photography on Cliff538

Silent Sunday

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 10:43:36 -0700

Thoughts From My Recent 3 Roll Develop and Scan

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 11:16:07 -0700

I posted some of my Pacific Northwest photos over on 365Pixels. I thought I’d write out some tips and tricks for this latest three-roll develop and scan.

Developing

I had my first fairly major leak using the AGO processor. It’s just a press fit, and it can come loose when you’re dumping out chemicals. You have to press it back in place after each dump just to be safe. I poured in my bleach, looked away for a while to prep for the next stage, and looked down to a bright yellow towel! I lost about half of my bleach and thought, well, this is going to be my first developing failure. I stopped the leak and let it process with the reduced amount of bleach, hoping for the best. I was doing 3 rolls of 35mm and just cringed at the possible loss. Thankfully, I don’t see any damage done to the photos. The process is more forgiving than most people think online.

Scanning

Scanning photos is going well. I use my Nikon Z8 and a macro lens with the Valoi system. The big upgrade this time was using an one-time $9.99 app called Orion, along with a $19 HDMI to USB capture card dongle, you can use an iPad as a HDMI monitor. This works for many things like game consoles, etc., but you can plug it into your camera via HDMI so you have a big, beautiful screen to align your negative and check focus. Highly recommended.

I’m learning to be more efficient and use batch processing better with NLP (Negative Lab Pro). This just becomes mandatory when processing several rolls at once. The time required to do each picture individually is just unrealistic. NLP has a very good help section. Take the time to read all the tips and tricks, especially on batch processing. NLP only works with Lightroom Classic, so if you are not a keyboard shortcut kind of person, you soon will be. The time savings are considerable. Consistent scans are very important when it comes to, say, cropping. You can crop one photo, then copy and paste, or use sync to crop all the rest of that roll. It’s beautiful and a massive time-saver, but only if your scans are consistent. If each scan is wonky in placement, you won’t have this sync option, and you’ll have to crop each photo manually.

The next new thing is dealing with 120 film. I haven’t spooled or done any 120 yet. The processing is the same, but I haven’t tackled spooling it in the dark bag yet.

📚 Twentieth-Century Color Photographs - Identification and Care

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:05:47 -0700

I recently stumbled upon this book by Sylvie Pénichon, and it is a wonderful deep dive into the history and care of color photographs. The appendix includes a chronology of several film types, including Kodachrome and Ektachrome films, Polaroid-Kodak-Fuji instant films, and more. It also has sheet notch codes, which are really nice. Just a great resource.

From the book description: This abundantly illustrated volume provides an accessible overview of the history and technology of the major traditional color photographic processes and promises to become the standard reference in its field. Following an introductory chapter on color photography in the nineteenth century, seven uniformly structured chapters discuss the most commercially or historically significant processes of the twentieth century—additive color screen, pigment, dye imbibition, dye coupling, dye destruction, dye diffusion, and dye mordanting and silver toning—offering readers a user-friendly guide to materials, methods of identification, and common kinds of deterioration. A final chapter presents specific guidelines for collection management, storage, and preservation. It also includes a glossary of technical terms, along with appendixes presenting detailed chronologies for Kodachrome and Ektachrome transparencies, Cibachrome/Ilfochrome printing materials, and Instant films.

360 pages with 375 color and 70 B&W illustrations.

It covers the identification of:

chromogenic color prints
dye-transfer processes
Kodachrome
Ektachrome
Cibachrome/Ilfochrome
Polaroid instant films
Kodak instant films
Fuji instant films
deterioration and storage issues

If you’re interested in the history and the how and why of color film, you will enjoy this book. You can read it cover to cover or use it as a reference. I’m slowly working my way through it alongside The Darkroom Cookbook.

I’ve also updated the Film Journey & Resource page with it.

Silent Sunday

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 17:44:50 -0700

York Labs - Only 1¢ per super glossy upgrade!

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:48:48 -0700

Along with all my negatives were some mail-in envelopes from York Labs; must have been a favorite of mine.

Just crazy to see the prices. Rolls of film for $2.99. Developing with prints for a roll of 36: $3.00.

You can think back to that time, and everyone developed film: Safeway, Sears, K-mart, Fotomat, Kodak. There were little one-hour processing booths in parking lots that would take your film. Every convenience store sold film.

The comment about “we now process Seattle FilmWorks” film brings back a memory of that film needing special processing.

(much time goes by as Cliff looks up the history of Seattle FilmWorks…)

I had to look it up: Seattle FilmWorks bought bulk Kodak 35mm color motion picture film (Kodak 5247 and Kodak 5294) and loaded it into 35mm still camera cartridges. So your normal one-hour photo lab wanted nothing to do with it because of the rem-jet removal.

They had a crazy deal where they would send you a free roll of film if you sent it back to them and paid for processing; they’d send you another free roll. I think I can remember getting caught up into that for a while. At their peak, they employed 800 people and processed 20 miles of film every day.

Another trick was that because they used motion picture film, they could give you negatives, prints, and slides. They could make positive transparencies from the film and give you all three.

Later they started selling C-41 film at the same time, so if you find a roll now, you just don’t know how to process it. I’ve seen Reddit threads on this exact dilemma.

Anyway, a fun little time capsule.

Learning the Trade - Becoming an Aircraft Mechanic

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:12:11 -0700

This deep dive back into film has started me rooting around in old boxes looking for my old negatives and polaroids. I found a bunch. Got some of the Polaroids scanned today and uploaded. I had more than I thought. I picked the best ones, and you can see them below. I’m not using my new fancy Polaroid Frame that’s CSS-made because I wanted the worn, dirty, real look of these old Polaroids. I have a lot more negatives, and when I get time, I’ll start scanning them. I’m excited to see what’s on them. Seems daunting; I may research having someone else do it because there are so many. After I see the price, I’ll probably just decide to do it myself.

Nothing special, and won’t mean much to anyone, but I wanted them recorded and archived online. I also forgot how bad the quality of these Polaroids is, LOL. I have to admit, I was a little shocked at how bad the quality is and still is. Just a reframing after so many years of looking at digital quality. It’s nostalgic and fun, but ouch. I did brighten them a touch in post because they were so dark. Whatever Polaroid camera I was using was about two stops too dark.

The polaroids are circa 1987 to 1989. I started A&P school in 1987; that is the school to become an FAA-certified aircraft mechanic, with an Airframe and Powerplant license. Right away, a local shop called AeroTwin hired a few of us students to work part-time with full flexibility to go to school, which was ideal. We got to start learning the “real world” way of fixing airplanes while we learned the book way in school. It was an incredible experience and one that I’ll never forget.

We were thrown into the deep end right away. No sweeping floors and handing a wrench to someone. It was grab that bucking bar, crawl into that aircraft, and start bucking rivets. Of course, everything, well, most everything was supervised by a certified mechanic, as we were not allowed to sign anything off.

It was such a great group of mechanics. The friendships and camaraderie were something that I’ll never forget. I loved the work; I loved fixing things. Watching an airplane take off after we had spent weeks or months on it felt good. Plus, at that time in Alaska, it was a damn good career. Lots of work, many places hiring, and plenty of ways to move up.

Our bread-and-butter workload was rebuilding heavily damaged Cessna Caravans that had been wrecked or damaged while flying out in Western Alaska by Mark Air, now one of many out-of-business carriers. Not sure what those pilots were doing, but we had plenty of work.

After A&P school, I worked full-time at AeroTwin but left soon after for ERA Aviation. They needed DHC-6 Twin Otter mechanics, and supposedly they had a path to flying, which was what I ultimately wanted to do. I worked there for several years and learned so much; the guys there took me under their wing and turned me into a pretty good mechanic. After a few years, I learned the path to flying for them was really just a carrot and not real.

Soon after being strung along, a ramper talked to me and said he had received a strange phone call from a small operator in Kotzebue, Alaska. The owner hired him on the spot and said, “Can you be here in two days?” which made the ramper nervous and he turned down the job. I looked at him and said, “What’s this guy’s number?” I called him the next day; he said, “Can you fly? Can you be here in two days?” I said, “Hell yes, to both.” I talked to my boss that night, left on good terms, packed up my meager belongings and toolbox into storage, and jumped on a MarkAir B737 jet to Kotzebue.

The story from there will have to be another blog post. But that’s where the fun really begins. Becoming a pilot.

** you can click on a photo to bring up a viewer and scroll.

Kodak Snapic Review

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:16:41 -0700

I posted nine days ago about a new flight bag camera I was carrying around the Kodak Snapic. I finally got two rolls of film shot through it, developed, and scanned. You can see what you get with this very small, lightweight point-and-shoot camera.

Pros:

very small
lightweight
double exposure feature
flash
macro setting
uses two AAA batteries, which are common and easy to find

Cons:

the placement of the flash setting in the upper-left corner is prone to bumping
there is no indication that you are using the macro setting, which in turn means you have to remember to switch it back
film door latch is not covered. If you carried this in your pocket, you could pop the back open. I’ve carried mine in my pocket for over eight miles without any issues.

One huge benefit is how small it is; you can shoot pictures without people really knowing what you are doing. I’ve talked in the past about street shooting and feeling self-conscious about it, or people giving you the stink-eye. I haven’t had any of those issues with this. It fits in the palm of your hand, and when you hold it up to your face, it doesn’t look like a camera.

This is perfect for parties or being out with friends and passing the camera to them to shoot some. I used to carry a full-size camera on the road, but the weight and bulk just aren’t worth it. The Snapic will stay in my bag and go with me on my walks alongside my iPhone for shooting. You can see Becca Farsace’s video on why cheap cameras are better.

Let me add, just because I’m super proud of it, that both of these rolls were developed and scanned by me. The Tri-X was my first roll of film I’ve developed since 1987. Film borders, as you can see, are all over the place. I did not take the time to crop; you get the real deal of film border with these shots, no fake film borders on digital pictures with these! I intentionally used generic Frontier scanner settings so you can see what you get with this little point-and-shoot. Overall, I’m very happy with the quality of the shots. The Tri-X is just old-school, iconic, grainy black-and-white. The Portra is just the classic 1970s muted look that I’ve always loved. There are some low-light and very low-light shots, so you can get a feel for them.

Kodak Portra 400 Photos Shot With The Snapic

*Click the first picture to open a full-size viewer, then use the arrow keys to navigate through the whole set

Kodak Tri-X B&W Photos Shot With the Snapic

New Flight Bag Camera: Kodak Snapic

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:41:39 -0700

Thanks to @macmanx posting this YouTube video from Becca Farsace about why cheap cameras are better, I now have a Kodak Snapic to carry in the flight bag. I used to carry a digital camera at work, but the size and weight are cumbersome. This little lightweight plastic Snapic is perfect. I wanted a film camera, and I wanted it to be something cheap enough that I could lose it and not fret over it. While more expensive at $99, I’m hoping it will last longer. If not, I’ll go for the much cheaper Kodak EC35 at $35.

One feature that the Snapic has that I wanted (the EC35 doesn’t have it) is the ability to shoot double exposures. It’s always fun to see what you get, especially with film.

I’ve shot a roll through it, but haven’t developed it yet. Soon, though, I’ll get some pictures up from this thing.

It Ain't Much - Adobe Stock Sales

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:21:13 -0700

I’ve been selling my photography on Adobe Stock for many years now, and my sales have slowed considerably in the past few years. I used to make hundreds of dollars every year, but recently it’s been under a hundred. Which is fine. I don’t depend on these sales; it’s always been a way to buy more photo gear.

I only post this in case you want to try your hand at selling your photos through a stock service. If you keep up with the type of photos that are in high demand, you can make thousands of dollars per year or even make your living from it, but you’ll be photographing things you don’t want to. Most of my photography is out on the internet and can be had for free by right-clicking it, so I figured I should at least try and sell it to make a few bucks for new gear.

I had a website for a few years selling my aviation prints mostly to other pilots, and that did very well. My average sale was in the $600 range, but I didn’t last long; the work involved was more than I bargained for, and it was ruining the hobby that I so loved, so I gave it up. Now it’s just stock sales, and I’m sure in a few more years that will dry up to nothing.

I haven’t uploaded new pictures in several years, but I have my top sellers that seem to sell every year. And what’s funny to me is the ones I thought would sell very well haven’t sold a one. The ones I didn’t even want to upload have sold very well. Go figure. These days, it makes enough to pay for a subscription or, if I save up for several years, a used lens. Better than nothing.

These days, my focus is on my love of photography, not making money from it. Been there, done that.

Cameras Up! - Let’s go take some pictures and post them online!

Added Two More Photo Sets

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:01:05 -0700

I was reading Jasper’s blog and stumbled on his favorite photos. And thought I need to get off my arse and make a page of favorites as well. Added two more photo sets to make four total. More to come…

More photos and resource guides at the Cliff538 Photography Page

Kodak Mini 2 Retro Photo Printer

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:40:29 -0700

I’ve been harping lately about printing your photos because it’s just so much nicer than looking at them on a screen. Touch ‘em, hold ‘em, pass them out. People love a physical print. You’ll thank me. Really.

I do most of my journaling in Obsidian and post my daily pictures there, but I still use a paper journal. I put my stickers in there, and I’ve always been bothered by the fact that I can’t add photos, at least not very easily. Until now.

I saw a review for the Kodak Mini 2 Retro and thought, what the hell, let’s try it.

This little thing Rocks! I love it. It’s small, fairly cheap, and prints surprisingly well. You can see my test prints below. I tried to give it the full gamut, and the only colors that were off to me were the dragonfly bokeh.

You can print 5 photos at a time; it hooks via Bluetooth to your phone. It’s super simple, easy, software, and this thing is small enough you could take it with you. As you can see, you can have the print edge-to-edge or add a simple white border. I love the border look. I print everything these days with a nice white border.

Online in the U.S., it’s $99 and comes with 38 prints. Refills work out to be 0.37 cents each, which isn’t too bad. Have you looked at printing costs lately?

It’s a four-pass, dye-sublimation printing process. I’m just very impressed with what it can do. How will it hold up? I don’t know, but I’ll be testing it and printing a lot, and give you my long-term testing results later.

My plan is to carry it on work trips, pass out a few pictures, and, I guarantee you, it will make people smile. I’ll also use them to add to my paper journal. My only complaint is that there is no sticker backing on the prints. I believe that’s because of the multi-pass dye-sublimation process it uses. But you can just carry a small roll of double-stick tape. I know other small portable printers use different printing processes and have a sticker backing if that’s important to you.

I also had some nice nostalgic feelings from seeing the Kodak logo.

I printed 5 photos in a row, then started another 5; it had to pause after each photo to cool down while printing the next 5. Not surprising for something so small. It would be rare to print so many at once, but it can be done; it will just take slightly longer. Other than that, nothing to report for now. Again, I’m just so impressed with the colors that it can reproduce.

When printing, the photo goes in and out 4 times; each pass, it looks a little better. It reminded me of watching a Polaroid develop.

Stray Pixels - Tribute To My Friend Richard

Mon, 11 May 2026 10:05:34 -0700

My friend Richard died this morning in his sleep.

Today’s pictures are dedicated to him. I took them yesterday—Richard’s last day, at least here on Earth. These pictures are for him. Richard may have commented on one or two of them on Flickr. I will miss that.

I will never forget Richard. I did not know him for very long, but he was such an amazing human being—so kind, so talented. Richard was a husband, father, grandfather, teacher, artist, woodworker, photographer, and so much more—a wonderful photographer with a unique style. He had many art shows featuring his work, and I was lucky enough to see a few of them.

We lived close to each other and consulted on projects from time to time. We texted and communicated on Flickr. Richard loved Flickr and had so many Flickr friends.

You will be greatly missed, my friend. You made me a better human. You gave me so many creative ideas and inspired me.

Wherever you are, my friend, take some pictures and send them to me…

The last comment from Richard on Flickr to me.

Richards last photo on Flickr.

😔

Silent Sunday - Ocean Therapy

Sun, 03 May 2026 15:17:02 -0700

Denoise: LightRoom vs DxO PureRAW 5

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 19:04:03 -0700

A quick down-and-dirty comparison between LR and DxO denoise. There is a very clear winner here.

I was doing a fair amount of low-light shooting with my OM-1 Mark II, and the noise was just killing me during editing. I recently purchased DxO PureRAW 5 and haven’t really used it yet. I thought I’d do a quick comparison. Nothing scientific here, and I’m not even sure how much will show up in the screenshots below.

The OM-1 is a 20.4 MP Micro Four Thirds sensor and does not handle low light very well. So noise can be a real issue at times. I’ve always just used LR denoise, and it’s been good enough, but after seeing what DxO can do, I’ll be using DxO for all serious noise issues.

Here is LR denoise vs. out-of-the-camera ORF (raw): You can really see how noisy the OM-1 is in low light!

Here is DxO denoise vs. out of the camera ORF:

Finally, here is DxO vs. LR: I zoomed in to 200% for the best comparison.

In Summary, I hope you can see the large differences in the screenshots. The clear, hands-down winner is DxO. I would love for Adobe to improve the denoise in LR so I could skip this extra step, but here we are. Something to look for with denoise is preservation of detail; denoise tends to soften your picture, leaving you with less detail where you may want it. DxO also did a much better job in preserving details.

DxO also provided Optical Corrections: Lens Sharpness Optimization, Vignetting, Chromatic aberration, and Lens Distortion, but I did not take the time to analyze these.

I’m extremely impressed with DxO’s performance. On the downsides, it takes a while to process, and it’s an extra step in your workflow, but if you have a lot of noise, it’s worth the extra time. My average processing time per picture was 17-25 seconds.

I also learned that LR isn’t as bad as I thought. I’ll still use it for light noise issues, or when time is a factor, but for your good shots where you want maximum noise reduction and preservation of detail, DxO is worth every penny and your time.

Whether this is worth it to you depends on the camera you are using and the conditions you are shooting in. At the time of this blog post, DxO PureRAW 6 costs $139.99 as a one-time fee. If you just post your shots to social media in low-quality JPGs, you may not even need to denoise. But if noise is an issue for you and you’ve been unhappy with the software you are using, it’s worth your time to test-drive DxO.

Let’s go shoot some pictures tomorrow!

Silent Sunday

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 07:26:01 -0700

Silent Sunday

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 18:42:51 -0700

Cliff Notes: Q4 Photography Update

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 16:11:07 -0700

I’m going to try to update my photography goings-on every few months or so, so I have a good look back on all things photography-related.

365Pixels

365Pixels is coming along nicely. I think I’ve found my groove in posting every day. Life still gets in the way and forces a missed day or two. I haven’t back-dated anything yet. I don’t think I want to go down that road; I’m still deciding.

I want it to be an actual daily photo blog, and if I miss, I miss. It should be noted as such. If I back-date, then I really didn’t post every day… There are no real rules to this, I’m just making stuff up as I go ; )

I thought about putting everything photography-related on the website, but I have decided against it. Cliff538 really needs to stay the central hub. I came very close to posting my daily photo on Cliff538, and, to be honest, I’m still not sure whether 365Pixels as a separate blog was the right choice.

Hardware

My travel/hiking/flight-bag camera has always been my Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark II. It’s small, lightweight, and performs magically in handheld low-light situations. I would really like to do more bird photography, and the latest OM-1 offers a big step up in focus tracking and frame-per-second shooting. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on it and have been very happy with it so far. I know it’s an old camera now and needs to be updated, but it’s a big step up in performance for me.

Not sure if I’m going to sell the OMD or keep it for bashing around in a backpack or something.

Really Right Stuff Modular L-Plate Set I’ve been using RRS L-Plates on my cameras for years, excellent quality stuff. Of course, my OMD plate doesn’t fit, so I had to get the one for the OM-1.

Picked up the Godox iT32 with X50 Flash Trigger. I’ve had a few practice sessions with it, and so far I’m really impressed. The magnetic hotshoe lets you mount it on a camera or take it off and hand-hold it wherever the flash needs to be. I’m going to get this for the Nikon as well.

Rolleiflex

My focus screen is so dark that I’ve essentially stopped using the camera because I struggle to see what I’m shooting and focus properly.

In steps BrightScreen. Where have you been all my life! I got a prompt reply from Rick about a few questions I had, and days later, I had my new screen with good instructions attached.

I replaced the screen in about 20 minutes, and most of that time was spent cleaning while the hood and focus screen were off. It’s like a new camera! A very bright, clear, focus screen. I’m in love again.

If you have a dim focus screen, please don’t wait any longer and look at BrightScreens. They have screens for over 50 different camera models.

Stray Pixels

I’m told the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries don’t leak. I don’t know how many electronics I’ve ruined by accidentally leaving the batteries in and having them leak their acid into the inner electronics.

No more cans of compressed air to clean equipment: Wolfbox MF50 electric air duster saves the day. I love this thing!

The Find Lab I’ve read many good reviews and will be using their services soon. I’ll let you know what I find out with film purchases, developing, and negative scanning.

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 14:27:42 -0700

Photo Challenge Day 24: Bloom 📷

cliff538.com

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 11:50:33 -0700

Micro.blog Photo Challenge: Day 20: Gather

https://cliff538.com

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 09:53:42 -0700

Micro.blog photo challenge 📷 Day 19: Equal

Short Walk in Omaha / The Rest of the Daily Shots | February 26, 2025

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 19:49:39 -0700

iPhone 16 ProMax shot/processed (shot in RAW)

When Inspiration Turns Dark

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:10 -0700

I love photography—everything about it: carrying a camera around, freezing moments of time, downloading the photos to my computer to see what I’ve got, processing them, tweaking them, and making them just right. I share them because I’m happy with the picture, and maybe it inspires someone else. Pictures start conversations. Pictures can make you cry, think, or even change your mind.

I want to say a few words about the inspiration part.

At first, looking at other people’s photography was inspiring. But over time, it started to have the opposite effect. I wasn’t learning–I was comparing. And comparison is a trap.

You can take in so much of other people’s photography that it can make you feel bad about yours. It can make you put your camera down with a sigh; why even bother? I suck; there are 10,000 better photographers out there sharing amazing content, and nobody needs to see my crap pictures…. and on and on and on—the dark side.

A lot of this is from social media itself.

Some from looking at/consuming more photography than you are out shooting. More Consuming, Less Making.

I struggled with this a few years ago and completely put my camera down and stopped taking pictures. I felt like, why bother, my stuff is crap. I spent too much time looking at other people’s photography, taking classes, and worrying about my gear instead of just being outside taking pictures, loving my hobby, and working on my craft.

Be inspired, look at other people’s work, but know when to stop. Know when to get outside and shoot. Work on your stuff, find your happy place, and find your niche in this big photography world. There are limitless photos uploaded every day. In 2024, it’s estimated that 14 BILLION photos were uploaded to social media EVERY DAY. You can’t compete with that; you can’t even look at 1% of those photos in your lifetime.

Find your group, find your niche, or don’t. Just take pictures if it brings you joy. Upload them to your socials, or don’t. Make a website, or don’t. Do what is right for you. There is no good and bad. There is only art. Your art. Do what brings some joy to your heart. Make yourself smile. And if you do upload your photos, I can guarantee that somebody sees them, and it makes them smile, makes them think, brings them a little joy, and most of all, inspires them to go out and take some pictures.

Epilogue:

Photography has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I fell in love with it back in high school; we were lucky enough to have a yearly photography class with a complete darkroom. I took it almost every year through school; we rolled our own film and developed our film. My dad gave me his old Pentax camera, and I shot a lot of pictures.

At one point, photography became more than just a passion–it became a business. I sold my aviation prints online, and for a while, it felt like I was living the dream. But soon, I found myself spending more time answering emails, processing orders, and futzing with gear than actually out taking photos.

Selling my photos online and making a business out of it brought me down a dark hole where I would look at “better” photographers and their work, and I kept feeling worse and worse about my skills and how I couldn’t push it to the next level. Their pictures were always better.

I stopped taking pictures.

Completely.

For years, not a single photograph.

Cameras put away in a drawer, deleted all my photo apps from my computer. I was done.

Not long ago, on Mastodon, I started seeing people’s photography, passion, and love for the art. And boy, did it spark that love again for me. No more selling, no more comparing, just doing what I love to do, even if it sucks.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the photographers I follow on Mastodon. Your work, your passion, and your love for the art have reignited my own love for photography. You’ve inspired me and brought me back to what I truly love. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Somebody out there will see your work, and it will spark something in them–just like the photographers I follow on Mastodon did for me. And maybe, one day, they’ll be the ones inspiring someone else to pick up a camera again.

Cameras up. Let’s go shooting.

The Rest of the Daily Shots | February 16, 2025

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:15:03 -0700

Ever seen the inside a Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea)?

The woody skeleton inside the saguaro gives a framework of interconnected, woody ribs that provide structural support, enabling the cactus to reach heights of up to 40–50 feet.

Unfortunately, this saguaro is going to look like this fairly soon.

Saguaros have evolved to withstand the harsh conditions of the desert. However, the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves in the Phoenix area have begun to exceed their tolerance levels. This is a very sad example of climate change here in the Phoenix Valley.

If anything good can be said of it, it will at least feed the desert critters; they seem to love munching on the soft green flesh.

Here, you can see where they are nibbling at the base of this young saguaro.

The green flesh has all been consumed here just leaving the reddish brown woody underside.

This green lichen is all over the rocks; it is this bright fluorescent green, and I haven’t bumped the color at all.

Desert rocks here have what is called Desert Varnish. It is a dark, glossy coating that forms on the surface of rocks in arid environments over thousands of years. You can read more about it here.

You can really see the shiny thick varnish on this rock. It can make for some beautiful colors.

Here you can see their shallow root system.

Saguaros possess an extensive but shallow root system, spreading out as wide as the cactus is tall, to efficiently capture rainfall. This also makes them more prone to falling over and, unfortunately, being stolen from the wild.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little desert walk.

You can see the chosen daily pic at 365Pixels

The Rest of the Daily shots | February 14, 2025

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 17:08:37 -0700

You can see the daily shot at 365Pixels.

The Rest of the Daily Shots | February 13, 2025

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 19:16:23 -0700

You can see the daily shot at 365Pixels.

More experimentation today. Not happy with anything, but learning has occurred. ☺️

The Rest of the Daily Shots | February 12, 2025

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:29:20 -0700

You can see the daily shot at 365Pixels.

Here are the others from the day I shot and had to choose from. Would you have picked a different one for your daily shot?

Inspired by @maique@social.lol, who posted some rainy-day windshield shots, I thought it was perfect that it was raining in BNA.

Landing in BHM, I was able to get this shot with the spoilers up.

Waiting for the van I loved the wet curve in the road with the towers in the background. When you see it, you know it needs to be captured.

Another variation really captures the lighted concrete towers. I really like the contrast in this one.

This was behind the check-in counter at the Hilton, didn’t even need to convert this one to black and white, right out of the camera and added a border.

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:40:40 -0700

This is how we used to change a nose tire on the Twin Otter; this technique is probably frowned upon today 😆

I spent many hours working and flying on ol' 100AP; I miss that plane.

#oldschool #aviation #arcticmaintenance #twinotter

The Rest of the Daily Shots February 10th 2025

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:02:42 -0700

Rusty Student Services

Aloe Garden

You can see the daily shot here.

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:16:22 -0700

It’s Monday, hang on, it’s going to be another long week…

Exposed to Light | 02 - Hippo Love by Unknown

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 09:24:03 -0700

Photographer: Unknown.
Camera: Unknown.
Title: Unknown; I’m calling it Hippo Love.
Link: Unknown.

I have two desktop screens. One’s background picture constantly changes; the other has this, which never changes. The love, care, and trust that this picture imparts makes me smile every day. I would love to know the background of this shot. I would love to talk to this man and find out about his relationship with this hippo. What is the hippo’s name? How long was he a part of this hippo’s life? Was this a daily ritual? How long did they sit there? Who took the picture?

I love the working-class feel of the picture. I had that lunch box for a while growing up. I love the tape on it. Mostly, I love the hippos' look of complete security and peace. No matter what was going on in this hippo’s life, at this moment, all was well with the world.

When I look at this picture first thing in the morning when the computer whirls to life and the screens pop on, all is right in my world, too.

The Rest of the Daily Shots from Friday, February 7th 2025

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 09:09:42 -0700

Left Base - Almost Home

Power To The People

You can see the daily shot here.

Short Walk in Las Vegas

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:28:43 -0700

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 17:11:47 -0700

Short Walk In Tampa

#crewlife

Exposed To Light | 01 - Ballet Dancers by S.

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 11:55:14 -0700

Exposed To Light

Get ready for a new post, popping up weekly, monthly, or whenever inspiration strikes. It’s all about a powerful picture that catches my eye.

How do I know? As they say, you know when you see it. For me, It catches my eye right away. I open it full screen and can’t stop looking at it. It’s powerful, dynamic, beautiful, tells a story, and has good lines; maybe it’s the lighting or shadows, but so many things can make a powerful photo. It’s a moment that in real life passes you by in mere seconds, but when you freeze that moment in light and shadow, you give that mere micro-second of time a new life. Your brain has time to process it and, more importantly, to feel it’s draw, it’s power. A photograph can be one of the most emotionally invoking things we interact with.

Onto the first installment of Exposed To Light:
Photographer: S.
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro
Title: S. didn’t appear to name the photo; I’m calling it Ballet Dancers.
Link: Ballet Dancers

The light and shadow in this shot are just mesmerizing. The entire range is present with light and shadow. The overall story here is pretty obvious, but the individual and small group stories are not. When you look around at the different expressions and small group chats, you can’t help but wonder what they are talking about and feeling. Nervousness, excitement, boredom—you see all the different emotions in the faces.

This is what S. says about the photo:

This is the best photo I’ve ever taken and the client didn’t wanna use it. Pls enjoy bc otherwise it will never see the light of day :,)

They give a download link to the photo and tell people to download it and enjoy it. Further in the comments is a short video of the room where the shot was taken.

I think the photo is fantastic.