Where I have been and some apologies

First off I have to apologize for not responding to folks leaving comments here. I have actually been very busy this last year and have not had the time or energy to put into the blog like I have wanted to. I am a more able now to do so.

The other problem I have had has been technical. I have had some problems with my computer and internet access. anyway, after losing most of my software and reinstalling almost everything, I am back up and running except that I need a wireless card for a desktop. That is my next purchase once the tax returns come. The school where I work actually blocks blogspot, even though I use it in the classroom, so I am not able to access my blog there. That leaves the community computer for now.

Please keep looking, commenting and asking questions. I will respond as soon as I am able.

Mike

Kiev 4 and Hell's Canyon

I sold a few of my cameras a month or so ago and bought a Kiev 4, rangefinder camera from the Former Soviet Union. It is patterned after the Contax line of cameras and is quite a gem. I loaded up a roll and we headed to Hell's Canyon as it was the only place around with less than two feet of snow.

Here is Bubba waiting in my classroom to load up and get going on our trip.


Here he is holding his sister and mother in the palm of his hand. Show-off.


Still life I took before we left to test focus and film.










Ranch on the way. Bear sculptures and around three to four feet of snow. The rest are all Hell's Canyon.

Some Polaroid Pics

Polaroid is closing its doors for good on its instant film production. It is a bit sad because of all the artistic uses for Polaroid film. Fuji is still producing instant film that can be used in pacfilm cameras so there still is an outlet, albeit a more expensive one. These were taken using polaroid 665 film that produces a black and white photo as well as negative. i took these last summer, but finally got around to scanning them. Polaroid actually stopped production of this film a year ago or so. Great stuff.

My Girl

This is my girl Alex ready to go watch her brother play football. We adopted her almost two years ago and have been eternally grateful since that time. She is posing for her dad here and loves to have her picture taken.

Little Guy Football

My son, #27, has been playing football this fall and has a game twice a week. These are some pics of him playing fullback. Taken with my Kodak digital. I know it isn't old or film, but I needed to do something quick, so that I could post.

Me as a little guy!

My dad gave me a box of 8mm movies to transfer to DVD. They are old family movies of rodeo's, family reunion's, and such. They are a treasure to me, as they contain some video of my grandparents and great grandparents. In the box of goodies, I found a couple of boxes of slides. These are a couple of slides of me as a kid. Yikes!! I will add a couple of my brother in his diaper with a cowboy hat on, my sister in pony tails, and various and assorted others.

Where I live part of the time

I resigned from my job at the university so that I could teach English and Spanish. I ended up getting offered a job to teach at a small school near Joseph Oregon. The area is spectacularly beautiful, with mountains surrounding the whole area, and wildlife all around.

The school was getting ready to sell off all of the darkroom supplies so I decided to rescue all that good stuff, and started a photography club. I ended up with around 25 members, which is more than I thought we would have. I mentioned the fact that we were meeting for the first time, over at nelsonfoto, and the fine folks there started sending gifts. I got a few 35mm cameras to loan those students that didn't have a camera, chemicals to develop film and paper, 100' of film, and various goodies. The generosity from those folks is amazing.