Air Show 2010

I've divested all of the long-lens autofocus SLR gear that I've used to take my previous air show photos. I told myself that this year I just wouldn't try, and let the long weekend go by without spending hours waiting for planes to roar past.

Not so easy to do.

So instead I decided to work a little differently, and used my seriously underlensed rangefinder camera - and chose black and white film as well. Like the man said, if you can't join 'em, beat 'em - and with lower technology and capability came less pressure and more fun. Set the focus to infinity, the aperture to f/16 (seemed appropriate), and track the planes through that gloriously huge viewfinder as they turned past my apartment building. Sit on the balcony with a beverage and a book, or wander the pool deck on a chilly afternoon, and look up when I hear a plane. No problem.

It's not that I couldn't have taken these two photos - from a single pass - of the Snowbirds with an autofocus digital camera. It's that I never would have thought to try.

And I like the photos just as much the ones from 2009 and 2007, specifically because they're different.

Queen West - This Weekend

Penny will be at the Queen West Art Crawl this weekend: Saturday Sept. 18th and Sunday Sept. 19th, 11am - 6pm.

Coming westbound on Queen, go up the short flight of stairs and take the main path past the tennis courts. We'll be on the right-and side, at booth C78.

(1036) #288, A Pineapple-shaped lamp

It's been a busy week, without much time for photography.

Next week is going to be about the same.

#385, Great Gulf

One of the few local casualties of the American-inspired banking implosion, the south-east corner of Yonge and Bloor has been a vacant lot since the end of 2008. The exposed surface has changed the rainwater patterns and caused leaks in the city's busiest subway station immediately below. Hopefully the project's new owners will fix that when they put a building on top of this formerly-interesting corner.

#389, Tractor Beam

From the construction site at Yonge and Gerrard.

Yes, I know this is a bulldozer.

(1035) #145, End of Summer

The Labour Day long weekend is the traditional conclusion to summer, and the heavy jackets we've needed these past few days have just been a punctuation point.

#277, One or the Other

I do like the distinctive look of the Zeiss 50mm Sonnar - most lenses are somewhere in a continuum between sharp or soft, but wide open, the 1,5/50 is best described as gentle. Zeiss calls it 'rounded', which is also fairly evocative.

This will be much more natural for wedding photography than architectural work, but I'm still waiting for my 2/35, and there just wasn't enough room for the 4/85.

(I'm testing a new feature with my photo host for this post, so please excuse any technical difficulty.)