chrome

Harley - Olympus E-P2 + Panasonic Leica 1.4/25mm @ f/2, ISO 200

I have been going back through my now sizable photo collection on Flickr, which contains almost 5,000 photographs stretching back to April 2006. I go back and look at what I've taken, many times surprised by what I find in the collection. I'm surprised because I forgot I took them, doubly surprised that I would have taken such a photograph. Such as these two found photos in this blog posting.

I do remember what I was doing at the time when I took these. Back in July of last year my wife and I were up around the Mt. Dora area sightseeing and we stopped at a local spot for lunch, The Palm Tree Grill. I was wondering around with the E-P2, my first Pen, and the Panasonic Leica 25mm.

The Harley I used for the chrome study was parked on North Donnelly Street, just a half block down from the Grill. I remember taking a number of photos of the bike, trying various angles and exposures, not sure about any of them.

We weren't parked near the restaurant, but instead in a parking lot next to a place that rented Segways. It may still be there for all I know. I found this alley next to the Segway shop and stopped to make a few architectural photos of this view and a few other of the older buildings right next to it.

Building Still Life - Olympus E-P2 + Panasonic Leica 1.4/25mm @ f/2.8, ISO 160

What I keep re-discovering every time I look through the trove are these little treasures. This has become what Isaac Asimov once jokingly referred to as his near-photographic memory; if a photo was near by then he would remember some aspect of his life. That's turning out to be me. As I get older I find I'm using my photography as a secondary storage; grab the photo, store it away, and then at a later and more leisurely time, go back and remember the moment and enjoy what I was in too much of a hurry to enjoy the first time.

I also find I re-kindle my appreciation for the first Pen I ever owned, the E-P2. The camera still works just fine, and every photo that comes from that body is as stellar as the day it first arrived on my doorstep. That's why I won't get rid of any of the bodies. I'll give them to my girls before I'll ever sell them, or else use them until they break.

Both photos were post processed in Silver Efex Pro 2. The top one was difficult for me to decide when it was finally done. I chose to darken it and give it a sepia cast. I wanted just enough exposure in the final print to really pick out the chrome detail on the engine. I wanted the metal to look like it was almost glowing from within. The lower photo was a more classic black and white, where I was trying to hit a proper mid-tone gray, and show detail from the brightest highlight to the darkest shadow. And yes, that is ISO 160 on the second photo. Remember that the E-P2 and E-PL1 still allow ISO 100 exposures. I may yet get another E-P2 body just for that one capability...

I know how I wrote earlier in the month I would stick to nothing but color for the foreseeable future, and I probably will. But this is a personal reminder not to stay away from black and white for too long.