To Dream of Its Rising

I confess, I had to look up the word 'orison'. It means prayer. You're welcome. When I was younger I always refused to look up words -- out of stubbornness I suppose. These days, I have no hesitance. I look 'em up straight away.

As I age in the world it will rise and spread,

and be for this place horizon

and orison, the voice of its winds.

I have made myself a dream to dream

of its rising, that has gentled my nights.

Let me desire and wish well the life

these trees may live when I

no longer rise in the mornings

to be pleased with the green of them

shining, and their shadows on the ground, 

and the sound of the wind in them.”  

― Wendell Berry

Tasting notes: Canon R5 digital camera, 24-105 L lens.

The Memory of Rainfall

A few years back, we had a terrible year of drought, and lost half a dozen or more trees. I got pretty tired of calling the tree guys. Later we had to find a person to grind out the stumps. Happens to the best of us, I suppose.

“Trees, for example, carry the memory of rainfall. In their rings we read ancient weather—storms, sunlight, and temperatures, the growing seasons of centuries. A forest shares a history, which each tree remembers even after it has been felled.” 

― Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces

Tasting notes: Leica Q. I never loved the Q, and we certainly never bonded, but I took a few nice images with it.

Different Journeys

For this trip, I wanted to keep things pretty minimal. Turns out, blogging with only a phone takes some getting used to. Watching people walking down Park Avenue near Grand Central Terminal was like watching leaves dropping from the trees in Fall.

“In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” 

― Paulo Coelho

Tasting notes: Leica Q.

A Short Trip to NYC

Albus and Fergie world headquarters will be relocating to NYC for the week. For fun, I’ve decided to post about trees, an important source of inspiration for my images over the years, especially the fine art work I do (but don't typically show here). Today's image was taken in NYC a few years back using the LX-100 camera that I was very fond of, that is, until dust started getting stuck all over the sensor. At that point we parted ways, but I do have a soft spot for these types of cameras. These days, a good phone would probably do just as well, and without the dust accumulation.

Tasting notes: Panasonic LX-100.

Entropy Always Wins

Objects in the landscape, trees, stones, or old human built structures, often transport me back or forward in time as I consider what to photograph. The fleeting existence of a spider web, the slow toll of entropy on the built environment. Different experiences of time. Red clay in the water and rust on the corrugated siding. It is all pretty similar at the molecular level.

Tasting notes: Canon R5 digital camera with nifty fifty lens.

Opportunities Missed and Taken

We were running an errand the other day, and had intentionally built extra time into our schedule to allow for stops to make photographs. Still, it was hard for me to overcome the part of my lizard brain that was obsessively focused on the goal of reaching our destination as fast as possible. I vetoed a couple of decent photo ops before I was able to slay that particular dragon. I had to remind myself that meandering a bit almost always brings rewards of some kind. Nevertheless, these days you have to be willing to spend a little extra time to get a decent photograph. You need to decide how you're going to manage the abundance of warning signs, advertisements, and safety features, not to mention the other humans. I had to just 'deal' with the cigarette smoke; fortunately, it didn't permeate the photograph. 

Tasting notes: Canon digital camera with nifty fifty lens.

Teal Appeal

I noticed that a number of the windows in a recently renovated office building were in a serious state of decay. For me, the texture of the delaminating film was an interesting subject to photograph. I couldn’t help thinking that some poor schlub was probably fired because of this mistake. But what I really want to know is, who picked out the teal window shades?

Good light to you this weekend.

Tasting notes: Canon M6ii, 22 mm f/2 lens.

Coffee And Cigarettes

Over the years, it seems that I have collected quite a few photographs of places where folks like to take their 15 minute coffee breaks. Turns out that images of these places pepper my photo archive across the decades. Some were photographed while on walks, others while on a break myself. Back doors, alleyways, and loading docks. Nothing special, a place to flick your butts without starting a fire, I reckon. Not being a smoker, I go for the fresh air, but others need that jolt of nicotine or caffeine, or maybe they're just hoping for an email or a text.

Tasting notes: Olympus 35 SP, Ortho 80 film.

A Perfect Storm of Meh

In recent months, I have noticed a small bliptick (blip + uptick) of interest in old digital cameras in some quarters of the internet. From what I can gather, this nano-flurry of activity is being driven by some combination of nostalgia and the age old quest by photographers to achieve a unique 'look' to their images. I am far from immune to such forces, or FOMO either for that matter, and so, have been dabbling in digicams a little bit myself of late. Plus, at the moment, these old relics are a hell of a lot cheaper than old film cameras, not to mention film. You may even have one or two of these dinosaurs lurking at the bottom of a drawer or at the back of a shelf. 

All that said, it is hard to quantify the 'photographic look' of a digital file. It is what the geneticists would call a multifactorial issue. A lot of room to explore, in other words.

With that in mind, I am happy to report that the Olympus E-500 ($50) is producing files, that to my eye at least, stand out noticeably from those produced by modern digital sensors. It would be a reasonable place to start your digicam journey, should you be so inclined. Why? It's multifactorial, baby. But CCD sensor, poor dynamic range, low megapixel count, primitive color filter array. This little guy has it all.

Welcome to the funhouse! 

  
Tasting notes: Olympus E-500, 25 mm f/2.8 lens.  

Fake, Fake, Fake

I wanted to quickly document the state of this year's dogwoods in early bloom, and was out and about with the teenaged Canon 5D. The sound of the mechanical shutter is somehow quite satisfying, and loud. The marvelous 135 mm f/2 L lens was attached. I was able to get a nice group of images. While processing them later, I decided to combine two into a single 'panorama', which these days only requires a click of a mouse or trackpad. Voila, a nice square image! I was actually pretty impressed with how well the Adobe software lined up the complex network of branches, and it was only the next day that I noticed the problem with the out of focus electrical cable passing through the upper half of the image. Oops, that's a bit of a tell. Still, and all, the snapshot meets my needs.

Tasting notes: Canon 5D, 135 mm f/2 L lens.

Camera Obscura-ish

It isn't that the art hanging on the gallery walls was uninteresting, but the way the windows framed the outside world definitely caught my attention, and was something I felt compelled to photograph. In my view, windows provide a very photographic experience. Perhaps that is why photographers include them in their images so often.

Tasting notes: Canon M6ii and 22 mm f/2 lens.

The Space that Time Provides

Yesterday was a very fine early Spring day here in the South, cool with no humidity to speak of. In other words, perfect conditions for a short excursion. One of the nice things about living in the Southeast is that the cities and towns are reasonably closely spaced, with plenty of good options available for day trips, pretty much regardless of exactly where you call home. Provided, that is, that you time things so that you avoid the holy hell of Atlanta traffic. Visiting spots we had not seen for two years was a bit like discovering them for the first time, including finding new restaurants and art galleries to explore. Opportunities for photography were equally abundant. The light coming through the abandoned trestle made for a pleasant enough abstract composition. Although I had both film and digital cameras with me, this was a day when modern technology prevailed.

Tasting notes: Canon M6ii, Canon 22 mm f/2 lens.

Room With A View

Urban exploration with a camera certainly is fun, but I was actually quite pleased to discover that this site has been recently redeveloped in a tasteful manner. Pickings are slimmer for the intrepid photographer in search of evidence of architectural decay. Musing on the passage of time, the thought occurred to me that once the relics in your photographs start to look like the architecture of your youth, you know you’re getting older. Thankfully we’re not there yet in my case. Definitely something to keep an eye on though.

Tasting notes: Leica R6, 60 mm lens, Fomapan 100 film.

Of Provenance and Time Travel

The weather was perfect when I went out to photograph the first of the dogwoods in bloom. On this occasion I was using the Nikkormat FS along with the period correct Nikon 50 mm f/2 lens. It is a fine combination to walk around with and practice your metering-by-eye skills. The camera is in like new condition and was very inexpensive to acquire owing to the fact that one of its previous owners had chosen to engrave their Social Security Number on the bottom plate. Hard to believe that was considered good practice back in the previous century. I suppose I could do a little research to determine something about the provenance of my old Nikkormat, but honestly, I am not keen to know more about a person who would mark up their camera like that! I tend to prefer imaginary time travel to historical research in the case of my old cameras anyway. I think what got me interested in collecting old cameras in the first place is imagining what the old masters had to go through to get images. So, as I walked through the neighborhood, I imagined myself taking photographs on an early mid-century modern Spring morning. This old dogwood was likely flourishing back then as it is now.

Good light to you this weekend.

Tasting notes: Nikkormat FS, Nikkor-H 50 mm f/2, HP5+, Sunny 16, HC110 B.

Singing the Film Shooting Hipster Blues

Sometimes experiments flop, ideas don't pan out, and you come home with nuttin', feeling kinda like a dummy. Yesterday was such a day for me. Earlier in the week, I had had the seemingly righteous idea of attaching my Leica R-21 mm f/3.4 to a Leica MD-2 body using an adapter and then going out to 'shoot from the gut'. You see, I don't own a viewfinder with the field of view of a 21mm lens -- they are simply too damned expensive. So, even with my belly button in cosmic as well as geometric alignment with the sun, I struggled, managing to capture the very top of my wife's head in this shot (lower right). Sigh.

I Thought I'd Seen Everything

Sometimes we make photographs simply to record the things that happen to us, or to remember things we find a little bit amazing, like the flower clusters on this stunning Oriental Paper Bush. I've seen a lot of ornamental plants in my life, but this one really blew me away, and I'm so glad we picked one up from the local hardware store. I tend to think of my phone as the proper tool for this kind of photography, but it was locked away in a distant closet. So I ended up using my best digital set-up, which just so happened to be nearby. It ain't art, but it is a state-of-the-art record of my new favorite little plant, and I like it.

Tasting notes: Canon digital camera.

Warts and All

In a few days, I'll be completely used to it, but for now, the difference in light quality due to the recent time change is very apparent to me. There is enough light to take photographs into the early evening hours, and I like that. Another thing that I am in the process of getting used to is the digital noise apparent in dusky photographs, especially those made with older cameras with smaller sensors. I've learned to embrace the grain and other imperfections in film photographs because I know that if I want perfect fidelity I can just reach for my fancy digital camera and boom, it is done. In a similar vein, I have been revisiting the look of images made with older digital cameras. The digital noise in those files doesn't bother me so much any more; in fact, I'm inclined to let it remain visible or even enhance it a little. Once we are confident of our ability to achieve a certain level of technical perfection, does that free us up to explore the aesthetic properties of older, imperfect technology? 

Tasting notes: Olympus E-500 digital camera (CCD sensor), Olympus 35 mm f/3.5 macro lens, ISO 200.

Getting Out of the Math

In the world of photography, what could be more technically demanding than macro/micro imaging? I know, I know. It's just an example. When shooting at greater than life size, the technical issues a photographer must grapple with just keep piling up. Vibrations, focus, depth of field, sufficient light. At first, getting an image where at least *something* in the frame is in focus can be tough. The point is, it can be a real challenge to make lyrical or artful images when your mind is consumed with overcoming technical hurdles. I heard a podcast where two jazz musicians were talking about how to craft melodic improvised solos without getting too bogged down by the technical side of things. They called it getting out of the math. So, how do you get out of the math?

Tasting notes: Canon digital camera, Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2.8 lens at 5x.

Menu Diving to Discover Unuseless Camera Features

Most of the time, I reach for a camera that just gets out of my way and lets me take photographs already. Luckily, I've got a few that do that pretty well, including many of my film cameras. On the other hand, there are days when I don't really mind getting lost in the technology, and I dive into the menus with reckless abandon. On those kinds of days, one of the features I like to experiment with most is Multiple Exposures. Quite a few cameras don't bother implementing this capability anymore it seems, while others allow you to do some crazy stuff indeed. My Pentax KP, for example, allows for up to 999 exposures to be combined in-camera. I did try that once, but more often than not, a few dozen exposures is more than enough for some good fun to be had. And some interesting images to be made. The abstract image above was made using the Pentax KP while I was watching a television program about color theory, and is comprised of three exposures combined by the KP's chip. I was using the very old and inexpensive manual focus Pentax 150 mm f/3.5 lens. It is a compact little optic with more than 'good enough' image quality and would qualify as under appreciated, I think. 

Tasting notes: Pentax KP digital camera, Pentax 150 mm f/3.5 lens.

A Pretty Groovy Digicam

Never say never, but I think it is safe to say that my cruising days are pretty much behind me at this point. After the past couple of years, I've essentially lost my appetite for spending time in such close quarters. That being said, my first cruise experience (out of two) was honestly kind of mind blowing in some regards. For example, a croquet lawn on a boat -- wild stuff! I was mentally prepared to hate the cruise, but I had a good time in spite of my essential cynicism. Anyway, I used the cruise as an excuse to purchase an Olympus EPL2 and a couple of lenses in order to avoid schlepping my Nikon DSLR. Looking back on the images over a decade later, I am still pretty impressed with the quality the little camera delivered.  

Tasting notes: Olympus EPL2.

A Walk In the Woods

About a decade ago, I purchased an Arcteryx brand fanny pack, a decision for which I was roundly ribbed by the members of my immediate family. These days, however, the fanny pack seems to have gained a modicum of respectability as a fashion accessory, so I am feeling vindicated, and, yes, perhaps even a bit smug. Tucked inside my modern day codpiece (sorry, no kilt) was my compact yet mighty Canon M6ii + 22 mm lens combo (along with my phone, wallet, keys and mask). 

Although I shot freely, in the end, I came home with but one composition that I like -- still, enough to make the entire adventure totally worth it.

I hope you have good light this weekend. Strap on that fanny pack and go shoot.

Tasting notes: Canon M6ii and 22 mm f/2 lens. Very nice walking around set up.

Setting a Tone?

This fence juts into the neighborhood landscape a bit like an obscene gesture. It is so horrible that I actually like to photograph it and look forward to watching entropy take it's toll. LOL. Anyway, I digitized this black-and-white negative using a DSLR and started experimenting with toning the inverted color file. This was just one of the default presets in Adobe Lightroom, but to my eye at least, it gives an interesting split tone effect that would not be possible to achieve in the wet darkroom. 

Tasting notes: Leica MD-2, Voigtlander 35 mm Color Skopar, Ilford Pan F Plus, DSLR 'scan'.

Keeping It All Bottled Up

We have tried a number of interesting non-alcoholic beverages recently, so far preferring the sparkling Chardonnay by a wide margin. But the empties are also pretty cool in their own right and I haven't wanted to recycle any of them just yet. 

Tasting notes: Canon digital camera.

Precious

A friend of mine is what folks refer to as a shade tree mechanic. Which means he's a writer, but he fixes exotic cars in his backyard workshop in order to put food on the table. Over the years, he's accumulated a few pretty fancy cars himself, such as a Maserati from the 1980s, just like in one of the early 'Rocky' movies. He let me drive it one time, admonishing me to take it easy, man. But he needn't have worried. I was so uptight about putting a dent on the damn thing that I drove like a person twice my age. 

Which reminds me, I have two rolls of color IR film sitting in the fridge next to the eggs and butter. It is kind of like owning a Maserati (guessing here). I've been reluctant to shoot it because once it's gone, that is it. Preciousness sure is a double edged sword.

Tasting notes: Leica R6, Summicron-R 35mm, color IR film cross processed in C41. Jackson, WY.

Watch Your Macros

This image was taken on one of my pandemic wanders through an old Southern town. Over the years, these micro-adventures have proved to be a good way to get in a nice walk, breathe in some fresh air, and practice my photographic seeing. Sometimes lunch or coffee is involved, which can elevate the overall experience. On this particular day, I was walking around with a macro lens on my camera even though I had no intention of shooting any insects or flowers. There are a couple of lenses I like doing that with, such as the Pentax DA 35 mm f/2.8. But for this session, I was using the Leica R6 film camera and the venerable Leica 60 mm f/2.8 macro. Manually focusing the specialty lens at longer distances worked out just fine given the abundant light, and the Fomapan 100 delivered punchy results. The wild shadow projected onto the hill was as delightful to me at the time I made the exposure as it is as now. 

Tasting notes: Leica R6, Leica 60 mm macro, Fomapan 100 film, developed in HC110B.

Never Say Never

Generally speaking, I prefer to make photographs using a dedicated imaging device, read: camera. I am not in love with the bar-of-soap ergonomics of my phone, mainly because I just haven't practiced with it enough. Plus, I'm not at all keen to shoot photographs with my wallet, if you know what I mean. But there are times when it is the only image making device at hand, so I use it. Once in a while a get an image I really like, such as this dreamy shot made during intermission at a local concert venue. 

Tasting notes: iPhone.

Southern Gothic

Although I believe that I technically live in the South, it must not be the authentic Deep South cuz there ain't no damn Spanish moss around here. Yet, less than an hour away by car, it is all over the place. I think that humidity is more important than latitude in determining where Spanish moss thrives. The other day, I was strolling through an area where the live oaks were literally covered with the stuff, and I found it an interesting subject to photograph. On that day, I had both digital and film cameras with me and I feel like I could get good results with both. I tried to match the overall look of the images as well as I could, and I think I could pool the results from both mediums just fine, which is the main thing I care about. Anyway, last night I asked my son if he could pick out the film shot. He could, but it took a beat.

Tasting notes: Canon M6ii, 22 mm f/2 (left); Leicaflex SL2, 35 mm f.2.8, Pan F Plus (right).

 

Photographically Bored? Maybe Try This...

About twice a year I go through my entire film camera collection (~50) and check on their overall health and well being. Without fail, I notice a camera that has been neglected a bit, and decide to shoot with it right away. This time it was the Leica MD-2 that caught my eye. This camera was designed for technical applications and was manufactured without a rangefinder or meter. In recent years, film shooters have picked up these bodies to use with wide angle lenses in conjunction with a hot shoe mounted viewfinder for framing. 

The brief, should you decide to accept it, is to load a roll of your favorite film into your 'blind' and meterless camera, and go out for a photowalk. Expose using Sunny 16 and set focus using the appropriate hyperfocal distance on your lens. Desert island photography at its most fun. I was shooting Pan F at 1/50s (flash sync speed :)) and f/5.6 for this shot. If you can come back with decently exposed and mostly in focus images, that of course is the goal. Next time out you can loosen up and shoot freely. 

For this shot, I had sufficient depth of field to cover the chairs. I thought they made an amusing yet transient tableau. You see, these were nice chairs and the pickers will surely snag them right away.

Good light to you this weekend!

Tasting notes: Leica MD-2, Voigtlander 35 mm f/2.5 Color Skopar, Pan F Plus film, DDX developer, digital camera scan.

Atonement?

Old architecture can camouflage a whole host of lens flaws, but in this case, it is pretty easy to tell that the original photograph was made using a fisheye lens. I confess that I went through a fisheye period a while back, driven by the ease with which old lenses can be adapted to digital cameras. My first digital camera was the Nikon D50, and I started my journey using old manual focus F-mount lenses. One I really dug was the 16 mm fisheye. It was the version that had four built-in color filters, which was pretty groovy. As time has passed, my love of the fisheye look has diminished quite a bit, so I de-fished the photo as best I could with a ten minute time limit. I'll just attribute the remaining distortions to architectural sag. No one will be able to verify my claims anyway,  since this funky little structure has since been demolished.

Tasting notes: Nikon D50 digital camera (6 MP CCD), 16 mm fisheye lens, Ps.

Some Much Needed Photo Therapy

There was a profound need for photographic therapy yesterday. You see, I had to take my vehicle in for service, as the rearview mirror had become detached. Now, up until a few years ago, reattaching the rearview mirror was a simple DIY project, requiring only a little superglue and a bit of patience. These days, it has become major surgery for vehicles like my BMW X1. I learned that in order to reattach my mirror, I would have to replace the entire windshield, setting me back a total of $1300. Outrageous. So, I decided to just deal with the mirror in my own way, at home, later. In the meanwhile, I took a few hours of mental health time, bought some lunch at my local Whole Foods Market ($9.99 per pound), and enjoyed it in a nearby park. For dessert, a 90 minute photowalk. I was armed with two instruments, one digital and one film. Both delivered for me, and I felt much better about the day when I returned. So glad I took time: I reminded myself that I'm in it for the long haul.

[Post script: mirror fixed in 30 min. Not even a very sophisticated attempt to upsell. Grr.]

Tasting notes: Canon M6ii, 22mm f/2 lens, black and white interpretation in Ps.

Surreal Experiments

I tend to have a camera with me whenever my wife and I watch television together. My wife refers to it as my ‘comfort camera’, and I guess it is in some sense. Like Linus and his blanket. The other night, the little digicam I was experimenting with was having difficulty acquiring focus in the dark. I just decided to go with the flow and capture what images I could. The resulting composition has a somewhat surreal feel to it that I like. Just goes to show how important it is to experiment and lose control of the situation a little.

Tasting notes: Pentax Q10, telephoto zoom lens.