The Grainy Side of Polka

Growing up in Milwaukee, I heard a lot of polka music when I was a kid. The AM radio stations were playing it all the time. There was a disc jockey known as "Fritz the Plumber", who is burned into my memory for playing constant polka music. I also had a cousin who was at least 10 years older than me, and he would play his accordian at wedding receptions. When I got into my teenage years, and my own tastes in music began to develop, polka was about the corniest stuff you could hear. But here I am, about 40 years later, and learning to really love it!

On New Years Day, my wife and I attended a party at the group home where my mother-in-law now lives. It was a blast! The accordian player, Don, played a lot of old favorites, many of which stirred up long-forgotten memories. Here's a picture of good ol' Dan, that wonderful accordian man. I shot this with Kodak T-max P3200 Professional film. This is the first time I've tried developing this film myself. I think it came out pretty good. I love the way the natural film grain works in this type of picture. For all the tech-heads reading this, I shot it at EI 1600, with my Leica MP and Summilux 50/f1.4 lens. I think the aperture was f2.0 and shutter speed about 1/20 second.