Return to Summit Point

I've been to Summit Point more times than I can remember. It all started with my friend Chuck and his 300,000 mile Mazda Miata that still ran like a champ after 15 years. He told me that the great thing about Summit Point is that there's no one there that isn't into the actual racing. This isn't NASCAR, where the people go to get drunk, listen to a country concert, and watch horrible wrecks. Here it's about breaking, acceleration, consistent lap times, and just having fun. You can even walk through the pits and paddock and talk to the actual mechanics and drivers; no need for a pass or special ticket ($15). Of course, in this environment, the Mazda is an extraordinarily popular car for amateur racing. Just go to one SCCA event and you'll see a flotilla of Miatas going around the track (there are other great classes as well, like Formula Atlantic). Great stuff.

On this particular trip, last weekend, I was there to get pictures of the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Series motorcycle races. It was also a chance to dust off my 1D Mark II and make sure it was still in good working order. Sure enough, it lived up to its pro-level design and worked like a champ. There were only two incidents where it gave me Error 99 problems, and I think it was due to the CF card. Popping the battery out and back in cleared the problem immediately. I also had my concerns about the batteries still being able to hold a charge after so much time on the shelf. Ni-MH is dated technology, but I blew through well over 400 frames without the battery showing any signs of running low.

All in all, a great day. By the way, you can get a good, used 1D Mark II for about $850 these days.

Uncommon Places

I've hinted about Uncommon Places in some of my flickr comments, but I've been meaning to post about it for a while now. I finally received it as a gift this past Christmas (I try to resist buying photography books for myself). I remember the first time I saw it at Borders. I was instantly captured, and I don't think I've looked at spaces in quite the same way since. On top of that, Stephen Shore actually makes you want to get in a car and go to middle America. Quite an accomplishment. Pictures on the computer screen don't do it justice either. For example, this picture seems like nothing to write home about when viewed online, but it's one of the first pictures in the book, and it blows me away.

Related: America

Playing Catch-Up

Ok, so let's see if we can do a little catching up here...

We stumbled across the Continental restaurant (pictured above) while we were looking for breakfast on our trip to Philly last month. This picture only partially captures the awesomeness of the decor. The food was also great. Highly recommended.

More recently (like yesterday) we went down to the Newseum. It's been on my todo list for quite some time, so I'm glad we went. The tickets were a bit pricey, but they've got a pretty impressive collection of exhibits. They're big on timelines and multimedia, which makes sense. Their collection of old newspapers and Pulitzer prize photographs was also impressive, as was the view over Pennsylvania Avenue. I also enjoyed the Walter Iooss exhibit, which is only there until the end of March, unfortunately. The food court was clearly an afterthought. Also worth noting is that the tickets are good for two days, so if you're in DC for a weekend or something, don't feel like you need to do the whole thing at once.

Also worth checking out is Cameron Booth's redesign of the DC Metro map. If history is any indicator, he will be ignored by the powers that be, but let's hope I'm wrong. His interstate highway map is also cool.

On the camera gear side of things, I've discovered that the framelines don't change in my Xpan when I put on my new 90mm lens. Now I often find the viewfinder half-way between the 45 and 90mm frameline windows, so something is clearly loose or broken. I have to tilt the camera to the right to get the 45mm window to fall back into place. Needless to say, I was disappointed, especially since the camera was fixed and CLA'ed last June. I've contacted Hasselblad in NJ, so hopefully they'll cover it. We'll see.

Weekend Update

Just wanted to share some more Xpan shots from the batch that came back from NCPS. I also tried out the new 90/4 down at the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art yesterday; some great I.M. Pei architecture to admire. I just hope my hand-held shots are steady enough.









Also, the Nikon FA thing was a bust. I put the new battery in, but the shutter jams on every other frame. The only way to unjam it is to switch into M250 (mechanical 1/250 mode). Luckily I didn't put any film in before testing it out. Switching the camera back and forth out of mechanical mode may be making the problem worse for all I know. I'd consider getting it repaired, but I can get a used one in excellent condition for about $120, which is probably less than the cost of a repair. I think I'd much rather have the classic workhorse F3 anyway. Now that's a camera you can go out into the middle of nowhere with.

Trois Neopan

Three new friends arrived in the mail today with my Xpan 90/4. I've never shot Neopan before, but I'm looking forward to it.

I also got a fresh CR-1/3N battery for my trusty Nikon FA. I don't know if it even works any more, but there's only one way to find out. The last roll of film I put through it was back in 2005. It was a great camera in Paris, but it let me down in Krakow and again in Budapest, so I just keep it for sentimental value now. I think it will be ok for non-critical, local shooting around DC or something. It will be great to shoot with a camera that has an actual film crank again.