Category Florida Travel

First Pics! Fujica GW690

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We just got our first roll of film from our new Fujica processed with ‘The Darkroom’. They scanned the 6×9 negatives and zipped them to us. We couldn’t be any more pleased with the results.

As a refresher – this is the 1978 version of Fuji Photo Film’s GW690 medium format film camera. It is the last model to to be called ‘Fujica’. It looks great in this image and it is in very nice condition, but well worn from the thousands of rolls and exposures taken. It will settle in to a more quiet life with us as we can’t afford to buy and have processed 120 film and only get 8 exposures per roll. But we are super happy with it. Super sharp Fujinon 90mm lens transfers the image nicely to the 6×9 negative.

By the way… all of the images presented are direct scans from the negatives. No post production on our part – no crops or other messing with the images. Some I missed the correct exposure by a stop or two with my guesses. I was mostly shooting at 1/250 with 100 film at around f8 to f11. Neopan Acros is very forgiving.

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As you can see, we’ve presented 6 exposures vice 8… 1 other was a duplicate and exposure 8 wasn’t on the roll! I think I may have wound past the first frame. We believe the level of detail and contrast of the Fujinon lens is superb. Did we mention that we’re big fans of Fuji’s Acros? We also love the 6×9 format too. I would say that I was surprised at the shallow depth-of-field in the truck image – I focused on the ‘GMC’ logo and as you may be able to see, I missed spot on focus.

All of the images were taken along Centre Street, downtown historic district, Fernandina Beach – Amelia Island, Florida. The post office building is ca. 1911. The clock tower is ca. 1891. The ‘Pineapple Patch’ building is ca. 1880s. You get the point – for the U.S. it’s kinda old – for most of the rest of the world they’re kinda new. It’s all relative. ^.^

Thanks for your visit!

Chris and Carol

Fading Florida…

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Closed and forgotten long ago when the super highway passed it by. Abandoned and neglected. Sun bleached, baked and peeling – rust overwhelms then destroys. Plants invade, cracks widen, water seeps in. Rot and mold – bugs and rodents. Soon to collapse – no restoration – forest takes over.

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Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

Architectural Gem – Prairie School Style

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The Prairie School style of architecture was influenced by the popular Arts and Crafts style of design from the last part of the 1800s – born in the American Mid-West, it swept across the United States during the early 1900s and was in part made famous by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. This fabulous building is at the corner of Broad and Duval Streets in Jacksonville, Florida. Construction began in late 1912 and finished in 1916.

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The Masonic Temple as it still stands today. Catching the last rays of Florida sunshine on a winter’s day.

This five story reinforced concrete and brick building located in downtown Jacksonville, Florida has stood the test of time for just over 100 years.

My image doesn’t do the building justice as it only focuses on one small part that caught my eye in the glowing late afternoon sunlight. The abstract ornaments includes a row of Masonic symbols between the fourth and fifth stories and ornate terracotta and pressed metal designs elsewhere.

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Of interest, it was home to the first African-American owned bank in Jacksonville, the Anderson Bank. The building was groundbreaking in the sense that while located in the deep south, it was one of the few buildings that African-American business owners had their professional offices – dentists, doctors and lawyers.

Image taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4.

Thanks for your visit! Comments are always welcomed. Chris ^.^

Enjoying the day together –

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I realized that we haven’t posted an image of the two of us (from this century anyway), so we picked this one. We don’t normally run around taking selfies (nothing against them) so we don’t have a large image pool to draw from. We like this one the best. Attending a spring training game for the New York Mets in St. Lucie West (Florida). They have an awesome field and outstanding facilities there. If you get the chance to catch a spring training game then do so. You’re always close to the action and get to see pretty much everyone on the team. The Mets play at Tradition Field.

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Shooting in squares…

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It’s tough to think square again! I’m spoiled (aren’t we all) by the ease of digital photography – nice proportions – wide screen – big images – bold colors – lots of megapixels. Exposures? Shutter speeds? Composition? No worries – the technological gems we hang from our necks will think for us. I’m as guilty as anyone – I love what digital can do and what it can’t.

Now try to think of the world in little squares – 6 x 6 centimeter squares to be exact. It’s hard to do – modern formats are always elongated squares. Who loads square images on their blog? The square format went out with the Instamatic! But if you’re lucky enough to own (or have access to) a medium format (6×6) camera then you too can shoot in squares.

I recently took one of my Yashica TLRs out on a date – threw in some fresh Fujifilm and off I went. I must confess – I love color! Sure I like an occasional fling with some black and white (Neopan 100 Acros) but color gets me going. Not “computer generated color” – the subtle color you see only on film. It’s there (just like in real life) but it doesn’t tackle you to the ground like some overly saturated digital image. Just nice and easy color.

These following images were taken with my Yashica-Mat EM twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera. Exposures were determined (suggested actually) by the EM’s on board exposure meter. Yashica claims that it’s built-in but it’s really just attached to the left side of the body by three screws and a wire. No TTL or coupled metering here… just a bunch of tiny numbers on top of more tiny numbers with an almost invisible pointer pointing at those tiny numbers. I chose Fujifilm’s Fujicolor PRO 400H color negative film because I enjoy shooting with Fujifilm and usually like the results. I will point out that no post production was done on these images. No cropping, no color adjustments – they’re just as they were when developed and scanned by the lab (which was The Darkroom).

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This is actually image 12 on the roll. Taken on day 2 of my travels. Perfect small town America shot. I lost my bright sun from the day before but the Fujicolor 400 made up for the dull sky. Is it properly exposed? Probably not. Off by about 1 stop or so.

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Day 1 – image 7 on the roll. The Fujicolor handled the strong contrast between the sky and building. The Yashica’s meter did a fantastic job. About 1/500 at f/ 16-22.

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Faded Florida – along U.S. Highway 17 in North Florida. High contrast with strong shadows. f/ 16 at 1/500.

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A nice test for the Tomioka 80mm lens. No flare and some nice highlights on the water. 1/250 at around f/ 11-16. I metered to the left of the bridge. Looking south into Florida from Georgia. Highway 17 bridge over the St. Marys River.

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Looking north towards Georgia. The Yashica’s meter did a wonderful job suggesting the proper shutter speed and aperture setting. 1/250 at f/ 16.

Shooting in squares can be fun and challenging. Do I think some of the images would be better in a 6 x 4.5 or 6 x 7 format? Yes – definitely. Can I learn to enjoy squares again? Yes – definitely.

Comments are always appreciated and welcomed. Thanks for your visit!

Chris

 

Forgotten and faded Florida…

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U.S. Highway 17 was the way to enter Northeast coastal Florida in days past – long before I-95 was even imagined. If you came down from the North in the late 1940s, you entered Florida over a way too narrow bridge over the St. Marys River – the official boundary between Georgia and Florida. The two lane road was well traveled and one of the last cities you would pass through before the bridge was Kingsland, Georgia… just a few miles north of the river. The next city wasn’t until you reached Jacksonville, Florida – a long way south. You can’t really count the in-between hamlets of Yulee and Oceanway – they were home to flashing lights just to make you slow down a bit.

To be the first attraction – or motel – or restaurant – or bar – or whatever along this busy corridor meant something I imagine. Where would the tourists stop to take a picture or pause to, you know, rest? Highway 17 was the bomb – it was the way south. Then I-95 came and it was over in a hurry.

What’s left of the Florida firsts?

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U.S. Highway 17 bridge over the St. Marys River. Looking north into Georgia – this would have been your first step on dry land that was Florida.

After your safe passage over this way too narrow bridge, you would be treated with your first photo op…

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Everybody stops to get their picture taken in Florida! What better place then this sign… and with palm trees too! This is the sign along U.S. 17 a little south of the border.

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Gotta have a plaque to dedicate the sign.

All that’s left of some of the ‘firsts‘…

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‘Souvenirs’ and ‘Whiskey’.

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Nothing left to buy here except more time I suppose.

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More than a few tourists walked through this door… come in please.

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Faded Florida.

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Last one out.

A wonderful place to explore… that first half mile of faded Florida along Highway 17. Many more opportunities to be sure. It was the first motel in now forgotten Florida. The people are elsewhere but the photo ops remain.

Thanks for your visit. As always your comments are appreciated.

You can also visit me at https://www.flickr.com/photos/127540935@N08/

Chris

One last shot – a modern I-95 Florida welcome.

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