I’ve seen a few examples recently of old photos put alongside new photos of the same place. Here’s a great example of photos from WWII showing what the places look like now when you click on them.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/ng-interactive/2014/jun/01/d-day-landings-scenes-in-1944-and-now-interactive

I’ve been reading The Negative by Ansel Adams and it’s inspired me to use monochrome to learn more about exposure.

Here are some digital shots taken on a hike this morning. I used a spot meter with the zone technique to determine the exposure with my digital camera set to manual. Using this technique, I can get the exposure just about right on the first try, but it isn’t for all photos as it takes a little thought before pushing the button.

This petrol pump was at an old farm. I took a meter reading off the bottom of the pump and added two stops to make it zone VII, which is white that retains some detail.

Even though I turned my camera to monochrome, when I imported the photos into Lightroom, they came in as colour. It reminded me that using the RAW format in the camera means that what is shown on the camera display is not transferred to the image because the image is unadulterated data from the sensor, which always sees in colour. So, I had to convert the photos to black and white in Lightroom.

For this photo I took a reading off Kaori’s face and adjusted it to 1/3 stop above zone V. It was taken in a large open barn where the light was really soft and blocked from above, but with back and side light. I’m learning to use more interesting angles for portraits and especially to isolate the subject from a distracting background. Had I not got up high, the photo would have had picnic tables in it.

This one is just a tribute to Adams. There was side light on the trunk which made the texture stand out.

The San Francisco 36th Annual Carnaval (spelled correctly) celebrating Latin American and Caribbean traditions was held over Memorial Day weekend, and Kaori and I visited on Saturday.

The day started with some shopping and coffee in Cupertino.

The light was good outside the cafe so it was time for a quick photo shoot. The white wall reflected enough light to soften the shadow on her left cheek and make a wide shadow transition zone which is what portrait photographers aim for when taking typical portraits of women.

San Francisco is a very vibrant place with lots of interesting people.

It was hard to get good photos in the open with the midday sun casting hard shadows, but sometimes you just have to go with what you’re given.

There’s so much to see and even small things can capture your attention, such as these two building scenes. I like the symmetry and color in this one.

And in this one I like the tiny detail of the flower that’s the same color as the stairs.

But we went for the colorful show, and we weren’t disappointed!

Before heading back, we had time for a couple more photos. Kaori played the gangsta girl.

Which got somebody’s attention.

The BBC has made a short film celebrating one hundred years of Leica cameras that’s a nice introduction to the camera and documentary photography.