Five Frames with a Leica M3 and Kodak Portra 400.

Flamingos

If you read my previous post (warning: it’s a lot of waffle about buying a Leica!), you know there is a new camera in town. So, new camera, what to do? Photo expedition!

We often go to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art for exhibition openings and concerts. Along the route, I noticed several buildings that needed photographing. So off we went to break in the new camera…

First stop, a visit to the flamingos atop Hawaii’s Finest Shaved Ice on Ave N. They are multiplying. A couple of years ago, there was just one.

Tacos Locos

Just down the road from the Flaming Flamingos, is Tacos Locos. Whoever painted this place was not shy with the color palette.

Waiting Room

Around the corner and down Oakes Street from Tacos Locos is Rusa’s Mexico. I spotted this chair patiently waiting for customers. It was early on a Sunday morning so I suspect that he waited a while.

Rocky Wall

Down Oakes street is an old building. Its roof is falling in and I’ve always thought I could shoot the roof to good result. When we arrived, the roof was in deep shadow and just didn’t inspire. So I shot some other aspects of the building. Here is a portion of rock wall that is losing its concrete.

Texas Theater

If you were around on Thanksgiving day in 1929 you could have gone to the opening of the Texas Theater. The Theater stopped showing movies in 1971 and is now privately owned. Attempts at renovation have been made, but not much progress has resulted. I hear that you could buy the Texas for $150,000. Be warned, the renovation is estimated to run $6 million.


These photos were all taken with a 57 year old Leica M3 that has been cleaned, lubricated, and adjusted (CLA’d). It was wearing a brand new Zeiss ZM 50 mm Planar f/2.0. Exposures were determined with a Gossen Digisix 2 hand-held light meter.

The Portra 400 film was developed and scanned by Holland Photo Imaging in Austin, Texas. The scans were 3637 x 2433 pixels and the files were provided as jpgs. I tweaked the shots in Darktable and cut the resolution to 1500 px in the long dimension for the web.

John Osterhout

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