My scanner’s all better now, thank goodness. I was lost without it. But as far as this shot is concerned, I like the digital one better. There are some better shots on this roll I’ll put up next.

My husband and his ukulele: a match made in heaven:) I’ve got a roll of black and white Holga shots ready to scan, including Holga versions of this photo which I’m eager to compare. Unfortunately my scanner is on the fritz, so I haven’t been able to scan any of them. I’m hoping to resolve that issue either tonight or tomorrow. By then I should also have a finished roll from my Olympus XA, so look forward to more frequent updates and more film shots in the near future.

Our little leprechaun made the newspaper!

Historic cemetery at Bonne Femme Church, Columbia.

Another from the Olympus test roll.

Looking over Mill Creek at Trailside Brewing Co.

Downtown St. Charles, MO. How rare it is to find a section of street uncluttered with parked cars, traffic, and power lines. I love cobblestone streets. We’ve got a few in downtown Columbia, but here you’re even more likely to run into traffic and wires and other unsightly clutter. If I could turn back time there are two inventions I would like to erase: the automobile and the television. Cars are a scourge on the earth and TV is a scourge on our culture.

I got my Holga roll back tonight and this shot is by far the gem of the whole trip. I’ve been noticing that the Holga’s shutter release seems to be behaving badly, so I wasn’t sure any of these shots would turn out well. It’s always a gamble, you know? But lo and behold the Holga magic! I shot this on Ilford XP2 400, and I’m very pleased with the results. I’ll be looking for more of this film. Btw, downtown St. Charles is a stone’s throw from the Missouri River. All week I prayed for fog, which isn’t too much to hope for in a major river valley, right? But it wasn’t meant to be. I love photographing in fog. Fog is good. Interestingly, a couple of days after I got back from my trip I awoke to find Columbia cloaked in the stuff. I took photos with both cameras, but I’m still shooting on both rolls so it will be a little while before I get to see those.

The highlight of my trip to St. Charles was my encounter with a gentleman who also admired vintage cameras. Oddly, he wasn’t a collector or even a photographer, but in the trunk of his car he had a beautiful Zeiss Ikon rangefinder with a fold-out lens. He was thinking about selling it on ebay, but after I showed him some of the basic operations, he was thinking of keeping it after all. “Besides,” he said, “I probably wouldn’t get more than a hundred bucks for it. A hundred bucks isn’t much of anything.” Sorry, mister. I totally cannot relate. That’s when I wished I was the sort of person who was cunning enough to convince him that his camera was junk and probably doesn’t even work anyway, so why not let me take of your hands for 10 bucks? God it was a cool camera. I hope he puts it to use.

I’m afraid my trip to St. Charles was a photographic disappointment. All camera trials and tribulations aside, I was wholly uninspired by this dull little town, historic or not. I can say this much: I have a whole new appreciation for the wonderful little college town I call home. I missed you, Columbia! This is one from my first roll of film shot with my new Olympus XA. Not too bad for a test roll, but don’t expect anything dazzling just yet. I took maybe a half dozen Holga shots, too. It’ll be a couple of days before I see those. Meanwhile, I’ll share a few from the Olympus.