corn

when we moved to indiana there were two things that immediately stuck out to me: first, the flatness of the land - i had no idea that such incredibly flat land could exist - and second, the corn.

one of the first little excursions i took was out into the farmland.  i drove out from the city, not really paying attention to where i was going or how i would get back home (i had my gps).  i just drove admiring the golden fields of dried corn stalks (apparently they harvest it after it's all dried up).

overlooking the fact that it's all going to end up as either cattle feed or high fructose corn syrup, i've loved seeing corn throughout the year.

corn in the fall

corn in the winter

going low budget - branching out

for a long time i could only use slide film (usually fuji velvia or provia) or professional black and white film.  i did this in order to have what i thought would be highest quality pictures possible.  i felt that only the best would do.

as part of my therapy to break me of this mindset i bought some fuji superia 400 speed film - your standard print film - from walmart, took some snapshots, then had it processed at walgreens (just the film) then scanned it myself.

this is a big step for me.  in the end, i have to say i'm very happy with what i got.  the scans are somewhat unsaturated and grainy but i think it actually adds to the feel of the pictures.

at the detroit science center...

out garage sale-ing...

and the rest from a recent in-town vacation...

thanks for looking.

sacred grove

last summer we drove to boston for my brother-in-law's graduation and on the way home stopped in palmyra, ny to see the historical sites.

we spent some time walking through the sacred grove (click here if you don't know what happened there) and i got the following shot.






(here i am setting up the shot)

i was pleasantly surprised with how this one turned out.  it was a beautiful, cool day.  the sun was sprinkling in through the trees.  it was very peaceful.

i'm happy about the way the sky appropriately glows a brilliant white at the top of the picture.  i'm happy about the way the subtle shading from black to white just fell into the right places without any help from photoshop.

it's one of my new favorites.

the celebration

to celebrate the arrival of the scanner, i tried out some of my fuji provia slide film.

remember this post? remember how at the end i said i'd get the pictures up as soon as i had them? well now i have them. it only took me a year and a half.


see that white speck on the horizon at the end of the little path?

here's that section blown up:



yeah, that's a boat.

thank you epson.

self sufficiency in scanning

back when i was at byu and had free access to an imacon scanner for my 4x5 film i didn't know how good i had it. i didn't really have a plan for scanning my film once i left school - i guess i just figured i would cross that bridge when i got there.

well, that bridge has been harder to cross than i ever imagined. in new york i had to rent time on a scanner in manhattan. not too bad but still somewhat expensive. now that we're in indiana, there aren't really any viable options (that i have found) for getting my film scanned...

until now.

thanks to epson (as i've mentioned in a previous post) that bridge has just been shortened significantly.

i've gone and made the leap, purchasing the epson v700.

this beauty is a fraction of the cost of the imacon yet is almost equal to it (from what i've read) in quality.

i've got a handful of slides to scan and, if the u.p.s. man comes through, i should have the scanner in my home tonight. i will be, in a way, fully self-sufficient - photographically speaking.

that calls for a celebration!