My camera collection: The Jewel

The jewel of my collection and without a doubt my favorite camera is my Leica M7 rangefinder with the 35mm f1.4 ASPH Summilux lens. If I had to get rid of all my cameras and could keep only one, this is the one.

I found this camera used (barely) in late December 2005 at Southeastern Camera. I was shopping for something else entirely, but I came across this chrome M7 body for a really great price. I told them I'd buy it if they had a 35mm f1.4, and it turned out they had one at their Carrboro location. It was a lot of money, but I snagged it and drove quickly over to Carrboro to get the lens. I didn't know that I'd get the aspherical version- a really great deal for the price!

I've shot some gorgeous images with this little camera. It's the perfect tool for travel and street photography, and at f1.4 the lens has a beautiful signature look that cannot be replicated by anything else. My finest wedding work was shot with this camera, until I had to stop shooting film because clients wanted more instant results. Perhaps one day I will be able to replace the body with an M9 digital, but until then I plan to continue to shoot 35mm film for my own personal use. I love my Leica!

My camera collection: The Workhorses

For years I shot weddings using 35mm film. I'd go through 40 or so rolls of 36 exposures on a wedding day, plus 6 or 8 rolls of 120 for the formals. I needed cameras that could withstand the use and abuse of these hectic shoots.

These 3 Nikon F4S camera bodies were my workhorses; 1 body carried a wide prime lens like the 35mm f1.4 while the other carried a long prime like the 85mm f1.4. The third camera was usually in the bag as a backup, except during ceremonies when it was mounted on a tripod with the 80-200mm f2.8 for the long telephoto shot.

The F4 was the last Nikon professional camera with knobs instead of buttons and an LCD display, making these bodies nearly indestructible. I ran many, many rolls of film through these and they are still in fine working order, though they have been replaced by digital bodies. I've thought about selling them, but nowadays they aren't worth very much so I've just hung onto them. Perhaps one day they'll be worth something as antiques...

My camera collection: Retina Reflex III

My Dad is the one who got me hooked on photography. His favorite camera was his Kodak Retina Reflex S. He started me out with a Sears SLR with a Pentax K mount, but I always remembered his Retina Reflex. Years later, as a professional photographer I had amassed a small collection of cameras- 4x5, medium format, and modern 35mm Nikons- but when I came across this Retina Reflex III in a small camera shop while out of town on a shoot I just had to have it. It came with the Schneider 50mm f1.9 and I also bought the 28mm f4 and 135mm f4 that were in the display case with it.

I have 2 requirements before I add a camera to my collection: I have to be able to shoot with it and I have to want to shoot with it. This 35mm film camera has a wonderful feel and action, the shutter release in on the front of the body instead of the top plate and the film winding lever is on the bottom of the body. It takes some getting used to, but with a little practice it becomes second nature. The lenses have leaf shutters built in, which gives it a lovely quiet click. Unfortunately the top half of the "ever-ready" case was in awful condition, and I've never made an effort to find a replacement. The bottom half is still in great condition and gives the camera a great look and a bit of an extra grip.

I remember bringing my find over to my parents' house and showing it to my Dad. Once again we were just a couple of camera geeks playing with our toys, and he got his Reflex S out of the closet so we could compare them. Sadly my Dad has passed and I've inherited his Retina Reflex as well, but shooting with these cameras always makes me think of him.

IOSDT- "The Shit Box"

I was contacted by Todd Spain of the Inside Out Sports Delta Triathlon Team to do some photos of team members for a wrap on their team trailer. We set up a white sweep at one of their Tuesday night spin classes and shot some quick individuals & groupings before everyone started the workout. Big thanks to Robin at HEAT for allowing us to invade the gym to do these photos.

I took some quick snapshots once the trailer wrap was finished, it really turned out well. Apparently, on his first outing with the team trailer Todd was accosted by a large woman who admonished him from her car window to "get that Shit Box out of my way!" effectively christening it as "The Shit Box." I hope the team enjoys their snazzy new gear hauler as much as I enjoyed helping it come to life!

Mama they took my Kodachrome away

In the summer of 2010 I read about the demise of Kodachrome, and about Steve McCurry's project to shoot the last roll of the magic emulsion that made all the world a sunny day. True, it wasn't the last roll in existence (I still have an un-shot roll!) but it was the last roll to be produced by Kodak, and Dwayne's Photo (the last lab still running the K-14 process) was set to discontinue processing on December 30th, 2010. The end of an era.

A few weeks after reading the article I was cleaning out a box and there it was- a shot roll of Kodachrome 64! What was on it? How old was it? Obviously I hadn't thought it important enough to ship off for processing whenever I shot it, but if I didn't send it off before the end of the year those latent images would never see the light of day. I kept putting it off, though, and eventually found myself up against the deadline and shipped it. It took over a month to come back- Dwayne must've been slammed with nostalgic Kodachrome users!

As near as I can figure, one fall day in about 2001 Jo and I took a walk around my family's farm in Yadkin County, NC. I carried a camera, loaded with K64. We were engaged then, and we were thinking about having the wedding at the old farmhouse. We eventually did have a beautiful wedding there.

Mostly I photographed Jo, but I also took some shots of the old barn, built by my Great Grandfather just before the turn of the century. The land has been in my family for 5 generations, and I have fond memories of family reunions and spending Christmas with my Grandmother there. She always had glass bottle Cokes and had a croquet set on the porch ready for us kids to go out and play in the field. As an homage we had the glass Cokes and the croquet at the wedding, along with badminton, horseshoes, and chess! Pretty sure folks had fun, and that's how we like it at the farm.







Seeing those slides come back from Dwayne's Photo put a little smile on my face. I can't think of any better subjects for MY last roll of Kodachrome- the love of my life and one of my favorite places on earth.

Night Race

In bicycle racing a criterium is a race held over a short course, usually under 5km. The length of the race is either determined by a number of laps or a total time. Many crits are held on closed-off downtown city streets, sometimes at night under the streetlights. This makes for an exciting race, and the low-light conditions gave me the opportunity to play with light & motion blur.

These images were made using my Leica M7 rangefinder and cross-processed film.

"Portrait Day" Benefit for MS Society

As many of you know, each year I ride my bike at the Bike MS Historic New Bern Ride to raise money for the National MS Society. It's coming up this weekend, Sept 10th, 11th, and 12th, and I'll be riding 200 miles for the cause. My wife Jo has also decided to ride in her first Bike MS event this year, and has committed to the 75 mile ride on Saturday and the 50 mile ride on Sunday!

Since our family and friends' donations have been going to 2 riders this year, I decided to try something new for fundraising. I held a mini-event and called it "Portrait Day." I asked folks for a small donation, and in return they would receive a short photo session and a few final images via e-mail. My friend Bryan Regan donated his studio space for the shoot on Sunday September 5th. We raised $250 for the MS Society. Added to the money Jo and I have already raised for Bike MS our combined total is now over $1000! A big thanks to all who came out, it was lots of fun and it's all for a great cause. Jo and I even got in on it and did pics in our team jerseys!

There's still time to donate online at my participant page or if you would rather mail a check, you can contact me for my mailing address. Next year I plan to do Portrait Day again, perhaps a bit earlier in the year and not on Labor Day weekend!