Posts Tagged: 2018

Yashica Mat 124G :: Three Photos

Posted by & filed under art + photography.

Fallen Leaves in the Pond Ice Oxford Street at Night Mom and Canela

11.02.19 – One of my great blog / photo sins of the last year is that I have not posted most of the photos I have taken. The three photos above from last November 2018 taken with a vintage Yashica Mat 124G loaded with Cinestill 800T film are a good example. I posted a few photos from this roll of 120 tungsten film here and there but not here here.

Today, I am resolving my forgetfulness by posting the three best photos from the Cinestill 800T taken in November 2018. The pond ice and my Mom holding her chihuahua were taken on the 8th or 9th of November 2018 in Bishop, California, and the blurred photo of the London double decker bus on Oxford Street was taken on November 24th of 2018.

I have been searching for a in good working order Twin Lens Reflex camera for sometime, of which the thift store Rollei was a fail when I found the Yashica on Etsy for a very reasonable price in early October 2018. Using a TLR is a very different way of shooting film and I was not necessarily fond of the results I got from the first two rolls. Since then, I have only shot one more roll of 120 film in the camera and I have been alternating between using the Sunny 16 rule and an external light meter, as I have more than a faint suspicion that this camera overexposes.

Anywhoo, the above are my three favorite shots from the Yashica TLR from 2018. And why am I posting these photos now? I put in a roll of 400 ISO something in the camera last winter (Jan or Feb 2019) and just found the camera in a box the other day, so I have been shooting with it this week to use the roll of film and see if my thoughts that it overexposes are true. Thus, one year later…

A year late, but better than never.

The London Skyline at Dusk from the Embankment Bridge

Posted by & filed under art + photography, photos + text from the road, writing + blogs.

The London Skyline at Dusk from the Embankment Bridge

Sun. 11.18.18 – Yes, I am back in London to write. I find that I write best here, for a number of reasons both known and rather mysterious to me. When I am home in California, I can muster 2000-4000 words per month, hardly words enough to finish a short story in reasonable time – let alone a book. When I am in London, I can reach that word count in two days or less.

The last two years of US politics have heavily weighed me down and when I get to London, as long as I stay off of the news and social media sites, I am able to feel slightly bouyant again. At least here, I can float in my imagination – unfettered from the fecal matter of US politics – long enough to create and write.

While I am not participating in the NaBloPoMo nor NaNoWriMo, I am doing my best to restart my blogging practice in a more regular fashion – albeit in clumps – as well as finish writing a few stories and a book.

Here I am for a month. Let’s see how much writing and editing I can get done. Wish me luck.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen from the Embankment Golden Jubilee Bridge at dusk with her camera phone.

Paddington Station in the Late Afternoon Light

Posted by & filed under photos + text from the road.

Paddington Station in the Late Afternoon Light

Fri 11.16.18 – There is something about the quality of light coming through the glass panes of Paddington Station in the late autumn at the end of the afternoon that is really beautiful. Every so often, I am able to capture it in a photo. Here is today’s iteration of this decade plus occasional series.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a camera phone after exiting a train at Paddington Station, London, UK.

The Coyote’s Ode to the Full Moon

Posted by & filed under nature + environment.

Thursday, March 1st was the full moon. Late Thursday night / very early Friday morning, the local coyote society decided to yip and howl out an ode to the Full Moon.

It started with one coyote making a low keen, a second joined in with a howl, and before you know it a number of coyotes were yipping, keening, and howling – of which started off several local dogs to barking.

The dog barks were in a low, fierce tone. The coyote yips, keens, and howls were at least an octave higher on the musical scale and more delicate. It was as if the coyotes were singing a love song to the full moon.