back in the silver saddle again

Did it. Yesterday I loaded up on film and the stuff to process it myself.

Until they were gone I didn't realize how much I had become dependent upon things like auto-metering, exposure and focus. Silly me it took me a few times to get back into remembering to meter each spot, decide what will be a "neutral" 18% gray (recall am a zone system kinda guy) then proceed to frame and focus.

Yes, focus what a chore that turned out to be given my aging up close vision and slight breeze moving things up close in and out of range. I may check focus points in my DSLR and even switch to manual focus often to zone in on one particular spot but its not often I have to resort to that. When I do the DSLR has built in diopters that correct my vision so its not even a major problem.

Doing my own lab work came back very quickly. Funny how one never forgets the agitation routine nor smell of things. I must admit I love the heady aroma of a freshly cracked open can of film, I think I can pass however on the odors from the chemicals themselves.

Enjoy a few from yesterdays test run. Note the water drops on the rose, that pure floral porn! It was shot on Tri-X, iso 400, developed in D-76. I must admit I do love the shades of gray it can record much better than what digital does. Doesn't appear to lose much if anything in the process of scanning to digitize them.

The English Roses are starting to bloom

Today is about 6th day of gorgeous spring weather here in So Ca. Today it made it to 90 so things in the garden are really budding up big time getting ready for the first big flush of color which will happen any day now. The first of the English Roses are now in bloom.

Wenlock is an English Rose introduced in 1984, very easy to grow and I found out, very easy to propagate. This one is a new plant that started when a cane on the original had something fall on it holding it in contact with the ground. I didn't notice and when I was giving a clean up in fall I spotted that it had taken root. I severed the main cane the following spring then transplanted this rose to a new spot. Very heavy old rose scent makes it a big plus in the garden. Given the space to spread this one will eventually be 5-6 fee wide and a good 6-7 feet tall!

Don't be rununculus...its SPRING baby!

Spring is literally only days away here in So Cal. The winter flowering stuff (which the rest of you in the rust belt don't see until May in your area if you are lucky) are just about done blooming. What is coming up now is our Spring flowers. Being So Cal it is going to be big, flashy and extremely colorful after all the rain and cold we had in Jan/Feb. The hills around LA, the deserts and the mountains are bright green and things are starting to bloom.

My gardens are the same. The first of the Giant Tecolote Ranunculus are blooming right now. They are the most tempermental bulbs I have ever dealt with. For reasons I don't understand I had killed so many of these easy to grow and naturalize flowers it is not funny. About 3 years ago I bought the bulbs for this batch on clearance at Costco and they finally took. Go figure, same spot as the others were that died. I like the way they look, just getting them to go is a killer. With luck....

The rest of my gardens are full of buds just waiting to explode into color. I can't wait.

Its Been a Veddy Busy Couple of Weeks As this lead image may tell you I've been busy in the garden. The Myer Lemons have started ripening and they do it en mass. I have over 100 lemons that need to be used up and shared in my 'hood. A batch of lemon bars is done, from the Barefoot Contessa recipes. Another couple of dozen will go into the manufacture of some limoncello with my old college friend Rutz when she comes over next week. Other than that it has been cleaning and feeding time in the garden waiting for the first flush of new growth and the spring blooms.

The other great news is that the Monrovia Association of Fine Artists has named me the "Featured Artist" for this years show in October. Pretty cool, but that means someone else is going to have to do most of the blogging for that event as yours truly can't really put a whole lot of self serving blogs, now can he?

Enjoy Sea Lavender, a purple Daisy and Winter Jasamine that is currently blooming in my gardens.