I was going through some old images from 2010, archiving them so as to free up some hard drive space. I came across these images of Bruno Mars that I thought were kind of cool. This was before they were big…they were performing as the opening act for the Project Ethos Fashion Show (during Fashion Week LA, in 2010). I shot this digitally for a fashion blog, before I had switched back over to film.

I brought down my Mamiya 645AF for the occasion. But throwing caution to the wind, I shot using my manual-focus 80mm f/1.9 lens. The bokeh on that thing is amazing! And along with that, the depth of field is so shallow, I didn’t always nail the focus. Ah well, photography always has trade-offs. I also decided to use up a few of my remaining rolls of Fujifilm Pro 400H in 220 format. For no better reason than it was just sitting there in the fridge (I usually shoot with Kodak Portra).

Every year my wife’s large, extended family camps at Carpinteria state beach. This year my immediate family’s schedule has been such that we can only be here one night. And in our rush to pack, I forgot my camera. Yes, me. The photographer. Forgot to bring a camera.

Meanwhile, every year for the past 10-odd years, I’ve taken a picture of this tree while camping. Not to break with tradition, I’m having to make do with my cellphone this year.

Shot on Kodak Ektar 100 film, with my Mamiya 645AF and an 80mm f/2.8 lens. The close-up of the bug used a close-up lens attachment.

My family and I recently went to Alaska. We go every couple of years to visit family, and sometimes we take a side trip as well. This time we spent a week in Denali National Park as our ‘side trip’.

As you can imagine, I blew through quite a few rolls of film while I was there! I just brought one camera – my Mamiya 645AF. And two lenses, the 55mm and the 80mm. And lots of film.

These images were from our first full day at Denali. We never did see Mt. McKinley, except for a few seconds on our train trip up to the park. We had mostly gray skies, with occasional rain. All very typical of an Alaska summer. It was definitely “close ups and details” weather…i.e. shoot the details because the sky looks too horrible for landscape shots.

Above is a shot of Horseshoe Lake, which is close to the entrance of the park. We happened to see a momma moose and her baby wading through the lake. I did go running toward the moose when I first spotted it, in hopes of getting a good picture. And then turned right back around when I saw the baby. Don’t ever get between a baby moose and its momma.

Above, a weird virus that infects the trees and makes them bulge. And the family, on moose patrol.

I said to Dianne, “look over there and pretend you saw a bear.” Apparently she loves bear, because she looks happy. Finn is doing a better job of pretending to see a bear, without needing any coaching.

By the end of the trip, we had nicknamed Finn “Bear Snack” for his tendency to fall behind the group on hikes. Once he realized what we meant, he stayed right with the group!

Beavers! Well, evidence of them anyway. We saw dams, lodges and felled trees, but no actual critters.

The image above on the left is my life in about seven years’ time, but those will be cellphones instead of compasses.

After a quick lunch, we hopped on the park bus and headed into the park. First stop, and a rather dramatic one, is the Savage River.

I love those orange lichens on the rock! As for the black and white image, this isn’t one of those cases where I attempted to save a bad color image by converting it. When I shot this I said to myself, man I wish I’d brought some black and white film, just for this shot. One of the rare instances that I was able to shoot mentally for black and white, with color in the camera.

More from Alaska soon, in small portions. No one wants to sit through too many vacation slides all at once!

Above: underneath the Hawthorne bridge. Super yummy (and pretty) coffee from Public Domain. Plants just growing without anyone watering them! (Hey, I live in Southern California, so that’s amazing in itself). A very, very long And slippery staircase up into what I believe is an area called Governors Park.

Above: Trolly tracks and tree-lined streets, possibly Chinatown. A really rockin’ street band called All the Apparatus. The view outside our hotel (the Westin).

Above: a monument in the South Park Blocks (at least that’s what the park is called in google maps). My wife. The Farmers Market at Portland State University. Lincoln. Me in a rare bit of sunshine.

All images were shot on my Mamiya 645AF, with either a manual-focus 80mm f/1.9 lens, or an autofocus 55mm f/2.8 wide angle lens. New Kodak Portra 400 film used throughout.

This is Luis. I was wandering around downtown Ventura the other day, and saw this barber shop in the Mitchell Block historical area. I took the first shot, and then stood there for a minute or two, seeing if there were other angles I could use. Up walked Luis, who had come for haircut. Problem was, it was 9am and the shop wasn’t open yet. Luis assumed I was there for a haircut too, and we started chatting.

Turns out Luis has some severe health issues, and felt he didn’t have much time left on this planet. I thought I should ask him if I could take his picture. He obliged.

Shot on my Koni Omega Rapid, a 6×7 medium format rangefinder. 90mm f/3.5 Hexanon lens, which is incredibly sharp. I’ve only run a few test rolls through this camera so far, but it will probably turn into one of my mains portrait cameras. It has a leaf shutter to sync the flash at all speeds, which is helpful in bright sun. And huge negatives, to make really big, detailed prints. And it’s less cumbersome and heavy than my RB67, the only other camera I have that will shoot 6×7. Yay! Fuji Pro 400H film, exposed at ISO 250.

My son’s first “Opening Day” of baseball, as he’s just started T-ball.

Nikon F5, Tamron 28-105mm f/2.8 lens, Kodak Portra 800 color film, converted to black and white.