These photos were shot on a quick trip up to Coney Island in summer 2025 with my girlfriend.
Being based in Philadelphia, I don’t get up to Coney Island much—usually I stick to the Jersey Shore, which is far closer. Recently, though, we’ve had a few reasons to be in the Brighton Beach area, so we decided to detour and wander around for the afternoon.

The weather was gloomy—unseasonably cold, damp, and overcast—so the black-and-white film did it justice. When I loaded the HP5, I was hoping for bright sun, but got quite the opposite. Still, I’m not disappointed with how the images turned out. The darker exposures really show off the grain in a way I surprisingly don’t hate. There’s just something about these that I really like.

I love the Philadelphia Flower Show—it’s one of the most vibrant, overwhelmingly colorful events of the year. The convention center can get a little stuffy, and my allergies definitely don’t love it, but it’s always worth the trip.

This year’s show had a particularly gorgeous set of displays. I brought my Pentax K1000 and decided to give my rarely used Albinar 35mm K-mount macro lens some time in the spotlight. I can’t find much information about the lens online beyond it being a cheaper department-store option, but at this year’s show it absolutely delivered.