Picture taken at the House of Reptiles today in Tigard.

Some photos from a visit to the Zoo with a photographer friend of mine.  It was her digital camera that inspired me to buy the model that I now own.  She recently graduated though to a full on Canon DSLR that is HUGE.  I like that one can view  truly through the lens with the DSLR like a film camera SLR but other than that I am fine with the more compact and "simpler" to operate Canon Pro-1.  Afterall I am first and foremost a film photographer.  This picture of two ducks is my favorite.  The pond had this yellowish colored bottom that makes the picture look like an antique Japanese Print.

I like that I could incorporate our shadows in this image.  It adds another "dimension" to the photograph by introducing features in to the composition that are not in front of the lens.  The trees, the fence, and us.  We take the picture and we our part of the picture at the same time.

I borrowed my friends polarizing filter for this shot.  The shift is not as dramatic with digital the way it is with film though the sky did come out a little darker.

These frameworks of lights are a feature for Christmas time when the Zoo opens at night so you can see these elaborate light displays.  Later as we were leaving and dusk was approaching the lights started coming on but I was getting tired of taking pictures.

  The Occupy Movement in Portland is on the move.  Here last Thursday they staged a march and occupation of several downtown banks for short periods of time which led to one of the first pepper spraying incidents.

Some images taken the other day with the digital camera.  I've really been taking it out and playing with it.  I use it exclusively on manual setting only using the auto-focus since the camera doesn't have through the lens viewing like a DSLR.  The other settings  for apeture, shutter speed and color balance  can really give you a lot of creative control without all the fuss of filters and the limitations of color film.

Portland has apparently pulled off ending the Occupation of the parks not with a bang or a whimper.  The Police, News crews, hundreds of witnesses, "a bike swarm" all came together and just kind of stood around waiting to see what happened.  About an hour after the official closure of the park someone threw something at the police and was promptly arrested and that was the extent of the police action.  This morning the Park is still open but the occupation is over I think.  Police are just cleaning up the mess that wasn't cleared out the day before. It was an interesting 37 or so days.  I'll take a few pictures on my lunch break tomorrow and then start developing the last two rolls of the five rolls of film I shot.  Along with around 300 digital images I covered the event from it's inception to the aftermath.

           "Is that all there is?  Is that all there is?
     If thats all there is my friend then lets keep dancing.                     
     Lets break out the booze and have a ball if thats all there is."   

Looks like occupied portland is about to be occupied by the Portland Police after midnight tonight.

Working with the Digital Camera yesterday in the Japanese Gardens I was pleased with the flexibility of being able to change ISO settings depending on light conditions.  I stayed between 50-200 though for all the pictures.  It was Sunny but not in the gardens where most of the time I was there the sun did not rise above the tall firs that surround the gardens.

I didn't bring a tripod but found places where I could brace my camera for longer exposures.  I like to work with a minimum of equipment anyway and just make what I have work for me.  Less is more.

In the shadows a problem with color film would have been the color of light that might have made everything blue and desaturated the colors.  I could adjust the white balance and boost the color though something that would be difficult with film.  I find the digital format works better with flat even lighting rather than bright sun.

I continue to work with Raw Format when I can.  Some shooting functions don't give you the option.

I am pleased with the results that I can get a dark brooding image with color thanks to the way the image can be manipulated with the camera and later with editing software.

Another beautiful Autumnal Day perhaps the last before all the foliage gone.  Took the day off and spent it in the Japanese Gardens.

I hope to do some more photos within the darkroom using the safe light illumination with long exposures using my new digital camera in my darkroom.  I really like this still life of the Zone VI enlarger with it's "high tech" time and light controls with that huge Saunders Easel all lit by that lovely amber glow of the safe light.   I wish there was someway I could easily fuse the Zone VI head with my D-2 chassis.  I saw a set up for sale on e-bay so I know now it can be done but probably it involves some customizing.  That would be the ideal set up for me.  I have a lot of accessories for the D-2 and few for the Zone VI.

A few more photographs taken this week at Occupy Portland.  I have two more rolls of film to develop of five that I have taken there in the last three weeks.  I will keep shooting both digitally and with film until it's all over which I think will happen before the year is out. 

Two pictures printed out this weekend on ilford papers developed in Dektol taken with Tri-X pan.

A time exposure done in the darkroom by safelight illumination.  Using the digital camera with an exposure of around 10 seconds ISO setting of 200 and at f 2.8.  Manual focused the lens since I didn't think the auto focus would work in the poor light.
  I thought it came out pretty good.

Occupy Portland is now over a month old.  Last night a story was out that the "Real Occupiers" wanted to apologize to the city and the police for starting something that has spun totally out of their control.  This may have just been a rumor.  On Thursday the ersatz mayor of portland gave a press conference in front of city hall warning the protesters not to pull off another spontaneous parade and disrupt traffic like they did the night before.  As he was saying this to a very small collection of local media some of the Occupy Portland folks came up to listen.  As they gathered mayor sam wrapped things up and tried to get the hell out of there fast but not before a few of the protesters came up to shake his hand and thank him for his support.  I can see the college kids and the mentally ill buying his line but I would think that the street people could smell a load when it's in front of them.

"I really love what you've done with the place."

I have been walking through or around the Occupy Portland Camps for close to a month now.  My first pictures taken of the demonstration in the park on the waterfront were taken exactly a month ago using my newly acquired digital camera.  Since then I've been working with both digital and analog.  I've taken hundreds of pictures and still have work on 4 rolls of film that I have barely begun to print out.  That will probably take me most of next year to work on.  Though the parks are packed with people I'm just not that good at including people in my compositions.  I like to photograph people but only if I am engaged with them and I normally don't like to be engaged with people.  Sometimes I see a group or individual that adds something to the picture but mostly I take pictures of the environment without people which isn't that difficult.  Most of these are pretty boring but sometimes I catch something interesting.  I've been meaning to do some work with medium format film.  I think this has a ways to go and the aftermath of the mess once it's been closed down should be interesting as well as the park once it has recovered.  I'll have to look for some work I've done within the park before this event but I rarely photographed there the park really wasn't all that interesting.

Variable contrast fiber Ilford Warm toned glossy paper.

Zone VI grade 2 fiber glossy paper

Both prints developed in Dektol.

If you are going to work with black and white film and do your own printing your first step with your new negatives is to make a proper proof sheet.  When I was first learning photography this was emphasized but I didn't always follow through.  Now it is an important step not only to be able to see what you have but as a guide to printing your enlargements.  Once the negatives have dried I cut them in 6 image strips and make a proper proof which will be stored with the negatives in a folder.