Happy Accident

Trans-Canada Highway, outside Parkbeg, Saskatchewan

August 2011

Shooting with my Polaroid Super Colorpack, I had left the focus ring set at 5 feet from the previous photograph I took, a portrait.  I retook the shot, but actually prefer the heavily-diffused look (called "soft focus" nowadays, a euphemism for "out of focus").

I can't pull a Pee Wee on ya, and say "I meant to do that."  I didn't, but so what?  The results are just the same.

Tomatoes!

 Tomatoes on conveyor belt to washer

Ingomar Packing Facility, Los Banos, California, July 2011

It slices, it dices, look at that tomato! You could cut a tin can with it, but you wouldn't want to!

You Can't Go Back Sometimes

Cedarhof Restaurant

Trans-Canada Highway, Wawa Ontario, Canada, August 2011

The first time I traveled the Trans-Canada Highway, in October 2002, I pulled off at this charming restaurant and had an expertly-cooked German meal that still makes my mouth water, just remembering it: Hungarian goulash soup, buttered rye bread, and a Wienerschnitzel, lightly breaded, that just melted in my mouth.  

Every time thenceforth I traveled the Trans-Canada, I would pass through Wawa too late at night for it to be open. So, this time I set out early enough to make it there in time for dinner. 

No matter: I found that the Cedarhof had been closed down eight years ago, which means on my five subsequent journeys -- beginning in 2004 -- it had been out-of-business all along; I just didn't know it yet.

I assumed it was still opened, as it is still listed on Wawa's tourist website promoting its businesses.

You just never know.

Pixley Tire Shop Revisited

 

Pixley Tire Shop, off State Highway 99

Pixley, California, July 2011

I always like to revisit places I've photographed before, particularly during different times of day, and even seasons, when the light is different.  In this case, I was able to photograph the south face of the tire shop in Pixley, California, which I had previously visited in November of 2009.   Using my Nikon this time instead of a camera phone, and some rather flat Kodak Gold 400, I got an interesting look for this shot I took around 9:00 am.

Tomato Harvest In the San Joaquin Valley

Tomatoes and Vista of California's Coastal Mountains

Huron, California, July 2011

Dear readers, my apologies for being "gone" most of the summer.  If this were any normal blog, I'd be updating it via my Blackberry, Droid, or iPhone.  But, being the low-tech Luddite I am, I still do things the old-fashioned way -- on film.

I spent two weeks in the San Joaquin Valley of central California this summer, capturing the majestic vistas found there, farmers and farm laborers doing the backbreaking -- yet highly efficient -- work of putting food on America's and the world's dinner tables.  The panoramic vistas I snapped on the Hasselblad X-Pan, and the grit, grime, and guts of the people bringing the harvest to market I shot on my trusty Nikon FM-3A.  Instead of cards and memory sticks, I captured these images on Agfa's brilliant Optima II 100 film (see above) and Kodak Tri-X black and white 400 ASA.

It was worth the wait.