Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦

Great-looking truck.

Caveat emptor: “The five-digit odometer shows 211k miles, although the Carfax report lists a reading in excess of 946k miles in an October 2008 entry.”

At long last, I’ll now be able to use all of my large-format lenses on both my Toyo 45AII field camera and my Horseman L45 monorail, without swapping lensboards.

I bought this Horseman when film cameras were at rock-bottom value; I think I paid $200 for it.

Rear view of lensboard adapter, with Toyo Field lensboard in place. Prior to the modifications, the Toyo board didn’t quite fit given the tighter radius of the its raised light trap.

Front view of lensboard adapter, with Toyo Field lensboard in place. Prior to the modifications, the Toyo board didn’t quite fit given the tighter radius of the its raised light trap.

The lensboard adapter mods are done, at least for now; at some point I’ll pick up some Testors model paint and blacken the filed areas.

I considered sending the adapter back, of course, but decided on this course of action instead. It’ll work perfectly well, at a much lower cost than the alternatives.

Plus, as they say: a bird in the hand, yada yada yada.

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I’m in the workshop, taking a bastard file to a beautifully machined Toyo Field-to-Horseman lensboard adapter.

Unfortunately, the radius used for the adapter’s opening was too large to accommodate the raised light trap cast into the back of the Toyo lensboards.

Yes, yes it is!

If the pirogi shop isn’t selling t-shirts, they’re missing a golden opportunity.

It’s worth noting that absolutely love riding in the rain - though preferably in more appropriate gear, rather than kevlar-lined riding jeans and a leather+mesh jacket.

Water was running curb-deep on the roads, and I arrived home to a river running down the lane behind my house.

I was very glad to find my basement sump pump merrily doing its job.

Well, that cracking thunderstorm was a refreshing way to wrap up today’s motorcycle ride.

I wish I owned an Insta360 (or similar) camera so all y’all could see just how hard the rain was throwing down - it was like being the target of an infinite bucket brigade.

De Anza College is awesome! I took a couple of courses there a loooooong time ago during my undergrad days.

Yes!

Sing a Song of Song by Kenny Garrett on Apple Music Song · 1997 · Duration 7:22

I don’t know how a song can so perfectly capture the promise of a sunny August morning, but Kenny Garrett’s “Sing a Song of Song” nails it.

Congratulations!

(Pileated)

😍😍😍

Frame counter (top left) and shutter speed dials (top right: high speeds; front dial: low speeds) on a 1952 Leica iiif.

My preferred mode dials:

Honestly, it must be done.

Here I'm checking the composition one last time on the ground glass of my Toyo 45AII field camera in preparation for taking an image. Before inserting the film holder (seen here in my left hand), I'll check and re-check that all of the various knobs on the camera and tripod's ballhead tight. Failing to do so means that the camera will invariably shift as the film holder is squeezed into place, wrecking the careful composition. This shot, taken from the north margin of Bow Glacier, included some of the Bow Glacier ice, The Onion (out of frame to the left; its low, broad peak is popular with day-hikers and non-technical hut-stayers), St. Nicholas Peak (visible here in the distance), and - of course - the dramatic clouds. During this trip, I shot on Ilford's FP4+ (ISO 125) and HP5+ (ISO 400) panchromatic black-and-white sheet films, depending on lighting, wind conditions, and overall scene contrast. For most of the images, I shot through a Hoya Orange (G) filter to increase contrast in the clouds and ice (though at a penalty of 1-2/3 stops of light). I used f-stops ranging between f/22 and f/45, generally with shutter speeds of 1/60 to 1/15 s. I brought two Rodenstock lenses on the trip, a 90mm f/6.8 Grandagon-N and a 210mm f/5.6 Grandagon-N; these are roughly equivalent to 30mm and 70 mm lenses for 35mm (or digital full-frame) cameras. Here I'm using the 210mm lens. For this particular scene, it would've been nice to also have my 150 mm f/5.6 Nikkor-W for an alternative composition, but I'd made a last minute-decision to leave it behind to reduce total weight and bulk. Photo credit: Paul Ribi (Yamnuska Mountain Adventures, Canmore)

I was able to bring my LF camera up onto the Wapta Icefield and Bow Glacier for my recent fieldwork.

It's been nearly 20 years since I've exposed any 4x5" sheets of film - far too long! I can't wait to develop and print the small number of images I was able to capture.

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A classic San Francisco building with a mural painted on one side. The mural is stylized as a one-way traffic sign, pointed vertically upward with the word “SKY”.

The same classic San Francisco building, showing a mural painted on a different side. The mural is stylized as a one-way traffic sign, pointed vertically downward with the word “GROUND”.

Nah; it’s a great part of The City, and great even for short breaks from talks.

A couple of decades ago, a nearby building (at corner of 3rd and Mission) had these murals painted on them; now the faces on which they were painted butt up against buildings (The Regis on one side, MOAD on the other).

Great name, too (fwiw).

Thanks for making every morning that much better, Mark. Congratulations on your retirement!

Like everyone else in Edmonton, I’m listening to Mark Connolly wrap up his final regular appearance with CBC Edmonton AM.

I’ve been fortunate enough to join Mark and the rest of the amazing Edmonton AM crew a few times to talk about icy things. Each time was a real pleasure, and always good fun.

When I saw Ryan’s post+photos, my first thought was “Drew would know what/where these are.”

My second thought was “that glacier is definitely not in the Rockies.” 😂

I hope the piano fits down there!

Oh, cool! There was definitely meaning for the birds here - but what, exactly? (Rhetorical.)

There’s a yellow-billed species (Pica nuttallii) in California’s central valley, but here in Edmonton we get the black-billed one.

We also get a rare grey (or “ghost”) variant of Pica hudsonia here - they’re quite striking!

(I’ll see whether I can find a photo, and will post if successful.)

I’d be much better served at this point to spend more time on the bass - it’s been too long since I’ve played it regularly.

Ah - that simplifies things! Beautiful shot of a beautiful bird.

The Ray Brower of this corvid “Stand By Me” adaptation.

The deceased bird, which by this time had been slowly decomposing for a couple of weeks in this spot.