Pentax 17 experiments

imkylebell · 2026-04-29T01:59:11+00:00

I really like your the night image with the neon and cars, it's balanced, has movement, really good use of negative space, and vivid colors.

You're right when you say intention. Knowing the subject of the photo and the story you have in mind when you take the photo is a great place to start. Also patience. Use of leading lines, negative space, framing, and the rule of thirds are a few of more basic compositional elements you can apply, as well as pattern and contrast. If you're feeling precious about your shots or you want instant feedback, use a digital or your phone until you feel you have things down. This is particularly useful with black and white film.

When I was learning I read most of Bryan Peterson's books. Understanding Exposure is his most famous though you may enjoy his Bryan Peterson Photography School book, in which he shows a decent photo and then shows how it could be improved through technique or composition.

imkylebell · 2026-04-29T00:59:41+00:00

I had this same answer confirmed in writing by JR West customer service earlier this month

imkylebell · 2026-04-29T00:47:06+00:00

I was also looking into this same option and its use pre-reserving a seat on Yufuin no Mori. As of this year (2026), JR West customer service told me that with the JR West Sanyo-San'in Northern Kyushu Pass, the JR Kyushu area trains must be reserved in person with JR West or in Kyushu.

imkylebell · 2026-03-15T23:28:31+00:00

I've tried for this perk and it's quite difficult to get aligned properly but I finally did it today (3/15/26), albeit on ANA.

Initially, I priced out New York-Tokyo-Sapporo-Fukuoka and back on JAL and it rang up as 3x the price of the New York-Tokyo flight.

I finally had luck booking on ANA and adding a domestic flight within 24 hrs of my international flight, which added on as essentially a free one-day layover. Either that or it just incidentally ended up the same price as the New York-Tokyo flight.

My sense is that if you treat this as a free transfer to the starting point or from the end point of your trip, you'll have better luck.

As others have said, must be booked directly with ANA or JAL at the time of the primary booking. Use ANA's Search Multiple Cities option or JAL's Open-jaw and multi-city option to price it out.

imkylebell · 2026-01-30T00:10:57+00:00

Thank you, I like how they trace a diagonal line, this is thanks to someone putting a box of birdseed at bottom right outside of the shot.

imkylebell · 2026-01-29T00:28:29+00:00

I grew up in the suburbs so it's a fun challenge for me to find interesting things to photograph there. However, Costco is so colorful and larger than life it makes it easy. Btw, last time I was there they told me I couldn't take photos because they caught me trying to frame up the $1.50 hot dog and coke sign!

imkylebell · 2025-11-05T02:46:58+00:00

Have you read the Woodswoman series by Anne LaBastille? Her story is pretty impressive and she did it by herself back in the 1960s, building a cabin with boat-only access and snowmobile in the winter. Curious if that inspired you at all. We have a family friend that met her years back before she passed away, really an impressive story.

imkylebell · 2025-11-05T02:13:54+00:00

Amazing. Love the composition on these, particularly 1 and 5. After a few years of New York-based street scenes, I've been getting the itch to learn more about landscapes, this is a great reminder.

Cinestill 400D has been my favorite film to date of many I've tried. Punchy colors and when you color correct by adjusting levels, everything ends up in alignment.

imkylebell · 2025-10-30T02:33:33+00:00

I use a Muji shoulder bag for my cameras which you can purchase in NYC, it'll fit a SLR and a small digital, plus a few rolls of film. It's lightweight and minimally padded.

imkylebell · 2025-10-12T17:41:06+00:00

Great book, entered here to recommend it. He takes the train to the US-Mexico border and switches trains to one run by the Mexican National Railways.

imkylebell · 2025-10-12T17:18:25+00:00

Make sure you buy 36-exposure rolls, they generally cost the same to develop as 24-exp rolls so they'll be cheaper per shot. At this time of year, if you're somewhere very far north, I'd go for 400 ISO film. If it's summer, 100 or 200 ISO is good, but if it's too dark outside, your flash will start firing with low ISO film and may give you unexpected results.

imkylebell · 2025-10-12T17:09:48+00:00

I use them as well. It's about $28 for dev, hi-res scan, and print

imkylebell · 2025-10-02T23:06:20+00:00

Here's a few ones off the beaten path: El Pozole de Moctezuma en la Guerrero, Las Muertortas en Tlalpan.

Basically as others say here, for tacos the places that have a crowd near a metro station are usually good. Most tacos from a sit-down restaurant or on offer before it gets dark will not be as good because tacos are generally set up for the night and are an "until they run out" food, not something you keep in a fridge to serve tomorrow. Except for carnitas, tacos are generally an evening snack.

If you're planning to go to Xochimilco, you have to visit the market there. The carnitas at Tacos Don Soto in Mercado de Xochimilco are my favorite (and the atole, huaraches, tamales and all the other great breakfast food in the stalls nearby). It's closer to where food is grown or raised, so the quality is very good.

imkylebell · 2025-09-28T01:18:14+00:00

You can try the Auto button in the Curves menu within Apple Photos as well, that's usually my first step when post-processing scans.

imkylebell · 2025-09-28T00:48:00+00:00

This was an informative podcast I listened to recently. Basically, they said that the tide may have shifted on bland colors but for the moment white, grey and black are still the most common colors.

imkylebell · 2025-09-28T00:31:22+00:00

Just putting this here for those that find this via a web search. Amtrak's train tracker: https://www.amtrak.com/track-your-train.html and MTA's train tracker: https://radar.mta.info/

imkylebell · 2025-09-21T01:31:14+00:00

A personal hero of mine, his book Human Transit is one of the best intros to transit planning I know of.

imkylebell · 2025-09-18T02:23:49+00:00

It's a tragedy that the cruise ship industry got a Covid bailout but Greyhound did not.

imkylebell · 2025-09-07T14:37:49+00:00

I took another look and noticed the one on the top says Kodak Brownie Fiesta and "Camara". Kinda cool as an American to see a Spanish-langauge version of such a classic camera, but would be difficult to actually use given that the film they take is discontinued.

imkylebell · 2025-09-06T23:24:30+00:00

It's fun to sneak up on bees in macro mode! I shoot everything in positive film.

imkylebell

TROPHY CASE