no kings

I attended Charlottesville’s “No Kings” protest last month, less as a participant than as observer. I brought a few cameras along: a Crown Graphic to shoot large format, a Leica M4-P to shoot a few frames of 35mm, and a Leica M10-D for when I ran out of film. Ordinarily, it is a little hard to distinguish the difference between formats on a phone or tablet screen, but the large format photos stand out for their sharpness and clarity.

As for the protest itself, it was big — with about 5,000 people out on the streets — and lively. A lot of people, here and around the country, are furious with the administration, and they’re desperate for anyone to show actual political leadership. I think the politician to grasp this, whoever it is, will be on the fast track to national office.

Anyway, here are the photos! As always, let me know what you think.

the district (circa april?) and some other random snapshots

One of the problems with shooting film is that unless you are extremely organized it is easy to lose track of when, exactly, you should one group of photos or another. Given the cherry blossoms, I think I took these at the end of March and the beginning of April. But I’m honestly not sure! The black and white pictures might even be from a separate trip! What I do know is that these were shot on an Olympus Pen FV half-frame camera using the 55mm equivalent lens. The color photos were taken on Kodak Ultra Max 400 film, and the black and whites were made using Ilford XP2 Super.

This next photo is actually from the block I lived on from 2010 to 2013.

And here are the other random snapshots promised by the title of this blog post. I took these around Charlottesville (I spend a lot of time walking around Charlottesville).

lumix lx10

Longtime followers know that I have a lot of cameras, but one thing that has always been missing from my collection is a small digital compact. There was a six month period a few years ago when I owned a Ricoh GR III, but I wasn’t happy with the fixed focal length. Earlier this year, I got a good deal on a Panasonic Lumix LX10 — a 1-inch sensor compact with a fast zoom lens. I haven’t left the house without it and I’ve been very happy with the results. Here are a few of the keepers, and expect to see more from this camera as I make greater use of it. I took most of these in Charlottesville, but there’s one in here from a recent trip to New York.

Williams College

I spent the better part of my January at Williams College, where I was teaching a class on the Constitution (so much for that!). It was absolutely freezing but I managed to take a few pictures! Here are the ones worth sharing. The last photo, it should be said, was not taken in Williamstown; it was taken in Troy, New York, which is on the way to Williamstown from Albany.

half-frames

A bunch of half-frames from the end of last year. The black and whites were taken around Charlottesville, and the colors were taken in — where else — New York. I believe the monochromes are Ilford XP2 Super and the colors are definitely Kodak Ektar 100. I shot them on an Olympus Pen FV, which is just a great little camera.