A Glass Menagerie - Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5

I carry a camera with me every day. Today, it happened to be my little waterproof Lumix TS5, which I was bringing in to work to loan to a friend. The camera has accompanied her to Central America, and is now on its way to Tibet.

 

Anyway, the building where I work represents one of the world's largest installations of structural glass. Walking to my office, I noticed these apparently random tracks on the condensed water droplets on the outside surface. Obviously not guided by gravity, these tracks twist and turn, intersecting themselves and wandering both up and down. After looking at a few of them closely, I determined the source.

 

Slug, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5

 

At about 1 1/2" in length, these guys cover some territory.

 

Further down the hall, I found this predator:

 

Praying Mantis, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5

 

I'm not sure if a mantis will eat slugs, but I have a suspicion they will. Quite an interesting little world in operation just on the other side of the glass...

 

The TS5's macro capability came in handy here. The wifi did as well, allowing me to quickly transfer the images to my iPad so I could include them in this morning's post.

 

Then, I look up from the table where I'm writing and see this:

 

 

I grabbed this shot with the iPad's onboard camera. Okay, digital imaging can be pretty cool.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

More Men at Work - Nikon Df in Japan

Here's a guy working on the outside of a building in Ryogoku, Tokyo. Ryogoku is the home of Tokyo's sumo wrestling, and this business sells "chanko nabe," the hearty pork soup that is a mainstay of the sumo diet.

High Work #1, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 1100, f8, 1/500 sec.

 

After taking this shot from steet level, I went up to the platform at the Ryogoku train station to capture this view from a higher perspective.

 

High Work #2, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 1100, f8, 1/500 sec.

 

The Nikkor 50mm f1.2 lens functions very well as a normal lens when stopped down, though that's not normally how I'd use it. It's really purpose-built for extreme low light applications.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Final Couple of Pinhole Shots for Now

Poster Session, by Reed A. George

Reality So Subtle Panoramic Pinhole Camera, Kodak TMax 100 Film

 

These examples show just how well the pinhole camera can perform. Again, there were people in these pictures, too, but they're barely visible. You can see a ghostly apparition in the center of the bottom pic.

 

I like this camera.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Pinhole Camera in Odd Places

Following on my post from yesterday, here are a couple of shots I made by placing the Reality So Subtle 6x17 pinhole camera in odd places. First, I put it on top of the coffee grinder. It's impossible to see, but there was a steady stream of people who walked through the fifteen minute exposure, including one of the staff who was about to call security, wondering what this odd box on the coffee grinder was. Luckily, I was sitting nearby (that's me to the far right), and let him know it was mine. No problem, once I noticed his concern.

From the Coffee Grinder, by Reed A. George

Reality So Subtle 6x17 Pinhole Camera, Kodak TMax 100 Film

 

This next one was made by placing the camera on a stainless steel serving table, under a shelf. The lights in the ceiling are reflected back up from the stainless surface, giving an interesting effect.

From the Serving Table, by Reed A. George

Reality So Subtle 6x17 Pinhole Camera, Kodak TMax 100 Film

 

I'm really enjoying using this odd camera. For more information on the camera itself, (Click Here).

 

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One Hour Exposures - 6x17 Pinhole

Two Hours at the Symposium, by Reed A. George

Reality So Subtle 6x17 Panoramic Pinhole Camera, Kodak TMax 100 Film

 

I had some fun last weekend, shooting my new panoramic pinhole camera at a work symposium. Each of these are one hour exposures. On top, I set the camera in the front row of seats, pointed directly at myself (the middle blurry person, in dark clothes). You can see my Leica CL in the picture, a little left of center.

 

The second is another one hour exposure, this time from the speaker's podium.

 

You can click on these images to see more detail on flickr.

 

In both cases, the images were significantly underexposed, because I didn't take reciprocity failure (film's loss of linear response to light in very long exposures). They would have been much better as two hour exposures. But, I think they're kind of fun and weird.

 

More long images from the symposium coming soon.

 

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