Widelux: Arizona in November, Family Trip with child, and another child...

My day job is mechanic at a bicycle shop in Detroit. Covid has sparked a worldwide bicycle boom, and shortages of bicycles & repair parts, so every day this summer was like McDonalds at noon rush for 8 hours straight. And while everybody else took up bicycling or learned to back bread during Covid lockdowns, I already had 4 bicycles, and bread wasn't hard to learn, so.... we conceived a second child, a daughter.

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By the time bicycle business tapers off in November, and aware that our daughter wasn't getting any smaller, and travel would only get tougher as we got closer to February due date, we got out of town in the second half of November while we could. Camping, hiking, cooking our own meals; all about as socially distant as we are back home in Detroit.

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Katie & I use modern dSLR Canons when we shoot weddings, so what did we use for fun?

I used a Widelux FV, while Katie shot with a Holga.

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Photo below is from Red Rocks state park, near Sedona, along Oak Creek.

Katie & our son, Phoenix.

Phoenix is named for second chances, and rebirth.

In my late 50s, I thought I was done having children...

I was glad to be wrong.

Phoenix was born in August 2018, so this was his first summer walking.

He walked a lot; we figured walking was something where we were equal.

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Also Red Rocks state park, Oak Creek, near Sedona.

 

Phoenix & Katie enjoying some time along Oak Creek.

I was not expecting fall color in second half of November.

Bonus!

I lived in Arizona for 3.5 years after graduating high school in 1980, starting with 6 months spent working at the Orme School & Ranch, shown in this photo. Located about 60 miles north of Phoenix (Arizona), I worked in the ranch kitchen in the afternoon while attending Motorcycle Mechanics Institute full-time in the mornings on weekdays. I'd commute by motorcycle, 120 miles round-trip, getting 60 MPG as long as I kept my speed on I-17 steady & modest. I also memorized every foot of the route, a memory is intact to this day.

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This is the view that awaited me each afternoon. I'd cross the Agua Fria river, normally dry, and upon entering the Orme campus, the ranch kitchen is just left of the bridge.

We also visited Goldfield, Arizona; a faux ghost town in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains, a bit east of Phoenix. We wanted to hike a bit in the Superstitions, but... toddlers & pregnant women are not the best at scrambling over large boulders, so Goldfield was an easier family activity that we could all enjoy. Photo taken from the train which circles Goldfield. Image cropped slightly, to remove handrail of train car.

Between the two of us, we shot nearly a dozen rolls of film. But just like the olden days, not all are finished processing yet, so we wait....

Ah, I forgot one.

My wife, Katie.

Red Rocks State Park

Sedona, Arizona

Beautiful images, from a beautiful area. Thanks for sharing them. Excellent photos all around.

beautiful pictures; keep them coming. Thanks SP.

Very impressed. Lover the wide vistas! Congrats on Fathership!!

So far I've managed to avoid acquiring a dedicated wide angle camera, but I sure love them.

 

Good on you!

How do these cameras accept filters, such as polarizers. It looks like a few shots had the advantage of one.

How do these cameras accept filters, such as polarizers. It looks like a few shots had the advantage of one.

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Filters are available, but not easily.

They are tiny, like a cough drop.

I don't own any.

How do these cameras accept filters, such as polarizers.

 

Neutral (or otherwise) graduated filters might work, but polarizers are sensitive to the sun light angle, so would not produce a consistent effect. This is true with wide angle lenses on regular cameras too, by the way.

There is a Widelux FB page, and a guy there is 3D printing a tiny fixture to hold colored filters, I think for BW film. I've wished for graduated neutral density filters, because if you want a straight horizon, horizon will be mid-frame. But I don't know if such a filter is offered.

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In general, a Widelux excels when scenery is close by. Wide sweeping vistas are too far away and look like nothing at all.

My (not) local lab continues to process & scan images from that, so new images continue to arrive. This is the staged gunfight at faux ghost town of Goldfield, Arizona; in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains, on eastern edge of metro Phoenix.

 

Abandoned motel at Glen Rio TX.

On TX / NM border along old Route 66.

 

Red Rocks State Park

Sedona AZ

Montezuma's Castle

Camp Verde AZ

About ruins.

New Mexico

Jerome, Arizona

A hike below the rim, on Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon.

November 2020

Tangent:

The daughter my wife was carrying in photos was born on February 11, and came home on the 13th. Mom & baby doing well. A baby girl, Lilith Rose, weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces. Sorry for modern photo.