Friday, October 30, 2009

Todos los Santos



In my native country, the Philippines, we don’t celebrate Halloween like they do here in the United States but around this time we celebrate “Todos los Santos” (all saints/souls day) instead. Being predominantly Catholic, Filipinos celebrate this holiday by remembering friends and relatives who have passed on. It is similar to Mexico and Latin America’s day of the dead.
A few days before the holiday, Filipinos would clean and spruce up their cemeteries. They would re- paint the tombstones, mow the grass and remove the weeds around the grave sites. On the day itself, November first, families would visit the grave sites, bringing along candles and fresh flowers. The day is a mixture of solemn and merry occasion. It is a time to remember the departed love ones, to pray for them, conduct a vigil and at the same time to socialize with other relatives and neighbors who came to visit the grave sites.
And since Filipinos love to eat they usually bring food with them, not to offer them to the dead but to have a picnic along the site. The cemeteries would have a festive atmosphere; many flowers, candles and food stalls would be along the entrance.

1 Day Before Trick or Treat

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Dacora Digna



Recently I rescued a rather ratty looking Dacora Digna medium format, scale focusing camera. Although it looked very well used, it is still very functional and the lens seems to be clean and clear.
It was made by Dacora-Kamerawerk, Reutlingen, Germany in 1954.
This Digna version comes with a collapsible Achromat Digna 80mm lens and one shutter speed (1/50 sec) plus B for timed exposures. It has two aperture settings, f 8 and f 11. Focusing is done by extending the lens from the body and turning the lens into three scale zones, 5-10 feet, 10-25 feet and 25 to infinity.

I loaded the camera with a Fuji Acros 100 120 roll film to test it but I’ve been so busy recently with commercial work that I couldn’t find time to finish the roll.

I will post images taken with it soon.