Meetup The Official Unofficial PA/NJ Meetup Photo and Story Thread

entropic remnants

Hall of Famer
Name
John Griggs
Here is a place to show the photos and tell stories from today. I'll start -- in a few minutes, lol. This post is a "placeholder". BRB.
 
Here be some more.

Now, just to put a little more into it: this is one of the funniest groups of people I ever met. I did more laughing than I can tell you. I feel so blessed that it turns out that getting together with some folks I never met turned out to be so sympatico. It was just plain fun... which may have taken away from my photography concentration... but I don't care!!!

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The Seduction by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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The Seducer by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Steve Gets Serious with the E-PM2 by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Solar Globe by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Disc World by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Jay Fuji's the Discs by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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A Big S Sculpture by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Jay Having a Good Time by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Sheila: Our Native Guide by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr
 
I'm pretty tired so this is probably it for now. More to come and others have their pics also which should start showing up at some point.

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Steve, Sheila, Jay by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Sheila, Jay, John by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Jay Shoots Sheep by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Crashed Couple 1 by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Crashed Couple 2 by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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The Summer of Love by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Jay Shoots a Sharp Dressed Man by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr
 
Thanks John! I'm uploading my pics now, will post up shortly. I had a great time and as you said, lots of laughs. I look forward to the next one already! :D
 
Here's some of my photos, I can't post everything as I ended up with about 40 keepers for the day, but I"ll pick a few :)

Our appetizers (thanks John!)

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Appetizers by jloden, on Flickr


Lunch conversation

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John, Steve, and Sheila by jloden, on Flickr


John (entropic remnants) behind the camera - and demonstrating some of todays laugh-heavy atmosphere ;)

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John Behind the Camera by jloden, on Flickr


Admit One - thanks Sheila!

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


Lots of this kind of shot today, haha.

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


More of Steve (Biro) and John

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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Dun Dun Dun!!!!! by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr
 
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John getting down and dirty with the best of them.

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Time for a different lens.

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Gracious living at the lakeside.

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Welcome to the Grounds for Sculpture.
 
And a final few from my ride home. I stopped and met my wife for dinner and made a couple stops on the way home. Snapped this at the local exotic greenhouse (*cough* Lowe's Garden Center)

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


And this field I drove past at first and ended up pulling a U-turn to go back deciding I just couldn't waste that kind of sunset light and opportunity :D

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr
 
Thanks again everyone who came out for a wonderful time today and lots of good fun. We absolutely need to do this again!

John (Flores), sorry you couldn't come along to Grounds For Sculpture but I'm glad you made it to lunch! Had a great time at lunch geeking out on cameras and reassuring myself I'm not the only crackpot in the world with a half a dozen different cameras :D

Thanks for sharing your pics guys - looks like we all got a few keepers in there, nonstop laughs, jokes, and conversation notwithstanding. John, you put that 75mm to good use today! And Steve, I like your "time for a new lens" - nice play on words. And that closer shot is cool, you should definitely post more up when you get a chance.

Not only did I make some new friends who share our fun hobby, but I even got some inspiration to kick me out of my creative rut too. Bonus!
 
What a total disappointment. With the name "Serious Compacts", I was expecting some serious brow frowning discussions about the zeitgeist of photography, perhaps even a dash of schadenfreude. DiLorenzo's was closed for lunch, so tomato pies were off the menu. And it was clear from the get-go that this gathering wasn't going to be "serious", and after the generous tray(s) of appetizers shared by John (Entropic Remnants), it was clear that none of us were going to walk away "compact."

Things started in earnest as Jay (Jloden) immediately threw down about a million dollars of camera gear on the table - RX1, X100s, GH3 with 12-35 F2.8 and screamed, "take that b*tches!" Ok, he didn't say that, but that's what he's going to say in the movie version of the day. I thought I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, but it was actually my credit card, quivering in nervous anticipation. Around that time, Steve (Biro) sauntered in, walking in slow motion with dramatic music and cars exploding behind him (more special effects for the movie) and we all got into some serious gear fondling, in public no less. As an owner of a GH1 and GH2, the GH3 is in another class altogether in terms of build, and with the 12-35mm F2.8 looks like a serious piece of kit. The X100s was quite nice too (although Jay wasn't in love with the AF), and the RX1 was like holding a baby Ferrari. I didn't hold it too long though because I just knew that I'd start stroking it, calling it "My Precious" and losing my hair.

Faster than you can say, "huge trays of appetizers" we're all talking about cameras we've owned, cameras we've bought on impulse, how tolerant our significant others are of the endless packages from the man in brown shorts, and cameras we want. John brought along his M43 kit - G5 with Panny 7-14 (right?) and the silver OM-D with the Oly 75 1.8 mounted. Damn, that thing looks like something James Bond would use, and I'm not talking about the weedy 80s Roger Moore Bond but the proper hairy-chested Sean Connery. I could see Bond with his silver Aston Martin in Monaco, leggy French spy in the passenger seat, and the silver OM-D in the ThinkTank Retrospective bag in the boot. Poor Steve didn't bring any cameras into the restaurant, but he told us of his OM-D envy, and reminded us that he's got a deposit down on the Ricoh GR; I've put out a Craigslist ad for a hitman in the Central Jersey area.

Generous John regaled the table with some seriously funny tales of youthful and not-so-youthful adventures, including some great urbex tales. He's got a pretty good English and Russian accents if you need that. And throughout this all, John's sister Sheila (she of the Grounds for Sculpture comp passes!) sat there with a look that was half "these guys are speaking Klingon" and half "I think that i need a new camera. Or four." Collectively, we've probably owned more gear than HCB and the other Magnum photographers did. Were HCB alive today, he might have mugged JLoden in the parking lot.

To bring us down from the GAS stratosphere, I threw the diminutive Pentax Q on the table and there was a lot of furrowing of brows as it was fondled. If you could put thought bubbles above everyone's head, you'd see the words "Honey, I Shrunk the Camera". I've seen this look before; people expect a toy at that size, but when the feel the magnesium shell and the photographers controls, their head's need a moment to wrap around a new paradigm.

A not-so-serious time was had by all!

P.S. - Sheila handed out some flyers for an upcoming show at the Roebling Museum in Roebling NJ. July 27. If you've never been to the Roebling Museum, it's a neat space with some great history. There are likely to be some great photo ops.

I didn't make it Grounds for Sculpture, but here are my lunch shots.

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(Not so) Serious Compact NJ/PA gathering by john m flores, on Flickr

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(Not so) Serious Compact NJ/PA gathering by john m flores, on Flickr

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(Not so) Serious Compact NJ/PA gathering by john m flores, on Flickr

* The names above have not been changed. We're all guilty.
 
Beautiful set, Jay, especially the last one.

And a final few from my ride home. I stopped and met my wife for dinner and made a couple stops on the way home. Snapped this at the local exotic greenhouse (*cough* Lowe's Garden Center)

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


And this field I drove past at first and ended up pulling a U-turn to go back deciding I just couldn't waste that kind of sunset light and opportunity :D

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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr


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SeriousCompacts Meetup - Grounds For Sculpture by jloden, on Flickr
 
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