Those 1970's "Guitar Strap" Neck Straps

The NIKON strap is like brand new. Somebody gave me a bunch of straps and pouches recently. The two "Hippie Straps" below are from the 1970's. I used them on my Pentacon-Six cameras which are much larger and heavier that 35mm SLR's.

The fabric straps hold up much better than leather straps, but the leather parts still dry out and get cracked. I want to get some rivets and use the Rollie clips off of an old dried out leather Rollieflex strap on a fabric strap.

The straps really weren't "photographed". I just put them on the scanner glass and scanned them directly. I did the same with the bones and teeth,as well as with the Edgeworth tin.

1962 Mystery Lady With Red Hair?

Actually, as I was looking through these contact sheets her name suddenly popped into my mind, first and last! She was a red headed college girl from New Jersey working as a waitress for the summer at an inn in Provincetown, MA. Both she and her room mate had come up to the Cape for the summer. I also remember her room mate's name. So if either one of you, Pat or Jeannie, should run across this blog I'd love it if you'd send me an email. We've got a lot of catching up to do!

This was shot on Tri-X with a Canon II-S and a 35mm f/1.8 Canon lens, composing through a Nikon 35mm bright-line viewfinder.

Browne's Photo Center ~ The Used Case And Junk Drawer

This was taken when the store was still located on the corner of N.W. 79th St. and 22nd Ave. before Browne relocated "up town" to Biscayne Blvd. and 82nd St. He stocked a great selection of films, papers, and chemicals, but before the move the place was noted for the selection of used stuff because Brownie was just getting in to carrying new Mamiyaflex and Graflex. The Rollieflex, Hasselblad, Nikon and Leica franchises came a bit later. Norman Frank (pictured) knew the merchandise and could tell you what you'd need for some special job. There was always a selection of used enlargers on hand, big 4x5 Omega D-2's and Beselers, small Dursts, the occasional Leitz Focomat, and that's where I came by my Kodak Precision as well as most of my collection of timers, tanks and reels, baseboard easels, all that stuff, and cheap too!

Those drawers behind Norman, and the boxes on the bottom shelf in the showcase, were filled with "junk" that Brownie bought when he "bought everything" from some retiring photographer or perhaps his widow. You could paw through them and hopefully find that oddball filter, adapter ring, or synch cord you were looking for, or perhaps find somethig you really had no use for, but what the hell, the price was right. Someday you'd be kicking yourself if you had let it slip by.

This photo was shot with a Pentacon-Six using the 50mm f/4 Flektagon (I think).

New Nikon SB-12 Flash, 28mm Lens, Other GOODIES FOR SALE !

Yup, this isn't my usual type of posting but a fishing buddy of mine was being a good obedient husband and cleaning out the closets of orphaned posessions. The Nikon film camera was long gone and all of the goodies that looked like they'd be fun to buy but would never get used needed to go! Go FAST!

Call good ol' Al, the photographer! He'll know what to do with them. He'll find nice loving homes for these poor little orphans.

I honestly don't think that any of these things ever saw (or felt) more than a preliminary fondle. Since then they've been just sitting someplace. The original boxes and instruction sheets are still there in the boxes. The only box that's ripped is the one for the 28mm lens. The foam insert is an extemely tight fit with that one.

Buy the whole lot or make offers I can't refuse on the individual items. Thanks! preacherpop42@aol.com

A Really Sweet Test...But Only A Test

This picture of the Splenda packets was a testof using the scanner as a camera substitute. I just laid them down on the scanner's glass and pressed "scan". My plans were to do a few more important projects this way. One thing that I discovered is that the subject has to be really close to the glass or it isn't very sharp.

The picture of the Nikon accessories on the next post kind of pushed the limits of the technique but I was pretty much using the entire area of the scanner. Had I tried to magnify one small section the sharpness would have been dissapointing.

Beyond The Camera Into Uncharted Territory

When Mario Flores, the owner of Rootz Gallery here in North Miami, asked me if I could put together an assortment of prints for an exhibit I said "Sure! No problem!" I knew that I had lots of prints on hand. I usually make more than one print when somebody orders one. It's easier to make more right then at the time than to go back and do it later, and usually a print that sells will also appeal to others. In fact, when people see a framed print hanging at somebody's home or office they start to think about how nice it would look hanging on one of their own walls. And people have come to appreciate the look of a gelatin silver print.

Putting the show together would mostly be a matter of going through some boxes and envelopes, picking out the pictures and sticking them in frames. I picked them out. I stuck them in frames. They were all photographs I'd made back in the 1960's and '70's, and most of them were printed back then too.

Scroll down one post and you can see a couple of those images. While at the gallery I'd been looking at some paintings with strange effects of splattered paint, smeared together colors, and started wondering if that might be something that could be done with a gelatin silver print. But how?

I let my brain chew on it for a few days, then BANG!, the coming together of the idea and a way that it might be done exploded in my head. I soon was in the darkroom, so excited that I was looking for the right negative even before the air conditioner had a chance to cool the July heat. Here it is a couple of months later and I still don't have it perfected as much as I'd like but I like what I'm doing, I love the prints that I'm making, and other people seem to like them too. We added three of the new prints to hang alongside the older work. You can see one of them in this picture that Mario shot of me holding my Leica. He was using a Nikon DSLR.

City Planning Running Amok

Well, first off, I'm hijacking my own post here. It was supposed to be talking about Mario's new art gallery and photo studio, how it's located where Jaybo's Photo Lab stood for perhaps twenty-five years, eventually expanding into a complete photography shop, everything from film, paper and chemistry to darkroom equipment and high end cameras such as Leica and Nikon. Be cool Mario! I have more photos, I'm impressed with your place, your work, and your plans, so I'll be revisiting you in upcoming blog posts.

What has me upset is the state and county road departments coming into North Miami and revamping our street system, creating a can't-get-here-from-there maze of one way streets and right-turn-only intersections. The on-street parking along here? Gone! Instead there's a small lot in back and a shiny new back door that looks like a front door. If you can find the place! Of course back doors along alleyways usually are massive ugly burgler proof things so a bad guy lurking in the shadows won't break in with ease. Now they expect the shop owners to have nice pretty glass doors in the alleys? Get real!

They may well be state roads or county roads, and they're the ones paying to upgrade them, even adding landscaped traffic islands, but they have no concept of reality. They're not doing the business owners, or the citizens trying to find their way around, any favors!

As for the term "running amok"?

Running amok - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok (also spelled amuck or amuk), is derived from the Malay/Indonesian word amuk, meaning "mad with rage" ...

There are plenty of people trying to find their way around, or just a place to park, and they're mad with rage!