Lake side

I'd love to take credit for this beautiful shot, but Photographer Magnus Dahlstrom did the honors.  This is actually a digital photo.  While I am, and always will be, a "film photography purist", I have to give credit where credit is due.

This is a my latest film camera acquired on Ebay.  I literally received it today in the mail.  It is another "old school" manual film camera.  I've attached a 210mm, Vivitar Series 1, zoom lens to it (not pictured).  This is another bargain I obtained online.  The cost was $5.00 plus $7.90 shipping.  Now is a great time to bargain shop on Ebay, and every other online market place.  The reason is the after Christmas prices.   

This is a 128mb memory stick for older Sony brand digital cameras.  So why is a "film purist" showing you a picture of a digital camera component?  Simple, I came across several of these as the result of a used office furniture purchase.  I've been selling them at a wholesale price ($12.99 + 7.99 shipping) on Ebay to earn money to buy more film cameras and equipment.  These little devices paid for the camera pictured above.  To see these and other items I'm selling on Ebay, thru the end of January, or until supplies are exhausted, just visit Ebay, and search for the Seller; "mrdlt.2".  'til next time, happy shutter bugging.   

 

Pond Geese

Christmas Dogs

This short video by Dom Bower is a practical guide, showing how to use your flash to create a variety of photo effects.  The size of his flash is NOT necessarily what you or I will need because every Photographer has his or her own style.  The techniques work, regardless of flash size.  Watch, learn, and enjoy!

My Saturday Evening

•                           

1.  On my way to downtown St. Louis, I came across this situation in Overland Missouri.  Multiple fire trucks, blocked off streets, Police officers re-routing traffic, and a lot of general confusion.  I had my Minolta 300si camera with me, and because I had intended to take pictures anyway, this seemed like as good a place to begin as any.  Because the police were specifically directing people away from the buildings on the right side of the street, I knew I couldn't get close enough to see what was actually causing all the confusion.  So I used my zoom lens to try to get a closer shot in the hope of learning what was causing all the attention to the roof of the buildings.  Eventually the fire trucks began driving away, I never did find out what they were looking for, so my next stop was downtown St. Louis, Missouri.

 As the evening wore on, the sun was beginning to set, so I took a few quick shots of downtown.  I found a band in Keiner Plaza giving a concert.  They were actually pretty good musicians.  Songs by Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson, and Gladys Knight were part of their repertoire. 

 My next stop was Union Station Mall.  The photo below was taken just outside of the mall stores.  As you can see it's getting darker outside. The restaurant in the picture below is Landry's. The time of day is dusk.  The wooden bridge leading from the mall parking lot, across the moat to the restaurant has tivoli lights that give off just enough illumination to highlight the water under the bridge.      

 My final shot for the evening is of this water fountain.  It is dark outside, but the built in camera flash lights up the water beautifully.  

 This is the Minolta 300si film camera I used to take the pictures above.  It's a modestly priced piece of equipment.  You can find them on Ebay (where I found this one) for less than $35.00, including the shipping. A great first camera for student photographers.  I used auto focus mode to take these pictures because I wanted to see for myself whether or not the rumors I've heard about this camera are true.  The rumor is that it's almost impossible to take a bad picture with this model.  What do you think?
If you own one of these cameras, please give me your opinion.  'til then, Happy Shutter bugging!      

Glamour

                                                                                                         Debra

                                                                                               Suanne


I specifically did not take these photographs.  The model above is from England. Her first name is Debra.  The lady below is American model Suanne Haffaker.  I'm posting these pictures under the heading "Glamour" because I think it's possible to have great photos that are indeed glamorous, without resorting to the seedy kind of photography that is little more that mild porn.      

Occupy Wallstreet?

                                         A protester dressed as a Wall Street Broker.

                                        A barely clothed couple engaged in open sexual activity.

                                          A teenager under arrest for dis-orderly conduct.

                                           A "protester" defecating on a Police car.

Of all the images above, only one seems to actually depict an act of "civil" disobedience.  The rest are clearly behaving in a criminal manner.  One young man interviewed by the press admitted that he was from another state, and really had no business being there.  He was running from Law Enforcement because of some warrants for his arrest, and felt that; "the protest was as good a place as any to hide and crash for a while".  

Switzerland

Paris, France

                                          Notre Dame

                                          Eifel Tower at Night

Scenic Canadian Wildlife

Life in Bali

                                          Road-side Market

                                         Bali Taxi

Australia

Australian forest after the rain

Florida Beach House

Michelle shops at Target

Michelle Obama shopping at Target.  Can't truthfully say I took this photo, but it's such a good picture I had to post it.

Beijing China

                                                                                            Ming Tombs, Beijing

Nature

                                                                     Blue Morning Glory Flower

                                                                                               Raccoon

                                                                                      Tiger Swallow Butterfly

Serenity

Above is the Minolta HTsi 35mm film camera I've used for the past several months.  A great camera, obtained at a good price, on ebay.  Several of the pictures posted here recently were taken with this camera.  It's easy to use, and gives the owner the choice of manual or auto focus operation.  Today, I'm moving on to a different Minolta camera, because I no longer own the HTsi model.  My daughter expressed an interest in film photography, so I gave it to her. 

My new (to Me) camera of choice is the Minolta 300si, also obtained on Ebay.  Now, (the date of this post) is a particularly good time of year to buy camera equipment on Ebay, or any online site because the 2011 school year has just started.  For many families that means discretionary  spending has to come to a halt.  Notebook paper, pens, pencils and other school supplies have a higher priority than camera equipment.  Which means fewer people bidding on the cameras, which means more bargains for you and me.   Happy shutter bugging!

Nikon N2000 film camera

My most recent acquisition from Ebay. This is a Nikon N2000. It is a manual focus camera. There is absolutely nothing automatic about it except for the film advance. Originally produced in the mid 1980's, this is Nikon's first model to feature automatic film advance. It arrived with a 135mm zoom lens. I've yet to take any pictures with it. I have 2 other cameras ahead of it. This one was purchased (if I'm remembering correctly) for less than $25.00 including the shipping.

Manual camera film load

For those of you who may be new to 35mm film photography, and have never loaded film into a camera before, this video is just for you. It really is a simple process, and once you've done it a few times it becomes almost second nature to you. The camera used in the video is a Yashica brand, but the procedure is basically the same regardless of brand name. Enjoy.

2012...

Ok, the 3 shots above were us goofing around before getting serious about taking some pictures that could actually be used in advertising. The idea was to capture the attention of everyday people with antics we've all done in front of a camera.


My friend and model, "Tye" agreed to help me with what will probably be my final photo shoot of this summer. The T-shirt she's wearing bears the slogan, "2012...because B.O. is worse than flatulence". You've probably guessed that the B.O. referred to is the present occupant of the White House.

She's a dream to work with because she needed very little direction. We used a small park located in Overland Missouri as our setting. And, were careful to include the gazebo as part of the background. The idea was to go for the "girl next door" look, because the shirts will be sold on the "www.yardsellr.com" site. A social, networking site where everyday people buy and sell. No super models, or aristocrats, just everyday normal working class people. The shirts will be for sale beginning Labor Day Weekend.

The camera used was a Minolta HTSI film camera, with a 70mm - 300mm Tamron zoom lens. The film was 800 ISO, (film speed) Fuji brand 35mm film.

Night Time Photography

As you can see the images above were taken at night. I used Fuji film (800 ISO) for all the shots in this post. The lens for shots 3 and 4 were taken with my favorite, a Tamron 70 to 300mm, auto focus, zoom lens. Additional lighting was provided by my Minolta HTsi Camera Flash. The camera was set on "auto", and the pictures (I think) came out "ok".

Shots 1 and 2 were taken with the same camera, using the same roll of film, with the same "auto" setting. The difference is I used a smaller lens, a Minolta 35 to 80mm auto focus lens. And, I added a "star" filter, which is what gives the star effect from the street lights. I like the effect, but hate the graininess of the pictures. I'm experimenting with this camera, and I thought a few night time shots would be a nice change and challenge. In the future, I think when using a shorter lens, I'll also opt for manual mode instead of auto. Doing so would have let me over-ride the camera's aperture setting, and given me the option of letting in more light.

If you have any night time photos tips, let me hear from you. Until then, happy shutter bugging...