Down the Road

A story I first told on 22 January 2009.

I first shared this story on 14 September 2008, and have shared it several other times since.

It’s high time I retold this story that I first told on 1 November 2010.

It was probably in 1975 when Mom threw a party for the neighborhood kids, just for the fun of it.

I hadn’t given my Nikon F2AS exercise since getting it back from CLA and meter-head repair in 2024.

My writing elsewhere ▷ For software engineering managers it can be all too easy to not see team performance challenges until they create a very visible problem.

This is where US 50 begins, and ends, in Ocean City, Maryland.

I’ve shot so much film this summer that I’m falling behind in sharing it all with you.

Shelby Cobra Nikon F2AS 50mm f/2 AI Nikkor Agfa Vista 400 (expired) at EI 50 2026 When I go to car shows there are almost always plenty of newer hot cars around.

A diverse lineup of old iron this month.

In about 2010 I bought a Pentax ME on eBay.

My writing elsewhere ▷ I recently tried my hand at using AI to code up a little app I use now daily — and from that experience, learned why software companies probably aren’t in nearly as much peril as the headlines say they are.

For my birthday this year my wife arranged a weekend in Columbus, Indiana, a small city about an hour south of Indianapolis.

It’s old-car-pallooza on Down the Road this August, as I’ve been shooting film at car shows a lot lately.

Kilroy’s Pentax Spotmatic F 55mm f/1.8 SMC Takumar Fujifilm Fujicolor 200 2026 I remember when this building was a record store.

Here are images from the second roll of Ilford HP5 Plus I shot at the car show.

I do a lot of documentary photography.

My writing elsewhere ▷ It’s a failure mode I’ve seen over and over among software-engineering leaders: coaching that engineer on something long past the point it’s clear that they’re not getting better.

While looking for more information in old newspapers about the timeline of road and bridge construction along the National Road/US 40 near Reelsville, Indiana, I found a terrific article in The Brazil Times on July 28, 1914, about a hill-climb event on the

Next up in this occasional series of film-photography tools built by developers in our community: Filmaris, made by Rémi.

Rambler Ambassador Apple iPhone 17e 2026 I went to a car show not long ago and made my usual kinds of detail photos on film.

I brought my big honking Pentax 645 to a car show recently.

In case you were wondering, my wife and I are unaffected by the flooding that happened in Indianapolis over the weekend.

The Kodak Brownie Fiesta sat under many Christmas trees and on many birthday gift tables between 1962 and 1965 (or 1966; sources disagree).

My writing elsewhere ▷ I’ve been thinking a lot about what happens to software engineers when agents write all of the code.

I’ve been thinking lately about what happens to my online writing and photographs after I die.

I’m trying something new.

On the first day of my 60th year, I’m thinking about how we report our age as the last year of life we completed, rather than the one we’re now living.

On a recent trip along the National Road in western Indiana, I made it to Terre Haute to see my alma mater, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

It’s time for my annual roundup of film-photography blogs.

On Saturday, August 22, at 2 pm, I’m speaking at the Vigo County History Center about the history of transportation in the United States.

My writing elsewhere ▷ I’ve been experimenting with using AI to help me write more, faster.

Things change on the old roads all the time, so it’s good to revisit them from time to time.

When I started the newsletter companion to this blog — sign up here, by the way — I was on a different platform than now.

Grief is such a strange, unpredictable thing.

National Road west of Reelsville Nikon Df, 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF Nikkor 2026 I started following the old roads 20 years ago; my first official road trip was on July 15, 2006.

A bumper crop this month.

Earlier this year I wrote about how old point-and-shoot cameras are always a gamble because they will fail beyond repair.

My writing elsewhere ▷ In software-development circles there’s some talk about the “agentic factory floor” as a way to build software.

Not long ago I revisited some favorite places on the National Road in Putnam County, Indiana.

Since my contracts wrapped up at the end of June, I’ve been using some of my suddenly free time to walk more.

Thank you for visiting Kodak Brownie Fiesta Shanghai GP3 100 HC-110 1+63 2026 A neighbor gave me her Kodak Brownie Fiesta, a simple camera for 127 film.

I have a few “Always Photograph” subjects and chalkboard signs is one of them.

My Apple iPhone 12 mini had become too unreliable to count on, so I recently replaced it.

My writing elsewhere ▷ I work in a certain niche of the software industry: online software for businesses.

The US highways in Indiana with numbers ending in 0 or 1 have always been among its most major.

While following the Lincoln Highway in Starke County, Indiana, recently, the briefest of detours let me see a remnant of another coast-to-coast Auto Trail, the Yellowstone Trail.

Lincoln Highway bridge Nikon Df, 28-200 mm f/3.5-5.6G AF Nikkor 2026 On the day before Independence Day I finished driving the 1928 alignment of the Lincoln Highway across Indiana.

A repeat of an article I first published on 30 July 2009.

A handful of my cameras are go-to choices when I want to quickly head out — ones that I feel confident are going to just work.