Category Archives: Themes

Personal Vision, The Story, Themes

2022 Wrap ups: The ups and downs

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As a year, 2022 seems to have had a lot of ups and downs for our family and friends. So let’s start with with ups.

Early in 2022 my Mother celebrated her 98th birthday. Overall she is still going strong and we’ve started thinking about doing something special for number 100! For her 90th birthday we had a big family gathering in Florida, and unless we think of something else, we plan to do that again.

2022 was also the year of our Johnson family reunion. It was hosted by my cousin Dwight and held at a wonderful county park near Cincinnati called Winton Woods. Family came from as far as Colorado, Florida, New York, South Carolina and the state of Washington, as well as the greater Cincinnati area.

In 2022 Donald & I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. It doesn’t feel like it has been that long.

For our anniversary we hosted a party at our favorite Italian restaurant called Parma. We invited all of our local friends.

2022 has also brought some triumphs for my health. My full knee replacement has completely healed and I barely have a scar. Some pituitary issues have been resolved and are now under control. And my back treatments have stabilized my lower back issues until I’m well enough to have surgery for the issue. My balance has improved enough that I no longer need the walker. This has allowed me to start working on my blind cane training, which is coming along well.

Now for the downs, which have exclusively been health related. The first is my Mother in law, who shattered her femur. She also took a face plant into the door on the way down and looks like she’s been in a fist fight.

She spent four months in a rehab hospital and is still struggling to transition from the wheelchair back to a walker.

Just after my my mother in law fell, husband fell and tore his quad. After 5 months it didn’t heal, so he will be having surgery soon to repair it.

And the big down for the year is my vision loss. It continues to slowly degrade. I’m facing complete vision loss in the next few years so I’ve started to learn how to navigate with a cane. Once I learn to use the cane I can apply to get a seeing eye dog. That is my eventual goal.

Low Vision Photography, Personal Vision, Portraits, The Story, Themes

Tweeting No More

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I’m writing this blog post for my Twitter followers. This, and my other blogs, were set up to automatically post on Twitter. However due to the actions of the new owner of Twitter, I will no longer be posting there. I hope to keep my Twitter followers as blog followers as I restart this blog after my long illness. I’m also considering alternatives to Twitter such as Instagram, but haven’t finalized that. I’ll make an announcement here when I’ve decided what I’m going to do.

Inspired By Series, Social Commentary, The Story, Themes

The Gap Band: A Tulsa Heritage

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Most People outside of RAP don’t know the connection.  The GAP Band members were born, raised and started their Music career in Tulsa. 

The band is an acronym based on the streets of Greenwood, Archer, and Pine in the historic Greenwood neighborhood of the Wilson brothers’ hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Celebrate the Music. Remember the loss and play some GAP Today.

Film Photography Projects, Inspired By Series, Landscapes, Personal Vision, Themes

Organ Mountains, New Mexico

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I remember first seeing these Mountains 30 years ago. On a recent trip through New Mexico we decided to stop by Las Cruces to see the Organ Mountains:

I’ll have more views of the Mountains coming soon. For more information on the Ogan Mountains CLICK HERE.

Architecture, Film Photography Projects, Personal Vision, Street Photography, Themes, Urban Landscapes

Mining History in Pueblo, CO

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Pueblo, Colorado was the location of Colorado’s Steel Industry. Oh, you mean that you didn’t know there was, and to a lesser extent still is a stell industry here. Now mostly oriented towards recycling.

They has=ve a wonderful, but very small museum. dont have any photos because I was using my digital camera which decided to malfunction. OK, I deserve that because I am supposed to be a film photographer, so focussing on film for this trip was a major error.

But I did take along a film camera and did make a few good shots.

This was one of the buildings that survives from the old mining history. It now belongs to the Historical Society and is being remodel as a new headquarters and Museum home.

If you want to lesrn more sbout Pueblo’s History, CLICK HERE.

Architecture, Film Photography Projects, Landscapes, Themes

Frugal Film 2021: Gross Dam & Reservoir

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My February 2021 offering to the Frugal Film Project. Almost didn’t make the deadline last week, but fortunately my film turnaround time at Old School Photo Labs was quick. Thank you guys! So here it is:

Gross Dam & Reservoir

On one of our afternoons wandering the Foot Hills of the Rocky Mountain Front Range, we ventured to one of our favorite sights: Groos Dam and Reservoir.

The Gross Dam is part of an extensive network of reservoirs that supply the Denver Water System. It was named for Denver Water former Chief Engineer Dwight D. Gross. 

Approved for expansion July 2020. The design of the addition  is expected to be completed in 2021.  It will add 10 feet to the height of the dam.

Summary of the Current Numbers

Capacity: 41,811 acre-feet

Elevation: 7,282 feet

Surface Area:  440 Acres

Shoreline:  10.9 miles

More information available at Denver Water: https://www.denverwater.org/recreation/gross-resevoir

Agfo 6X9 Billy Clack No. 74.

Tri-X 400 Film

Film Photography Projects, Landscapes, Personal Vision, Social Commentary, Themes, Urban Landscapes

Tree Carving: Frugal Film from January2021

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My Posting from the Frugal Film Project:

I am finally getting started with the 2021 Project.   Two summers ago the City of Lafayette, CO was cutting down Cottonwood trees In a park near my home. The trees were nearly dead and a hazard to park patrons and passer’s by in bad weather.  But I had wondered why they left about half of the trunk still standing.  Well this past December an artist began sculpting one of the trunks. And here it is:

My husband had a chance to speak with him and he said eventually he would sculpt all four trunks with locally themed art.  The Rooster represents the Oatmeal Festival, held here in January during non-COVID years. The Rooster represents the winner of the Festival’s 5K walk/run.

Artist: Lueb Popoft, local tree carving artist.  Read more about hie Goals: https://www.hollowlogonline.com/biography.html

Agfo 6X9 Billy Clack No. 74.

I am finally getting started with the 2021 Project.   Two summers ago the City of Lafayette, CO was cutting down Cottonwood trees In a park near my home. The trees were nearly dead and a hazard to park patrons and passer’s by in bad weather.  But I had wondered why they left about half of the trunk still standing.  Well this past December an artist began sculpting one of the trunks. And here it is:

My husband had a chance to speak with him and he said eventually he would sculpt all four trunks with locally themed art.  The Rooster represents the Oatmeal Festival, held here in January during non-COVID years. The Rooster represents the winner of the Festival’s 5K walk/run.

Artist: Lueb Popoft, local tree carving artist.  Read more about hie Goals: https://www.hollowlogonline.com/biography.html

Agfo 6X9 Billy Clack No. 74.

Ektar 100 Film

Cottonwood

Film Photography Projects, Intersections, Landscapes, My Inner Monet, Personal Vision, Themes

IR Sensitive Films: Retro 400S

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I thought about writing a summary of the origin and significance of the Retro IR Sensitive films as an aerial mapping film. But then I found an excellent history/summary by My Favorite Lens reviewing the Retro 400S. So check it out…………

Now we take up Part II of our IR Sensitive Film Tests. Here a comparison of Rollei Retro 400S and Ilford SFX-200 (My Standard). We again applied the IR 695 filter to both rolls. We know from our previous experience that this filter adds contrast to the Retro-films. So let’s jump in………

Images on the left are from SFX-200 and on the right from Retro 400S:

We ca see the obvious difference in Contrast. But it this first image it works.

Above, the contrast in the clouds for the Retro 400S makes it more interesting to me.

In the four images below,the lighter contrast (SFX-200) allows iu to see more detail.

Agai, here I think you choice my depend on personal aesthetics. There are qualities I like in both images.

S, we have determined in both cases that perhaps the Retro Films don;t really need IR-filter enhancement. So for our next test we are going bare. I’ll be comparing the Retro 80S with no filter to the SFX-200 with the IR 695.