Tag Canon

Wat Phra Kaew – Bangkok 1978

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Give me lots of nearly cloudless blue sky, my Canon FD 24mm wide angle lens and some fresh Kodak Kodachrome 25 and I’m a happy guy!

This is just a few images from my port visit to Pattaya Beach, Thailand in December of 1978. I managed a couple of off days to make the crazy (back then) trip to Bangkok.

My “follow me everywhere” Canon F-1 (1978 version) loaded with Kodachrome 25 and my FD 24mm f/ 2.8 lens captured these images at Wat Phra Kaew in central Bangkok.

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This guy always makes me smile.

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Young monks taking a break.

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Very shy ladies practicing their music.

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Nothing like turning your 24mm lens for a tall vertical shot. The Kodachrome and Canon lens captured every detail.

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Almost 40 year old Kodachrome. Still as brilliant as ever!

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The F-1 metered this shot perfectly.

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Gotta have at least one silhouette in the mix.

An amazing country to visit. The colors of everything just popped! Mid December sun angles were never a problem. Bright blue skies helped with capturing the details as I was able to stick with ASA 25 even when hand holding my FD 80-200mm lens.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

Florence… 1986

Chris and Carol 7 Comments
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Nothing says Florence like the Cathedral of Florence. Canon F-1 with FD 24mm f/2.8 lens on Kodak Kodachrome 25.

In presenting a short series of images of Florence (one of the most beautiful of all cities in Italy), it’s a tough call on which images to include. In Pisa, it has to be the most famous bell tower in the world. I imagine for Rome I would choose the Coliseum – Colosseum or the Vatican. Since there’s so much beauty, history, art and architecture at every turn in Florence it’s nearly impossible to choose the one to use first. My visit to the Tuscony Region was in late October 1986 – the weather was perfect and the visibility was awesome!

My camera was the Canon F-1 (1978 version) with three lenses to use: FD 24mm f/2.8, FD 80-200mm f/4 zoom and the normal FD 55mm f/1.4. Since sunlight would be in abundance, Kodak’s Kodachrome 25 fit perfectly with the days shooting plan (no interiors in the plans).

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Vista view to the north… FD 24mm while hanging the camera over the side of the railing (wobbly pieces of metal) loosely attached to 600 year old stone.

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The Duomo with its instantly identifiable tiled dome. FD 80-200mm at about 150mm

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FD 200mm braced on the railing.

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Back to earth… Canon FD 24mm wide angle lens at f/22

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More FD 24mm… my go to lens in the tight quarters of a city. It’s not easy to get all three in the same image.

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The Canon’s light meter (spot) handled this tricky exposure well. Yep, FD 24mm lens.

Of course what would a visit to any city be without the required “People and Pigeon” shot.

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Happy people and happy pigeons.

This of course is only a very small sample of what’s available in and around Florence and the Tuscany Region. I had only one short afternoon to visit so I was lucky to see as much as I did. The old “someday” I hope to travel back and do it right.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

 

 

Pisa… 1986

Chris and Carol 6 Comments

Pisa… a gorgeous city filled with unbelievable wonders. Photographic eye candy to be sure. In 1986, shooting with a Canon F-1 and Canon lenses on Kodachrome 25 was as close to “perfect” in 35mm photography as one could hope to achieve (sorry Nikon guys and gals). In appreciation of the all the imperfections and limits of film photography (just like vinyl records), analog photography still moves me. Sure I love digital – some images with digital were impossible with film (or nearly so), but film has a softness of color and detail that I love.

These images were taken in mid October 1986. They’ve received only minor post production after scanning – mostly small crops to remove the edges of the 35mm slide mounts and some occasional color balancing and brightness tweaks. Film used was Kodak’s Kodachrome 25 (perfect for bright lighting and known for its fine grain).

My Canon F-1 (1978 version) and three FD lenses were all that I had in my bag: 24mm f/2.8 wide angle, 80-200mm f/4 zoom and the 55mm f/1.4. The weather was perfect – bright sunshine, low humidity with mild temperatures. Visibility was amazing as a recent cold front had passed through the area and cleared the air of haze and pollutants.

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24mm taken on the south side of the tower.

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80-200mm zoom. Until you see the tower in person you have no sense of the dramatic lean. Just amazing that it’s stood since 1327 like this.

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The tower as a sundial. 80-200mm zoom

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In silhouette. 80-200mm zoom hand held.

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Holding the tower upright. 200mm

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Enjoying the view to the north.

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Pisa cathedral. 24mm

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Gelato and soda. 80-200mm zoom at 150mm

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Art in the streets. 55mm

An amazing city worthy of your visit.

Chris

Montauk Point Lighthouse, Long Island

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The lighthouse at Montauk Point, Long Island, New York is one of my favorite spots to visit ever since I was a child growing up on Long Island. As a kid, the main attractions for me were – the ocean, the countless rocks in that ocean (big and small), the hills (Long Islanders are hill challenged) and finally the lighthouse itself. As I got older, the main attraction was the lighthouse with the other ‘likes’ fading into the background. When I earned my New York driver’s licence, Montauk was my first long drive from my home by myself. When I became a certified SCUBA diver, the waters near the lighthouse looked tempting for a dive but the great whites known to frequent the cold waters off Eastern Long Island kept me ashore – so I headed to Florida instead.

While going through some of my many mountains of slides from my collection, I came across these images of the lighthouse. The first set of photographs are from August 1972 and were shot with my Yashica TL Electro-X mostly using the normal Yashinon 50mm lens. The second set of images are from 2002 when I traveled to New York with my family for their first visit to Montauk. The 1972 images show how completely the original Kodak Ektachrome slides have degraded over the years.

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August 1972. Yashica TL Electro-X with f/ 1.7 50mm Yashinon lens with 2x teleconverter on Ektachrome 64.

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August 1972. The lighthouse in need of a serious restoration. I believe it was still under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard at that time. It’s obvious that 40+ year old Kodak Ektachrome didn’t hold up well – even when stored properly. Most of the vivid original colors have faded and the slide lacks depth.

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July 2002. The lighthouse and grounds were looking much better after the restoration. Canon F-1 with FD24mm f/ 2.8 lens on Kodachrome. My son is the little one climbing up the hill (as I had done hundreds of times before).

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July 2002. Canon F-1 with FD24mm f/ 2.8 lens on Kodachrome.

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T.J. on the rocks… just like me in the 1950s.

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The automated light of 2002. Wonderful view from up top too.

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Captivating views from up top.

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Gotta love the rocks!

If you ever get a chance to travel to Long Island, then the Montauk Point Lighthouse must be on your “to visit list”. It’s very photogenic and lends itself well to the digital age. There are images that a good camera phone today can capture that were a serious challenge to film photographers just 15 years ago. Happy shooting!

Chris