The History of Photography: 1997

Discreet Retouching Can Enhance Your Photos: This is me and the comet Hale-Bopp in April 1997, 8 seconds at f/3.5 with the 28mm and the Vivitar 283. Can't see the comet? Hmm. Try clicking on the picture to see the big version, or, better yet, here, let me fix that for you, a little fine tuning here and there and, Presto!, much better!

See how in this digital age a little bit of technology can help your images?

Continue to use Mamiya primarily. Second 283 goes bad, I buy another, then, deciding one night after a couple of beers I should try and fix the old 283, take it apart and miraculously cure what ails it and with hardly any parts left over. Now I have two, and the Minolta 320X. Head to International Falls to photograph comet Hale-Bopp. Sitting at red light in Duluth and get rear-ended, totalling my Saab. Drunken moron who hit me takes off. Duluth police find him later with his car in his garage and my taillight in his grille but can't prove who was driving so he gets off scot-free. Oh well. Buy Ford Ranger. Test the Mamiya and Rolleicord against one another. Decide that they're both pretty sharp but the Mamiya is more contrasty. Using Fuji NPS160 film doesn't do the Rollei any favors. Get Yashica T-4 Super for my Dad. One of my sisters buys herself one too. She had been using my brother in law's Nikon FM but his usual lens is a 58mm f/1.2 and it weighs a lot, though I must say it is impressively easy to focus. Karla starts Music Director at St. Mary's Episcopal church and before long I take over the newsletter and begin shooting pictures for it, mostly on the Nikon but sometimes on the T-4, Mamiya and even the Rollei, once, though without a flash bracket this is real clumsy. One day find that T-4 is done with roll. Funny, I don't remember using that much. Get roll developed. Nice pictures of electric meter, doorknob, bicycle. My son has discovered photography! And with autofocus they're way clearer than when my sister wandered around and took God knows how many pictures on one frame of my Kodak Brownie! Discover that Fuji print film from Target is really cheap. Buy some Konica infrared 120 for the Rolleicord! Wow! A new lease on life for that venerable camera. Of course, infrared renders chlorophyll-filled leaves white, and I got film in January in Minnesota. Average less than one frame a month. Oh well.

More Photo Hints from 1997

---

Watch Your Back: It's early April, we're heading to the Canadian border to get tea and take pictures of the Comet Hale-Bopp and, sitting at a traffic light in Duluth, are rear-ended by a moron. It totals the Saab, damages the car ahead of us and the one ahead of that, but the bum who hit us takes off and, although quickly found, absolutely gets away with it with no consequences. The car had just gone over 150,000 miles, was 11 years and 2 weeks old and had a 10-day-old clutch in it. That's Henry in the back seat, and you can see the Gitzo tripod legs, a case of empties heading back, and my Domke bag. Nikon FE, 28mm f/3.5, some cheapo print film