today's photos...

Been posting mostly my instant camera collection lately, but the Leica is always ready to take a great picture right out of the bag.  Love how it just seems to be an extension of my vision.  Matched with the Summicron 50mm Leica lens, the results are always stunning.  Unfortunately, I can only take a small part of the credit here.  The camera and the subjects make it easy...

expressions of pyper - photosets

One of my favorite things to do. Sit around, with my Leica in hand, watching Pyper play and capture her expressions.  To me, this will be priceless later on...

photoset #1

photoset #2

friends taking pictures...

If friends can take pictures of one another why can't cameras.  Leica and Polaroid got together a couple of weeks ago and took pictures of each other.  They both summoned me for a little help in pushing the button...

the (fish)erman...

Another picture from my latest Seattle trip.  Took this one at night with the M8.  The closest that I will probably get to a real Seattle fisherman...

SX70 in Seattle...

Back in November I expanded my camera collection to include a few Polaroid cameras.  Since that time, my interest in shooting with the Polaroid has increased even more than my collection has grown.  Seems that I can't quit taking the pictures (or buying the film from The Impossible Project).  On this trip to Seattle, I took two Polaroid cameras (SX70 and 250 Pack Film) and my Leica M8.  The M8 was a last minute add because I chickened out on only taking Polaroid cameras.  However, most of my pictures were taken with the SX70.  Honestly, I got a few amazing shots with this camera that I never could have taken with any other camera.  The only down side is that the SX70 got me a full pat down by a TSA agent (that is a separate item to blog on later).  

I should have the Polaroids up by the end of the week on my instant film blog.  In the mean time, I used the Leica to document the travels of the SX70 (the Leica of the Polaroid world)...

don't delete this one...

Set up all of my studio stuff today to take pictures of Sadi and Jace before they headed to Prom.  Actually, Tyler did most of the shooting.  I just set everything up, assisted him with the photo session and took a few Polaroids (check out my Polaroids later here).  After the setup, we did a few test shots to check out the lighting and background.  Most of the time these photos get deleted because they are just test shots.  Not this one...

the blues...

Blue clothes, blue eyes and blue bow.  Amazing how the blues feed off of each other...  Lots of posts lately with Pyper in them.  She is so easy to photograph and it seems that every time that I start taking pictures of her I come away with a keeper.  This one is not the best in terms of composition, but I love the colors and the bokeh that the Leica 50mm Summicron paints on the M8 sensor.  It is just amazing!!!

the afternoon with Pyper...

What would people think of me if I spent the afternoon with Pyper and didn't take pictures?  I am not willing to find out.  Took these today...

today at the park...

Took a couple of cameras with me to the park today.  Got a couple of instant photos and then I took these with my Leica M8.  I took the first one as a joke.  I was holding Pyper at the top of the slide and I just pointed the camera down at Sadi, Maci & Tyler and let Pyper act like she was taking the picture.  Because it is manual focus (and Pyper doesn't know how to focus yet), the image was really blurry.  When I saw it on the computer, I knew it was a keeper.  In the second one, Pyper was starting to feel bad again (her teeth are coming in).  That seems to be the only time she slows down enough for me to take a picture.  The third one is the main reason that I have spent all of this money over the years on my many cameras.  To take pictures of my two beautiful girls...

15 days and counting...

til Sadi gets her driver's license...  After that, I am sure that I won't be in the passenger seat often to take these crazy pictures.  Took this one on Saturday while we were waiting on our drinks at Sonic.  Love the shallow depth of field, but most of all love any picture of my Sadi.

out on the town with Pyper...

Friday night out on the town with Pyper (at CiCis).  Took my Leica M8 along to document the occasion.  Pyper wasn't exactly feeling well, but we thought she would like the pizza.  Not for sure if she was telling me that she was full or tired of me taking her picture (in the second one)...

wilco...

So Wilco stayed with me on Saturday and he spent quite a bit of time on top of the chair back.  This is becoming his way of either being lazy or posing (see the second image).  I like how his eyes were following me in the first image as I moved around.  As you have noticed, I haven't posted much on this blog lately.  I have been taking instant photos and scanning them and placing them on my newest blog.  This weekend seemed to be a great weekend to pick up my Leica M8 and 50mm Summicron again.  I converted these using the Kodak Porta 160NC film effect in Color Efex Pro.  I think I got some good keepers...

she has left her print...

Found this on the glass door today.  Sometime this week Pyper left this for us to find.  Love the fact that such a thing can become a memory and also that the Leica, along with a 75mm f/2.5 CV lens, can capture the print in such a vivid way...

just a visit to the park...

Had a great time today getting to see Maci and Tyler take Pyper to the park.  This definitely brings back memories of Sherri and me taking Maci or Sadi to the park and playing.  We have lived in Greenville since before Maci was 1 year old.  We have a lot of memories of the parks in Greenville Texas.  I guess things such as this are what keep us here (besides the fact that I am too lazy to commute).  Right now our family and all of my fondest memories of Sherri and I growing old together are right here...

the simple things...

I hate it when I get caught up in my daily life, get busy and forget to enjoy those closest to me.  I sometimes forget how precious the times are until they are gone.  Enjoyed this day getting to spend lunch with Sadi at Chic-fil-a.  She really hates the fact that I take a camera with me almost everywhere.  Someday, she will be glad...  Wait a minute, that really seems like something a parent would say...  This particular day the camera of choice was my Leica.  It does such a great job of isolating the subject from the background.  To me the image represents our time together that day.  I don't remember anything else about the day there.  I couldn't tell you who else was in the restaurant.  All I know is that I got to spend 15-20 minutes across the table from someone that is so very precious to me.  We ate, talked, laughed and just enjoyed the simple things...

still seeing in squares...

This is a long-overdue continuation of the square photos below.  Nobody else in the family is ready for a closeup photo.  All the stars have to align for this to happen.  Got Brad to stop by and let me take some Polaroid shots over the Christmas break and I used the opportunity to add to my collection of head shots.  Instead of a white background, this one was taken with a gray background.  I used the same camera/lens combination because it worked so well last time.  What an emotional photo!  If you know Brad, then you would know this is definitely a "portrait" of his personality...

leaving pyper alone...

I have so many photos to process through, but I can't seem to quit taking them.  Took this one today of little miss Pyper.  Wanted to take a Polaroid image of her in the leaves.  The rain almost dampened that idea, but I persisted and got the image (will post some Polaroids later).  While I had her out there for the Polaroid image, I couldn't resist taking a couple more with the Leica.  It takes her no time to realize that she is alone and she can do what she wants.  Of course she starts eating the leaves...  In the picture, she is trying to get a piece of leave off her tongue.  So much for leaving her alone...

So then I put her in the house while I get my shoes and socks off, because I have wet grass all over them.  Immediately she stands up and starts banging on the glass door (she seems to be in the her destructive phase).  The image is a little blurry because she was moving so fast, but when I converted it to sepia, I love the mood it creates.  She looks so sweet...

watching like a hawk...

Was driving through downtown Greenville this morning looking for picture opportunities and something caught my eye.  I pulled over, got out of my Land Rover and approached the bird.  Originally I thought someone had "propped up" a dead bird on the sidewalk so I thought I would take a couple of low vantage point shots.  As I got close and kneeled down to take the shot, the bird's head quickly turned right towards me and the eyes opened!  My heart skipped a couple of beats...  After I settled down, I approached slowly with my M8 and took a few shots from several directions.  Afterwards, I couldn't resist.  I took one shot with my latest camera (the Polaroid 250 Land Camera).  I hope to scan some of these photos later and end up with a neat post from the Polaroids.  Later determined that the bird is probably a baby hawk.  Look at those feet/talons and look at those eyes.  I think you can see that he was watching me like a hawk...

the bathtub...

A little self conscious of posting a picture of Pyper in the bathtub.  But this picture is so incredibly cute...  Amazing that this picture started with a Leica camera, processed through Aperture, emailed to my iPhone, processed in My Sketch App, emailed back to my computer and then brought into a blog post.  Not exactly the best way to keep up the image quality, but I wanted to make sure that the post was not something that Pyper would say "really, you had to post that" later...

my polaroid project...

So Tyler (tylertyndell.blogspot.com) bought a Polaroid camera at a garage sale last week.  We both were so excited to try something so basic that we bought some PX 600 Silver Shade film from the-impossible-project.com.  Thought it would be as easy as it was when I was a kid when we used to get Polaroid film for Christmas morning or on our birthday.  Took my first picture this morning and figured out something right away.  It is not easy getting a good picture with the film that is available now.  This is actually a good thing.  It has challenged me to think about what I am taking a picture of and how much light I really need to avoid overexposing the image.  The camera has a flash that always fires.  This has proved to be a challenge for the 600 ISO film.  It is hard to not overexpose the entire picture, but it is near impossible (no pun intended) to do the same for the subject that is near the camera.  The second picture is a prime example.  It wasn't as easy as just taking the picture and shaking it until it finished developing (you are not suppose to shake it at all).  Had to immediately cover the picture and protect it from any light and place it in the original box for 10 minutes to let it finish developing.  Over the course of the day, I took the remaining 7 pictures (8 total).  With every picture all I could think about was how much each one cost ($3.00 each).  I guess learning something new is not free.  I have two more cartridges left.  Can't wait to get them in the camera and "learn" some more.  However, more than anything, this makes me appreciate the pictures from my Leica M8...


**update**  see additional polaroids at my latest blog by clicking the "instant photos" link in My Other Blogs above.