Here are a few images taken from negatives I scanned this evening as I tried to find a distraction from the news of the passing of my aunt. They were taken several weeks ago with my Fuji GW690ii camera, but I used a trick to be able to load them with 35mm film, not the ordinary 120 film that they require. Thus, we get photos in a panoramic format. The only thing is, they are filled with problems. The colors are somewhat off, and there is a reddish line that appears on the upper level of all the photos. I don't know what that is attributable to, I think it might have to do with the development of the film. Since I don't do color developing, that would be the fault of the lab. Also, the problematic coloring might be due to the fact that I was using expired color film that I must have bought over 5 years ago.
The colors seem particularly off here, but I wanted to capture the colors of the trees on this empty lot. They have been trying to sell this lot for a long time, I think it used to be occupied by a rickety old house, but I don't remember it. There used to be something there, though. That house to the left cannot be that color of purple. The colors of the trees seem correct, though. These were fall colors. By the way, those branches on the trees are mostly bare of leaves now. Winter is here, even though we have days with temperatures in the 70s.
I walked along one of the main avenues of the city called Crown, and thought, I would do my amateur impression of a Nick Carver video, where he photographs run-down commercial buildings as a way to capture the color of a town which is changing. I was not using a 6x17cm camera, though, just a modified 120 camera with 35mm film. But, this one came out nicely. I was across the street when I took this photo.
This is the city hall for the city called Crown. I was standing a long distance back. I guess using 35mm film on this camera gives me a telephoto perspective. Look at the trees! They are mostly bare now.
A view along another street as I was returning from my walk that morning. It was cold! I was in shorts when I should have been wearing pants, and I could have used a thicker sweat jacket. I wanted to walk over that freeway overpass to capture photos of the other side but no, in that cold, I needed to walk home quickly, and I did.
Here is the river channel I see a few times a week as I take my morning walks. There is a fence, but the homeless people have cut through it so that it is possible for us to walk down this path. The river is dirty, and not very deep, but it does provide a change of perspective. It is a channel for the water of the Santa Ana river, but a concrete channel, not the natural dirt riverbed. Still, one finds beautiful birds here, what look to be egrets of some type, and others whose names I do not know.
Another view of the channel for the river. I am on the overpass, and the view is unobstructed by a fence. Behind me, there is a small wooded area, and if you venture in there just a few steps, you will see tents where the homeless community live. There are also abandoned shopping carts here. I wonder about those people who live in what must be condominium houses. What must they feel, knowing they live right next to a homeless encampment? Not to mention the dirty river.
A view as I walk over the overpass that lets us walk above the train tracks. I don't know why the colors are so wrong on this photo, and why the lighting is so terrible. I have taken photos of this view many times before, and the lighting has almost always been much better. The sign is for a tile company. I used to wonder why my dad never applied to work there after his plant closed down. My dad worked in another company that built clay pipes, and these tiles are made of clay too.
On the other side of the street, looking to the north, what do we see? Boxland deluxe, these big and ugly box factories. There used to be a giant cheese factory here, with impressive, 19th century pipeworks extending several levels up, and now, just a slab of Swiss cheese. Ugly, ugly, ugly. The mountains are the San Gabriel mountains, which are beautiful when they have a layer of snow. It shouldn't be long now, we are supposed to receive some rain on Monday, and if it rains, the mountains receive a layer of snow.
Moving along now. This composition is not really outstanding, it is somewhat mediocre, and the factory is in charge of gathering and processing recycled goods, I think. They have giant bales of cardboard, which you can see, and containers with other materials. I took this photo for the other view (the trains tracks are in front of me, but I am still on the overpass). Also, I took a shot of this view with my 4x5 Travelwide in early 2019, when my dad was still alive. It somehow makes me feel connected to him.
Probably the best image I took with this roll, the city center for the city called Crown. Love the colors, love the light, but hate that purple line towards the top. Also, the city hall looks like too elaborate a building for a hardscrabble city like ours. It seems out of place.
The tile factory I mentioned as I walk to one side of it, after leaving the overpass. I just liked the sensation of activity, even though this also is not a particularly stunning composition.
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