Been keeping my eye out for a cheap SX-70 since Pete Digital lavished some Impossible Project film on me. Found one sitting on a shelf in an antique store in Yakima – bellows looked good, seemed solid. Twenty bucks. Done and done.

Except, it really was done. A sad, sad waste.

As the sun died in the West, we crossed into Washington overseen by the lords of the valley: The wind turbines. While they are easy fodder for photographs, I was seized, still, with an unstable desire to freeze them in time, while doing a long exposure of some headlights. So, I parked and braved some unreasonably cold winds to see what I could do. This is an ungainly composite of two exposures that seems to tell my story, the surprise reflection of the hillside in the unsuspecting semi’s exposed wake revealing the only true way out. Or, perhaps I only need to post it to justify the bitter time spent on the highway. Let us never revisit this moment in time.

While cruising Yakima, WA on a rainy Sunday morning, Sarah spotted something strange off in the distance. We skirted some fences around ground zero of the site of the old flea market to discover the remains of a McDonalds playland* out there on the outskirts of some sort of autonomous free-for-all zone of mobile homes and car hulks. Some treacherous sneaking across a decrepit boardwalk got us to the sad scene. We poked around a while before tripping the dreaded canine alarm. As we exited the zone, I noticed a lanky figure in a distant garage watching from underneath the shade of his trucker hat. I made sure to keep an eye on Sarah until we were safely past the fence.

* We believe these fixtures pre-date the horrific “PlayPlace” moniker

I’ve just brought my old Instagram account under the all-encompassing Redfishingboat umbrella of imagery insanity. If you don’t follow me already, then @redfishingboat is the place to be. Having the same name on Twitter and Instagram makes a ton of sense, right?

If you’re not on an iPhone or Android “device” you can still see Instagram goodies using one of the various web portals that are springing up. My current fave is gramfeed — after meeting the creator at an Instagram meetup recently.

I generally follow an ethic of only putting cameraphone photography on Instagram. I don’t loathe anyone who posts SLR photos to the service, but I believe it’s more for a lighter, more instant sort of experience. That doesn’t mean I won’t use a whole slate of iPhone apps to tweak my junk. Yeah, I just said “tweak my junk.” Live and let live.

Roller derby dream sequence.
Long shutter on film.
Leica M2
Canon Serenar 85mm
Arista Premium 400
Adox Adonal 1:100

Trip to the coast! Photos taken with the Canon 5D and the iPhone4. Good times!

While we were on Cannon Beach, there were some mysterious pink roses placed in the wet sand. I don’t know where they came from, but probably they were a Mothers Day gesture. Very intriguing.

Biking around the state park, I took a wide-angle of some imposing derelict tree trunks. This was three iPhone photos stitched together in Hugin. I have to say that Hugin really opens up some wonderful possibilities with the iPhone. I’m still learning the ropes with it, but I am encouraged by this result.

We were on the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park — on the ocean side — and Sarah pointed out all the ladybugs on the sand. It was blowing a good ‘un but I tried swapping lenses anyway to my FD macro lens. I got down on my belly to say hello to a ladybug and as I was focusing, it blew away! So I wriggled over to another one, and the same thing happened… except this time it was punctuated by some nearby girl yelling. “Oh, water!” and I was able to reach my arm up in time as the ocean slid in around me with merciless rapidity. I saw my backpack full of lenses being engulfed, so I stretched out and flung it up the beach to a dryer spot. Gave my shoulder a solid wrench, tell you what. I was dismayed and drenched. But, Sarah and I headed back to the yurt and things were basically all right – just some sand all over my 5D. The bag was wet and encrusted, but the insides were safe and secure. Props to basic Canon backpack! Sarah was so patient with me.

The photo of Sarah with her Olympus is my favorite iPhone photo in quite a while.

Just fiddling with a panorama viewer called WP-PHOTONAV. Roll your cursor over the image to scroll it. Cool?

I took in some roller derby action on Friday. It’s a tough activity to photograph!

In our last episode, I found myself taping a green filter to my Lomography Sprocket Rocket. I liked the results very much, but didn’t like the tape job. Also, the Bay-1 filter I used was actually visible in some frames depending on focus. So, it’s time for a mod!

I got a 43mm -> 52mm filter step-up ring. There are two screws on the face of the Rocket, but get this: those are ornamental. I tried to unscrew them but they don’t catch. I think they’re rivets. So the circumference of the area between the “screws” and the lens is perfect for 43mm. I happen to have a bunch of 52mm filters so this works out well. Given the extreme wide field of view I worry that something narrower, say a 48mm filter plus the step up ring, might actually extend out far enough to be visible in the frame. 52mm seems perfect.

I sanded the back edge of the step up ring to remove the anodized black and give my cement a better chance to hold. Then I used contact cement to affix it to the face of the Rocket. The seal feels pretty solid to me.

Now I’m ready to shoot some Tri-X pushed to 1600.. and beyond!

And yes, if you missed my custom covering for the Sprocket Rocket, details on that are here.