This year on my annual winter trip to South Carolina, I spent a little time wandering around the historic neighborhoods in the town my parents live in. These are the photos. Everything in color is a half-frame shot on Kodak Portra 160 and everything in monochrome is a full frame shot on Ilford XP2 Super.
My goal here was to treat these very familiar sights as if I’d never seen them before. How would I photograph them, in other words, if I were a tourist? I shot most of a roll during the 6 or so hours I was in town and these were the keepers.
We go to South Carolina every winter to visit my parents. Usually, this gives us a chance to have a little time without the kids, who are busy spending time with their grandparents. This year, my wife and I took a day trip down to Beaufort, South Carolina, a town of real significance in American history. Specifically, it was home to Robert Smalls, one of the heroes of the Civil War and one of the first black Americans elected to Congress.
Beaufort is a lovely little town, and we intend to take another visit to explore a little more. Until then, here are some photos I took from this trip.
In addition to my usual camera, a Leica M10-D, I also brought an Olympus Pen FV along. The Pen FV is a half-frame 35mm camera manufactured between 1967 and 1970. It’s small, compact and a lot of fun to shoot. You can also use the half-frame format to make diptychs, which I tried to do here, as you can see.
Some pictures from a recent trip to New York. We went for a friend’s wedding and had a moment to walk around the next morning, before we caught a flight back home. Photos taken with a Leica M10-D, a Leica M4-P and an old Canon Powershot G10, which I kind of love.
I was in Flint, Michigan for two days last November and had enough time to walk and take pictures downtown, near the university. Here are all of the keepers.
Back in September I had an extra day to spend during one of my semi-regular trips to New York and decided to use it to walk the length of the island of Manhattan, from the Marble Hill station all the way down to Battery Park. I walked about 14 miles in a little more than 5 ½ hours, including stops for snacks and lunch. I also, obviously, took pictures. Here are the best frames from the day. I used my Leica M4-P, the M-Hexanon 28mm lens and Fujicolor 200 film.
And obviously I took the subway back to my hotel.
I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a few days in October for a talk. Here are the photos I took while walking around downtown. As always with (most of) my 35mm stuff, I used a Leica M4-P and an M-Hexanon lens in one focal length or the other. I think this film is Ilford FP4 Plus but I don’t actually remember.
I recently came across a Canon Powershot G10 from 2008 in good condition. I’ve always liked the design of those cameras and I’ve been interested in buying another older digital point and shoot, preferably one with a CCD sensor and the ability to shoot RAW. Luckily, the Powershot G10 has both. I bought it and have been using it pretty consistently around town and when I travel. Obviously given the size and age of the sensor you’re not going to get the kind of highlight recovery or shadow detail that you can extract from a more modern digital camera. But under the right lighting, you can do a lot with this little guy. And, I’ll say, these CCD sensors really do render a little differently than the more common CMOS sensors, and I think it makes for a nice effect.
With all of that said, here are some photos. I edited all of these in Lightroom with the use of some presets to get the look I like. Places visited include Poughkeepsie, New York, Bridgeport, Connecticut, New York City, Washington D.C. and, of course, Charlottesville.
Back when the weather was warmer, I took my five-year-old out to a classic car show. I gave him a camera to use and he had a good time walking around and taking pictures of everything he was interested in. We recently got the film developed and, with his permission, I wanted to share some of his favorites from the day. I think they’re pretty good.
Made a brief stop in Ithaca earlier this fall — ask me sometime about the insane travel mishaps that almost derailed this trip — and took a few snaps. These are the ones worth sharing! The camera was a Leica M4, the lens(es) were my usual set of M-Hexanons, and the film was Fujicolor 200 (the old emulsion).
