This week’s featured article has a headline that reads like hundreds of others out there, but if you take the time to read it, is a hauntingly personal retrospective on true events of James Tocchio’s photographic journey. It’s an unexpectedly beautiful and brutally honest article that I know James had strong reservations about posting, but I am glad he did, and I think if you read it you’ll agree.
Here are more great posts from some of my favorite sites:
Of all the camera blogs I regularly read, Jim Grey’s wonderful “Down the Road” site is the oldest, and in preparation of his site’s 12th anniversary, Jim takes a look back at how far the site has come, but also attempts to internally resolve a dilemma he has for the direction he wishes the site to head. Many of Jim’s thoughts are things I’ve pondered myself, how to get bigger, should I promote myself more, should I adapt to current trends? Like Jim, I don’t have the answers to these questions either, but if he’s listening, my advice is not to change anything about his site. His wonderful balance of candid photography and personal stories is what makes his site stand out from the others.
There is a thrill in the never ending pursuit of the next camera or lens that we find at a local garage or estate sale, thrift shop, or other type of second hand store, and when you are a member of a large community of collectors from all of the world, hearing constant stories about the $5 Leica or Rolleiflex can get mighty discouraging when all you find are plastic fixed focus point and shoot cameras at your local Goodwill store. Gavin Bain from 35mmc recants a recent journey finding a bargain Nikon TW Zoom while browsing shops in his hometown.
Episode 54 of the Classic Lenses Podcast features a discussion with entrepreneur Raffaello Palandri and his radical new idea for a hybrid digital and film camera which he is calling the PONF. Unlike other “new” cameras being pitched on the Internet, this one’s not being crowd sourced, at least not yet, and there’s not even a working prototype, just an idea. It’s an interesting discussion and one I haven’t formed a strong opinion on.
Not so much a single article, but EMULSIVE has put together a starting point for those new to the hobby of film cameras and home developing with their Getting Started on EMULSIVE section. This is a starting point for what they say are over 2000 articles, reviews, and posts containing over 1.2 million words! Wow! I know I don’t have 2000 articles, but I wonder how many words I’ve typed!
Peggy Marsh takes a look at a plastic fantastic Canon EOS 300 SLR that she can’t even remember getting, and in her own words “expected to write a scathing review of it”, but turned out loving it instead. Whether it’s a cheap Canon SLR or a Ricoh point and shoot from the 80s, sometimes the least likely cameras end up being endearing to you for one reason or another. It’s an experience I’ve had myself and it was interesting to hear her thoughts on a camera I likely would have expected to hate as well.
I generally try not to make sweeping declarations about any kind of “best of the year” this early in the year, but I can truly say that with the latest album by Sweden’s Soen, this is an outstanding album that I know I will be revisiting for the rest of 2019 and beyond. Angry Metal Guy gives his thoughts on “Lotus”.
I have other interests outside of photography and music, and sports is one of them, or at least it used to be. 10 years ago, I was a baseball nut and followed the trends and shifts in professional baseball, staying on top of trades and other roster moves, but in the last several years, I’ve found my fondness for America’s Pastime to be waning. Baseball has always been a sport of tradition and rule changes are few and far between, but recently, talk of some pretty significant rule changes has been heating up and Tom Verducci from SI.com takes a look at some of them and how they could impact the game.