Another iNtresting Neighbor

When you approach this corner you not really sure what you’re looking at. Could be a corner grocery store, a bar, maybe even a spa? I have no idea what this building started out as but it is now part of what appears to be a very colorful family compound.

Seen from across the street the size and complexity of the compound can be more easily assessed. Four or five separate buildings spread over more than a quarter acre with a little park across the street. All amply landscaped and each structure painted a different but no less brilliant color.

 

….and here we see the entrance to the main “courtyard” around the corner.

I have no idea who lives here but they have to be very interesting and “colorful” people.

The first & last picture was shot with the Promaster 35mm using Portra 400 film and the 28mm lens set at f8 and 1/500. 

The second was shot using the Nikon P-300 on auto (ISO 160, f4 @ 1/800). 

The quality is not that great because they were “drive by” shots and the sun was not where I would have liked it to be for the best lighting but sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

Old is New Again!

Back on November 29^th I posted an article on this blog about the Polaroid Model 300. I of course, had assumed that instant picture technology was long gone. Imagine my surprise to discover that not only was Polaroid still in business but that they had just released a new camera & film effectively resurrecting the whole instant picture thing.

Well, in addition to the new Vivitar 3800N body and the flash, Santa saw fit to bring me one of these little Polaroid gems for Christmas and I have been having lots of fun with it for the past few days. Imagine how cool it was taking a picture of my grandchildren (L to R, Claire, Mikey & Laurel) with it and then watching them watching the picture develop before their very eyes.

 

As I noted in my earlier post the pictures are very small; too small for any “serious” portrait or photography work but they are quite good enough to be a fun and entertaining way to delight oneself in photography. It’s just really cool to be able to not only see the picture instantly but to be able to give someone a print on the spot.

The only bad news is that so far I have only seen the cameras and film online.

Santa Shows Up at My House!

Both the Promaster and Vivitar 35mm SLR bodies I bought last summer have proven to take great pictures but both show a tendency to misfeed the film when advancing from frame to frame, especially when using 36 exposure rolls of film. This is one reason why I was so excited to see a Vivitar 3800N body under the tree for Christmas. 

This is Vivitar’s current version and in addition to all the features shared with my two older bodies it also includes multiple exposure capability, a self-timer, depth of field preview and a jack for plugging in an electronic flash so you don’t have to always use the hot shoe for flash photography.  

I also got a Vivitar 2400 flash unit for Christmas. This light compact unit has a guide number of 12 and provides just enough power for most all the “usual” kind of snap shots that present themselves that do not require the power of the much larger and unwieldy Promaster 5750DX unit I have been using. The 5750DX has enough power to really “reach out and touch” subjects up to 75 feet away but is so big and bulky I never seem to have it with me when I need it. My new flash is so small & light I can easily carry it with me where ever I go.

Naturally the first thing I did was to load up with film and start taking pictures. Stay tuned for the results…