I like that photo: very geometric, and the “Closed” sign in the background is poignant.
Rick > On Aug 4, 2021, at 10:53 AM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[email protected]> wrote: > > Early in 2020, say around the beginning of March, I had lunch with a > photographer friend. Over lunch, we both agreed that we hadn't been shooting > any 35mm film for too long a time, so I loaded up my Minox 35GT-E with a roll > of Ilford XP2 Super and intended to shoot it over the course of a week. > > Then the pandemic lockdown happened. Things got delayed. > > I finally made the last exposure on that roll of film about three or four > weeks ago. And it kicked around on my desk waiting to be processed until > three days ago. I processed it in my usual manner—daylight loading Agfa > Rondix 35 tank on the kitchen counter, at whatever room temperature was that > day (about 75°F), in HC-110 mixed 1:49 dilution for 7.5 minutes. I process > *all* my B&W film that way, it's a funny thing that all of them work with > those numbers. :) > > This was the first photo on the roll. It's a picture of the still very new to > me Salsa Beargrease (SBG for short) that I'd custom built—very very quickly, > just as the pandemic lockdown was starting to happen!—after my Specialized > Fatboy Comp Carbon semi-custom was stolen on the 29th of February, 2020. I > suspect this photo was made around the end of March/beginning of April... It > was before the new carbon wheels arrived, before I'd found and fitted the > tire pump, before I fitted the heavy lock to the top tube or the water bottle > cage. Without those accessories, what a lean and simple look it has! > > https://flic.kr/p/2mfjf2y :: Salsa Beargrease in Japan Town - San Jose 2020 > Minox 35GT-E + Ilford XP2 Super > Scanned w Leica CL + Macro-Elmar-R 100mm f/4 > > In the early pandemic year, everything I'd come to enjoy on my rides was > closed: cafes, meeting places, etc. And the sidewalks and streets were devoid > of people, the gathering places were empty wastelands, only a memory of what > normally was. > > I cycled anyway, through my old loops, carried my lunch, and took rest stops > near my old favorite haunts. I was insistent that since bicycling was > classified as 'safe', I was not going to silo myself into my home and just > sit. I cycled nearly every day, walked nearly every day, and meditated since > I couldn't enjoy much of conversation other than on the phone or on a zoom > meeting. > > Looking at this photo, I remember how fresh and new this bicycle felt then. > And it's worked out beautifully over the past year, accumulated about 4000 > miles or so. Can't wait to turn that over in the next 4000 miles! > > BTW: This was the first time I have used the Essential Film Holder, made by > Andrew Clifforth in the UK (https://clifforth.co.uk), to hold both this and > the roll of 645 film I scanned right after it. It's a simple, well-designed, > and well thought out device for holding film flat and secure to make scanning > with a copy camera easy and fast ... Once set up, I scanned both rolls of > film in less than 20 minutes. It does an excellent job and is economically > priced—well worth it! > > onwards, always onwards! > G > — > Godfrey DiGiorgi - [email protected] > > "The question is not what you look at, but what you see." > - Thoreau > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
