My Dad’s last (film) photographs

Alex Harvey Cockroft, Jr., my dad, passed away in late August 2022. I haven’t written about his passing or mentioned it in social media at all: it’s a personal thing and I don’t air out my grief in public… assuming there’s any grief to air out. In cleaning out his apartment and disposing of his …

Nikon Lite•Touch Zoom AF – First Roll Review

Several weeks ago, during one of the many trips to local charity shops with my darling, adorable wife, I spotted a small, leather camera case in the jewelry display. I suspected it to be some sort of digicam, so imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found the Nikon Lite•Touch Zoom AF. The …

Enter the Minuta Stereo (preproduction model)

It was an early, sleepy Monday morning, the first of February, 2021, and the year was off to a frustrating start, when I opened my email to find a note from Dominick Oczkowski, creator of the Minuta Stereo camera. I knew something of Oczkowski already, thanks to a podcast or something I saw on Twitter …

Deep Freeze, TX

If you’re unaware, that is, if you were living on top of a faraway mountain with no access to national or international news, or if you’re reading this far into the future and have forgotten, the polar vortex slid down into Texas, all the way to the Rio Grande, late on Valentine’s Day, or early …

The Rikenon 40mm f/2.8, an appreciation

The Rikenon 40mm f/2.8 is one of my favorite lenses. It’s sharp enough, with good color transmission and not too much vignetting, and I love the field of view: it’s never too wide like a 35mm can sometimes be, and it’s never too tele like a 50 sometimes is (especially if you shoot with a …