It's been almost year since I took my last pinhole photo. And almost that long since I photographed a reconstruction. I'm not sure why it's been that long, but the distractions of last summer certainly were a part, I'm sure.

In the meantime I've been blazing away with my iPhone, posting most of my images to Instagram. It's too bad they were gobbled up by Facebook and it's been interesting watching the "serious" photographers that use the site search for an alternative. But I digress.

Sunday was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. I have participated each of the last five years. And to keep the streak going, I forced my self to head out Sunday a.m. to downtown Cleveland to see what I could see. I ended up making nine exposures at several locations. The film is at the lab and will report back when it's done.

It was relaxing and nothing seemed forced. I ended up trying some compositions that were a little more complex than my usual scenes. We'll see.

So while we wait for the film to be processed, here's a reconstruction I made with my iPhone, something I have not tried before. Not thrilled about the results, but it's good to get back on the horse.

Life is full of surprises. Over the last three weeks some of those surprises have kept me on the run. Running up the mileage.

But as glum as some tasks are, some of that mileage comes over the blue highways, the same ones that William Least Heat-Moon wrote about. At every opportunity on a trip, I get off the interstate. Always have, always will.

Click to view larger image.So on July first I found myself in Mayville, N.Y., at their Lakeside Park, conveniently located across the street from Boxcar Barneys Ice Cream shop.

It was there I coerced the teenage servers to attempt their first root beer shake. Yes, shake, not float. I’ve had a yen for them since childhood. And surprisingly, it was pretty good, just a bit off on the syrup/ice cream ratio.

The little lakeside park was a slice of Americana with families picnicking, casual sunbathers, kids building a mud sluice and even a scaled down paddleboat cruising the lake (Chautauqua). It felt so 1950’s and was a comfortable moment.