News that's largely meaningless to you but significant to me:
Raccoons. AKA: Trash Pandas. Humanely removed by nothing more than a smelly rag. An interesting and low impact solution for my chimney dwellers. The chimney got two layers of heavy duty, metal mesh masonry-ed into place along with the regular top-of-chimney cage, also cemented in place.
I now believe that raccoons are smarter and stronger than humans and can really only be stopped by half inch steel bars but the current construction is a strong deterrent. I now worry that the baby raccoons will not have as nice a place in which to grow up... Not that I'll be inviting them into the office.
Cars: I was roundly pilloried by an anonymous commenter whose mission seems to be two pronged: to attack any post I make with which he disagrees and also to force everyone with whatever pressure he can exert to only buy electric cars which you will then be required to drive for the rest of your life. No replacements and no exceptions. I've had my fill of asshole commenters so from now on when I come across a petulant post from an anonymous commenter I will discard it post haste. Now, this doesn't mean that my loyal readers who are also brave enough to leave their names will suffer the same treatment. You are almost family and can slag me to your heart's content, as long as you stay away from the ad hominem stuff, and continue to take credit for your brutal critiques. I would not want to rob friends of the opportunity to tell me how wrong I am. That's what friends are for.
I'm currently driving an "undercover" looking sedan from the dealer. My new car, prior to wreaking unbelievable havoc on the environment, is traveling to Austin on a car-carrying truck and will be here to begin its destruction of all we hold good and noble by, maybe, Wednesday. Just look for the black clouds of smoke over the '46 zip code. That'll just be me starting up my new, 4 cylinder, low emission, inexpensive car for the first time. I'm pretty sure I'll keep the new one for a much longer time frame. I hope that makes him/her/us/them happy.
Here's what I'm tooling around in for the rest of the week:
I swear to God that it doesn't run on coal...
Cameras and stuff: I'm pretty happy with the stuff I've got in-house. But you know how that might go. Still... we're entering what I usually see as a "breathing spell" after a period of rapid acquisitions. I'm already planning an out of town foray when the new car arrives. I'm heading to San Antonio to photograph out on the street. I'm going to get back into the practice of making portraits on the street. I plan to spend at least one overnight there. Since I no longer have parents with nice houses in that city I'll be booking my overnight at one of the nicer downtown hotels. I can't wait to get out of the city. It's been over a year since I've been to San Antonio and I've missed the way it looks, smells and feels. I hope it hasn't been damaged too much by the pandemic.
Current lens crushes: I'm very attached to the 65mm f2.0 Contemporary lens from Sigma. Damn. It's very sharp wide open, improves a little bit as you stop down, and just makes images that sing beautifully whether I use it on a Leica or an S series Panasonic. If I didn't own one I would be sitting at the computer with my favorite credit card in one hand, ordering one right now. I'd even pay for the expedited shipping.
Camera crushes: While I own the Leica SL2 it's the SL that's got me wrapped around its right hand grip. I can't put my finger on it exactly but the camera just feels perfect. I paid about $1990 for the camera, used, and it's right in line with the same price as an entry level, full frame, Sony, Nikon or Canon. But it's worlds more luxe when it comes to the body design and construction. The colors coming straight out as Jpegs are stringently neutral and the hand feel is almost so good as to be illegal. I've been shooting it in the Jpeg+DNG mode but I keep using the Jpegs, being satisfied and the then trashing the raw files. I wish the batteries lasted longer and, as an adjunct to that wish, I also wish the batteries were about a third the price. But everything else makes me smile so big I could rival the Cheshire Cat. If you've always wanted to play with a Leica get an SL and a Sigma 45mm f2.8 and go to town. It's one of the most fun combos I can think of.
Camera crushes continued: Get a Fuji X100V. They are just really, really good for the price. I fall in love every time I shoot with mine.
Finally, I used the interval shooting feature of the Leica yesterday. It was so simple to set up that I thought I might be doing something wrong. I was not. But it allowed me to get a funny photo of myself that I put up on Instagram with an appropriate caption. Here's the pic:
It's my "Senior" portrait. I can hardly wait to see it in the yearbook.
It was shot by S. Tymer.
18 comments:
For being selected "Most Out Standing In His Field"?
Lee in Kerrville
That person S.Tymer travels with us on all our vacations to shoot portraits of my wife and me ;-)
Henk in the Netherlands
I like this photo. S. Tymer works well with you. :)
Anthony in Dallas
Do the Austin traffic reports now include items like "Looks like there's scooter pileup on E. 6th Street, please avoid that area for now"?
As to your anonymous troll, have patience. Perhaps he or she will some day be able to find a job and do something more productive.
More seriously, intolerance and lack of balance isn't confined to the right wing. It seems similar on the left, as well, just as tiresomely self-righteous, merely with different positions, but the same intolerance and lack of balance/perspective.
What ever happened to the tolerant and pragmatic "radical moderates" who try to solve problems rather than create them?
Nice B&W series. Love it!
It’s funny, after so many raving reviews and recommendations, I finally got a X100v. Sent it back the next day. It’s a camera I want to love (I’m still very fond of my old Panasonic GX7) but it just doesn’t click with me.
But I got the Sigma 35 f2 for the S1 instead and couldn’t be happier.
Kirk,
I found your response to "Anonymous" to be rude and childish.
You requested our opinions about upgrading your car and then responded aggressively and defensively to one of those responses. You had no problem with folks who answered yes to the question "can I buy this new car?" but didn't appreciate hearing from someone who offered an opinion on "should I buy this new car?" You then went on to suggest that this person should seek a professional opinion as to whether or not they were an idiot, which is the sort of argument I remember hearing on the grade school playground.
It's clear to anyone who regularly reads your posts about sampling many different and often expensive cameras and lenses that you *can* buy anything you want, whether it's another Leica camera or a new car. There's nothing inherently wrong with enjoying your life and hobbies, and I don't hold your financial security (borne out of your hard work and expertise) against you at all.
It is, however, a completely different question as to whether you *should* buy more and more new things. I answered your question about the car by providing some information about your misconceptions about the reliability and lifespan of modern automobiles (you had a similar post during the winter storm about car batteries). I considered extending my response to the environmental impacts of your decision but stopped because I've found that few issues bring a stronger response than suggesting to a person of privilege that they scale back their lifestyle in any way.
"Anonymous" could have stated his or her response a bit better, but that doesn't make it any less valid or less heartfelt. The majority of people in this world have little say, and relatively little impact, on global-scale environmental issues. Other people, including many Americans such as you and I, have outsized impacts on the environment and thus, the greatest ability to work towards positive change. Neither of us can solve these problems alone, but we can always work to do better and to encourage others to do the same.
For some people, that could mean downsizing to a smaller house, or adding solar panels, or making different transportation choices (e.g., fewer cars, more efficient cars, more public transport or bike riding), or changing their diet (e.g., more local, less meat). Those with privilege have the time and resources to consider these sorts of options... maybe even a responsibility to do so for the good of all those who struggle every day to get by.
Or just keep doing what you do. The greatest benefit of privilege is that you can largely ignore the broader world if you want to.
We just took our first trip in over a year to visit family and drove the 2019 Subaru Outback; it averaged about 35 mpg for the 680 mile (one-way) trip. The range of this vehicle on one tank of gas is about 620 miles so there was one fuel stop -- about 10 minutes. With an electric vehicle there would be multiple stops for longer periods. I see electric vehicles as a great city car -- but they have a long way to go before they will make a good long-distance travel car.
Cameras for the trip? I used both my Sony RX10m1 and RX100m5 to take family photos. Left the DSLR at home.
DavidB
Kirk
I am not (very) surprised by the post “anonymous” made. In my experience, the most rabid supporters of electric vehicles (EVs) think that that they do not pollute, which is not true. The reality is, EVs move the pollution from where they are, to where the power plant is. So, depending on where you live & drive, an EV very well might be powered by coal.
PaulB
ASW. Thank you. You are correct. Yours is a near perfect response and is appreciated.
Hi Kirk,
Your response to ASW speaks volumes about the person you are. Thank you for both letting us know when you feel frustrated and when you acknowledge the other person has a point. It makes me (we readers?) feel we are getting to know you and are privileged to have made your acquaintance.
Now onto more important matters. I found this series of B&W shots fascinating due to the extremely nostalgic feel they have, especially the Ritz shot. I would be interested to know - is it your post-processing or is that just the look and feel of what comes out of the camera lens combo? I could not find anywhere in the post what you used: SL, SL2, X100V?
Hi Jon, Mea Culpa. And now, on to your question.
I was shooting all those black and whites yesterday with a Leica SL and the Sigma 65mm. I had the camera set to shoot in monochrome and since the SL provides minimal controls over B&W I set the contrast to medium high and the sharpness to medium high. There are no camera controls for filter color or process toning.
In Lightroom I used the color temperature slider to warm them up a bit and the clarity slider to accent the crispness. I also pulled down the blacks a bit. It was just quick, on the fly modifications but I liked the way it all looked when I examined each one big on the screen.
Thanks!
Ah, the Fuji X100V! I had been interested in this camera for a long time even though it was outside my usual gear parameters. I resisted and resisted but kept looking at it sighing, "it looks so nice and it's so light, but DxO (my preferred post processing software) doesn't support it and it's got a limited range...etc." Then one day, I read your post singing its praise and I succumbed about a month ago. It's your fault, Kirk Tuck, that I fell in love with the "wrong" camera. And now, I have to go and stretch my brain and learn new things. At my age (Older than you, Kirk!), that is not easy.Yes, its all your fault!! Now go make someone else happy.
Rene
Kirk, I’m visiting sis1 in Phil’s, 1st trip out of Abu Dhabi in 16mo. Eveything here is therapeutically green with gorgeous, slightly cloudy, blue skies. Blossoms everywhere. I will meet up with my new 65f2 at sis2 in San Diego.
Meanwhile you will not be surprised at my “meh” reaction to your b&w pix. Except the one of the beautiful co-Ed. And your self portrait. And no apologies owed me for your ‘ monologues’ ... which I almost always read (unless they relate to business or flash). On the other hand, I do usually enjoy hearing about your gigs and people you meet with
Please don’t stop at 5000
Hi Kirk,
Especially for essentially OOC monochrome the set looks very pleasing. I find digital B-W tricky to get nice tonality. Then there's the monitor and the graphics card and my eyes and.... As I'm sure a wise person has said one or more times, go out and have fun and see what happens.
IMHO electric cars (should be electric vee-hickles since trucks and ess you vees compromise most "cars" these says) will seem to take forever to arrive, then appear "overnight." The slow, steady progress of technology and supply and infrastructure are all occurring but still need to hit critical mass. Then we'll wonder what all the fuss was about and our city air will be significantly better. Also, no smog check every two years.
As I type this, if you were charging your e-car off the California ISO grid you would be using 72% renewable sources, mostly solar as it is not windy today. I think few folks realize how how far we've come in ditching our oil & gas habits.
What? No swim fix for us anonymous bearded trolls who don’t even know how to swim? For 55 long blog posts? Sure you can squeeze in a few strokes here and there splashed amongst the images? 😁
I have that exact same car, same color, but with leather seats that at 5 years old are starting to rip, alas. Daughter stole the Prius for college so we only use one car. I'm pushing for total system overhaul, not individual moral choices, which rarely works. If I go to the dealer and all I see are electrics, I'll buy an electric. If it's a luxury "choice," I'll pass.
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