The Monthly Edit - September 2026
Every month I select twelve of my favorite photographs I’ve taken and give a little bit of backstory for each one. At the end of the year, I will pick my favorite ten for the year out of the pictures selected in these monthly posts.
During the first week of the month we flew out to Ithaca, New York for my niece’s wedding. I’ve been to upstate New York before but never to Ithaca. It reminded me of my own college town of Davis, just with an east coast vibe. The day after the wedding we decided to visit some of the waterfalls the area was known for. We visited four in all and this one of the Taughannock Falls was my favorite.
I didn’t want to bring my tripod (not a fan) so to get this shot I had to find a ledge to place the camera on to get the slow shutter speed look I was aiming for. Leica Society International even selected it as their photo of the week on Instagram.
We managed to visit a few local coffee shops while in Ithaca. The first morning we found the Press Cafe close to our hotel. After ordering coffee, we sat down at a table and I liked the look of the windows plastered with flyers and such and the how the light streamed through them.
The final waterfall we visited were the Lucifer Falls. After arriving, we initially circled around the small lake to view the falls in full. But then we moved over to the platform closer to the water where more people were standing. As we approached, I saw this couple taking a selfie in front of the falls and held my camera as steady as possible to get the hand held shot.
My niece asked me to video her wedding ceremony as a wedding present. To be honest, I was a bit trepidatious to agree as I’m mainly a stills photographer. I acquiesced, however, and ended up doing a pretty decent job if I do say so myself. While taking video, I also had my Leica M6 slung around my neck loaded with some Portra 800. I had the spot prefocused and metered for when they would be coming back down the aisle.
Upon returning home to the Sacramento area, I went out shooting soon after in midtown. I noticed this corrugated metal in the shadows and the brightly lit garage door in the background. I thought it might be a stretch for film but I was impressed with the dynamic range captured.
One of our favorite day trips in the area is to the Grass Valley/Nevada City area. They are both charming Sierra foothill towns and they’re only about fifty minutes from our house. As we were finishing walking through the small promenade in Grass Valley I spied the red truck stopped atop the red crosswalk. I have always been, and always will be, a sucker for color matching photographs.
Not going to lie, this one almost didn’t make the list and I’m still not positive about it. I photograph this Hi Line Electric building frequently, and this isn’t even my favorite one, but I like the repeating shadows of the dock bumpers and the people walking through the scene.
Mid week in Sacramento can be rather slow people-wise, so I will sometimes resort to trying different techniques. I decided to do a bit of ICM street photography. It’s not my favorite genre but every once in a while I get a decent one.
Another frequent photographed area for me when walking around the R Street Corridor in Sacramento. I have a different picture of these same red chairs in my Portfolio page on my website. I can never get enough red in my photos.
While doing the ICM I also attempted to get a person in motion while keeping the environment in focus. Luckily for me this skateboarder flew past me and had to pick up his board to cross the railroad tracks.
It was time for a new pair of glasses for my daughter so my wife and I accompanied her to Warby Parker in Sacramento. This is why I try and bring my camera with me everywhere. While I was chilling as frame after frame was modeled, I noticed this colorful wall behind the sales counter. One of the workers looked at me a bit funny as I bent down, camera in hand, to grab a picture of their wall. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes!
And now we come to my favorite photo of the month. The waterfall up top is nice and all, but this is the type of photograph that really gets my juices flowing. Soon after my wife and I were seated at our table in the National Hotel in Nevada City, I noticed the scene just across from us. I fired off and few frames but my wife was not satisfied because it wasn’t centered. After a small eye roll from me, I repositioned myself and took another shot. I hate it when she’s right! :)
All-in-all, not a bad month of photography. After shooting so much film over the summer, it was nice to break out the digital a bit more. I’ve also finally found a good film simulation profile for Lightroom that I’m happy with. I’ve tried many presets and the like in the past to no avail. Finding a good profile instead of a preset really did the trick for me. It’s also interesting to me how my interests have changed so much. The waterfalls and other landscapes just don’t really excite me anymore. Give me a well lit, empty interior shot any day.
David
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