're any good :)

POP!!

I had a lot of fun yesterday playing with my new HiViz sound trigger, making pictures of balloons popping. I have quite a few ideas for other high-speed photography projects. This is one of my favourite shots from the set - you can see more on my Flickr page.

Fun at the Farmers' Market

We (well, Prairieland Herbs) had our booth at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers' Market the last two weekends. It was really great to be back! Here are just a few pictures of some of the sights from last Saturday:

Maggie helps an early customer at our booth.

Some scented salts, soaps, sprays and silk scarves for sale at our stand on Saturday.

I thought this was nice, the shadow of the bottle-tops cast by the early morning sun.

Maggie enjoying a rare quiet moment.

A pretty flower stall.

Radishes, onions, and reddish onions - just a random shot of some of the wonderful produce at the market.