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!

Hooah!

The men and women of the U.S. Military are used to hardship. They train for it. Long deployments to inhospitable climates in harm's way are the norm. Often overlooked are the hardships endured by their families and loved ones waiting back home. It's especially hard on the kids. That's where Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission comes in. I had the honor of photographing one of their Camp Desert Kids events at Fort Bragg this weekend. Here's a description of the program, borrowed from their website:

The Camp Desert Kids program works to help military children better understand the deployments that shape their lives through a fun and educational event. In addition to allowing children to share similar experiences as their deployed parent, it serves to help American children learn that Iraqi and Afghani children do the same things they do – just differently, and works to cultivate an appreciation of Middle Eastern heritage.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the volunteers from Families United, the volunteer soldiers, families, and kids. Here are a few images, the full gallery can be viewed HERE

RIP Jim Marshall

I will always remember the iconic images of Jimi and Janis, the shots of the Beatles and Jim Morrison, and many more. I'll also remember when I found out that all these incredible images were made by the same photographer. That was Jim Marshall. "THE rock & roll photographer," acording to Annie Leibovitz. If you get a chance, check out his book, "Jim Marshall: Proof." It shows contact sheets from some of his most famous shoots, complete with his grease pencil notes. It's as much a glimpse into the editing process as it is a look at outtakes from the famous sessions. His work will live forever.