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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-27-2023, 12:01 PM
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These are from a job site I was working on six years ago.
This was a unique setting when the clouds were VERY low that morning. This is only the third time in over 40 years of work I'd encountered it, and the only time I've had a camera with me.
Cell phone shots with minimal post processing.
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Forum: General Photography
12-26-2023, 09:37 AM
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This channel features short presentations of various photographers works along with some commentary.
There are a few interesting discussions on technique and developing your own style as well.
FRAMES - YouTube |
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-16-2014, 07:00 PM
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Oak Island, North Carolina
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2021, 03:53 PM
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For me it was the 645 FA 120 Macro. And I thought my other 645 lenses were sharp?!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-01-2021, 10:54 AM
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One of the advantages to wearing hearing aides is that they can be removed when other people start singing.
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Forum: Ricoh GR
09-18-2021, 09:26 AM
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New Youtube video from Sean Tucker regrading the GR3x.
You Tube
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DhNqHDsWipU?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-17-2021, 06:57 PM
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
08-17-2021, 08:07 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-31-2021, 06:42 AM
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Maybe not enough bacon in his diet recently?
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-30-2021, 06:25 AM
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You get used to it after a while.
The first time I was up that high I had the pleasure of riding up in a crane basket. A LOT easier.
The crane left later that day.
We finished work around 9 PM and then we had had to climb down. This is on an open ladder, no cage. You wore a belt attached to a single slider that ran up and down the center of the ladder to keep you from falling if you slipped.
The ladder on this stack was on the far side of the plant and it was dark when we started down. I got about 20 feet below the cat walk and the slider hung up where two of the center track rails joined, they were slightly out of alignment. I couldn't get the slider past the junction. I called up to my co worker and asked what to do. His response was "let go of the ladder, grab the slider with both hands and twist and shove it down at the same time". Keep in mind, I'm over 300 feet up on the side of a smoke stack and this guy I've known for a few weeks tells me to let go of the ladder.
Needless to say I was praying and cussing the whole time I was trying to get that slider moving again.
Long story short, I got down and have been doing the same job for over 40 years now.
P.S. - These days most tall stacks have elevators so it's not the same thrill as climbing them.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-29-2021, 07:50 PM
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Here's a little fear of heights story........
I've been involved in air quality testing for over 40 years now and back in the day, and even to this day but to a lesser degree, we would be working on utility smoke stacks somewhere between the 350 to 500 foot elevation above grade. Some times on the outside and sometimes between the outer shell and the inner flue. Back then we typically accessed the test platform by a very long climb on an open ladder. This was back in the mid 90's and we had a large crew out for a series of long tests so we had a wide range of experience on the team. One of the newer guys had only been with us for a few months and never been out to one of these large generating stations before. (A little background about him, he was one of those guys that knew everything about everything and was proud of that fact and wanted to share with everyone. )
So, on this project we were working inside the stack about 500 feet up, the tests were long so we had a fair amount of down time between starting and finishing, and because we were climbing we wouldn't go down until the end of the day unless a thunderstorm was moving in. I have no idea why but this guy gets bored and starts poking around a rebar anchor that was in the outer shell and, after a minute or two, he jabs into the concrete behind the anchor and digs out a bit of Styrofoam. If you aren't familiar with how tall concrete stacks are built in the US, most were built using slip forms. The form was held by the anchors and to make it easier to put the form in place they would use a piece of styrofoam board behind the anchor to make it easier to get the attachments in place. Any way. this was one of those installations. When he digs into the styrofoam he gets really quiet, which we were all thankful for, then asks why it's there. One of the more senior guys on the crew tells him with a very straight face that the core of the stack is styrofoam with only an inch or two of concrete making up the outer and inner "skin" of the stack, so instead of being 6 to 8 inches of solid concrete it's basically hollow. This fellow gets even more quiet after hearing that.
About a half hour later the wind picks up and the stack starts to sway in the breeze, which it's supposed to do. Even in a light wind you can feel movement and this day we were getting winds between 20 and 25 miles per hour, which is actually a pretty stiff breeze working 500 feet up. That gets things swaying back and forth quite nicely and the next thing we know he's harnessing up so he can climb down even if we did have a few more hours of testing to do, there was no way he was working on an inverted coffee cup even if it did have concrete all around it with that much wind out there.
He left the company about a month later for some job where he worked on the ground.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-30-2021, 09:48 AM
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Do you exercise often to grab that tightly?
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-17-2019, 04:53 PM
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A flea market find.
Perhaps chess pieces (but then there are two too many)?
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
02-10-2021, 05:39 PM
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I just realized it's been 50 years since I started using a "real" camera (a speed graphic vs an instamatic).
I haven't yet decided how much I should celebrate or save the money for another lens or something else camera related. I'll definitely go take some pictures (when the temperatures get over 25 deg F here).
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-15-2020, 11:14 AM
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Only if you change 'right' to 'rat'
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-30-2020, 02:49 PM
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Nice series, I look forward to seeing more of your trip!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-31-2020, 05:06 PM
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Just be certain you drink it with good friends and family of the appropriate age.
(Sitting 2 meters away from each other, of course)
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Forum: Video Recording and Processing
03-29-2020, 06:54 AM
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I've been working with Audacity on and off for about 6 months now. It's a free program for both PC and Mac. ( Audacity ® | Free, open source, cross-platform audio software for multi-track recording and editing. )
Working with audio files is entirely new to me so I can't say if there is anything easier to use out there but it seems pretty straight forward and I like the results so far. I'd say it was similar to learning Lightroom in that it has a lot of features and the more you use it the more you get out of it.
Once the editing is complete I have used an older version of Adobe Premier (non-cloud) to paste the audio back into the file.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-17-2019, 06:13 PM
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2015 Kansas City Balloon Festival
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
01-28-2020, 11:48 AM
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If you're working with aquariums you may already be familiar with ultraviolet systems for bacteria/fungus control. No chemical additions to interfere with developer chemistry.
Initial washing after the fixer can be done in the darkroom and then moved into the house for longer durations to minimize just how much water you need to have stored in your new darkroom. It may be less convenient but in the winter times will minimize problems associated with freezing hoses and storage barrels. Local water supply quality will determine if you need to use RO water (DI water is better but not really needed from a chemistry perspective with what you'll be doing). I'd also put a water filter between your storage tank(s) and the faucet you use to keep the potential crude from making it to the development tanks/trays. It's always better to use cleaner water for making up the chemicals but you will have to balance the benefit with the effort to make and store it, sitting in an open barrel could lead to recontamination issues in some instances.
There is never too much dust control, filters for intake/makeup air that comes into the space when you have the ventilation on and a room air cleaner running as well. You can build a drying cabinet with a very low wattage heater and fan pulling air in (from someplace other than the floor (dust control) but ducting it into the cabinet from the bottom so it discharges from the top with LOTS of dust filters on the inlet (think HEPA style with thick dust collection media). The heater could just be a 100 or 200 watt incandescent light bulb, you don't want a huge temperature rise, just enough to promote faster drying.
Temperature control for chemicals and wash water is necessary for consistency in development/fixing times. Also, if there is too large a swing in temperature you can cause problems with emulsion expansion and contraction causing problems. Consistency is probably the most critical over the course of a development session, you can compensate for temperature using temperature/time tables and your own tests. Remember, high temperatures or large swings in temperature between development and washes can actually cause the emulsion to detach from the film/print base, so think about using lower temperatures, which are easier to maintain when you don't have hot/cold water for mixing.
Layout wise, the bigger the wet area the better, small development trays for prints will fit in large spaces while large development trays will NOT fit in small spaces. And think bigger whenever possible. You may start with 8x10 prints now but you'll probably go larger in time just because. I know I did and I had to redo the wet area to accommodate the 11x17 trays. Which in turn meant moving everything around. You could also design your wet area with a water bath in mind to maintain constant temperature. Easy for film development but not as easy for print trays, but it does permit heating and/or cooling of chemicals before and during the development cycle.
You'll want the table the enlarger sits on to be solid and stable. If it's wobbly it can translate the movement to the enlarger head and cause a print that isn't as sharp as you think it should be. For all of your work area think bigger if at all possible, it will save headaches. Given that your shed is only 8x8 lots and lots of storage cabinets under counters and on the walls will help give you more work area. Wall drying areas for film reals or print trays are a good idea as well, keeps the work area neater. For dry developer and such, make one of the cabinets sealed and put a closet dryer (calcium/magnesium carbonate) pack into it to keep the humidity down when the AC is not running. Helps preserve the chemicals and prevents clumping. Liquid chemicals can be a bit corrosive over long periods so minimize how much metal you have in the cabinets you store them in, especially hinges that will start rusting very quickly. It sounds like you already have lab experience so just apply what you know from there.
Since you're going to be using extension cord power go for LED area lighting and for bulbs in your safelights, easiest way to minimize power requirements and not excessively expensive. Focus on setting up task lighting in areas where you will be doing most of your "bright" light work.
I'll probably think of a dozen other things right after I post this but I think it hits the highlights.
Good Luck and have fun!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-06-2019, 09:10 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
10-10-2019, 07:01 PM
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A few more from the concert I shot a few weeks back.
Almost straight out of camera, just dropped the highlights a bit on some of them so the stage light glare wasn't so bright.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-03-2019, 09:31 AM
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A tip for Otis...…
There are Blonde Squirrels all over the place here.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-03-2019, 08:36 AM
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Tipping Otis......is that like tipping cows?
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-17-2019, 05:04 PM
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Another one from Newport, Oregon
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