February 2025 marked the end of an era and the final stretch before my move to Japan. This was a particularly unique time in my adult life because I was mostly just waiting to leave. By February, I had completed everything for my move and had no real work responsibilities. I was still enrolled in an MBA class, but a single class did not take up all my time, giving me plenty of opportunities to take photos of the local area. Hence, there are two parts for February.
Surf City, NC, is essentially not walkable, and everything exists off a highway. I got around this month by using my mother-in-law’s electric bike to explore Topsail Island, which connects to Surf City via a bridge.
The highlights of this month include my grandparents visiting the area to see me off before I headed to Japan. I took them around the area, and we toured the USS North Carolina, a former battleship that was mobilized for use in WWII and is now permanently docked in Wilmington, NC. Here, I captured photos of my grandparents on the deck next to its naval cannons, as well as an older gentleman doing Morse code in the lower levels of the ship.
Additionally, I spent plenty of time with my mother-in-law’s dog, Teak (my buddy), who was happy to have someone home with him all day while everyone else was gone during the week. Teak stuck to me like a piece of Velcro the whole time, and I wish I could have taken him with me.
All of these photos were taken with a Ricoh GRIIIx. I enjoyed capturing a panoramic shot from the top of the bridge that connects Surf City to Topsail Island, as well as some local fishing scenery around the island and beneath the bridge.
I used the built-in diffuser filter, a major selling point for the "HDF" version of the GRIIIx. The effects of the HDF filter are much more pronounced at night, but I occasionally turned it on during the day. I think it is most notable in the daytime shot of the basketball hoop against a clear blue sky. I also have a Tiffen Pro Mist 1/4 diffuser that I use on my Sony lenses at times, and I will apply a Gaussian blur in Photoshop to achieve a similar effect in post-editing; however, I believe that part of the appeal of Ricoh’s cameras lies in the "recipes" and in-camera effects.
