The EP recording is coming along, thanks to a solid 10 day run of all night tracking sessions through late August and the start of September. I'll have more news on that soon. Stay tuned...
Sam's Dad very kindly gifted us a pile of old SLR camera gear to sell to help fund my recording and our wedding. This included lovely old 35mm film metal-bodied SLR cameras, including a Nikon FG. So when a last minute opportunity came for Sam and I to take a camping trip up "The 1" (central Californian coastal highway) past Santa Barbara, Big Sur, San Francisco to the Napa Valley, I couldn't help but take a camera to "test".
Below are some of the results. These were all full manual shots, although the Nikon FG was a very advanced camera for its day and is very user friendly. I was glad that my manual photography skills and knowledge were still fairly intact. I did manage to expose one roll of films slightly by accidentally popping the back open, plus shoot 30 shots on a single frame of film before realising that the film wasn't feeding through. I was not happy. In fact, out of 4 rolls shot only 1 was completed without a hitch. It's easy to see why digital is has taken over.
It was nice to experience that anticipation again though, the time spent wondering how your shots have come out, and waiting for your chance to get back the prints and look through them. That's become a thing of the past for 99.9% of people of people and situations these days.
The trip was a lot of fun! I go to meet some of Sam's close friends from her Peace Corp days in Ecuador, Arjun (and his 2 kids Iris & Theo - unfortunately his wife Christy was out of town) and Caitlin, plus Caitlin's fiancé, also called Josh, and her Dad, George. All extremely wonderful people!
Have a look through the photos and tell me any favourites in the comments. This first one has already gone to be enlarged and will soon be for sale on Etsy. More on that soon...
1) Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Beach Waterfall- Big Sur, CA
2) Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Beach Waterfall- Big Sur, CA
3) Watching the sunset from the rocks with my acoustic guitar
4) A David Austin Rose in the garden of the Santa Barbara Mission
5) The fountain out the front of the Santa Barbara Mission (background)
6) The Big Sur River - Big Sur State Park, CA
7) The Big Sur Coast
8) Monterey, CA - I don't know what these things are called but I like them
9) Incredible view of the Napa Valley from Caitlin & Josh's (not me) block
10) Moss and spider webs in the trees
11) Los Lobos (The Wolves in Spanish) State Park, CA
12) California's Coastal Colours
13) Beauty & The Breeze
14) Beauty & the Ginger Beard
