Catching winter while it's happening is getting increasingly difficult in Buffalo, especially in December. About a foot of snow on the ground, sun in the sky, what could be better than a long walk with a camera in hand?

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Such was this winter day. The primary purpose of the expedition was to photograph bridges; large, small, and tiny. But it had a wonderful side effect of walking several miles through snow and definitely getting some fresh air in my lungs.

The longest section of the walk was definitely in Chestnut Ridge Park. It had a wonderful layer of snow, way more than even just under the hill, that gave everything a magical clean winter look and pictures were all around. Walking off trail was difficult but felt so good! I love taking pictures of lone trees no matter how much of a cliché that has become (but really, what hasn't?). In summer and fall, I usually reach for color film, but in winter, black and white is so natural.

Lone Tree at Chestnut RidgeWinter

Lone Tree at Chestnut Ridge in Winter
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400

Another couple miles later I stood in front of a scene I have photographed before. And not just once, the cottage in the woods has become somewhat of a celebrity in my photographs. It's just in such a perfect location surrounded by the woods and taking on different looks based on the season and weather.

Cottage in Winter WoodsChestnut Ridge Park

Cottage in Winter Woods, Chestnut Ridge Park
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400

I almost forgot to mention it. There was a strong secondary purpose to this photo outing. In summer, I brought back a beautiful Flexaret V twin lens reflex camera from the Czech Republic. I have cleaned it up since but have not run film through it yet. It was time!

Flexaret VIn Snow Allow me a little bit of space here to provide a summary of what I have found out. Overall, the shooting experience is very close to that of using any TLR. This model's focusing screen is not the brightest and as a result it is not easy to identify the point of perfect focus. Even with the provided magnifier the focus snap is not obvious, at least not to me with my sight challenges. And yes, add the fact I was wearing progressive glasses to the mix and it was a slow process of me getting to pressing the shutter. For each shot, I looked at the focusing scale to confirm that I was in the ballpark, thus using zone focusing as a safety net.

Another lesson learned was that shooting into a bright light showed the limitation of the lens producing quite a flare. However, keeping that in mind, I was very impressed with the results some of which you see in today's post. Quite impressive for a camera from the 1950s in my opinion.

Am I going to use the camera often? It's not going to be my primary TLR. Both of my Yashica LM and Rolleiflex Automat are easier to focus with their focusing screens. But to be fair, I actually had the focusing screen on the Rolleiflex replaced with a brighter screen. So maybe that is an option here too. And unlike the Yashica LM, which vignettes quite heavily, I did not experience any vignetting with the Flexaret. Given a bright day, I will be happy to take this camera out again.

Alright, back to the story of the day though. After the cottage, another mile or so of walking back to the car and a change of location was in order to point the camera at sights around Green Lake, including the old railroad bridge below. That, the cottage above, and many more photographs of mine show the advantage of being local. Nothing really looks the same on repeated visits. The seasons change, the weather changes, the time of day changes, there are so many factors that will drive the look of the final image. An of course, the choice of camera and film plays a significant role too.

Waiting for the Express TrainOrchard Park, NY

Waiting for the Express Train, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400

All photographs in today's post so far were taken in Orchard Park, NY. For the final one, we're heading all the way to Buffalo, NY for a picture of, dare I say, an iconic bridge. Yes, a bit of exaggeration, but this permanently raised railroad bridge is quite prominently visible from I-190 and hundreds of people see it every day. But do they really see it?

TripletsRaised Bridge and Utility Poles

Triplets, Raised Bridge and Utility Poles, Buffalo, NY
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400

And that's it for today and for the first post of 2020. Happy New Year to you all and thank you so much for stopping by!

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

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