In no particular order…

• I took my 135mm f2.8 lens out really for the first time today, and I have to say OMFG IT IS TEH AWESOME! I haven’t had that much fun in a really long time. It’s a lens for my OM-1, so it’s full frame and film only. Man did it look nice, through the viewfinder at any rate. I’ve been overlooking the lens because I’ve been blinded by my 50mm f1.8 — most of my photos over the past year or so have been taken of people, indoors, in dim lighting. f1.8 @ ISO1600 FTW! But I’ve sadly neglected outdoors photography. As far as my test today went, my only regret is that I only had one roll of daylight film on me (I had a roll of Neopan 1600 too but that’s useless in daylight if you want to shoot at f2.8.) Once I cajoled some family members outside I blasted through my only roll of ISO 100 TMax. It was my first roll of TMax too, so we’ll see how well it soups in Ilfotec DD-X because, hey, I have a crapload of DD-X around. I’m all about developing the film I have in the developer I have, with the exception of…
• Technical Pan! My friend Bob gave me some Tech pan he had laying around the house (he’s an astronomy nut) and I’ve been pondering what to do with it for some time now. I didn’t have any Technidol to develop it with, so I’ve been biding my time, but I came upon a box of Technidol at National Camera Exchange in their clearance bin for only 10 bucks, so I snapped it up. I think I’ll shoot a few rolls of TMax of some outside subjects to get some ideas before I run a roll of Tech pan through the OM-1. I’d better get cracking because that film isn’t getting any younger. Speaking of film…
• I dropped over 40 bucks on film today. I got the aforementioned rolls of TMax and Neopan, because I’m getting a little bored with shooting HP5+. The Neopan came very highly recommended by the folks behind the counter at Nat. Cam., so we’ll see how well it works out. And hey, it’s ISO 1600 so I don’t even have to think to use it. (f1.8 1/60th of a second in almost my whole house.) Most of the 40 bucks came from a box of 4×5 HP5+ sheet film though; 25 exposures for over 27 dollars. Why sheet film? Because…
• I decided to build my own pinhole camera. Just as a spur of the moment thing. I was coming along nicely with the design when I realized I needed matte black spray paint and actual film, so I went out to run some errands and wound up in Lindstrom, staying up there for the evening. So I didn’t actually get much work done on the camera. But I have film for it!
• I’ve got a few more camera projects in the works too; I picked up an old box camera (not technically a box brownie, but made in 1910) for 2.50 at an antique show (same place I got the Agfa Ansco 6×9 folder). It takes 120 roll film, I just need to get some. My friend Bob is giving me a Holga that he has laying around, and I’m still trying to decide what to do with it when I get it. Tomorrow I need to stop by Nat. Cam. and pick up some film I just dropped off. My friend Jason lent me an early 1970s Zeiss Ikon Voigtlander Vitessa 500L. His father picked it up in Germany when he was stationed there. I ran a roll of Portra 400NC through it with a specific final look in mind. We’ll see if I got it or not. I’m getting the color film I shoot developed in a timely manner, but I need to work on my black and white backlog. I think I’ll need a full three weekends to get it all sorted out (I’m using plastic reels so I have to let everything dry completely before I start over again.)
• Did I mention my 20D has a bad case of the Err. 99 creeps? It works about half the time; I just haven’t sent it in yet (extended warranty FTW!) So, um, any guesses why I’m shooting a crapload of film? That and I’m bored with my only lens for the 20D. I suppose if I wasn’t spending so much $$ on film I could buy a new lens, but I’m having too much fun to stop!
• As for life outside of photography… wait a minute… there’s life outside of photography?! Just kidding. C. is now rip-roaring all over the place, and she wants to be read to constantly. Her favorite books are Donkey-Donkey and one fish two fish red fish blue fish. In our house we open cans. We have to open many cans. That is why we have a Zans! Etc. She knows how to say “uh-oh” and says it whenever she spills water when she’s drinking out of a cup, or pees on the floor when we let her run around without a diaper, or whenever she sees the kitty throw up. Also, she learned how to say the word “cookie” from zero-to-perfect diction a couple of weeks ago when we gave her some cookies. I mean, we gave her cookies before, but this was the first time she had cookies and could understand English. She took one taste, and said “ook-ie?”, and after a couple more bites, was saying “cookie!” perfectly. (Ha ha, I just read my wife’s weblog for the first time in a month or so and lo, her baby update post looks almost the same as mine! The only difference is C. definitely has the attention span to sit through one fish two fish now… she even asks for repeats!)

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