Sue Reno Studio

September 28, 2026

Experiments in Film Photography - part 8

Hello, and welcome to part 8 of my experiments with film photography. This is a followup to part 7, with photos I took this summer with a Pentax ZX-60 loaded with Kodak gold 400 film.

The first two are of one Pittsburgh's iconic "Sister Bridges", as I experimented with night lighting and settings on this new-to-me camera. I love how moody they are.

The next set of photos is from Phipps Conservatory

The Alice in Wonderland exhibit was whimisical and fun, and very well suited to the vintage vibes of this camera and film combo.

Here's a few shots featuring the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

I finished up this roll with some images from my garden. The rain was plentiful, the deer were scarce, and it was a great growing season.

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August 28, 2026

Experiments in Film Photograph - part 7

Hello, and welcome to part 7 of my experiments with film photography. This batch of photos were taken early in the summer with a new-to-me Pentax ZX-60, loaded with Kodak gold 400 film. The first image is of the spores on emerging fern fronds. The next is one of my favorite wild plants, wild blue lettuce.

The rest are images of my perennial gardens, now in their seventh year (although the first hardly counts, as I spent most of it fighting thistles and other undesirables).

The combination of decreased deer pressure, due to a rough winter and local deer management plans, plus incredibly abundant and well timed rainfall, has led to a spectacular year in the garden, despite the late frosts. Above is a peony about to burst into bloom, and below is Ligularia "Desdemona". It prefers a lot of moisture, wilting dramatically if it is lacking, so it's planted near a spigot.

Next is Brunnera macrophylla and Lamiastrum ‘Jade Frost’, with some assorted perennial geraniums.

This is the second year for this Aesculus parviflora, bottlebrush buckeye, and I am delighted to find that it keeps this light green color throughout the summer.

Here are the irises, peonies, and baptisias in full bloom.

Ever year I think I should invest in peony support, but then I am charmed by the lavish way they droop and drop petals everywhere,

The oak leaf hydrangea, free from heavy browsing, really took off.

My asparagus is in its third year, so I was able to have a modest harvest before letting it start to grow out.

Last but not least, the Calycanthus ‘Aphrodite’ is getting huge and blooming abundantly.

I am very pleased with the camera. It's easy to use, for when I want to take a few quick snapshots without much fuss. The pictures have a bit of that warm vintage glow I love without taking it to extremes. I think I will be reaching for this one often.

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July 24, 2026

Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 105

Welcome to part 105 of my ongoing experiments with the wet cyanotype process. On this day I started with setting up a print on cotton of bottlebrush buckeye leaves. This is my second year growing this plant that's native to my region, and I'm enjoying the shape of the leaves and the light green color in the landscape.

Next I did a panel of oak leaf hydrangea, leather leaf viburnum, and Carolina allspice leaves. All of the prints in this day's session used standard cyanotype chemicals with small additions of solarfast solar dyes.