To Dream in the House of Imagination

“The House of Imagination,” a sculpture/installation outside University of Illinois’ Siebel Center, under a September sky. Ektar 100.

Communio

The interior of St. Joseph’s, just before the distribution of Holy Communion at High Mass in the Extraordinary Form, All Souls’ Day, 2018. T-MAX 400.

Morning Duet

B&W digital offers the photographer all the control in the world, but to my eye it doesn’t quite meet the beauty of B&W film.

One Last Rose

1917

My F100 almost ate this roll of film; it would not rewind and I had to pop open the back in a dark room under cover and pull the film out, and it suffered creasing and damage anyway. It’s a pity, because I don’t know when I’ll have time to go back and recreate this image of University Laboratory High School’s dedication stone.

Summer Shade

There are profuse beds of daylilies all over the Engineering campus, in just about every possible color. My Rolleiflex T doesn’t focus closer than 3.5 feet, so instead of a macro shot I had to content myself with a group of lilies of different colors on this June day.

Bikes and Bus

My dad gave me his old Rolleiflex T several years ago, and since then I’ve run a few rolls of film through it. I really like the visual quality of medium-format film, which is much smoother than 35mm, while the Rollei is far easier to handle than, say, a 4×5 large-format camera. This image is from May or June 2015; I’m not sure which because I don’t log shots when I take them as well as I ought. Bad photographer. 🙂

Blooms Above, Blooms Below

Summer is more than half over and I feel like it just started, so here’s a little flashback to the very end of spring. These trees are in the courtyard of a residence hall attached to a Disciples of Christ church on Wright Street, photographed with Fuji Superia 400 in my F100.

I seem to have a thing for irises and daylilies. Not only are they both ubiquitous in local gardens, but they come in a staggering variety of colors and sizes. I used Portra 400 in my F100 for this bloom found on the walk home from the bus stop.

Have a Seat

A neighbor of mine has these four chairs lined up along the side of his house. I’m not sure what he uses them for, but it looks like a great place for some small group portraits.

Graduation

Taking graduation pictures with the Alma Mater statue has become an institution on the Urbana campus, and on the Saturday before the official ceremonies dozens of students and their parents lined up to give it a shot. I was also there with my F100 and a roll of Portra 400.

I don’t remember it being customary to take graduation pictures with large groups of one’s friends when I was in school. Things seem to have changed, as this was one of several large groups that posed while I was there.

I can’t decide if the selfie stick is a clever and useful accessory, or the greatest blight on photography since…well, pick your favorite blight. This young man and his parents seem to have found it helpful, although I see some hesitation in their faces. A second exposure may be in order.