EdipisReks1

What does “gay pride mean to me?” You didn’t have shit to say to me when I came out to you. So maybe shut the fuck up. Hypocritical scumbag sack of shit.

Is this queer enough for you for you to have me be queer enough for Pride? She’s my best friend. How many assholes do I gotta fuck and how many marches do I have to go on before it’s not “Gay Pride?” Do you have a fucking answer on that one, or would you prefer I don’t exist?

It’s not “gay pride” to me. But I’m newly queer. I’m a man who has sex with men. I only came out recently. I took my soon to be step son to Pride this last weekend. I went to a “bachelor party” this last night and had people like this. But it wasn’t “gay pride.” I’m not “gay.” I am queer though. Do I count? Do we? We don’t care if you don’t think we do. We are here. And we are queer. We fucking count. I’m sorry I’m not queer enough for you, Steve.

A phone pic taken at my bachelor party. Everything else was medium format; won’t have it for a while. I think this is quite good. Maybe Doug will have something to say about it, as gatekeeper.* *I’m aware I’m being shitty, I’m just hurt. I’m not trained. I only know how to develop the shit, not take it.

Is my wedding day so I feel like I can finally finally wear my wedding watch.

Had my “bachelor party.” Was mostly wine and queer theory. Gonna get married today.

I think it’s actually an AE-1, but pretty close.

That’s a great picture Ric! Not a very good picture, but I had a gift for my mother. I hoped she would see she was still beautiful, but she complained: my mom, ladies and gents and everyone else.

Taking this out of of the freezer for a trip this weekend. It’s supposedly been frozen since 2002. I’m still gonna run it at 200, I think.

I picked up the cool new film camera everybody is talking about on YouTube today.

I’m perpetually impressed with this little camera.

Occasionally you get a Grindr worthy shot, on the Q. That’s a much better pic than you can get with an anything else. I dare you. Show me I’m wrong.

Testing cameras and lenses for photos at the wedding. Q does close up well enough. I hope this passes the Doug test; it isn’t at eye level and the background is at an angle.

My very-soon-to-be Mother-in-law cut her teeth on a Brownie Holiday Flash. 127 film is still made, so I thought it would be fun to take her pic on one. Found a LNIB model. Well, it had the box, and looks new other than oxidation on pot metal parts, but look what I found in it… you’d better believe I’m going to develop it! I’d guess it was the only roll out through it. It’s not even a fat roll: nice job person who loaded it!

My two favorite cameras. F/3.5 vs 1.7, at 28mm.

Picked up a 75mm f/2.8 for the Bronica body. I think this is going to be a lot of fun, especially when I start my photo project soon.

Oh, you are certainly correct. But it’s just a happy snap taken with many other happy snaps. I definitely should have knelt. I blame my bad back for that one. Also trying to keep up with Heather and Otis, after doing some architectural sign shots (which is what I was actually doing). Not sure how I would have had the sign point into the composition, though… Things to think about, camera (and composition!) wise. Maybe I should just use the cameras I have and get better.

I have my dad’s Rollei 35. Needs a CLA. I was looking at the CLE because it has aperture priority like the M7, but is a lot cheaper. I’m very happy with the Q straight from camera. I would like something resembling this on 35mm. The FM2, which I basically only use for portraits, and (presumably) the Rollei are fiddly. My AF SLRs are big and noisy. A rangefinder with AP mode might split the difference

Anybody have experience with the Minolta CLE? It has caught my interest, especially if it’s compatible with telescoping lenses (I’m thinking of the new Thypoch Simera).

That looks great! I did the same thing, using content aware healing and then fiddling with it, but I couldn't keep the lines nearly as straight. Thank you! If the book ever gets made (keep in mind I might have 5 made), you'll get an acknowledgment. Straight out of camera: I really love how the 28mm Summilux looks, wide open. Some people complain about the bokeh, but I think it's rather nice. Maybe not as dramatic as some lenses, but very sightly on reflections and light sources. The Leica jpeg processing is also pretty decent. I really love this little camera.

If anybody with photoshop skills is willing, would you take a look at this photo? It's shot number one of the project. I can't retake it because they have subsequently fixed the sign. The photo was taken before I know there was crap on the sensor, so there is... crap on the sensor. I have Photoshopped it out as best I can, but I'm out of my depth. It's sort of worst case scenario: round junk over linear patterns. Attached is a zip with my .psp file after I touched it up and the DNG out of camera. I'll give you an acknowledgement in the book, if it ever gets made, if you were willing. Archive.zip

Does anybody have any film projects in the works? I’ll be moving to small town Kentucky, to Danville, specifically, within the next six months, and will be visiting a lot before I move. It’s an historic town surrounded by sprawl. I want to document the storefronts and signs of the historic downtown with those of the sprawl that has grown around it. I envision having a few books made and sold at the local historical society gift shop (they sell lots of boutique local things, so I think it’ll be no issue having some Printique books there, just to share).

I’m glad all of my cameras have firm leatherette: the soft stuff definitely is the devil. How did you clean it up? I know there are products for it specifically, but I’ve always used isopropyl alcohol, with mixed results.