More Fun in South Shreveport, Louisiana

In previous articles, we looked around Olympia, Washington. Let us take a quick diversion back to the US South. 

On our way from Vicksburg to Houston, we overnighted in Shreveport, Louisiana. I wanted to do a last documentation in a southern neighborhood that shows elements of traditional wood architecture, decay, and neglect. In the morning, we drove west on 70th street in south Shreveport and looked at some of the side streets. The light was soft and even, quite suitable for architecture. 

Click any picture to see it at 1600 pixels on the long dimension.

Quiet times on Bates Street (Fuji Acros film, Spotmatic F camera, 28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Cottage on Bates Street (24mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Bates Street house

Bates Street was quiet, with empty lots and houses that were boarded up. I could not tell if they were going to be repaired. If they were to be demolished, no one would have bothered to secure the window with plywood, so possibly there was a plan to restore some of them. Still, it is not a pretty scene. 

Bethany Street

Bethany Street house (24mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Bethany Street had many empty lots, meaning the former houses had been razed and the lots graded. 

Time for some crawfish at 925 E. 70th Street

7020 Line Avenue - not much happening now

The Little Shanty art store on Line Avenue, also unfortunately closed

Line Avenue runs north south. It was more commercial than the side streets but was very quiet. The street just to the right of The Little Shanty was East 71st Street. It offered a bit more photographic material.

Shed on E. 71st Street

Fixer-upper shed on E. 71st Street (28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Asphalt shingle cottage, 569 E. 71st Street

Asphalt shingles were common mid-century for inexpensive housing. We look down on it now, but it was a practical building material because it was easy to install, inexpensive, long-lasting, and repelled bugs and vermin. It did not need repainting, as do shingles or clapboard.

 

Non-cottage, E. 71st Street

Duplex under renovation, E. 71st Street

Another duplex, E. 71st Street

Some of the houses on E. 71st Street were being renovated. That is a hopeful sign.

Muscle Therapy Center, 7101 Southern Avenue

This clinic is in a rather bunker-like brick building with burglar bars over the windows. It was unfortunate pragmatic (=cheap) architecture and looked unkept.

This finishes our quick tour on October 26, 2023, of a neighborhood in south Shreveport, Louisiana. Maybe I posted too many photographs. But, I may never return to this part of the world, although one never knows. 

I took these frames with my Pentax Spotmatic F camera and 24mm or 28mm SMC Takumar (thread-mount lenses) using Fuji Acros 100 film (exposed at EI=80). These lenses were multi-coated and among the best mid-price 1970s optics for SLR cameras. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film. I scanned it with a Plustek 7600i film scanner operated by Silverfast Ai software. I made minor contrast adjustments with Photoshop CS6.  

Into the Woods Again: Squaxin Park in Monochrome (Oly 06)

Squaxin Park (formerly Priest Point Park) is a botanical wonder just north of downtown Olympia off East Bay Drive NE. I have photographed here in color with my little digital Fuji X-E1 camera. How about monochrome? (Warning, "pretty" pictures below; no urban decay.)

Ellis Cove and view west to East Bay (Fuji Acros film, Pentax Spotmatic F camera, 28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Ellis Cove (Fuji Acros film, 28mm SMC Takumar lens)

The temperature plummeted on January 11 (2024) and some snow fell. That was too good to resist. I walked to Squaxin Park but was surprised that not much snow had made it through the dense canopy down to the ground.

Samarkand Rose Garden (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar lens, yellow-green filter)

Near Ellis Cove (Panatomic-X film, 100mm ƒ3.5 Planar lens)

Near Ellis Cove (Panatomic-X film, 100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens, yellow-green filter)

On East Bay Drive, a dense multi-trunk tree often catches my eye.

East Bay Drive NE (Kodak Tri-X 400 film, Hasselblad 501CM, 100 mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens, 1/125 ƒ/4)

Another snow fell on February 14, and I returned to Squaxin Park with the Hasselblad. Maybe I will show those frames in mid-summer..... 

Thank you all for exploring Squaxin Park with me.

From the Archives: Pike Place Market (Seattle) in 1973

Once upon a time, when I was young and energetic, I lived in Seattle, Washington, while attending the University of Washington (the 'Dub). I liked to go downtown with my friends to explore or eat at interesting restaurants. I found some March 1973 negatives from that previous life. 

My dad had been visiting from out of state. We took the ferry boat to Bremerton and later explored Pike Place Market. He liked Pike Place, but that was expected. He was an old hand at exploring markets, such as the famous Flea Market in Athens or the Scott's Market in Rangoon.

My dad checking out the scene

The fish fellow looked crabby

Candles were such a thing in the 1970s

Mellow time, 1973-style

Chopping the cows.

Stacking the crabs neatly. It reminds me of the Central Market in Athens. 

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with my Nikkormat FTn camera and 28mm ƒ/3.5 or 50mm ƒ/2 Nikkor lenses. I vaguely recall developing the film in the darkroom in McMahon Hall with Microdox-X developer. I did not know what I was doing, but still, the negatives have survived a half century (just as our digital files will, right?). They were scratched and had dirt and lint issues, so I cleaned the examples you see here with the heal tool in Photoshop CS6. 

We will look at more Seattle pictures in future articles. Please type "Seattle" in the search box to see older entries.

Olympia in the Morning, Part 2 (Oly 05)

Let us continue our morning walk through downtown Olympia, Washington. It is quiet, and most stores are closed. I saw only 5 or 6 homeless people his time. Two years ago, there were 10s or 100s of them. How did the city purge them? Regardless, downtown Olympia is still grungy.

206½ 4th Avenue

Dumpster on 4th. I bet that stuff looks better than most of my wardrobe. 

Capitol Way view south

Alley parallel to 4th Avenue (25mm ƒ/4 Color Skopar lens)

My favorite Olympia alley (25mm ƒ/4 Color Skopar lens)

Jefferson Street view north. I have not yet seen a train, but I occasionally hear them, usually at night.

Frog Pond Grocery in the historic South Capitol district (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens).

Argh! Another Taco truck, this time on Plum Street. The fire system is for the hot sauce? 

Well, enough of exploring downtown. Time to walk home and have another coffee.

State Avenue view west (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens).

Proceed north and soon you reach East Bay. On many mornings, it is still as a mill pond. The buffleheads and surf scoters love it here.

East Bay from Olympia Avenue NE (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens). Swantown Marina is in the distance.

The Bigelow neighborhood has charming traditional cottages from the early 20th century. It is not as elegant as South Capitol, but is more modest and is free from the background drone of I-5.

 

Traditional cottage on Quince Street (25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens)

Historic Quince Street house

This ends our walking tour around Olympia with Kodak Gold 100 film (another one of my experiments with expired film). I used Pentax Spotmatic F and Leica M2 cameras. We will see more of Olympia in future updates. Thank you all for walking along.

Olympia in the Morning, Part 1 (Oly 04)

Early morning in December, the light is soft and misty in Olympia. Well, it rains much of the time, so indeed, the light is softened and colors are muted. It was time to experiment again with color negative film. One early morning, I left my car at a repair shop on Capitol Way and walked home through the city. Here are some random scenes on the way.

Capitol Way, early morning

Time for some wiggling, 117 Columbia Street NW

Alley parallel to State Street

Alley parallel to State Street

Rhythms Coffee, 210 4th Avenue W.

According to Rhythms, "Stay tuned for some of the finest coffee on earth, never before served in Olympia." I think the best coffee I ever drank was in Colombia, but that is a story for another day.

 

It is fishy at 116 4th Avenue

Capitol Way view south, rather uninspiring

OSSA Skinworks, 109 Capitol Way N. Could they make my skin look good?

Washington Street view south, also uninspiring

Every city in USA seems to have a Washington Street. This one is not inspiring, but it does have some older architecture.

This ends Part 1 of our morning walk. Please type "Olympia" in the search box if you want to see other Olympia articles.

I took these photographs on long-expired Kodak Bright Sun (i.e., Gold 100) film using my Pentax Spotmatic F camera and the 50mm ƒ/1.4 SMC Takumar lens. This is one of the mid-1970s versions of the 1.4 lens with multi coating and without elements containing thorium salts. Some early 1970s versions yellowed because of the thorium glass. Those are renouned for superb optical quality. Most of my exposures this morning were at ƒ/2 or ƒ/2.8. It is convenient to have a large aperture lens. 

This Gold 100 is more grainy that the Gold I shot years ago when the film was in production. The colors have that old film look, but this roll survived the decades reasonably intact. Still, years have passed, and I suggest you not seek out Gold 100. I wish Kodak would reintroduce it. I tried their contemporary Gold 200 and thought it was too grainy. But in 120 size (medium format), the modern 200 might be fine. The Gold 100 decades ago was superb.

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. 

Heading West Through Texas, October 2023

We were in a hurry heading west. It had been stressful to escape Houston via US290, but at least we could use the HOV lanes. As dusk approached, we passed through Somerville, a town about half way between Houston and Austin. I saw a large BNSF rail yard and had to stop and take a frame or two in the gloomy dusk light. 

The view west, Somerville, Texas (Fuji Acros film, 135mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens hand-held)

A day later, we were still driving west through Texas. Wow, what a large state. Long-term readers may remember that in November of 2022, we drove to the Rio Grande Valley. That took two days, also. 

Lockwood Street, Tahoka, Texas (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar lens)

Drizzle was falling, and we need to take a stretch break. As I recall, there was no coffee shop in Tahoka. 

Sorry, I could not resist, a gaudy phone pic. of a former gas station with a cover to keep off the rain. 

This was a frustrating trip. I wanted to spend at least two weeks on the trip and do some creative photography, but we had to rush to Olympia to meet the moving truck. One of us should have flown to Olympia and then returned to some airport en route to continue a more leisurely drive. Texas offers a lot of interesting photo subject matter, even in small towns like the examples above. It has been fun exploring Texas. But will I ever return to the great open expanses? 

Please type "Texas" in the search box to see previous articles. 

I took the black and white frames on Fuji Acros film with my Pentax Spotmatic F camera and 55mm and 135mm lenses.