Athens, Georgia

Exams are about to wind down, it’s showing.

Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Dinner with friends on a brisk evening.

Athens, Georgia

Many, many years ago, my dad told me it was time. He’d taught me how to use his Pentax Spotmatic and I was probably using too much of his film. A job, make some money, get your own.

I think I delivered newspapers for more than a year before I’d put enough money into my savings account. One day, we headed over to Caldors and then Lechemeres, which had robust photo counters in the early 1980s. Seeing nothing I could afford at the first, we headed to the second where I spotted it – a Ricoh KR5 Super.

It looked robust, it was all black. And it was within my budget. I didn’t notice some other things about it, like the limited shutter speed range or the lack of expandability. But it was mine.

At home, I unboxed it and loaded my first roll of film. One of the first photos was of the boxes the camera and lens had come in.

Last week, my friend out at Robert’s Camera shipped me another new Ricoh, very trendy and hard to find right now. It’s good to have a guy.

The plan was to do most of this year’s phlog on a GR IV. But that Ricoh had other ideas, locking up its lens within an hour. Back it went, but today another came in.

My original Ricoh was on my shoulder every day for about eight years, finally be traded in on a Canon New F-1, a pro-level camera built like the proverbial tank (with lots of expandability). I used that for a year, then switched to Nikon as that’s what my school and paper had glass for. Eighteen years later, I went back to Canon. (Then Olympus, Panasonic, Fuji … a few other things here and there as secondary systems.

So, to return to the return to my roots story, one of the first photos had to be of the box.

Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

As close to a selfie as I’ll probably get.

Athens, Georgia

Tis the season, but the air flow isn’t quite right yet.

Athens, Georgia

We were a little late to celebrating, but it was worth it. And with no kids around, the Mrs. and I got all of this.

Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Stopped to photograph one thing, saw this and decided it was the better image. A lot of history here.

Athens, Georgia

A little slush on the windscreen this morning, a quick wish of the wipers and it was gone, a clear view of a gray morning. A morning where I start year 16 of this photo blog.

Where will it go? I know of a few planned adventures, but it’s the little side trips that will bring color to these pages. Much like the salsa verde at one of my favorite restaurants in town, over on the other side, which we don’t go to any where near enough.

Maybe that’s the them – go.

Athens, Georgia