On A Rainy Day

On the first day of rain of this year's wet season here in western Oregon, it rained. A lot. Here's the unintentionally impressionistic view from a third floor waiting room's panoramic floor to ceiling window at the PeaceHealth Riverbend Hospital's medical office building annex.

On top of the parking garage at the hospital. I dislike parking in one of the lower floors - too crowded, and anyway that's where all the creepy stuff happens in movies. Especially on grey rainy days.

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Photos taken with a 2016 iPhone SE. Click or tap on either pic for higher res images.

Flying Sprinkler Water Creatures

In an earlier post about fitting a pickguard and control plate to a reclaimed knotty pine guitar body, I wrote about how hard it was getting any work done on a beautiful and warm late- summer day. All I really wanted to do was "move the yard sprinkler and sit with iced tea and watch the daydream- scape of fantastically shaped huge white cumulus clouds slowly drift across a deep and clear blue Oregon sky". In fact, just seeing droplets of water jet up from the sprinkler, pause momentarily at the tops of their arcs, and plop back down exploding onto the grass, was mesmerizing in itself.

I forced myself awake long enough to go inside, grab a well used Lumix ZS25 pocket travel zoom camera, and take a few pictures of sprinkler drops in mid air.

While a human eye and brain sees each droplet as what it is - an almost round traveling ball of water, the combined photo taking speed of the camera's shutter, flash, and ISO setting turns most of the drops into longish glass eel or transparent snake -like shapes. Reflections from the strobe flash on each of the individual water drops also create an illusion of glittering eyes on thousands of translucent flying creatures. At least, I hope that all those eyes are merely an illusion. Reviewing these pictures in the camera's viewfinder, along with the sound of the sprinklers, made me think of of Joni Mitchell's song (and album title) The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

In the next photo are time -stretched tubular water droplets, some going up and some traveling down, a few at the very top of their arc, globular and momentarily suspended, and, toward the bottom of the frame, two drops going in opposite directions and colliding head on (!):

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After messing around with a camera for awhile I didn't end up falling asleep at all, and went back to the guitar project mentioned above. 

Meanwhile in another part of the yard, a jar of raspberry and peach sun tea was brewing:

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No doubt, clearer and higher definition photos could have been taken with our much newer Olympus OM-D camera, but the old Lumix has seen so much action in its relatively long and useful life, that a bit of water splashed on it was no big deal. One of the very best compact cameras ever made, the vast majority of the photos featured in the Origami Night Lamp blog have been taken with the Panasonic Lumix ZS25.

Click or tap on any photo above for larger, higher def images.

Two Poems

Two Poems
J.Aoyama

Holding a Kodachrome slide up to light from a north facing window
While closing one eye
Is like peering through a low powered spyglass into the past:
A sort of magic

One fortune cookie in an unlikely place
My garage workbench, let’s say, or your project space
White corner of paper showing begs to be pulled
Gently without cracking the hard stale pastry
A length of papyrus typewriter ribbon emerges slowly
With free verse in tiny brushed ink characters

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Author’s note:
The first poem is what is ink-brushed onto the paper in the second poem.

Fourteen Random Photos

Pixie Houses

Here are fourteen randomly selected photos. Taken with a variety of cameras and phones, some are recent, some not so new, and one is quite antique.

In the picture above, we were hoping that some small creatures, whether mythical or actual, would take up residence. Possibly they did, but if so they were invisible except to the mind's eye.

My Two Yams

 Two Yamaha acoustic guitars (CSF-60, FS800T), plus other stuff.

In Studio

At Kyle's studio, featuring his wall sized homage to Elliot Smith's "Figure 8" album cover. Also semi- hidden but in plain sight is my old Danelectro / Silvertone bass.

Impressionistic Jimmy

A crop of an image posted on this site earlier, "Un Jour à La Pointe de Fermin, 1973". My humble attempt at emulating a painterly impressionist style.

Christmas Deer

Christmas is a fun time around here. Besides a fully decked out tree, door wreath, and holly draped piano, there are also various decorations throughout the house, including this bookshelf display of tiny deer and bottle brush trees.

Isuzu at the Canoe Launch

It was a perfect day to go canoeing: warm, light breeze, and mostly overcast, so there was little danger of sunburn. Actually, cloudy is a way of life here in western Oregon.

Almost Perfect Pie

Sometimes a home made pumpkin pie will turn out perfectly, and this is one of those rare and wonderful events. Absolutely a slice of heaven served with freshly whipped cream, subtly flavored with sugar and vanilla.

Aerial Dragonfly

Came out of the neighborhood medium sized supermarket, and found this amazingly calm dragonfly perched atop the radio antenna. It stayed on the aerial for about two blocks of slow driving, before it flew off to fulfill its destiny.

Eugene Toy & Guitar

With no logo decal, the headstock on the long-term project Strat Parts-O-Caster has been looking sort of barren since the new one-piece FujiGen maple neck was installed. A sticker from the Eugene Toy & Hobby store might just be the answer.

Chops in the Wild

Taking a portable charcoal grill along when car- camping at campgrounds in National Forests and Parks can be a delicious thing. Thick burger-sized chops perfectly done, served on buns with barbecue sauce, Joe's dipper corn chips and guacamole, a fruit bowl at hand, and beer or lemonade. Life is good.

And please don't come at me about the state of the grill. Exactly what part of "Camping Barbecue Grill" don't you understand?

Matryoshka Amplifier

These nesting Matryoshka dolls were a gift, and a great place to display them is on top of the amplifier that drives a pair of 1970s JBL audio monitors. Every time I sit down to do some editing, they make me smile.

Beat Up Altec

You might ask- how on earth does a speaker get so beat up? This Altec 417-8C was a brand shiny new gift when I first got it, but that didn't last long. Always installed in various Fender tube combo amplifiers, usually one of my mid-60s Deluxe Reverbs, it saw constant gigging duty.

After a show, often a one-nighter many miles of bad roads from home, we would toss equally beat up effects pedals, cables, and a Shure 545 mic into the back of an amp, and then chuck the whole thing into a car trunk or pickup bed. The bottom line was: whatever didn't survive that experience wasn't worth keeping.

Spirit Lanterns

We like to have fun on the holidays. Okay, Halloween isn't really an official holiday, and in recent years the Lizard People have tried hard to kill it, but this Pagan rite still survives. Great family fun is having everyone create their own pumpkin jack-o-lanterns.

Good Night

The last thing I see before switching off the wood and paper night lamp. Good night!

Eugene Sign Haiku Pt 4: "Doggy Styles" Pet Grooming Shop, N Hwy 99

 

Turn around and smile

As I'm up on two hind legs

It's love, Doggy Styles!

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For more Eugene Sign Haiku:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Oregon Red Maple and a Kalamazoo Special: 1977 Gibson Model 55-77 Les Paul in a Limed "TV Blond" Finish

Went out back this afternoon to scatter seed for the birds and squirrels, and found a nice autumn scene in a corner of the yard. It's a pretty image as it is, and also a great backdrop for a portrait of an old friend, a 1977 Gibson Les Paul TV Special. We've seen a lot of autumns together since the late '70s, and hopefully there's still a few more yet to come.

Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super Rangefinder 35mm

The photos in the previous three posts are scans of 35mm Kodacolor prints, taken with a Petri 35mm camera. Made by Kuribayashi Camera Industry Inc, in (where else?) Japan, the Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super has a style reminiscent of a Leica, the preeminent compact camera of its day, which also had rangefinder assisted focusing.

The Petri 2.8 was my father's first 35mm camera, bought new in Japan when he was stationed with the US army in South Korea during the mid 1950s. It was also my first 35mm camera; after his untimely death, I found the Petri among my dad's effects and sort of "self inherited" it, the only memento of his that I kept.

By the early 1970s, the Petri was already obsolete; in the 15 years since its manufacture, the state of the art for semi-pro and professional level cameras had become the single lens reflex interchangeable lens 35mm, popularized by the Asahi Pentax and Nikon F. The now out of date Petri had only a fixed-mount 45mm f2.8 lens, but as many photo enthusiasts have discovered, it was in a way liberating to be restricted to the use of only one, normal field of view, prime lens. That limitation meant no telephoto shots of wildlife or wide angle panoramic views, but whatever one's own eyes saw, the Petri recorded that very well.

Compact enough to fit easily in the outside pocket of a sport coat or field jacket, the Petri was always readily at hand to grab a quick shot, and its whisper quiet leaf shutter was a lot less likely than a loud clanking SLR to suddenly freeze a rocking party cold dead. This camera didn't have a built in light meter, and I eventually bought a small Sekonic handheld, but I'd already gotten good at guesstimating exposure with the Sunny 16 Rule, and the meter was rarely used.

As you can see, even though it's ancient, this camera is still in very good condition. There used to be a beautiful two-piece brown leather form fit case, which did its job well - in fact that case died in the line of duty, literally falling apart while protecting its precious cargo. I gave the case, along with the original strap, a proper burial with full honors, at dawn in Monument Valley. Coincidentally, after returning from that trip, I bought my first single lens reflex 35mm camera, a Honeywell (Asahi) Pentax, followed soon thereafter by a new Canon AE-1 with multiple lenses, and my photos were never the same again. More precise and accurate, certainly, but most if not all of the indefinable magic and mystery of the Petri's photographs had gone.

I ran a lot of rolls through it back in the film days, and what's interesting is- the Petri took very sharp and clear black and white photos (usually Kodak Plus X or Tri X, and sometimes Agfa), but with Kodacolor the prints were not quite exactly focused looking. Rather than being perfectly detailed, the Petri's color images were pleasing in a diffused, dream-like kind of way. Sort of how memories seem to be.

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To see images taken with the Petri 2.8 rangefinder camera, go to:

Un jour à La Pointe de Fermin, 1972

One Evening At The East Rim Of Lake Abert, August 1973

Petri Kodacolor Portraits

Petri Kodacolor Portraits

The C&W Express: Harry, Harley, and Paul. Kearny, Nebraska

Here are a few more Kodacolor photographs taken with the Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super rangefinder camera. Each photo has a story behind it, some of which are a short paragraph long, others somewhat longer, and a couple are 200+ page novel length. Maybe someday they'll be retold, but for now we'll just let the images stand alone, and be as expressive as a Kodacolor print from the last century can be.

Dave. Bishop, California

Martha. St Paul, Minnesota

Larry. Minneapolis, Minnesota

Jacqui. Glendive, Montana

Zoe. Fort Collins, Colorado

Dick. Minneapolis, Minnesota

Chester. Loveland, Colorado

Cathy and Serge. Bishop, California

Michael. Loveland, Colorado

Chester, Judy and Rita. Yellowstone, Montana

Harry. Glendive, Montana

Karen. Fort Collins, Colorado

Little Baby Jesus. Wheatland, Wyoming

Wayne and Friend. Loveland, Colorado

The Author as a Young Man. Orofino, Idaho

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The last photo above wasn't taken with the Petri 2.8, although it is a Kodacolor print. It was snapped by Billy with his brand new Kodak Instamatic 110, which at the time was state of the art for affordable pocket cameras, and actually took quite decent images, considering its smaller size film format and low price.

One Evening At The East Rim Of Lake Abert, August 1973

Mark and Blue

One evening at the east rim of Lake Abert. Lake county, Oregon; August, 1973. Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super rangefinder; Kodacolor, ASA 80, 1/50s at f8.

1957 International Travelall

Billy on the High Ground

You Haul

There's a story here, of course, and an adventure: Almost 2,500 miles of mountains and forests and desert and prairies. An indestructible 1957 International Travelall, with a dog named Blue in the back seat, pulling a trailer full of guitars, drums and amps, three down sleeping bags and hardly any luggage. Friendly folks along the way, and diners serving breakfast all day. 3mph on a rutted dirt road in granny low gear over the Continental Divide. And beer, lots of beer.