Two rolls of Portra 160, one roll of E100, and a Pentax 645 NII with the 75mm — that was the kit for the lake this weekend. The plan, of course, was three days on the water. The weather had other ideas: it rained on two of the three days.
Here’s what I love about this image. We couldn’t do much on the lake, so the weekend became about something else entirely — friends spending time together, being in the moment, and listening to one another. This frame on the dock says all of that without a word. My friend stretched out and relaxed, his dog, Woodford, settled beside him, the lake blurred into the background. Nobody posing. Nobody performing. Just a quiet stretch of a rainy afternoon, and me with the camera.
I shot the whole weekend on Portra 160 precisely because I knew the light would be soft and flat. Overcast days are where that film earns its reputation — the palette stays muted but warm, the shadows hold their detail, and skin tones stay honest even when everything else is gray. The wet wood and the soft water highlights are the texture story here.
The rest of the set
The others drifted between the dock and the water:
Two friends in the water — one floating on the chaise float and the other, using a saddle float pad, sharing the same patch of lake in their own orbits. Rain doesn’t stop the swimming if you don’t mind the chill.
Drifting on tubes. Apart but together — the whole weekend in one frame.
And a quiet moment on the pool noodles, somewhere between the card games on shore and the stillness of the water.
Listening. That’s what this one is about.
The lesson
The rain “ruined” two of the three days, and the photographs are better for it. The story of this weekend isn’t water sports and sunburn — it’s what happens when plans wash out and people actually talk to each other. The E100 roll is still waiting on fresh E-6 chemistry to arrive; when it’s developed I’ll see what the camera caught on the one dry day.
Camera: Pentax 645 NII
Lens: 75mm
Film: Kodak Portra 160
Developer: Arista C-41 (home process)
Scanning: Epson V850 Pro, wet-mounted
Location: Lake house weekend
Captured: August 30-31, 2026