No Futz Images

Sometimes, the stars are aligned or whatever, and like, you get a unique image? With absolutely no futzing. Not that I mind a good futz, but somehow, it does feel kinda nice to have an image look great straight out of camera. Another cruise shot today. Somewhere in Norway, standing on deck, leaning on a railing, and staring out to sea. My favorite part of cruising, the lean, if I’m honest. And those Norwegian sailors? Crazy good.

Tasting notes: Sony RX-100. Pretty swell travel camera, if a bit chunky.

Untold Stories

Sometimes I think that conceptual art is akin to telling a joke. The bummer is that once you hear the punch line, that's pretty much it. At any rate, I'm sure we have all dreamed up little conceptual projects, many, if not most, of which never actually see the light of day. That is a shame, I think. These days, with print-on-demand being so easy and affordable, why not do a one off? Who cares if anyone else gets it? Not everything is destined for the gallery wall. A few years back, I came up with the idea of the 'industrial palimpsest'. You see, we were on a cruise (last one I'll ever do), and I had some time on my hands between ports. The ship was passing through an area of industrial decay, and the surfaces were interesting. Kind of like a safari in a way, hunting for abstract compositions rather than big cats.

Objects of Desire

 

We may not like to admit it, but the marketing folks really know their stuff, making most of us pretty easy marks. Me anyway. I can still remember seeing full page ads for the original Contax T with its red sapphire shutter button back when I thankfully had no income of my own. A few decades later, I picked up a nice used copy. Happy to report that the sapphire shutter button is every bit as gorgeous as I had imagined it to be. Naturally, the fact that it is made of sapphire matters not at all. Another camera that needed to be acquired was the Fujifilm X100S. Despite the adverts, I didn't enjoy shooting with that camera all that much, and only kept it a short while. But I sure did love the fill flash it had. It seems to me that there is usually something endearing about almost every camera. Right?

Which makes me wonder: is there a camera that just plain fails on every front? 

Places Lived

It is not a really a special place, at least not on the surface, on the basis of the things that the real estate agents tend to care about. But we have long since quit worrying about the square footage, the open floor plan, and have marked up the space in our own ways, with our own lives, and we will surely miss it when we are gone. For a little while, anyway. We'll be marking up our new spot soon enough.

How many places have you called home over the years? For me, it's over twenty. On the other hand, one of my neighbors has lived in the same damn house since 1978, and I doubt he's going anywhere anytime soon. I guess that's another approach, but not one I can relate to very well.

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

One Image, One Month, One Zine

More than one well-regarded photographer or artist has spent time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art looking at the ancient sculpture. In fact, as I write these words, I have one person in mind who based an entire body of work on a photograph of a single piece. 

Anyway, I've given myself a little assignment. Pick an image of one of the antiquities that caught my fancy on my latest visit to the Met, and prepare a dozen or so interpretations of that photograph. Make a zine out of it. That's it.

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

That Next Best of Times

A few decades ago, someone planted a tree and I am grateful.

“There's a Chinese saying. 'When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago.’” The Chinese engineer smiles. ‘Good one.’ 'When is the next best time? Now.' ‘Ah! Okay!’ The smile turns real. Until today, he has never planted anything. But now, that next best of times, is long, and rewrites everything.” 

―Richard Powers, The Overstory

Tasting notes: Olympus E-500 digital camera, 35 mm Olympus macro lens.

Recoil Into Silence

When great trees fall

in forests,

small things recoil into silence,

their senses

eroded beyond fear.

––Maya Angelou

I did what I had to do for adequate depth of field.

Tasting notes: Sigma sdQuattro camera with 70 mm Sigma macro lens.