Thursday, November 01, 2007

Last leaf

A lone red leaf hangs on in a stand of sumac bushes at Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area near DeKalb, Illinois.

My family decided that I should have my dad's photo equipment. I looked through cabinets filled with cameras and I returned home with a 60s vintage Canon TL, the camera I cut my photographic teeth on when I was in junior high school. I also returned with an old Polaroid 340 Land camera. I'd like to experiment with some black and white shots. Some marvelously inventive Polaroid shots can be found here.

This photo was taken with the TL, a very basic camera, and using a 135mm prime lens. The lens creates an interesting bokeh (background blur). It's not smooth, but the roughness works in this particular case, I think, adding a harshness to the environment in which our lone leaf finds itself.

The camera's battery has long since expired, so the light meter is not functioning. The beauty of a manual camera is that a battery is optional if you know basic exposure settings. I may get around to replacing it someday soon.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2007 James Jordan.

1 comment:

Wanda said...

A little sad, that lone leaf...but Spring will come again.
How wonderful that you have your father's camera collection. That is very special.