Welcome to the Ann-alog, where Ann Torrence blogs about photography and anything else that comes to pass

An outtake from the 2005 Christmas project

I find the the flamingo needs the blue lights to be complete. I tried it without, and I much prefer them in the frame.

Review of my already purchased Sekonic light meter contains this confirming statement that I am not losing my grip. "Because I put more film through my Nikons than any other camera, I use its metering as my personal standard. Over the years I have found that all my handheld meters were 1/2 to 2/3 stop under the Nikon reading. But Sekonic, Gossen, et al. make no apologies for this, saying that there is no international standard for a neutral gray. Sekonic says they match Nikon's standards but I found about a 1/2 stop difference. Further shooting and tests will tell me more. "

The spot meter reads about 2/3 under the Nikon. Now that I know this... The fix is to set a compensation factor in one device or the other, and to stop going out into the cold and trying another experiment. Funny, as usual, I thought it was me...

Safely put away

I put away properly the N80 film body yesterday. Finished off the roll of film in it from last summer, took out the batteries, and put on the body cap. I had started in a roll of Velvia in July 2004 to do some night exposures - still had a dozen frames, which I finished off in the garden.

The N80 still feels good in the hand, light and responsible. Serviceable, and I learned a lot with it. It went to Paris and New Zealand and wolf-watching in Yellowstone and did not let me down.

That sounds so final. I'm keeping it, and I might need it for a project sometime. The D70 won't do star-trails, for example. It's a good back-up and a fine friend. Worth hanging onto.

Remind me: where do I go to get that film developed?

Downtown SLC

For a workshop at the Salt Lake Art Center, I'm pulling together shots on the theme of Glass & Architecture from my collection of "waiting to see the light of day" negs and files. I have images from Paris, Sydney, Auckland and Perth, and I wanted one from SLC. Here's one I'm considering, taken Saturday night with the new 12-24 DX lens. I scouted this shot the weekend before, and knowing I couldn't make the picture I imagined without the new lens is what broke the bank. It's supposed to be a good thing, to pre-visualize, but no one ever mentioned the expense.

A.B Eberle, team co-captain, senior leads the Red Rocks to another victory

Most Utah gymnastics meets are civilized one-on-one matches where we alternate with the visitors on every event, and the spectators can see every competitor's routine. On Friday, the Utes hosted a quad match, which means all events are going on simultaneously. R did a great job keeping up with the score during the events, and the fans around us appreciate it. Utah prevailed (197.425) over No. 6 Florida (196.450), Stanford (196.025) and California (191.500). It was really fun to have Trish join us.

Shot with the new bank-breaking 70-200 VR, worth every one of the vast number of pennies. I have never regretted spending money on vacation or for better toys, but I have later regretted cheaping out on stuff - not this time.

My test image

In the last 4 days I have printed 26 test images on 23 papers on the Epson 2200. Outcomes: I like the look of optical brighteners (non-archival), smoother texture, and icc profiles make a HUGE diffference. Favorites right now: Moab Entrada and Hahnemuhle Photo Rag for the matte papers.

The glossies are still drying.

Unwilling subject Lucy

Shell collection #1

Thanks to Bryan for pointing me to the LensBaby which arrived Saturday. Popped onto the D70 and almost immediately got a decent picture of Lucy with it. This is going to be a fun toy.

Time to reactivate the blog - the D70 is on order, hoping it will ship today. R encouraged me to spend this unholy amount of money, and maybe in the end it will pay. At $12.50 a roll*, it should take about a year to make up the savings in film and developing. But now there is a whole list of new "luxury" problems - filters in the odd 67mm size, batteries, memory cards. It should be fun. It shall be fun. Stay tuned for new images.

* [2 October 2006 - I actually shot off the equivalent of 400 rolls of film with this camera in the first year I owned it. I didn't figure on the multiplication factor on my productivity when I switched to digital.]