Wallace Koopmans Artlog

I needed to wait around for a few hours so I took my Pentax K-7 and only one lens, the DA35 ltd.  These pictures are directly from the camera but re sized.

As I was sorting through some resent shots,  I started to think about what made one similar shot better than another.  Both images present the viewer with a single point of interest on a blank background, in fact they are the same subject.  So what are the defining differences?  If we ignore for the moment the difference of shading of the background, I accredit the main difference to be the size of the subject relative to the ground.  The first image gives a greater sense of  scale while the second is a more direct representation, here is a lady bird beetle no more no less.

Here is an example of another one of the processing tools built into the Pentax K-7.  You can select a particular color to remain while all the other hues are desaturated to shades of grey.

The automatic part of this camera no longer works so I thought I would find out why.  It turns out that the selenium cell that is around the lens is no longer generating any voltage.  It’s a very simple system where the voltage from the selenium cell deflects a needle connected to a small coil “galvanometer”.   As the shutter is pressed there are two plates that move upward, on the top of these plates are steps that determine how far the plates slide based on where they intersect the needles horizo

Just another odd find.  I’m not sure what this means and to whom.

When you have film cameras you need film.  Having film on hand makes it a lot easier to overcome the barrier that using film costs more than digital.  Very fortuitous timing occurred with this film.  I walked up to the counter just as the photo manager was cleaning out a drawer and placed these on the counter.  My first words where I will take a box of that film.  I think he though I meant one roll.  Once we cleared that up and he scanned in the price I modified my request to OK I will take it all.  Well twenty rolls was all that they had but at 49 cents a roll that isn’t bad at all.  So 20 rolls times 24 exposures is 480 that should keep me going for awhile.  All told when developing is included (I scan my own film) it comes to about 15 cents per exposure.  For me it’s well worth that cost to be able to use some of my old cameras.

I think I love the deep greens of spring more than anything else, well that and the yellows.

I don’t know what is so appealing about paint flaking off a sign but it does embody the passage of time.  OK two plays on words in one sentence that must be a record for me.

Sometimes something just grabs your eye as you are walking by.  So as I was getting a coffee the other day and was walking back to my vehical I noticed how the space between the trees mimicked the shape of the arrow on the ground.  Fortunately no one ran me over as I crouched down to get this shot.  The great thing about cameras is the ability to share your vision of the world with others.  It would be easy to assume that we all see things the same but pictures can be as much about the viewer as the creator.

I wonder where he parked his DeLorean.