Rather than make new threads each month, I figure I'll just go with one thread to post in as I see fit.

For May, I'm using a Ricoh GR Digital 3, and a Spotmatic + S-M-C Tak 55/1.8 for film.

Since the Spotmatic is missing so many features of a DSLR — aperture & shutter speed information, date & time, GPS — I've taken to making notes about my shots. (This is also to help see if I can diagnose when I run into the issues where part of the frame is obscured by the shutter.) This is a close-up of the notebook and pen I've stashed in my camera bag, complete with my illegible scrawl:

Next GR3 spare. I had originally intended this one to be my shot for the day and actually went out of my way to walk by it. It's a sculpture that represents shipping or something — combining what are meant to be ships' lines with navigational instruments — and turned out just as I envisioned it.

Trivia: one set of the lines present aren't actually part of the sculpture, but are lines connected to the hoist for the window cleaners on the adjacent condo. They don't distract, at least.

First off, just one that I liked for the minimalist nature of it:



Despite what it looks like at first glance, this is actually not a B&W treatment. The actual wall was slightly darker as well, but the GR3's exposure program decided that it should be a bit more towards grey than black. Though I still did darken it slightly, I can't really complain as it makes the bricks more visible.

And secondly, my originally intended shot, since I had no idea what else to shoot. Processed with Silver Efex's high structure preset, which I generally avoid.

A black and white shot taken at the same time as my shot for the 6th. Nothing wrong with it in my eyes, but nothing special. (Whereas the actual shot for the 6th I enjoyed, flaws and all.)

A different tulip. The SO liked the colours of this flower more, but I didn't think it was a particularly interesting composition.



And a B&W alley. I liked the sun and shade, but again didn't think it was particularly special otherwise.

A few from today:

I couldn't quite get the entire graffiti piece in frame with this one, as a car was parked in the way:



Secondly: I took this one off the balcony, but didn't like it enough to select it as my shot. It shows off what I dislike with the GR's dynamic range, however. There were only two exposures that it seemed to want to choose: blown out sky, or silhouetted buildings. This is the over-exposed sky version (with some in-camera EV correction) with the highlights dragged waaaaaaaaay down, as the noise got too bad in the buildings if I tried to lighten them in post.

The ever-popular closeup of a dandelion puff:



And a bunch of others from Doors Open:

An extra from the Law Society library during Doors Open:

Some spares from the roll of Tri-X:







The first two were shot with a red filter. (The first, because I wanted to see what it would do. The second because I forgot to take it off.) But I forgot to dial in the appropriate EC on my meter, and wound up severely underexposing them. Oops. What's posted is the results of PP on the JPEGs in LR to fix them.

The third is just ducks. Nothing special. Just ducks.

Some Portra spares:







(The third one is another one where I found the photo far too red prior to adjustment.)

And some flowers:

Just some spares, nothing particularly special. The first is a gorilla suit on a mannequin that I not infrequently shoot



The second is just some leaves:

Probably the last two digital spares from this month (though I have a few where I took analog shots as well, and may post those if the film didn't turn out):

First off, a photo of one of the local crazy signs taped to a poll. I tend to shoot these when I spot them, as I find that they're interesting even if not particularly coherent.



Secondly, some men at work. I couldn't quite make this one work, as I wanted to emphasize the heat and the dust but wound up being unhappy with all my different attempts:

Actually probably better than the shot I chose for the 24th, but I don't feel like changing it now.

Shot on the subway—low light and shaking makes for unsharp photos.

There's some PP on this one, in that I added a tiny bit of toning a I felt it looked better that way.