Retrospective May 2026
The year just keeps rolling on
Another month has come and gone and this end of month coming up for air really just reminds me how fast the year rolls through because we’re on the cusp of the half way point. There has been lots going on and a lot of my time has been spent writing more which is something I have wanted to do more of this year.
Mid month thought: Putting rubber to the road
I have always been someone who has a lot of ideas all the time, note books full of different things that have sparked and ticked over in my head over the years. The main problem has always been that they have always just been notes in a book rather than being actioned on which takes the real effort.
Blog post: Queenstown post rewrite
This is an old post from our Honeymoon in 2022 which was to the incredible Queenstown, Originally I put it up with only a couple of paragraphs because I wanted to post the images. This has been a post I have wanted to re-write for a long time and finally got around to doing.
I saw this roaster through Instagram and tried out the Discovery set which is a sampler of each of the roasts on offer from Epigraph. They were all incredible but I loved the ‘Chapter 1: Humble Origins’ which is the lightest roast of the 3. I couldn’t help but get the S1 out and take some images as well.
New brewery in town - Powder Monkey Brewing
This one has been teased from them for a while now and is a new offering in the heart of Camden. A great venue with plenty of offerings to suite anyones taste. If you’re in the area and looking to quench your thirst I absolutely recommend dropping in for one or two.
Zoo trip
We love visiting Sydney zoo and try and make the best of our annual pass. It’s a great spot for Bronte to run around and look at all the animals. Also a great place to take my Canon 135mm f3.5 LTM attached to the front of the M10, having the Visoflex to give that extra bit of help really comes in handy.
Vintage lens close focus fun
When I bought the Nikkor 5cm f2 LTM one of the things that surprised me was the second close focus mode once you pushed through a little resistance at the 0.7m mark. Once in that close range it can focus all the way down to 0.5m.
I have a Leica 50cm Summicron dual range which can go all the way down to 0.47m, both are from a very similar vintage and are incredible lenses. I did this shot on each of the lenses both at f2.8 and they’re so similar, crazy considering the Nikkor 5cm cost me just over $400 AUD.
Photographing running with an M
My mum, brother and his girlfriend competed in the Bayside run so I was there with a camera over each shoulder and my favourite shots all came off the M10 which is surprising for sports photography. I had my Minolta 90mm f4 on the S1 for some close up shots and then the Voigtlander 35mm f2 Ultron on the M10 in a zone focus setup of f8 and focus set to a certain point, as they came past it was using the S1 till they got too close and then having the M10 on a quick draw as they flew past.
Selling some prints
I have a few prints that have already been done as test’s and for episodes of ‘Pixels to Paper’. I am going to put them up for sale so if you like them feel free to let me know over on my Instagram, they’re in 5×7” ($20 AUD) and A4 ($40 AUD) for the big ones. All proceeds will probably be reinvested into inks and buying A3 paper… which will probably mean I need to buy more ink.
Captured my interest
iPad Mini - I have had an M1 iPad Pro 12.9” for a while now and using the apple pencil for photo editing has been a game changer to how much I enjoy editing. The draw back is I use my 13” M1 air a lot and carrying both of them becomes heavy really quick. I have been looking at downsizing to an iPad Mini exclusively for photo editing. A fun side note for those on the Lightroom iOS bandwagon, if you’re trying to set lens profiles for manual lenses you can save them as a preset and it will apply it. The lens ares in Lightroom mobile still does not let you choose from the list.
Very Good Co V2 release - This was a nice email to receive the other day about the team launching V2 and a new customer platform login to access all the purchases. I haven’t dived into the V2 set yet, I still ned to make some notes about the custom presets variants I have made that I will need to do with the V2 kit.
Best of May 2026 Gallery
That wraps up May 2026
As we keep going through the halfway mark of the year I love looking through the previous months and really seeing how much this year has been in terms of the plan changing as we go. But it’s all been fun and I can’t wait to see what the other half of 2026 brings.
Bye for now,
Tom
