I ran a roll of TMAX-100 through the Olympus OM-2n. As always, I had the lovely 85mm Zuiko attached. This time, I also strapped on the flash.

It was not a successful roll. Maybe three images were salvageable. Why did it have to be shots like this?

Or this one of Charlie, which was typically mis-focused. I may need to try a new focusing screen.

This roll was mostly me plinking around the house trying to get through a roll in the M6 before the MP is back from Leica. I love the 50mm Summilux very much.

I’ve gone through many photographic workflows. Each time, I’m certain that I’ve figured out what works best for me. Finally! Then a few months later I switch back or come up with something new. I wish I would stop doing this, but I probably never will.

So, I have a new workflow ????

There is a part of me that really wants to let Adobe deal with everything. Wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t have to organize, store, back up, or otherwise manage tens of thousands of image files? I could just use Lightroom (desktop) and let the cloud take over the rest. Except I can’t. I have proven myself incapable of giving up control over the files. I have decades of images stored in nicely-organized, dated folders. I know where they are. I know how to back them up. It feels safe forever.

I’ve used many wonderful film cameras from many different systems: From Nikon F to Hasselblad V to Linhof, Olympus OM, etc.

They are all great in their own ways, but none of them comes close to making me feel the way I feel when picking up a Leica M camera.

Sure, every film camera is essentially “a box for holding a lens and some film” but calling a Leica M “just another film camera” is to me like calling Jesus Christ “just another homeless dude”.

The Leica SL series of cameras are special, but not unique. I had an original SL and then bought the SL2-S when it was released. It’s a capable, well-built, beautiful camera. But, if I’m being honest, it’s just another mirrorless camera system. And it was very expensive. Purchased today, my kit, consisting of the SL2-S and the Leica APO Summicron 35mm and 75mm lenses would run close to $16,000. Um, who do I think I am?

Jess and I had lunch at Booyah’s in Muskegon. I had the Q2 Monochrom with me so I made a few snapshots.

I discovered, while rummaging through a drawer, that my Nikon F-100 was loaded with film; Fujifilm Superia, a color film. I’ve pretty much sworn off color, but what the hell, I threw a little Godox flash on the F-100 and burned through the rest of the roll. I still had some C-41 chemistry mixed, but it was well past its prime.

As is often the case with color film, it was a bust. For some reason the Flash, while it seemed to be firing, left most frames wildly under-exposed. There’s no getting away with underexposing color film. The results were mostly horrible. Oh well. It was fun to use the Nikon again.

Late last year I printed a couple (black and white) photos, scanned from film negatives, on my Canon Pixma Pro-100 inkjet printer and I loved them. “There! I’ve finally figured it out!”, I said at the time.

Today, I thought I’d make a couple more prints, also from black and white film scans. The difference was that I have a new computer and never copied the ICC profiles for my paper. I spent a few minutes installing the profiles, made sure the Canon driver was up to date, fired up Photoshop, loaded the printer with Canson Platine Fibre Rag paper, and hit “Print”.

The above photo is a good family photograph. Why? Because it doesn’t just capture members of the family, it captures a family moment. So many family photos are smiling selfies taken at arm’s length. Selfies say, “Here these people are.” but not much more. They’re fine, but ultimately not much more than basic record-keeping. I much prefer photos showing family simply living and interacting in their natural habitat. Here’s another from the same roll:

I finished a roll in the MP today by taking a bunch of self-portraits in my basement “studio”.

The shots in which you can see both my hands were triggered by stepping on the release bulb. Clever! 🙂

I really like the look of these. They were shot in my basement with a new canvas backdrop. I used two Profoto strobes. One with a softbox (octogon) to camera left, and a second with a reflector at camera right pointing at the backdrop. I’m learning.