Many interesting shop windows in downtown Charleston!
This weekend I find myself alone. Not a problem. I made the choice to be alone this weekend. My wife and son came down on Thursday for a brief visit and returned on Friday. The last two weeks have been pretty brutal at work so a drive to Charlotte was not in the cards. I must say that I’ve absolutely no problem being alone anymore. I rather like my company!
Yesterday’s plan was to get up early, go explore downtown Charleston, shoot a few rolls of film, come back, develop the film and get into whatever else I could get into for the day. As it turned out, I did just that. Also, I downloaded and played with Soundslides for about 4 hours, went to the grocery store, cooked a roast, some black beans, and a few other things. I’m ready for the week. 
Also on my list was to start reading this book that I ordered a month or so ago: The Portable Thoreau. I finally started reading Walden. What a wonderful story and lots of great insights. The book is so thoroughly quotable that I could spend the entire post just quoting from it, but I won’t. 
The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires today. The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical. Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable.
Of course, he was talking about the clothes of the time and how important it was to ‘keep up with the current fashions’. Naturally, you could substitute anything for ‘clothes’: cameras, lenses, etc.
Almost exclusively, though not totally, for the last 3 months I’ve been shooting film. I’ve shot about 30 rolls (450 shots), scanned in 140 of those shots. I’ve used one camera, Mamiya 645e, one lens, 80mm f/2.8, and have decided on one film (Pan F Plus) and one developer (R09 – Rodinal one-shot). It is really amazing, to me at least, how much simpler this makes things. No longer do I even need to consider what I will take with me, which lens I’ll use, which ISO, etc.
I’ve been reading Andreas’ blog and see that he his a big fan of prime lenses and tends to find one, currently his Sigma 28 mm f/1.8, and stick with it. Perhaps he carries a couple with him; I don’t remember, but the whole one lens, one camera thing is really working for me. It’s simple!
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I would say that a man who shoots film and does his own developing, spends hours playing with a computer program, and cooks a roast, as well as black beans, in one weekend is a man of many accomplishments. No wonder you didn’t mind being alone! More roast and beans for Paul.
Too many choices and possibilities can be a bit overwhelming. A limited budget restrains me and prevents much of the possible dithering over indulgences. Besides, I tend to settle on one thing for a while, then shift to something else rather than agonizing over which lens or camera to use on any given day.
Wonderful picture, anbd the steamy window just adds perfectly to the overall message on the window. In my eyes, anyway.
And yep, primes are my preferred choice too, both for simplicity and for quality (my Summilux 25 is just sooo much better than all my others). Keep it simple is a valid expression also in photography.
@Anita: I’m eying my collection lenses, again, which consists of only 2 primes: a 50mm f/1.8 and 90 f/2.8 macro. I’m thinking about selling a couple of zooms and buying a couple of primes.
I’m just in the thinking stage right now. I really like the large apertures of the primes. You can do most anything with them if you are willing to zoom with your feet!
@Ove: Thanks, Ove! The more that I learn how much I don’t know, the simpler I try to make things!
PRIMES! Could not agree more. And a 50mm 1.8… what’s better for Full frame 35mm photography?
Can you post the blog link for Andreas, sounds very interesting….
Very nice picture you’ve made.
I agree 100% with the ‘one camera, one lens’ thing. Even if you end up frustrated by that lens or camera, you’ve learned something that day. @Tom, well, how about a 50mm 1.4? That’s my fave at the moment.
Chris, I think the 1.4 is simply amazing. But, I generally will put this lens on when a) taking a portrait that I know will be relativialy flat to the film back plane b) very low light.
Other then that, for street or general, the 1.8 will work as it a bit lighter.
@Tom: Yeah, guilty as charged, I like low light. Heck, I’d love to shoot with a Noctolux for a week in candlelight to see what I’d get! You are absolutely correct about the DOF issues, however. On my 10D I often shoot with the Sigma 30mm 1.4, and I have to be careful for sure. On the 10D that equals a 48mm equivalent, I guess.
Tom: Here is Andreas’ site.
@Tom: I love using the 50mm f/1.8. When I shot Minolta, back in the day, I had a 50 mm f/1.4. Talk about shallow DOF! It was great for low light, but you had to be very selective in your focusing. Very! You could focus on someone’s nose and not have the eyes in focus. It was that shallow, but nothing beat it for letting the light in … expect an f/1.2, which I couldn’t afford.
Thanks for the link
Yup, I like to stick with lenses for a time. I’ve got pretty many now, but normally I walk around with one camera and one lens. I did it for years, but until some months ago, I had always a bag of other lenses with me. Finally I recognized that I don’t change very often, most of the time not for days, sometimes weeks. This is helped by the fact that I take photos on my way to/from work, thus when I see something interesting that cannot be photographed with my current lens at all, chances are, that it’s still there the next day.
Sure, you miss images that way. On the other hand it forces you to think about what it is that makes a scene for you, thus you learn even from the images that you can’t take.
I like to do pretty silly things like walking around with nothing but a fisheye for days. That’s a challenge