Later on today: Kim attempts to come to grips with The Beast, we buy some groceries, and Kim graciously pulls over to give me five minutes to document an excellent ’56 Chevy parked down the street.
And even later: While we exercise the Blue Rascal, Ivi executes a capture of a never-before-seen-in-the-neighborhood BMW Z4 from her shotgun position as I drive. Dutiful daughter, humoring the old guy.
In February 1975, I was invited by a cat lover to a competitive judging of … cats. I was eager to penetrate this alien subculture, but never processed any of the negatives for some reason. Until now, just running into these long-forgotten documents of an amazing and rather bizarre experience. One of those situations where people are eager to have you photograph them in their element …
Venue
Press Photographers
Cal Caillouet, Specialty Breed Judge
Judging in Action
Scorekeeper/Judge
Contestant
Vendor Booth
I know that I took many more photos that day, but I won’t track them down now; this should give you some sense of the thing.
In my on-again, off-again project to scan and digitize at least some of the >80,000 black & white 35mm negatives from years past in basement storage, I returned to find something that I recalled, triggered by my recent moon and stars image. It is this photo, taken of a dirty and broken window in my beachfront neighborhood of Venice, that for me then (and perhaps now) evoked a view of the cosmos. Venice was a gritty, roughshod place that suited my gritty, grainy, contrasty style of photographing at the time. I quickly assembled a few more — all previously unpublished — that fell to hand to display below (I suspect that I have hundreds and maybe thousands of Venice images from this era), led off by a street scene near the beach and boardwalk in pre-gentrification, or early stages thereof, times.
Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, this was where I was living when I met the love of my life — but she moved me out soon thereafter and eventually we found ourselves in Oregon. And so on and so on.
Today, after a brief early morning nap following the moon shoot, it is off to the doctor. That means waiting. And thinking again about light. And Kim reads on.
Undeterred with the knowledge that last night’s eclipse occurred before moonrise here, we arise at 5am today to take a look in the opposite direction. Here’s the initial view, followed by a re-exposure for the stars, and with the final combined post-processed overlay to show both moon and stars:
Playing around a little bit by sequencing exposure changes, we can turn the moon into a sun:
Here is the initial series for the above, captured at ISO 400 and f/4 aperture, from 5:13 to 5:23am in (almost) one-stop shutter speed exposure increments, still in total darkness and extreme cold, at 29 degrees on the street with bathrobe and slippers:
1/2000 sec. (5:13:14)
1/2000 sec (5:15:27)
1/1000 sec (5:16:38)
1/250 sec — whoops, missed 1/500 (5:17:00)
1/125 sec (5:17;26)
1/60 sec (5:17:48)
1/30 sec (5:18:15)
1/15 sec (5:18:36)
1/8 sec (5:18:59)
1/4 sec (5:19:18)
1/2/sec (5:19:40)
1 sec (5:19:58)
2 sec (5:20:20)
4 sec (5:20:48)
8 sec (5:21:20)
15 sec (5:21:55)
30 sec (5:22:42)
Many people don’t realize how bright the moon really is…
Failing an attempt to document the lunar eclipse in the way that was intended, we nevertheless submit these indications — ranging from about 6:30pm to 10pm — that there was such an event tonight:
6:32pm
6:51pm (with oncoming car headlights)
7:06pm
9:42pm
9:50pm
As time allows, I may try to do a composite over time of the changes (captured in more than 60 images) and/or an animation of the ascent across the sky.
Highlight of the day (so far): Kevin, a fellow P-car addict, came by with his new-old ’89 951. So we went riding (and driving!) for a couple of hours up and down the Spring Creek Road twisties off I-84.