Category Archives: Travel

Images from my 1936 Leica IIIa

After completing the service, cleaning, repair, adjustment on the 1936 Leica IIIa, I shot a test roll to see if everything was working as it should. There are a lot of things that can be wrong on an 80 year old camera. A test roll can show if the film is advancing correctly, getting the proper space between images on the negative, shutter speeds are correct, the rangefinder and lens are in good sync so the images come out good and clear. etc…

The first test roll showed that the shutter  was at the right speed but on the faster speeds, it was not adjusted correctly. The second or “closing” curtain was catching up with the first curtain part way across the film area.

The dark area on the right means the closing curtain caught up with the opening curtain, and is called 'capping' Here at 1/500 speed it is about 75 % at 1/1000 it was almost 100%
The dark area on the right means the closing curtain caught up with the opening curtain, and is called ‘capping’ Here at 1/500 speed it is about 75 % at 1/1000 it was almost 100%

 

at 1/200 speed there is slight capping
at 1/200 speed there is slight capping

Continue reading Images from my 1936 Leica IIIa

Weekend Getaway!

Cheryl and I had just about had enough of this heat and B.S. going on lately so we went to the coast for a little R&R. I made reservations on a Tuesday for the following Friday/Saturday nights and surprisingly got rooms. Later we learned that in Florence, there was a “Rods n Rhodies” car show thing going on down in Old Town and in Bandon they were having their Cranberry Festival that same weekend.

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An “added bonus”, since we knew nothing about the festivities in advance, so we kept our original agenda of relaxing and playing it by ear (sort of, I always have some plans in mind) We got started later than usual, Friday at noon after Cheryl got off work. We went straight through Reedsport in stead of stopping to make dinner at Mo’s in time. Besides, one of our favorite antique shops had closed and that would have been our only stop anyway.

We got to Florence around 3:30-4, got checked into our room and went down to” Old Town” along the river. We did our shopping before going to dinner at Mo’s, a twist for us, as we usually have a lunch at Mo’s, then shopping. As usual, there were a few new shops and a few missing shops.

Here are some pics of the Old Town area:

 

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We did some antiquing the next day before leaving Florence, then on our way to Bandon we stopped at Winchester Bay so I could pick up some smoked salmon. I couldn’t resist so I got a crab cocktail while there, OMG! It was the best crab cocktail I’ve ever had and I consider myself quite the crab critique…

 

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Just next door to Winchester Bay is the Umpqua River Lighthouse and USCG barracks with the old USCG admin building, now a museum…

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In Bandon we walked around the Cranberry Festival and shops till we dropped. Later we went to the Coquille River Lighthouse as the Sun was setting and to Face Rock to watch the Sun sink into the ocean.

 

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The last day, on our way home we stopped at Misty Meadows and got more food souvenirs and we stopped at the West Coast Game Park Safari to see the baby Tiger and Leopard. Billed as the nations largest petting zoo, there are lots of deer and goats and other critters roaming freely about the park.

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If you like, I have all the pics from our weekend HERE at 

Day Trip to Dunsmuir

I took what I call my “Last day trip to Dunsmuir for a while” on Wednesday (10/6/10) meaning, I start my new job at Schwan’s on Monday and it’s going to be a while before I have any time off to do such things. Even though I only saw one train that day, it was a very satisfying and relaxing day. Rewarding as well as I found two new things I have never seen before along the old Siskiyou Line in Northern Cal. and got to chat with an online acquaintance at what was a chance meeting at a remote area along the line.

The night before my trip, I emailed a fellow, Robert “Photobob” Morris saying I was going to be in Dunsmuir area and hoped to run into him. Well the next day as I was driving through Grenada, CA, a very small very old farm town along the Siskiyou line, I noticed a strange looking old Line-shack I had never noticed before. There was a road leading right up to it. It was an old but still usable “in-Motion” track weight scale used for the farmers grain cars.

As I was checking it out, up pulls Robert and his wife to take some pictures as well. Small world… We were both surprised that, after many many years, and being in a small town with high unemployment and basically nothing for the local kids to do it was in such pristine shape. There wasn’t a single bit of graffiti or vandalism, there was expensive but primitive electrical equipment inside behind unlocked doors. I have some pictures at my Picasa site. The first few are of the scale, shack and the old Southern Pacific concrete line shack.

There are a few images of my other discovery that day. An old section of road with a cool old trestle going over it. Thought it would be a good future photo-op location if trains ever return to that section of track again.

“Pottsville” 2010

This last Fathers day, Sunday June 20, we went to “Pottsville” in Merlin, OR. to the annual antique tractor show and flea market / swap meet. There were the usual large but manageable crowds, tractor people seem to be some of the nicest around, hot dog and burger stands, other various food, vendors selling home crafted items. There were these huge steam behemoths rolling around, and the regular old diesel tractors, all were either in the “parade” or parked in rows for viewing. Also there were antique small engines, the kind used for pumping water or some other small job.

Cheryl didn’t find anything at the flea market but I found an old mason jar I’m going to use to make a bird feeder. Here are the few pics I took.

Short trip to Florence, Or

The weather was perfect for our little one nighter to Florence this last weekend. I had been looking forward especially, for a visit to Mo’s for some fish and chips and chowder. There is a new ramp down to the dock that runs in front of Mo’s so I had a chance to get some shots I hadn’t before. I also got some cool shots from under the 101 bridge.

Check out the latest photos here

Chinese New year 2010~ Year of the Tiger

We made our 3rd annual trip to the Chinese New Year parade in Jacksonville, OR this last Feb. 13th. I have more history and links about the town here,  our first visit to the parade 2 years ago. Some of the same stuff but fun none the less.

The streets were lined on either side with spectators, not packed mind you, but for some reason several fellows felt the need to jump out in the street to take pictures with their “big” fancy cameras and block other people from getting anything but their backsides.

Here are this years shots

Old wooden Indian ~ Famous Jacksonville Tavern

“Peter Britt” ~ Chinese Dragons from San Francisco

Dragons ~ Chinese orphan girl ~ schoolkids masks

I almost missed the long golden dragon thanks to the idiot standing in the middle of the street taking pictures. It was a beautiful morning, but we weren’t in the mood to fight the crowds after the parade so we went over the the museum and checked things out there.

Florence~Bandon Oregon

We recently got out of the heat (100+) and went to the coast at Florence and Bandon, Oregon. The weather was perfect. We did all the usual touristy things, tried not to spend too much money.  I made a mosaic of the Cape Blanco Lighthouse near Port Orford, Oregon. It is comprised of nearly all the photos taken on the trip!

There are three links, first is to see it screen size untouched, second is to see it screen size tweaked, third is blown-up to see the individual pics that make up the mosaic. You may have to click within the pic to: enlarge ~ screen size depending on your browser settings.

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mosaic made with “AndreaMosaic