Angles and shadows

Omni hotel parking lot, Charlottesville, VA

Arlington, VA

Olympus XA2, Legacy Pro 400 (rebranded Fuji Neopan)

I've heard people say that winter's a bad time for photography. Oh, please! The shadows, naked trees, and low-angle light create wonderful opportunities. Don't make excuses — make pictures.

Film rules for B&W, I'm convinced. I'm scanning for now, but one day I'll build a proper darkroom and do some real prints. And my B&W negatives will last longer than me.

The Olympus XA2 is a wonderful pocket camera. It's tiny, built to last, and simple to use. Three-zone focus and an ASA dial are your controls. The clamshell design is pure genius, and the wide-normal 35mm focal length is sublime. In fact, it's becoming my favorite focal length. Plus, it's "full frame!"

Tracks

Self portrait

Megapixel insanity

Great post on Petavoxel. It's the first in what's grown into a short series of posts in reaction to all the 14-megapixel small-sensor compacts announced at CES. It's well-written, concise, and should be read by anyone shopping for a camera if you ask me.

Serious photographers have known this for years, that packing more and more megapixels into the same small space was detrimental to image quality. But no matter how loud the plea to the general public, it has fallen on mostly deaf ears. Let's hope the tide is starting to turn.

Footsteps in the snow

Made with the Ricoh 35 ZF and Arista Premium 400 (actually Kodak Tri-X). "Sunny 16" exposure of 1/500 at f/16. The light meter is not functioning, but these old cameras are great because I can simply remove the batteries and do everything manually. I taped a cheat sheet to the back but I am using it less and less as I get a better sense of exposure. It's a great way to learn, actually.

Graveyard