A Real Camera Store in Troy, New York

 

The Troy Photo Center

It's a museum, it's Aladdin's cave, it's a junk yard, it's Photo Center of Troy, New York. What a treasure trove. The helpful employee found some 48mm filters for my Canonet camera. Nikon Nick is an encyclopedia of photo stuff. 

The Leicas in a glass case were rough (user grade), and I did not have time to look at the lenses. And I saw some Rolleiflexes. Regardless, I do not need any more photo equipment (right??).

Nikon Nick compiling his archives

Want a clock or a naked Greek statue?

ET is at the camera store?

Is that Ulysses S. Grant wearing a fedora?

Photo Center would be a fun place to explore at leisure and talk to Nikon Nick. For more information:

Telephone: +1 518 - 273 - 0100

E-mail: info@photocentertroy.org

Address: 404 River St Troy, NY 12180-2821

 

Bonus: Carrboro, North Carolina 

 

Southeastern Camera in Carrboro, North Carolina, is another great store with bins of equipment. The best equipment is in the glass cases; the rougher stuff in tubs. They have medium format equipment and Leica lenses.

 

Bonus No. 2: Bergen, Norway

 

My sister sent me these frames of a film-oriented camera store in Bergen. Yes, enthusiastic Norwegians support film!

 

 

Return to a Rough Coastal City: Aberdeen, Washington

 

We stayed in Aberdeen for a night before heading out to Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge for the spring migration. The NWR is famous for the thousands of shorebirds (sand pipers and similar) who stop to feed and rest before continuing their amazing migration to Canada and Alaska. During summer. they feed and breed in the shorelands in the north and then migrate south in autumn.  

A few photographs around downtown were too good to resist. Poor old Aberdeen - you can tell that it was a rich and prosperous city once. Maybe it is coming back, but it went through a rough period when the timber industry contracted in the 1970s. 

 

US 101 bridge over Chehalis River with Wishkah River in foreground (1/8 ƒ/11, orange filter)

The Wishkah River flows south from the foothills of the Olympics and debauches into the Chehalis near the east end of town. I have photographed the Wishkah before in early 2024 and again later in 2024. 

 

Alley parallel to West Wishkah Street

Decorated dumpster? Alley parallel to West Wishkah Street.

In the business district, many of the main streets had a parallel alley. At the turn of the century, the alley likely served for coal delivery and trash pickup. 

Warehouse on South K Street

South K Street, view towards rail yard and Chehalis River

Vapolife Building, South K Street

Homeless behind Safeway store, South K Street

Hotel Morck, Heron Street

The Hotel Morck, built in 1924, was the centerpiece of downtown Aberdeen. For almost four decades, it was the sophisticated gathering place for Aberdeen's elite and visitors. According to the National Park Service, "The hotel building exemplifies late 19th and early 20th Century Classical Revival architecture, with the extensive use of terra cotta and a formal tri-parte arrangement." The hotel closed in 1961 and was converted into apartments. In the early 1980, the building converted into a low-income apartment complex, after which it degraded severely. Grokipedia has a detained description of the architecture and history. 

Undated post card; source unknown

I took these photographs on April 27, 2026 on Fuji Acros film with my Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens. All frames were tripod-mounted. Northeast Photographics in Bath, Maine developed the film and scanned the negatives with a Noritsu system.

Cooking in the Monastery, Meteora, Greece (1996)

Meteora is a spectacular scenic and architectural treasure in Thessaly, central Greece. A remarkable collection of vertical plugs of sandstone and conglomerate rise up from the plain. Starting around 1000, hermits moved into caves on the rock pinnacles. In the second half of the 14th century, monks established Eastern Orthodox monasteries on these remarkable rock pillars. The monks sought isolation from the mortal world, a bridge between the mortal and the divine. The precipitous rock pillars also provided safety from bandits and marauding Turkish troops. At its peak, Meteora had 24 monasteries, but only six are active now. 

Ecclesiastically, this complex of monasteries is second in importance to the remarkable ones on Mount Athos in northern Greece. I visited Athos in 1995, a memorable trek.

The Meteora region and the architecture are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

My stepdad and I visited central Greece in mid-1996. We stayed in a hotel in Kalabaka, the major town nearby. Then we spent two days exploring the monasteries that were open for tourists. Some are now ruins and dangerous to access.

Village of Kastraki

Holy Monastery of Rousanou and the village of Kastraki

Evening in Kastraki

Grand Meteoron

The Holy Imperial Monastery of the Holy and Great Meteoron is a spectacular architectural treasure.  "In 1340 St. Athanasios of Meteora occupied the ‘Platylithos’, the rock which he was to name ‘the Meteoron’ (i.e. the rock suspended between heaven and earth), and went on to lay the solid foundations of cenobitic monasticism at the Meteora." Their web page provides history and visiting information. 

The ancient buildings house chapels, libraries, storage rooms, workshops, and kitchens. 700-year-old kitchens? Smoke-darkened pots and hearths? What could be better? 

Food Preparation

Sure, these old utensils have been staged. But some penitent monks used them years and centuries ago to prepare food for the members of the monastery. 

Storage

Food storage was always an issue. The monks needed supplies for the harsh winter months. They also needed to protect their supplies from marauding bandits. In times of war or banditry, villagers may have taken refuge in the monastery. 

Sewing and Farm Equipment

Meteora is a gem. Go there as a life goal! But the area is now grossly over-touristed, so visit in the off season. 

I took these photographs with a Rolleiflex 3.5E twin lens reflex (TLR) camera with a 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens. These are long exposures (1/2 sec and more). I braced the camera on railings or shelves. The Rolleiflex is well-suited for this type of work because you can place it on a shelf, look down into the viewfinder, and use a cable release or the self-timer to trigger the long exposure. The camera does not have a moving mirror and is almost vibration free, so it is perfect for long exposures. The film was Tri-X professional 320 film, exposed at EI=250. I developed it in Rodinal (the genuine Agfa product) at 1:25. I measured the light with a Gossen Luna Pro Digital meter.

On the Waterfront: Harbor Days in Olympia (Oly 24)

Dear Readers, Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2026 is prosperous and healthy, and thank you for reading along.

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Olympia really likes its waterfront! Harbor Days is a three-day festival of boats, food, children's' activities, sunshine, and antique tugboat races. A good time is had by all. Here are some pictures from the 2024 festival.

Percival Landing, Olympia (Tri-X 400 film, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

WWII era tug Commanche (the large vessel)

The Comanche is a sturdy old World War II navy tug, launched in 1943. I want onboard before the start of Harbor Days and spent an hour listening to two former crewmen relate stories. She is owned by the Comanche 202 Foundation in Tacoma. I do not know how far around Puget Sound she travels. This old-timer needs a lot of maintenance and overhauling. When young, she was powerful enough to tow aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean.

Where is the concert? (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Lego artists of budding marine engineers

The commercial part of the Port of Olympia offered short tours for the public. Normally, the Port is a restricted area, so a guided tour promised to be very interesting. It was! The Port of Olympia's most common cargo now is lumber. Huge logs come into town on 18-wheeler trucks. They are sorted and labeled at the port and then loaded onto freighters. Most go to Japan and Korea. Every log has a label indicating its quality. Rarely, a cattle freighter takes cows to Vietnam. 

Machine for unloading logs from trucks

Serious forklift

Shuttlewagon - runs on rails and pavement

I took these photographs with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens (5-element version) on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner operated by Silverfast software on a Windows 7 computer. I cleaned chemical blobs and dust with Photoshop CS6.

On the Waterfront - Seattle, Washington (Summer 2024) (Sea 05)

The Seattle waterfront has changed drastically since I lived in Seattle in the mid-1970s. At that time, the ugly 2-level concrete Alaskan Viaduct snaked along the waterfront. Underneath was a sort of nether-land, similar to the underside of the Southeast Expressway in Boston. But at least there was parking under the concrete. Back then, Seattle's waterfront was a working district, with warehouses, small factories, and industrial activities. 

Today, the viaduct is gone! Alaskan Way is sunny. Now there are bike lanes, gardens, and a clean new surface street, Elliott Way. Warehouses have been rebuilt into condominiums, and totally new buildings have been erected. And the traffic flows underneath through the SR99 tunnel. 

Alaskan Way

Pier 50 view north along Alaskan Way (Kodak Tri-X film, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

The grotesque viaduct once marred this view. Now this is a cheerful and popular bund or esplanade.

This monstrous cruise ship loomed over the waterfront. I have never been close to a vessel this large. It was like a floating office building. I can understand why more and more popular destinations in the Mediterranean, like Venice, Santorini, and Barcelona, object to these ships disgorging thousands of tourists in a short period. They overwhelm the local infrastructure, water supply, and plumbing. But the merchants like the shoppers.

Pier 70 view south along Alaskan Way from the Olympia Sculpture Park

Sounder commuter train

BNSF tracks near Pier 66

In the past, I wondered where the trains came from that ran on the tracks parallel Alaskan Way. I only recently learned that the Great Northern Tunnel extends for about a mile under the business district. This was a major engineering accomplishment in 1904. The southern entrance is just north of the King Street station. The northern entrance emerges from the mountain almost under the Pike Place Market. The opening is obscured by fencing along Elliott Way.  This is another example of the great engineering that made a nation. 

 

 

Alaskan Way Viaduct in 1972

(Courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives, #31592, Series 1628-02)

This 1972 photograph from the Seattle Municipal Archives shows some of the viaduct piers embedded into the original glacial till bluff. I took the 2024 photograph above at approximately the same location. 

Great Northern Tunnel north entrance (Samsung phone digital file)

BNSF freight train near Pier 70

It feels like a train comes along about every 15 minutes. The amount of commerce is amazing.

Pike Place Market

Everyone takes pictures and selfies at the famous Pike Place Market. My Olympia photography friend comes here often and does excellent work. I took pictures in the Market in 1973 when I lived in Seattle. 

The famous Pioneer Building is a Richardsonian Romanesque edifice of stone, red brick, terra cotta, and cast iron. It faces Pioneer Square, now rather grungy because of the homeless and filth. 

I remember entering the Pioneer Building when it was being renovated in the early 1970s. There was an inner atrium with iron railings. Somewhere in the basement was the well-known French restaurant, the Brasserie Pittsbourg. I remember eating here with friends and, possibly, my dad. Do I have any photographs from those happy and innocent 1970s?

Entrance to the Brasserie Pittsbourg, March 3, 1970 (courtesy of the Seattle Public Library, photograph by Werner W. Lenggenhager, 1899-1988)

This ends our short walk in downtown Seattle and along the waterfront. I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens. This is a 1959 model still going strong. Most Rolleiflex twin lens cameras are superb picture machines. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film.

This was article Sea 05

Olympia with Fuji NPH400 (Abandoned Films 12) (Oly 03)

Dear readers, we will continue our irregular series on Olympia, Washington. 

Moving to a new home in a new state was quite an adventure. Closets and boxes in our former home revealed all sorts of treasures (much of it junk). How did we accumulate all this stuff? Is this the curse of American suburbia? 

But I found some goodies. The depths of the freezer disgorged a box of 120 size Fuji NPH 400 film. The box expired in Feb. 2005. The last time I used a roll may have been in 2018, when I drove to Asheville, North Carolina, to The Vintage car show. Six years later, was it this NPH still viable? 

Being a 400 film, I thought it would be useful for hand-held work with my Rolleiflex, which has a ƒ/3.5 lens. One drizzly January morning, I walked around west Olympia while waiting for car repair. 

Eagan's Drive-In, 1420 Harrison Avenue - not yet open for the day

Eagan's toilets, maybe not available today

The dancing burger, Eagan's Drive-In

Division Street view north

Taco trucks ready to roll, Harrison Avenue

I took the Rolleiflex out on a cheerful sunny day. The NPH film responded much better.

Swantown Boatworks, Marine Drive NE 

Conclusion: Semi-success, this long-expired NPH 400 was still viable. But some of the frames were slightly underexposed, some more extreme. My Luna Pro light meter is working correctly because other rolls of film from 2024 are properly exposed, frame after frame. Could this old NPH film be more sensitive to reciprocity failure because of its age?  (Reciprocity with camera film means that the film sensitivity is not linear over a standard light range. Therefore, darker scenes need more exposure than a light meter might indicate.) For this roll, I set the Exposure Index at 320, but next time, I will use EI=200 or even lower. Regardless, it is time to use it up. Even frozen, it will not last forever.

Thanks for enduring another adventure in expired camera film.