Sunday Final

I'm sad.
Sort of.
I guess I shouldn't be, not with all this experimental stuff.
More on this later.
As usual for Sunday, I did my laziness exercises, taking a nap around lunch time.
I was going across the street to scan some negatives, but well, I ain't the King of Lazy just in name.
I am a PRO.
Actually I was just waiting for the light to change.
Yes, that's it.
The light.
So around three o'clock I peeked out the window to see how it looked.
Not bad.
I packed up the cameras, one loaded with C41 noir et blanc, the other with dragon rouge.
That's black and white and red dragon to all you non French speaking folks.
Wait.
I don't speak French either.
The Flat Tire Earth Vehicle in the stairwell:

Going up:

Going down:

As you can see, I'm slowly mapping everywhere I go.
All this for you, the reader.
As you can also see, I'm not quite done.
Anyways, I got down the stairs in one piece.
So off I went!
In keeping with my banana headedness goofyness, I've had some problems loading film in my camera.
Today, I took like ten pictures before I noticed the film wasn't advancing.
I was also shooting the red scale film about two stops hot.
That's two stops overexposed to you non French speakers.
I read some up on that film and decided to try some different things.
Which is all good except they all turned out the same.
Sort of.
I think maybe the lab tech did some color correction although I told her not too.
Could also be the extra exposure time.

I went over to Aloha Tower where they had some kind of vintage car show.
I shot some red scale there, but I still hadn't figured out the film advance thing.
Then I went and watched some folks fishing:

Then I went and watched some other folks fishing.
By now I figured the film thing out, but that shot is with my digital camera.

More fishing folks along with some surfer dudes.
So I shot two stops over with the red scale film and I didn't get any red.
Not like the first time when everything was red.
This time it had a yellow tinge, which happens when you over expose:

The lab tech also didn't correct the negative and all the shots are reversed:

It's a bit strange looking at them, if they were the correct way I may get a better idea of how I feel about them.
For now though, it's just well, odd.
I'll try and scan them correctly over at school tomorrow and maybe they'll be better.
They have a been in a drawer for thirty years kinda feel to them, sort of like the pictures my dad took with his Polaroid Land camera, the one with the bellows.
I kinda like them, just wondering what happened to all the red.
Maybe I over exposed it out.
Anyways, my camera battery died at frame 34, so I head back home:

The easiest way back home from the beach for me is to cut through school.
That's the gym on the left and PE building right in front.
I'm not sure yet what makes that red scale stuff tick but I got one more roll and I'm gonna give it another go.
I also watched a couple of videos on how to load my own, so I'll be trying it with some different color films with different ISOs.
I also got a couple of other things I want to test out.
Stay tuned.

Seeing Red

Which apparently, I cannot do.
More on this later.
So today was laundry day.
Officially.
Now that I'm sort of getting into a groove here at the New Flat Tire Command Center (NFTCC).
It's kinda strange, there are about 24 units here and only four washing machines and I've never seen anyone else in the washing machine place.
Sort of makes you wonder.
If you know what I mean.
So anyways, I ate this like humungous breakfast and I was getting sleepy around lunch time but I decided I'd better get out and do something.
So I lugged the ole Flat Tire Earth machine down the stairs and packed my camera(s).
Off I went!
This is what my street looks like:

Sort of mix between old single family homes, converted single family homes and two and three story walk ups built sometime before the war.
The Vietnam War I mean.
Then again, right down the street there's a brand new twin condo deal that you may have seen in the window washing pics a ways back.
Not much of a neighborhood to explore.
Maybe later.
Beach bound was I:

Okay, that's not the beach.
That's the pier but I was at the beach.
I promise.
Today was test out the cameras day as this morning I went to the post office to pick up my brand new to me:

That's right manual focus camera fans!
A Nikon F3HP!
I guarantee it takes better pictures than the one I took of it.
The F3 I mean.
So anyways I was off to blow two rolls of film, one in the F3 and another in the Holga.
Huh?
The red thing?
Oh! The red thing!
Yes, the Red Scale film!
Well I read up on it after I tested it out and it turns out you need to use it one stop hot.
That is overexpose it by one stop.
Which I didn't know and the Holga cannot compensate for exposure.
So I got a lot of this:

Actually looks kinda cool in an old and decrepit kind of way.
I mean if you like that kinda thing.
I'm not sure I do.
Unfortunately the Holga only goes to f/8, which is a about five stops lower than where I'm usually shooting.
That's like a GAGILLION stops in dog apertures.
My slowest lens is like an f/4 which is still two stops faster than the Holga.
The front of school:

It was overcast on Friday when I took these, so that didn't help any.
I did take some shots directly into the sun:

Reminds me of some kind of nuclear summer.
Or really bad haze.
Or something.
Anyways, I'm a gonna load that Red Scale stuff into the ole F3 and really see what she can do!
I also shot some regular color film on the Holga, I'll try and scan them tomorrow so you can really see what it's all about.
Reminds me of really old postcards, like from the seventies.
Interesting, if you know how to use it.
Which I don't.
Know how to use it I mean.
It's kinda like shooting noir et blanc, where you have to visualize the tones except you gotta visualize in  reds and yellows.
Not really sure how to use this quirky film yet.
I also found a DIY online, so I may try to make my own Red Tire film.
Stay tuned.

Going Backwards

No, not cause I got my tires on the wrong way.
More like going back in time.
Cause I'm a retro kind of guy!
Sort of.
Maybe.
Anyways, back at work I had the inclination to start up sort of a photography club, you know, if anyone was interested.
Well a few of them kids signed up, like about twelve or so, but I've only actually seen about seven of them.
We've had a few meetings and it looks like they are ready to organize so I suppose I'll be a bit more busy.
If that's possible.
Actually I do spend a lot of time doing nothing.
I'm a PRO don't you know.
At doing nothing I mean.
So I ask the kids what kinds of things they want to do and lomography came up.
You know, the really cheapo 35mm cameras with the plastic lenses that take really funky pictures.
I do a bit o'reading up and it seems that these cameras started off as cheap prizes at carnivals and the like.
Well, from carnivals they, the cameras I mean, have moved into the big time!
See the Lomography site here.
So I'm reading you know and getting all excited cause anything funky and out there I'm into.
eVilness here I come!
I order me one.
Then I remember that I read about some local shop here that sells this lomography stuff so I do a search, hit paydirt and remember to take my wallet.
Off I went!
Came back with this:

More evidence that I'm the biggest grape in the world!
Now that I think about it, this camera probably cost like five bucks to make and I paid ten times that!
Okay, not really.
It probably cost like a dollar to make.
Or less.
Well I since I'm the biggest lay down in the universe I also got me this:

I also paid more than a dollar for the book but I don't feel so bad cause it probably cost more than a dollar to print.
Maybe it all evens out in the end.
Okay, I don't think so.
Being that I'm way out there on the cutting edge, avant garde and all that, I just had to get me a couple of rolls of this:

Some film with red saturation chemically built in by some monks in Thailand.
Okay, maybe not but I did order some rolls of this same film from some dude in Thailand and it's currently on it's way via economy third world shipping.
I'll probably get it next year.
I jest.
Anyway, with this plastic camera crap I just took about a GAGILLION steps backwards in camera years.
That's like seven GAGILLION steps in dog years.
If you know what I mean.
On the other hand, at least it's black and nasty.
The camera I mean.
I'll shoot that roll tomorrow and report my results.
If any.
Stay tuned.
This might be awesome.
Or not.

Sunday Final

This is not last Sunday's Sunday Final, it's this Sunday's Sunday Final.
Don't get them confused.
I missed last Sunday's Sunday Final and today's Sunday Early Edition, so this Sunday Final is like for today.
Not last weeks.
Anyways.
Rest and peace.
No, not rest in peace, I'm not quite ready for that.
Unless I quit smoking.
This was a busy busy week for me what with homecoming and all that stuff.
Seems like I've been at work all day and all night!
Finally I got a day that I had nothing to do.
Except for my laundry.
Other than that I sort of just stared at the ceiling all day and went surfing on the ole eVilness.
Which sort of made me happy cause I'm almost at Dennis Hopper goodness, but I'm also sad cause now one of cameras don't work no more.
I mean it works, it takes pictures but it don't sync up with the motor drive which means I'll have to like get another one.
Camera I mean.
Okay, the camera acquisition thing is getting out of hand.
I mean I only have two hands and can only work two cameras at a time.
I suppose I could rig up the remote thingy and use my foot and use three cameras at a time but that's getting sort of ridiculous.
Like this camera acquisition thing.
Early this week I went out at night to go look at this Nikon F3, a camera which I have been pining for.
I pretty much pine for all of them, but this one I had a particular pine.
So anyways, I go out to meet the seller at the mall, which was closing and I ate a bread pudding and I'm still waiting thinking how sweet this is going to be adding the F3 to my collection.
Well to make it short, it wasn't an F3.
It was this:

So I'm telling the seller that I really don't want this camera cause I already got a FG-20 and I don't use that and boy I'm pretty disappointed it's not a F3.
Well as you can see, I must be the biggest grape in the world cause there it is.
I was shaking my head driving home and I'm still shaking my head.
This camera collection thing is getting so bad I'm starting to buy cameras that I don't want or need.
Actually it's a pretty nice camera, in good condition and all and I suppose I can loan it out to the kids in my class.
Some of them actually shoot film.
I'm so proud of them.
So anyways while I was laying around today staring at the ceiling I was also fiddling around with my FE2 camera, you know, taking out from under my pillow and just basically admiring it, when I noticed it wasn't firing with the motor drive.
WTF?
It was fine yesterday.
Apparently there's some problems with the camera and the drive getting it all together, something I havn't figured out yet.
Or maybe it's just old and something inside just decided to quit.
The camera still operates manually and all the shutter speeds sound okay so I think it's still working.
It just won't sync up with that evil motor drive.
I tested it out scientific like and the drive works on my FM2 so I'm pretty sure it's the camera.
I guess I just have to get another one!
Luckily I had an FE2 on my eVilness watch list.
You know, just in case.
Well, it's in case.
If you know what I mean.
Them motor drives.
I just can't live without them.
For you Mr. JRA:



There just went a whole roll of film!
Okay, not really.
The camera was empty.
Sort of like my pictures.
Sometimes.

Sunday Early Edition

I am a realist.
We were down 25-13 and I was reeling off the list of possible outcomes, there were three minutes left in the game, and my student would have nothing of it.

Basically she told me to shut the hell up.
We can still win, she said.
Put a lump in my throat it did.
School spirit.
It still exists.

Boy, she was cheering on the team with a mighty zeal, while still taking pictures!
I mean I've been to a lot of games and the students cheer, but I guess I always supposed it was a sort of empty cheering, you know, for show only.
Last night I realized it was genuine.
They really believed in their team.
I almost got all teary and sentimental.

Almost.
School spirit still exists.
At least for the hundred or so kids that show up for the games.
That's not a lot for a school of 1700 or so, but we don't play 'at home' but at another school's field.
My student reminded me that some of them have school pride, they are proud of the other's that strap it on and play, and when they sing the alma mater they take it seriously.
I gotta admit, I sort of forgot how all that stuff felt, you know, being in high school and all that.
Or maybe I did remember and I just wasn't seeing the same kind of well, loyalty in these nowadays kids.
Or perhaps it's always been there and I've just been blind.
The latter I think.
I've always been a bit standoffish about school spirit and pride and all that but deep down inside I still feel an affiliation with my school, the school I never graduated from.
Okay, I admit it, it's pride and loyalty.
Next week is homecoming and I'll be watching the students with different eyeballs.
Like me I suppose, they don't always show it, but the pride and loyalty is there, and it's the real deal.

Out for a Walk

This morning I went across the street and picked up some film so I could test out the new camera.
I had some problems with the batteries so I decided to find some new ones just in case.
There's a Walgreen's right up the street and I had another roll of film to develop so I decided to walk.
So off I went!

Here I am walking down the street.
It's been rather warm lately so I brought along my awesome hat:

The only thing is that I gotta move it every time I want to take a picture and I had a whole roll to burn between here and the store.
There's school:

Okay, not really.
That's actually part of the state maintenance facility, school is right behind it.
Here's another Chinese place that is now a church:

I'm not sure about what's going on with all these Chinese places becoming churches, but I think these folks may have something to do with it:

Crossing a busy intersection:

I'm always looking for tall parking structures to take pictures off of, but this one is sort of view locked.
Nothing really there.
Taking pictures of grafitti:

Almost there:

I had a couple of more frames to burn so here I am taking pictures of electrical conduit:

Around the block and voila!

I've actually never stepped inside a Walgreens before.
It was nicely air conditioned.
Over to the photo counter to find out that they don't do film.
Shocked was I!
Here I am walking dejectedly back home:

Time to take a nap.

Zen and the Art of Camera Repair

Or something like that.
I mean it's sort of zen like taking care of your own equipment, like Zen and the Art of Bicycle Repair.
Or maintenance.
Makes you closer to your equipment, closer to understanding just what goes on inside and out.
Except I have no clue about what goes on inside a camera.
Well okay I sort of know but the mechanical part is like way above my head.
Or maybe way below my head cause there must be like a GAGILLION small moving parts making things go a click inside there.
Anyways, the easy stuff I can handle, like changing out some rotting foam thingys:

That deteriorating strip is what's known as a mirror bumper, catching the mirror when it flips up so that I suppose it doesn't shatter into very small pieces.
As you can see it is not doing what it's supposed to do.
This is what it's supposed to look like:

Mirror bumper goodness.
Well I bought this replacement stuff that comes in large self adhesive sheets but you gotta take off the old before you can replace the new:

I had to bust out all my Xacto Jedi skilz for this job!
Well I forgot to take pictures of the finished job and the cameras are back at school but it was good to practice on them cheap cameras I got for the kids.
Know what's coming?
Oh yeah!

That's right semi automatic manual film camera fans!
I got me a Nikon FE2 to match my FM2!
Lemme tell you, it's a sickness.
No really.
Anyways, the difference between these cameras is that the FE2 has aperture priority:

Set the camera to the green A and off you go!
Sort of.
My justification for another camera is that I need one for black and white and one for color.
Film don't you know.
Fortunately/unfortunately I'll need a back up for each.
If you know what I mean.
The good/bad thing about cameras, unlike bicycles, is that you can use more than one at a time.
I ain't stopping until I look like Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now:

Almost there!

Sunday Final

So sleepy.
I was.
That's why I am the King of Lazy!
Naps in the middle of the day, at night, in the afternoon and the mornings.
Also the King of Nappy Time I am!
Anyways, I woke up and figured I better do something so my whole Sunday didn't go to waste.
Which isn't actually a bad thing, I have a reputation don't you know.
Well it's been a while since I took some digital photos and since I have dedicated a whole mirrored glass panel to digital images I figured I better start moving.
So off I went!
I was thinking of riding to my destination but since it was only like around the block I decided to walk instead.
A little venture into the urban darkness.
Or something like that.
Destination: Thomas Square, a small park right up the street:

A really bad picture I took with the small camera cause I took pictures with the big camera but I forgot to turn the auto focus back on and they didn't come out.
The pictures I mean.
The park is small, a small city block, but there's a fountain and pool right in the middle that they light up at night.
The pool I mean, the fountain was turned off.
Surrounding the pool are some banyans trees that are illuminated by lights.
White lights, something very rare nowadays.
Well I never noticed them lights until I was driving past one night so tonight I decided to go and get some black and white images:

I had black and white in mind, something I'm still learning to see, cause the lights lit up only certain areas and the tree trunks had some nice shadows on them.

They were also casting some nice shadows too.
Pool reflection:

I spent about an hour and half there taking all sorts of pics and bothering the few that were in the park.
They were probably wondering what the hell I was taking pictures of:

Well after all that a hunkering and a squatting around I got sort of hungry so I made my way down the block.
I got a couple of interesting shots along the way:

I spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to frame that one and I eventually gave up.
Now that I'm looking at it, I think I know what to do.
Like Jane Says, I'll try again tomorrow.
Maybe.
I'll post the rest of the shots on my 5oopx after I get done with the post processing.
I figure it'll take a hundred or so pictures to cover up that mirror, then I got two more panels to fill.
I need to get more photo paper!
If you know what I mean.

Sunday Early Edition

What to do today?

I'm feeling lazy but then again I always feel lazy.

I was going to do a Cactus Update! yesterday but yes, that's right! I was lazy.

Lazy, lazy, lazy.

I am the King of Lazy!

I dare you, the reader, to knock me off the Lazy Mound!

Okay, you win.

I'm too lazy to fight.

Anyways, the Cactus Update!

Not doing so good.

After being left out in the parking lot of The Warehouse, I've taken some casualties.

I watered and watered but I guess the afternoon sun was just overpowering.

I think I can nurse some of them back, but we'll see.

The others faired okay:

A little worse for wear after doing battle with ole Sol, but I think they're going to be fine.

The opuntia:

\

I think I've created an alien monster!

Where's Ripley?

I was trying to find pics of when that opuntia thingy first sprouted, but I could only find this:

Soon I'm gonna be overgrown with opuntia!

It's not like I got a lotta space either.

Speaking of space, my space seems bit smaller now:

I swear that bicycle wasn't that big, but it is.

Taking up a lot of space that is.

Lemme tell you it wasn't easy dragging that thing up the flight of stairs.

Another solution is in order.

Perhaps.

I still got my other two bicycles over at school and my brother has been hinting that I should pick up the Bike With The Funny Name.

I'm seriously thinking about hanging a bicycle up over the lanai.

Or over the balcony.

Or something.

Okay, now I don't feel so lazy anymore but I will again after I eat breakfast.

Feel lazy I mean.

Maybe I'll feel better after a nap.

If you know what I mean.