First post from the 6x17 3D-printed camera (Hidden Valley)

 And here is the first two negatives! I wasn't going to go anywhere since my plans to attend the botanic gardens were frustrated. Of course, this is the weekend, Covid deaths are decreasing dramatically, and more and more people are getting vaccines. The weather is very nice, we were in the 80s today, and it is spring, more than one year after the pandemic arrived. We have a combination of factors, plus the flowers are in bloom, so, no reservations for tickets were available at the gardens. That is fine, I was somewhat anticipating this. The crowds would be very big, and I still don't feel safe attending with so many people, even if they are wearing face masks and many of them have been vaccinated (the way I have been). So, I was going to just stay at home, but outside, it just looked much too pleasant, and there were bands of clouds, and I thought, this is perfect for black and white film. Where to go? Not downtown Riverside, I am tired of that area, nor to Citrus Park, no to the Riverwalk, and heaven forbid, not west, I just endured a monumental two and a half hour drive home yesterday from the beach, so no, no more traffic for me today. So, I returned to the Hidden Valley. 

I loaded Foma 200 film, although I should have taken some Acros. I used an aperture of f16, sometimes stopping down to f22. Most of what I shot was at infinity focus, but for one image, the second one here, I focused at 30 feet (to get the nearby trees). 

It was quiet at the reserve! There were not many people there, although some were hanging out in the parking lot. There was a scout troupe at one of the centers, the middle one with the overlook. I just started walking and taking photos. REmember, only four frames per roll, so I will have to be very selective. I wasn't, though, because I was determined to expose two rolls so that I could load them both in the reels and develop them today.

So here we are, the first two frames. There are problems with the first one, there are streaks in the negative, and I am very concerned. (*I don't know what is happening, the blogger is not letting me load the full negative image, even though I downsized it to 10 Mbs. I had to downsize it yet again, taking a screen grab.) 

And, I can't load the second image either. Maybe it won't load this aspect ratio. Actually, it will, but it won't upload photos bigger than 10 MB. I had to drastically downsize yet again, with a screengrab.