Just wanted to say hi and that I like reading your blog. I knew you wrote, but I wasn't sure where the url was ... I saw it in your wall to wall response to Elizabeth. I didn't know about the break up. I'm sorry to hear that ... I guess I'm a bit out of the loop down here. It does sound like you have good friends around you and I know that that helps a lot.
Reading your posts makes me want to play with film again. I've nearly done it several times, but usually end up with my D50. That said, about six months ago I did wipe the dust off of my dad's old Nikon EM from '79 (which I've had with me since high school). While I haven't used it yet (lately), I did grab the 50mm/F1.8 manual focus lens off of it and have been shooting completely manually with my D50 since last November.
I know that doesn't really count as analog, but I have been learning a lot about my camera. With tango events being the main subject of many of my photographs, low light and lots of motion have been challenging; esp. with the manual focus. I didn't have as much formal training as you in the days of film, but at least I got my foot in the door back then, so I feel I have a vague idea of ISO equivalents, color temperature/white balance, etc ... and I feel a fully manual digital is letting me play around enough to where I am getting more confident and comfortable with that lens, esp in the areas of shutter speed and ISO; its usually dark in the room so I often leave the aperture at F1.8, but I do stop it down when I need to.
At the same time, I know your slide film challenge would probably kick my ass. But who knows, maybe a few would come out :P ... I figure its not like your relationship with your FE2, but nothing gives me images like that little old 50mm lens, I love the shallow depth of field and tons of light from the F1.8 aperture.
I do still tweak the crap out of many of them in iPhoto or PS, and I know thats cheating, but I guess I look at it as photography as an art form vs. photography as a way to celebrate my friends and events of our lives, where in the latter, a little post process "fixing" is ok if it makes photos of my friends closer to how I felt when I took the picture. That said, the more I practice the less photoshop I have to do, so hopefully some of it I can consider "art of photography." Ultimately, I would like to have my two fake categories converge so that I wouldn't have to B.S. such an argument; ie I just need to be better so I don't have to play with levels anymore.
Most of my corrections are with exposure, but often I like applying a black and white gradient mask and manipulating color channels below it to simulate color filter lenses with black and white film. I've tried to use something like an R2 filter before with my D50 and it just goes to hell fast. I think there are some reds the CCD just can't handle. I've seen this in roses and other red flowers before. My point was though, that often I like to push the image to where the light looks just a little odd (say in a black and white image). I love the way black and white infrared film looks (I know I should just go buy some).
So anyway ... I hope thing work out for you and I'm glad that photography gives you peace of mind. I always enjoy looking at your work. (And still jealous of all your old cameras ... the TLR looks so cool.)
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