philly

It's been cold outside, eh? Apparently, it's been cold enough for Philly's flightless chickens (aka pigeons) to learn how to sauna. For reals. Look at that photo above. They're not fighting over the scraps of somebody's discarded chicken wings, cheesesteak or soft pretzel. They're just chilling on top of a steaming sewer grate taking a steam.

This was the scene January 16, 2009 and I happened to have my camera on me. It was the F3 though so no instant digital gratification; I had to wait to finish up the roll, get it processed and bring it home. But once I looked at it, I just laughed remembering the scene in person from a couple weeks ago.

The rest of my Fujicolor Pro 400H roll is up in this flickr set.

I got myself a new gadget the other day, a 35mm film rangefinder camera. A Canon Canonet G-III QL 17. It'll replace my beloved, now broken, YE35 GSN. This little guy is small yet hefty so it doesn't feel like a toy. It's small enough to fit in my jacket pocket which is nice. I picked up the camera which came with the original flash and flaky cover at Philly AIDS Thrift over at 514 Bainbridge St. They always have tons of really cool stuff in there and I was pleased to see this camera still there 3 days after I first laid eyes on it (had to do a bit of research first!).

Unfortunately, its ASA dial only goes up to 800ASA. The rangefinder of the YE35 GSN in very low light is also better. But all that aside, this seems to be a lovely camera. I'm currently 2/3 of the way through a test roll of Kodak Tri-X [400TX]. Everything seems to be in good working mechanical order upon visual and audible inspection, but we'll see how everything turns out after getting the film back from the lab.

I had to search the internet for a bit to find a workaround for the no longer legal in the US mercury battery. I've read that the old school batteries can be found out of the country. There's also a workaround with an Alkaline battery, but it has a higher voltage (1.5v vs. 1.35v) and one should adjust shutter speed/aperture to compensate. The workaround I found was to use a Zinc air 675 hearing aid battery with a rubber o-ring to make it the same size as the original battery. I took a trip to the hardware store, showed them the hearing aid battery and the old battery and told them what I was trying to do and 30 seconds later, I had a working meter for 25¢!

The camera has a fixed, very fast 40mm f/1.7 lens. The shutter speed ring is on the outermost ring of the snub-nose lens followed by the ASA dial, aperture ring and right up against the body – the focus ring. The focus ring is so close to the body, it actually has a focus tab on the left side. Unfortunately, it only focuses as close as 2.6'/0.8m. I'm very curious to see if this f/1.7 lens is as sharp as the 45mm f/1.7 on the YE35 GSN – that would truly be a feat.

A post with photos from the new rangefinder (oh, I know Tony is proud even though it isn't a Leica) will be up in the next week or so. But for now, check out this flickr pool from the QL17 group for a sample of what the little camera can do.

Above is a photo of some acrylic scrubber sponge thingies my grandma knit. While I was staying at my parents' house over Christmas, my mom gave me the two to take back home. She said that they're the next big thing in the Korean grocery stores (Han Ah Rheum and H-Mart) these days and sell for $3 a pop or so. Apparently they're supposed to be bacteria resistant so very good to use as sponges/scrubbers for dishes. My grandma's quite the wiz with yarn.

I got a call Friday afternoon from my mom about my grandma. She told me she was sick. People get sick. But my grandma's 96 years old. She's seen war first hand. She's seen her homeland torn apart. She left a lot of her family behind. She's still very active and only recently started using a cane.

But I guess she's feeling pretty weak right now. My mom wants me to come home on Monday to see her. She's never asked me to do anything like this before. It might be the last time I see her. My mom said that if it's really looking bad, my grandma's going to go back to Korea. She didn't say "before it's too late" or "to die there" but I knew what she meant.

Here's a shot of my grandma a few months ago at her 96th birthday party just before we blew out the candles. The iMac is video Skyping my cousins [her grandchildren] from Korea who are teaching english for the next year.

Here's a shot of my grandma with my cousin and my mom standing in front of her garden in May. The lettuce greens were coming up nicely at that point.

It'll be an unexpected trip back up to NY, but what are you gonna do. I'll find out what time I should be headed back in the morning.