One of my favorite photos from my grandfather’s albums. This was labeled “On boat to Mackinaw Island”. In it is my Dad (left, with the awesome hat) his brother Gordon, sister Joyce, and my grandpa. I don’t know the girl on the far right. I love group photos in which everyone has an interesting posture or expression. I am still in the process of scanning decades of his photos.

The posts on this blog can have tags, categories, or both. Sometimes I use tags, sometimes I use categories, sometimes I use both. Lately, I’ve been using both. The default category is “Journal”. I use tags like “film”, “Nikon”, etc. I noticed that for Categories I use pluralized words and for Tags I use the singular form. Neither are used consistently. I’ve decided that Categories should be plural and Tags should be singular.

The final book of the Nexus trilogy was as good or better than the first two. Smart, fast, exciting, and thought-provoking. Very good, but scary.

I waffle, but you know that. Since I can’t seem to quit Emacs (due to Org Mode), I might just as well do the work to configure org2blog. So that’s what I’ve done here.

My dog Katie turned 18 this week. Every year we say, “This is probably her last birthday” but here we are again. She’s missing an eye, nearly all her teeth, and her hearing. She has trouble getting around and cannot manage even a single stair. But, she’s happy and seems to enjoy living so we’re thankful for that. This year, we took her out for some ice cream to celebrate. She loves ice cream.

Zeldman Flickr, while it yet lives, provides me with far richer layers of experience and capability than even the most tricked-out third-party Instagram app could dream of. I always used Instagram under protest, as a poor cousin. I used it because people were there, not because I liked it. I like Flickr, even though posting my photos there is kind of like leaving flowers at the grave of someone whose name I’ve forgotten.

Steve and Bryan. Leica M4. 50mm Summicron. HP5+ @1200.   

I just bought one of Nikon’s classic lenses : The Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AI-S. Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AI-S For some background on this lens, here are a couple of links: Nikon’s story behind the lens Information on the 105 from Mir.com The 105 has been described as the “perfect portrait lens”. I don’t know about that, but I’m sure it’ll be good enough for me. At around $200 it’s hard to complain.

Seth Godin And ennui is the exhaustion we feel when we fall too in love with what might (should?) be next and ignore the wonder that’s already here and available right now. I have been rushing headlong toward ennui for some time now and it shows no signs of slowing.

Seth Godin Good blogs aren’t focused on the vapid race for clicks that other forms of social media encourage. Instead, they patiently inform and challenge, using your time with respect. The experience is so much better. My tweet from yesterday: The experience of reading RSS feeds via a feed reader is superior to that of any social media site. — Jack Baty (@jackbaty) June 1, 2016

Nikon F3. Nikkor 85mm 1.8. Tri-X in HC-110. Pakon scan. Just plinking around in the back yard with the Nikon F3 today. I took the MD-4 off and while it makes the camera much smaller and lighter, I think I prefer it with the drive attached.

Leica M3 and Nikon F3  The Leica M3 and the Nikon F3 (with motor drive) are the two cameras I’m working with at the moment. Both are over-engineered and delightful to handle. Both are iconic. When you see a camera represented generically it’s usually based one of these two. They are somewhat different cameras. The Leica was made in 1960 and the F3 in 1983. The M3 is uses a rangefinder for focusing while the F3 focuses through the lens The M3 is entirely mechanical (no batteries) while the F3 has a meter and automatic (aperture-priority) exposure The M3 has a mechanical cloth shutter, the F3’s is electronically-controlled titanium I paid $1000 for the M3 and under $300 the F3 They have different strengths, and I enjoy them both very much.