5/8/2026
Another week successfully completed! I hope your week went well and hopefully this weekend you have some fun and relaxing stuff planned! The gym has been very slow with final projects and exams being the center of everyone’s attention, but it gives me an excuse to take more notes on lectures so I don’t mind too much. Next week the blog will be a lot more focused on other photographers, but this week I wanted to talk about my own photos as well as a personal moment that taught me a lot about myself.
15 rolls have finally come back to me! It is a long story but I finally have gotten a batch of film back that I sent out in February to get developed and I wanted to talk about what I have been thinking while scanning these rolls. I am certainly not 10/10 on zone focusing in my street work. I find that when I do miss focus I miss it deep, thinking I am further away than what I actually am which I will take as a blessing. Learning to get closer is a lesson that my Nikkor 20mm taught me well and it has made me realize I desperately need (want) a 21mm for my Leica. Speaking of Leica, I bought myself an M3 after my apartment almost burnt down a few months ago. I couldn’t be more happy with the camera, not only it being a dream of mine but it shoots perfectly and the gentlemen I bought it from had it CLA’d in December so I have had no worries about the function as of yet (knock on wood). I have never been a big gear head, I love learning about camera function and the innovations that have catapulted photography forward, but I will say…..this Leica is pretty sick. The build quality is amazing, it’s fast, no nonsense, no light meter to constantly check, just read your light and go shoot which I love, but by no means does this camera do anything hugely different than my Nikon Fe2. The glass is the most important part of the camera and there are more super high quality M mount lenses than any other system in my opinion, but unless a rangefinder is 100% going to improve the way in which you take photos, it is certainly not necessary.
So, onto the personal story I hinted at earlier. In essence, I got called out for some bad behavior. Sometimes certain actions around certain groups of friends are permissible and welcome, but that doesn’t make those same actions tolerable for everybody. Everyone is different (obviously), and based on past experiences their contemporary feelings are shifted. An example for me personally, I hate being talked over. It has happened most of my life just due to the family that I grew up in, and it makes me upset even today which is something I continue to work on. Anyways, a situation similar to that happened to me this week, and I got called out, and it was really embarrassing. I immediately was apologetic and felt this really intense feeling of shame that consumed my day, beating myself up over my actions until I realized something. Shame is a part of the way we are coded and without shame I wouldn’t have felt bad, which means I wouldn’t have apologized, which means I wouldn’t have changed my behavior, and ultimately I would have lost a friendship. So in bed that night when I couldn’t sleep because I had to reconcile with just having hurt someone, I just kept reminding myself that this is what is supposed to happen. Not a sleepless night of beating myself up, but rather that I am supposed to have felt bad because it was my body and mind’s way of making sure I keep on respecting other human beings and continue to progress as a person.
Thank you for reading if you made it this far! I appreciate you and hope that you go out and make some memories this weekend. Remember, get your steps in, drink your water, protect your friends, family, and neighbors. And I love y’all
Random Low Light Shot on the Leica of Ellen
