lucky shot...

This is from an older roll of Kodak T-Max that was taken during a breakfast outing at Lucky's Cafe in Oak Lawn. Taken with my Leica M6 and 50mm Cron lens wide open. I love capturing these moments on film...

The Simon Ponder Deep Ellum Polawalk - Digital Version

I had two Polaroid SX-70s, one Polaroid Spectra SE and one Toyo View 8x10 for my instant film arsenal. I cannot imagine going out on the street and not having my Leica M8. Got some great candids documenting the day. The instant ones are posted on my instant film blog here.

some of my Pola friends...

A few of my digital photos taken during the recent #PolawalkTX weekend. Couldn't spend the entire weekend together and not pull out my Leica or Fuji cameras occasionally. Such a small sampling of the entire weekend. Looking back, I sure wish I would have taken at least one Leica/Fuji photo of everyone in the group...

*Frank - in the Hilton lobby

*Cameron - in Deep Ellum

*Juli - in Deep Ellum

*Whisky Will - in Deep Ellum

the not yet meets the already gone...

Was walking around in Deep Ellum on Saturday looking for murals and such to photograph.  Came upon this and couldn't resist taking a picture of it.  Up close, it is hard to make out the pictures.  When you step back and look, everything comes more into focus.  Got to thinking about this (because I was just walking around) and realized this is something that is required in our everyday life.  We are always at the intersection of where "the not yet" meets "the already gone".  Are we willing to step back from the busyness of life and let the things around us (that mean the most to us) come more into focus?  Or are we going to let life just be one big blur of meaningless activity...

the sign...

I have travelled I-30 from Greenville to DFW Airport more times than I can count. Almost every time that I make this trip, I see things that I wish I had time to stop and photograph.  If you know me, you would know that I always have my camera with me (at a minimum, my iPhone), so that is never the reason.  Usually the reason is that I am running late.  Every time that I pass this sign on the way home, I think about stopping.  Has the looks of an interesting area.  But I never seem to have time.  A few weeks ago I decided that it was time to stop.  I saw the sign and took the exit.  Realized almost immediately that the only thing interesting about the area was the sign.  It was on the edge of a riverbed and the grass was almost as tall as my Land Rover.  Because of the area, I wasn't about to get out of the car so I just crossed my fingers and headed towards the sign.  My worst fears were finding out that someone lived under the bridge (and didn't want me there) or running over a dead body in the tall grass.  Well, all of the fears disappeared when I got positioned and started taking pictures.  The sun was low, the light was golden and the sky was blue.  All of the "signs" were pointing to a great picture...  

manequins...

Another window shot from a previous night out in downtown Dallas.  The picture is interesting because of the realism of the women.  The anchors for the "tie downs" kinda give it away to reveal that they are actually manequins.  This was taken after dark, but the lighting in the store window was enough to make it look like daytime, hence the women were wearing sunglasses.  Took the photo with the Olympus E-P2 camera and converted to a sepia/black and white using Aperture.  

1222

Bought some new software (Apple Aperture) for my computer to edit images.  Even went and took a short class on it at the Apple store.  My goal is to post "close to" one image a day that is using something different in the software on each image.  No promises on every day...  The fun/challenging part of this is digging through old pictures (old is relative you know) and finding ones to edit.  This was one taken on a dinner and night out in downtown Dallas.  Didn't eat dinner or stay here, just took a picture as we were passing by.  Cropped, then edited the exposure, contrast and added some BW and Sepia. 

grimaldi's

I find myself always wanting to travel somewhere so that I can see new things, and take pictures along the way.  What I sometimes forget is that I have many places that I haven't even seen in my own back yard (ok, maybe it is stretching it to consider Dallas my own back yard).  Sherri and I have eaten at Grimaldi's in New York (Sherri has eaten there multiple times now).  We have wanted to try the Grimaldi's in Dallas for quite some time now.  Finally, we can say that we have eaten there.  Let me tell you, if you make the trip to eat there, you will not be disappointed.  The Dallas Grimaldi's is wood fired pizza at it's best!!!  Of course, I took my EP2 camera along with me.  I still haven't bought a flash for the camera, because I have two very fast lenses.  Makes the camera very portable and easy to use.  Another neat thing about the camera is that you can change the aspect ratio.  I decided to shoot everything on this trip in the 6X6 aspect ratio (square).  I have tons of prints that I have had developed at Adorama in NYC in the square format.  I love this aspect ratio.  It seems you are seeing more and more frames that accept square prints.  If all else fails, I just get out my mat cutter and frame it under a mat.  Back to the trip to Grimaldi's...

This is the sign outside (duh...)

Looking inside at the entrance.  Looks like everyone is busy.  Notice the subway signs above the cooks...

This pizza looks very appetizing!  I love the bokeh (out of focus foreground and background) of the picture...  This is the EP2 camera with the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens at it's finest.

I think they like the drinks...

I can't believe I am posting this one, but it does show you that I really liked the pizza.

Finally...  Desert!