doug grosjean

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.

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

. Filters are available, but not easily. They are tiny, like a cough drop. I don't own any.

Ah, I forgot one. My wife, Katie. Red Rocks State Park Sedona, Arizona

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....

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.

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. . 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.

Phoenix & Katie enjoying some time along Oak Creek. I was not expecting fall color in second half of November. Bonus!

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

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

A scanned square medium-format negative, scanned at high resolution, is over 30 megapixels. A person who already owns film gear can get to that point t with just a scanner. . Is there much difference? Probably not. . True story: Around 2012, I answered a call for entries for a Photo contest at Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art. I entered 3 photos, all 3 of which the museum printed, matted, and displayed. . One was created using a digital SLR, another using a Rolleiflex, and another using a Widelux. Neither the museum nor the opening reception cared about the tools or the process; only the result. . I enjoy using film cameras, But not to the total exclusion of modern gear.

. In my experience, twin-lens reflex cameras trigger that emotion in people for me. Any brand / model; they all look similar in form.

Related: My day job is a bicycle mechanic at a high-end high-volume dealership. Most people don't take good care of their bikes, but one customer comes in with well in excess of 10,000 miles on his bike, and it has no visual evidence of all those miles. . I've also seen cameras, bicycles, and motorcycles purchased by people with lots of initial enthusiasm that quickly went unused and set aside. If stored properly, somebody down the road ends up with a pristine museum piece.

I realize the horizon isn't perfectly level. Was there something else?

My wife & I photograph weddings using modern digital gear, because clients expect lots of digital images and shooting with a digital camera is the fastest most convenient way to deliver them. . However, in my camera bag alongside the modern Canon is a 70-year-old Widelux FV. After I'm sure I have the expected digital images, I'll take some shots with the Widelux, when & where appropriate. . For our recent family vacation to Arizona in the second half of November, we took a Canon dSLR, a submersible compact digital, the Widelux, and a Holga. Film is in processing now. Shot almost as many film frames as digital. . Attached photo is from a recent shoot with my wife, our toddler, and a client couple with 4 dogs.

Find a place with similar lighting to test. Shoot the film at it's rated ISO. . Add 1 step exposure to the reading the digital camera reccomendations. Or even 2 steps. Why? You can get detail from overexposed BW film, but not from underexposed. . Example is a badly overexposed 4x5 negative. By at least 2 steps. Negative looks like something you could use to protect eyes when welding. Yet it scans beautifully.

. Thanks! The photo by the lake, our son makes that photo by his body language / pointing. . Same in the attached photo. My wife is far left, walking behind the court who are about to be married, and the purple-haired lady with outstretched arms and joyful face makes the image. . The Widelux and a semi-modern Minolta light meter are now riding in my camera bag, shooting a few images at each wedding.

I owned a Cirkut #10; film cost & availability was a challenge. . I still own a Kodak Panoram, which simply took 120 film wound onto a 620 spool. Dead sim0le; shutter was just a spring you cocked like a BB gun.

Thx. I try to use it in such a way that there is no distortion or change of perspective.

Photographing a wedding & reception with my wife later today. 8-hour event. We are using Canon 5D dSLR cameras, plus I'll have my Widelux FV & 8 rolls of film in bag along with dSLR.

If I were limited to film cameras with fairly good support through repair shops, my bag would have a Rolleiflex & a Widelux. When I shoot film, those are the 2 cameras I'm most likely to use. . And in reality, I do have a bag that carries those 2 cameras. But also in reality, I shoot a lot of digital as well, for the quick turnaround of images.

Thanks for the kind words! . Not obvious in pics, but expecting a daughter in February. . And working to move to Arizona before our toddler starts school (he's 2 now). Ideally would like to continue photography there. Appropriate, as Arizona is where I first began to take photography seriously, and try to learn it as a craft.

Thanks, Mike. I intend to continue using it regularly. I enjoy the result.

Jason Hall, tour leader & local celebrity, holding court on bike tour as he tells about the mural beyond.