Warm weather and vaccines has meant the return of car show season in central Virginia. My son and I went to one such car show last month, at Eastside Speedway in Waynesboro, Virginia, just over the mountain from Charlottesville. I shot a roll of film and a lot of digital pictures as well. You can see the digital stuff on my Instagram. Here is the film. I used Cinestill 50D, which is converted motion picture stock, and a Yashica Mat 124G camera
I took these photos during a trip to St. Louis three years ago. I recently had the whole roll professionally scanned, which was a good opportunity to share the keepers. I no longer own the camera I used to take these pictures (a Leica M5) but I still have the lens and I use it all the time.
It’s very cliché but I like photographing old and decaying cars. Here are a few from the last month or so. I tend to think these work best in black and white, but if I see a good one in color, I’ll shoot it in color. The cameras used are a Yashica Mat 124G with Ilford XP2 Super film, a digital Leica, and my iPhone.
Leica M10-D | Konica M-Hexanon 28mm f/2.8.
Leica M10-D | Jupiter-8 50mm f/2.0.
Leica M10-D | Jupiter-8 50mm f/2.0.
Leica M10-D | Jupiter-8 50mm f/2.0.
Yashica Mat 124G | Ilford XP2 Super 400.
Yashica Mat 124G | Ilford XP2 Super 400.
iPhone 12 Pro Max
One consequence of not leaving central Virginia for most of the year is that I have had to get a little creative about my photography, looking for every possible way to capture an interesting image in a small city that is only so interesting. It’s been difficult! And there have definitely been times where I just didn’t take photos for weeks at a time. But now, at the end of the year, I’m pleased to say I have a few, halfway decent photographs under my belt. A few of these photos are from outside Virginia, but most were taken in the state, and specifically in and around Charlottesville. Let me know what you think.
A scene from the Oceanfront boardwalk in Virginia Beach, Va. Taken in January using a Leica M.
A demonstrator at a pro-Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Va. Taken in January using a Leica M.
Two people, walking on the (Virginia) beach. Taken in January using a Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford XP2 Super film.
Elizabeth Warren rallies supporters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Taken in February using a Leica M.
The tennis courts at Tonsler Park in Charlottesville, Va. Taken with a Leica M in March.
Volunteers preparing for a reenactment of the Boston Massacre. Taken in Boston, Ma. in March using a Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford HP5 Plus film.
A participant at a gathering of Black motorcycle enthusiasts in Charlottesville, Va. Taken in May using a Yashica Mat 124G using Kodak Portra 160 film.
An abandoned warehouse in Charlottesville, taken in June using a Leica M.
A Black Lives Matter protest in Charlottesville. Taken in July using a Graflex Crown Graphic and Ilford HP5 Plus film.
The Robert E. Lee Memorial in Richmond, Va. Taken in August using a Yashica Mat 124G and Kodak Portra 160 film.
The Blue Ridge Tunnel trail near Waynesboro, Va. Taken in November using a Leica M10-D.
Just a few photos of election-related things in Charlottesville.
Circumstances are such that so much of my photography these days consists of documenting every nook and cranny of Charlottesville, paying attention to each structure, looking for any way in which the landscape of the city has changed. One such change in my neighborhood is a series of memorials along a nearby street known for its danger to drivers and pedestrians alike. Several people have died on this street in recent months, and their families have erected markers along the median, each one a remembrance of a different life loss. I decided, one afternoon, to take pictures of them, since I see them as a kind of testament to one of the ways in which this city has failed its residents.
It used to be, if you wanted to share photos online, you had Flickr. But no one uses Flickr anymore and the main alternative, Instagram, doesn’t allow users to see photos in their full resolution. Most of us who like photography use cameras which can capture a huge amount of information — either on film or with a digital sensor — but we display our work on platforms that don’t let the audience see that detail.
This is a long way of saying I’m always at a loss for how to share a photo. I post things on Instagram by default, but I don’t make much use of either my Flickr account or my blog. Flickr, I think, is down for the count. But I may try to use this space more often. It doesn’t reach nearly the same number of people as my social media, but I like that you can see a photo in more detail, either on your phone or — preferably — on a tablet or proper computer screen.
With that in mind, here are some photos! I recently bought a Fujifilm X100V as something to carry around with me on my bike (using a leather sling pouch) and as an autofocus camera to take pictures of my kid, who is very fast and nimble and hard to capture using a rangefinder and manual focus. These photos, some of which I have already shared on other platforms, are from a few weeks worth of rides around town. Everything was shot in RAW and then processed after-the-fact using Fuji’s desktop studio software (which itself relies on the camera’s hardware).
Right on 29 heading North.
On Rio Road off of John Warner Parkway.
Off of River Road, I believe.
This was technically seen at a park in Scottsville, Virginia.
Seen at the Ix Art Park.
Taken a few months ago, shorty after it was completed and opened to the public.
We’ve had our fair share of protests in Charlottesville and rather than photograph them with a digital camera or one of my portable, lightweight film cameras, I have been lugging my Graflex Crown Graphic, a post-war era large format press camera, around town. The process of preparing film (putting each individual sheet into its own film holder, in complete darkness), preparing the camera (measuring light, setting the shutter and the aperture) and actually taking the photo (standing fairly still, using a shutter release cable to avoid any shake), is extremely cumbersome. But the results are good and I want to share them. Let me know what you think.
Production notes: The film is Ilford HP5 Plus and it was developed by Dodge Chrome in Washington D.C.
Because I can’t really travel anywhere, most of my photography these days has been of everything around me here in Charlottesville. What is nice is that, because of my new bike, I am much more mobile and can do a little more exploration. Anyway, here are the keepers from the last two months or so.
