Morning Then Afternoon

Fog in the morning, then sun with some clouds in the afternoon. Peebles Island in the morning, then Northampton Beach in the afternoon. 

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 53mm, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100 

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 74mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 67mm, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 32mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 35mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

Cemeteries and Canals

Here are some images from yesterday and this morning from Oakwood Cemetery and Waterford. 

Oakwood Cemetery
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f/16, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

Oakwood Cemetery
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

Lock E2 and Old Canal Bypass
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

Old and Current Canals
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

Old Canal Basin
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

Waterford Rural Cemetery
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

More R8 & RF 35mm f/1.8 STM

Here are some more images added to the new project over the past few days.

Peebles Island State Park
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

Peebles Island State Park
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

North Bridge to Peebles Island
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

Vernal Pond, Saratoga NHP
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/125 sec., ISO 100

Wilkinson Trail, Saratoga NHP
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Wilkinson Trail, Saratoga NHP
EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/16, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

Along the Canalway Trail

My activity yesterday and today consisted of walks on the Champlain Canalway Trail in Waterford and Halfmoon, breaking a 10 mile round trip into two roughly equal parts. Wanting to add to the new R8 and 35mm lens project, that's the gear I carried both days. Here are some of the results.

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/125 sec., ISO 50

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/90 sec., ISO 50

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

R8, RF 35mm f/1.8, f11, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

A New Project, For Real This Time

I've been getting the urge to add one of the 50mm L lenses to my kit lately, either the f/1.2 or the new f/1.4. The only realistic way for me to do this would be to trade in the R8 body and 35mm f/1.8 lens. I don't really want to do that so I decided to start a project with the R8 and 35mm lens to diminish the urge.

I did two projects with specific lenses last year, the RF 28mm f/2.8 pancake lens and the RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM lens. Both of these projects lasted two months and were not camera body specific. 

I decided to make the project a folder with separate color and black and white galleries and it's located at https://www.trulandphotography.com/Unlisted/R8-RF35mmSTM/n-9Bg72Z. I wanted to get it started and made a quick trip to Oakwood Cemetery this morning.

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/16, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

The Past Week

Here are some images from Saratoga Spa State Park, the Champlain Canalway Trail and downtown Waterford since the last time I posted.

EOS R6II, RF 24-104mm f/4L at 27mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

EOS R6II, RF 24-104mm f/4L at 65mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-104mm f/4L at 81mm, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-104mm f/4L at 31mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6II, RF 24-104mm f/4L at 24mm, f/8, 1/90 sec., ISO 400

EOS R6II, RF 24-104mm f/4L at 24mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

A Rainy Weekend

Between the weather and other activities I've not been photographing this weekend. I did, however come up with a new project which will blend well with the B&W Sprouts and Touch of Human projects.

I dug out one of my old manual focus lenses from a couple of years ago when I intended to use only fast prime lenses. The lens is a Minolta MC ROKKOR-PF 58mm f/1.4 (MC II version) which dates to around 1969. Here is a youtube video describing the lens.

I will open up the gallery for the project once it has some content. Here are some photos from the past few days with my usual setup.

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 26mm, f/5.6, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 53mm, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 400

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 42mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 400

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 400

EOS R6II, RF 24-105mm f/4L at 53mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

UPDATE: And then, thinking why stop there, I dug out two additional Minolta lenses as I decided to expand the project. The additional lenses are:

        MC W.ROKKOR-SI 28mm f/2.5 lens (MC II version) which dates from 1969

        MC TELE ROKKOR-PF 100mm f/2.5 lens (MC II version) which dates from 1970

The three lenses will each have a gallery in a folder dedicated to the project. The Touch of Human gallery already contains a couple of images made with the 58mm and 100mm lenses from 2023.

FURTHER UPDATE 4/8/25: I was out and shot with all three of these lenses this morning. The only images I was content with were a couple with the 100mm lens. The 28mm lens has a strange look to it. The 58mm lens is nothing special. The 100mm lens could be useful and fun but other than wide open at f/2.5 there's not much point given my excellent 24-105mm f/4L lens.

A tipping point was when I realized a difficulty with my recent shooting method. I've been using Canon's monochrome Picture Style when I want to easier visualize a B&W scene as the viewfinder converts to B&W. Manual focus lenses, however, benefit greatly from focus peaking which outlines parts of the scene which are in focus in red. You can't see the red in a B&W viewfinder.

So, the Minolta lenses go back in their storage bag. At least it occupied me for a few mostly rainy days.

April Fools

Imagine a news report that the United States is now under the control of a fascist regime with an out of control executive branch with no one willing or able to defend the Constitution. That the nation that has stood since the adoption of that Constitution in 1789 no longer exists. Wouldn't that be a great April Fools joke. Except it's not.

But, people need to live their lives, even in a fascist dictatorship. Physical activity needs to happen and artistic expression needs to occur. Karma will deal with the nazi frat boys and their toadies.

My activity today was a walk around Shaver Pond at Grafton Lakes State Park with quick shoreline visits to Second Pond and Long Pond. Today is opening day of trout season. Shaver Pond used to be a trophy location with bait and size restrictions but apparently it no longer is and statewide regulations apply. In any case, I encountered no fishers. The ice is gone, though,

Shaver Pond, South End
EOS R6II, RF24-105mm f/4L at 31mm, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

Shaver Pond Trail
EOS R6II, RF24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/11, 1/60 sec., ISO 800

Shaver Pond Trail
EOS R6II, RF24-105mm f/4L at 28mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Shaver Pond
EOS R6II, RF24-105mm f/4L at 35mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

Shaver Pond
EOS R6II, RF24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

Second Pond
EOS R6II, RF24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200