Well, I’m trying to photograph something other than flowers and vegetables.
I really am.
I photographed some neighbor’s children yesterday.
Today, I’m going to photograph my father’s old Kodak Retina IIa rangefinder camera made in Germany that cost 175 dollars in 1953, the equivalent of $1700 today. Yikes. $1700 for a Kodak camera today?
The ones made in Germany apparently were quite good according to Google. Google, I love you. I truly do. I know you are trying to take over the world but, seriously, at least we’ll be well informed slaves.
I found the manual for his Leica IIIf. It even had Plus X black and white film still inside. I found the customs card for it as he bought it in 1956 on our trip to Europe. I found two Leica screw mount lenses. But, no I can’t find the Leica camera. I saw one on Ebay for 250. I’m tempted. I really am. But, film? Oh, lordie. I don’t think I have the patience for that anymore. I would really really really love to look at the world through prints from these two Leica lenses.
But, for now, this purple green thing has me in its windy clutches.
It is a bachelor button.
Hmmm. They don’t name pretty things after spinsters.
Grrr.
©Pat Coakley 2010
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I’m glad to hear about the variety in your (photographic) life! I never doubted it for a minute.
This image is alive. I like how you caught the motion in the wind of the outer parts of the flower, yet kept some of its center in such sharp focus. And how can one go wrong with such colors? It must be early summer!
At this time of year, Don, I could post several photographs of flowers every day so I have to force myself to turn the lens elsewhere. But, it does sorta tell me where my sweet spot is, doesn’t it? Like a colorfully dressed St. Croix resident or tourist walking by you!
Just beautiful! Love the colors and the movement. And I love Google too, even though I agree with you it will somehow become sentient and we will all bow to it’s will.
In the meantime, I found out that the willmottiae was named after Ellen Willmot, a famous, rich, spinster gardner.
http://books.google.com/books?id=r05tI4YsidMC&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=flowers+named+after+spinsters&source=bl&ots=btWCOdyDFU&sig=HbjKz_C4vAXTrx3wsK5V0t7BBtg&hl=en&ei=1LPtS4vQO8Wblgey-IW3CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Well, Carol, you have just made me laugh out loud as I read about Willmottiae on your link! It’s 5:30 AM! Seriously, famous, rich, a gardener…yes. But, she had a sour personality, no one liked her, never mind men, and she had a Napoleon complex and built a hut in her yard similar to one Napoleon had in some battle?? Jesus, god, and the primrose is (first love) is named after HER?? You cannot make this stuff up!
Webster’ dictionary defines bachelor as “an un married man” any man as beautiful as your picture will remain ” an unmarried man” as far as spinster goes I am sure there is a Spinster Cacti out there somewhere. What happened to Bachelorette ? Is that just a reality show?
Now, that’s exactly what I mean…a cacti probably does have a female name. Until the National Hurricane Committee of Goofballs got politically correct, all hurricanes were female names, too!
I love the way how some of you flower shot border on abstraction. Nice shot.
The old Kodak Retinas were good cameras. They had Schneider optics which are very good. I find it sad how Kodak went from selling top quality cameras in the 1950s to being synonymous for cheap crap at the end of the century.
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I blame the accountants. A pox on them!
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The only trouble with the old lenses is that they don’t have modern multi-coatings on the glass elements and that means they will produce images of much lower contrast than modern lenses.
Low contrast lenses are great for portraiture but not so good for just about anything else and shooting into the sun to get some rim light would lead to overwhelming lens flare.
Oh, Razz, now I so appreciate knowing this about the old lenses! It makes me mourn a bit less for the opportunity to have a working camera to fit the lens. Ditto on the sadness factor about Kodak. When I looked it up on Google I was amazed how top quality it was at the time my father bought it!! Another pox from Down Under!!