With more and more film types getting discontinued — Kodak Plus-X R.I.P. — there’s always incentive to shoot different brands. I’ve done a few rolls of Lucky SHD 100 before, but when I learned that I might be able to get one-hundred-foot rolls of it for very cheap, I decided to shoot a couple rolls of the Chinese import and really pay attention. Verdict is: I really love it. I don’t often shoot slow films, but I probably should do more of it.

So, about the bulk rolls: Some online poking around suggests that Ultrafine Extreme 100 might actually rebranded Lucky. And, Ultrafine Extreme 100 is about thirty-five dollars for a bulk roll, after shipping. That’s less than two bucks a roll of thirty-six exposures. When I can scrape some cash together, I will spring for one.

So the main complaints with Lucky SHD 100 is a lack of an “anti-halation layer.” I was wondering what that is, before figuring out that “halation” is the “halo” around bright highlights. So, when you use the film, there is a telltale “glow” around bright shiny highlights. I don’t really mind that too much.

These shots with Lucky SHD 100 were with the Leica M2 and my goofy Nikon L35AF2 “OneTouch” which I am really starting to like.

Sarah and I went on a fantastic five-mile hike around Multnomah Falls yesterday. I’m sure feeling it today in the thighs! I was in the mood to try some mad scientist stuff, so I taped a green filter over the Sprocket Rocket. This should have brought a little extra definition to the green vegetation on a grey rainy day when using black and white film — Arista Premium four-hundred, as it happens. One does not change settings on the Rocket, so the way to compensate for the loss of two-plus stops of light through a filter is to push the developing. I decided to go with stand development with Rodinal at a lean one-to-one-hundred dilution. Stand developing means I don’t really care about how far I’m pushing. Sixteen-hundred, thirty-two hundred. It’s all the same to stand. See? Like I said, some mad scientist shit.

Just for fun, I thought I’d try using Hugin to try making a panorama from two scanned negatives. This is the morning sun creeping over Golden, Colorado, made of two fifteen-millimeter frames of that mysterious expired Kodak Gold I picked up in Iowa. It’s like having an Xpan, even though I can’t afford an Xpan. It does look a little bit aged, don’t you think?

And, here are some more views from Golden, CO. Some on expired Gold, and some on some cheap Fuji Superia. There’s a pic of me in front of some triceratops tracks fossils. Can you spot them? heh heh.

We stopped into the Community of Flags Store & Gift Shop in Brooklyn, Iowa on a day when the wind was ushering in springtime perhaps a little too urgently. A little old lady was keeping score, volunteering at the store to keep busy after thirty years as town clerk. She told me she also volunteered making phone calls for the Iowa Republican Party. I’m sure they appreciated the help. The place was also a bit of a thrift consignment, and while Sarah perused for local jams and whatnot, I took a turn in back. I found a world map from the nineties that celebrated with pins all the far-flung visitors that had been in to visit little Brooklyn. I can only imagine what the travelers from Tehran, Iran must have thought whenever they made the pilgrimage (sic). I also noted that the map was no longer being regularly updated. I found a tacky camera bag with some brutal Minolta inside, but also four rolls of Kodak film. The tag said two dollars so that’s what I paid. We ended up tossing the camera and keeping the film and the 80s vintage bag. Who knows how old it really was, and for sure it had not known refrigeration. And, when I went out for my first sunny bikeride in the city of bridges, Portland, Oregon, I used that old twice-baked Kodak film from a shop in Brooklyn, Iowa in the ol’ Sprocket Rocket.

Stewart’s Shops are an upstate New York institution. C-store and ice creamery with a very local flavor, the first Stewarts popped up after the war in Ballston Spa, NY. Wikipedia notes some of the innovations dreamt up by this popular chain:

In 1948 the company introduced the folding paper ice cream carton so customers could bring home fresh ice cream more cheaply. The more notable innovation of the year, however, came from the younger Charles Dake’s wife Phyllis, who suggested allowing people to make their own sundaes from a choice of toppings, a practice which continues today and has been widely imitated. The company’s Philly Vanilla ice cream was named in her honor.

The upstate region is rife with blight and misery, but Stewart’s is a bright spot and a local treasure. The high key-ish photo above is the Stewarts on Main Street on Johnstown, shot on Arista Premium film. With their fierce local spirit, long may Stewart’s Shops prosper. Curious about the eggs at Stewart’s? Luckily for you, Stewart’s is down with the Youtubes!

Here’s the first look at my new old Canon A-1. I’m delighted with the fifty millimeter macro lens. I wasn’t sure if I could knock out some handheld abstracts, but it handles like a champ. I picked up the twenty-five millimeter extendo tube for some extra intimacy.

Fuji Reala 100 for the dreamy colors.

Foreshadowing more pickup trucks to come!

“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.”
-Bertrand Russell

Just got this film off eBay. I’m eager to investigate it.

Still fascinated by this random building in Gloversville, NY. I think of it as Gloversville’s ‘Flatiron’ but that’s not really a comparison. Who knows how many layers of painted signage are revealed here? I’ve gotten this superstar a couple times before, as well:

Four Gloversville Structures
Walkin’ Around Gloversville

It’s so inexplicable. Nothing is permanent.

Oddly, this house is next door to a castle-like armory in Gloversville, New York. The troops don’t seem to scare the ghouls. Shit, maybe the wraiths are arming themselves!