Every once in a while it snows in Austin. Like, maybe, every five years. Today is one of those days.

It's snowing here. It started with thunderstorms at 6:15 a.m. so I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. No sense getting up if swim practice is cancelled. When I finally stirred around 9 I could hear the spitty sound of sleet on the roof, then, while making coffee I looked out the dining room windows to see chubby, slow snowflakes cascading down. 

It's weird, it's 34° but the snow is sticking to a lot of stuff. Now it's about 12:40 and the snow is still coming down. Probably not a good day to drive around Austin. Texans have enough trouble driving well on dry roads, rain makes the confused and I think a bit of ice would be most debilitating. Just looked out the window again and it's coming down faster than ever. 

Glad I'm not catching a flight to some odd assignment somewhere. Seems like a great day to sit by the fireplace, drink more coffee and read a good book. 

Wow. Just heard a huge peal of thunder. See you when we dig out.

 

There are boring cameras and great cameras and, every once in a while, truly eccentric cameras. I seem to like the eccentric ones best.

This is a photo of a Sigma fp, coupled to a Panasonic 20-60mm, sitting 

on the passenger seat of my vehicle, waiting impatiently for a walk across 

the UT campus.

One thing to know about the Sigma fp is that, when used in the Jpeg mode, it may be the lowest noise 24 megapixel camera ever tossed onto the market. In the early days of ownership I was disappointed with the digital image stabilization offered by the camera. I got some ghosting that I didn't want and the camera took time between frames to process. It slowed me down without delivering a whole lot extra. 

That's when I started experimenting with higher ISO settings and ultimately set up my Auto-ISO to chose a low shutter speed of 1/125th of second but a high ISO of 25,000. Now, when confronted by a low light situation I know I can handhold most of the lenses I'd use with this camera at 1/125th of a second and I'm getting more and more comfortable with the camera ranging around in the ISO playpen anywhere from 100 to at least 10,000. If I'm shooting Jpegs they all turn out sharp and detailed but at the same time displaying the kind of noise I used to get with pre-2010 cameras at ISOs like 200-400. It's very liberating.

The camera also has some unique aspect ratios in addition to the more or less standard selection of 3:2, 16:9, 1:1, 4:3 and so on. One aspect ratio that appeals is 7:6. It's a bit boxy but not full on square. It's stodgy and conservative, but in a good way. It's for all those times when you think you should be shooting in the square format but just wish you could get a bit more image on the sides. There's also 21:9 but it gets far less use from me...

Today turned cloudy and a bit cold. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain all morning and then snow all afternoon. The snow probably won't stick since the low temperature forecast for tomorrow is something like 36°. (That's like minus 6000 in euro-temps). Not cold enough to freeze but not warm enough to run around in shorts and sandals. 

But anyway, since it's going to be mucky tomorrow I thought I'd take a late afternoon/early evening walk and snap some images with the Sigma+Panasonic combination before dinner. I've been downtown too much lately so I thought I'd change venues and head over the the University of Texas at Austin campus where I spent some of the most fun years of my life. Both as a student and then on the faculty. I haven't been back as much as I should so a lot of the buildings I saw today are new to me. But the overall effect, with the students still out for the break, is of a quiet and well groomed campus that's blended old and new with grace; mostly. 

I really have come to appreciate the Sigma fp. It's small and light. Very discreet. Very noise free and impervious to overheating (although I have yet to test it in a 350° oven...). It's so funky but at the same time it's as endearing as an ardent, affectionate, three-legged dog. I'm never happy leaving it behind. And it also makes nice video. Complicated to set up, but still,  nice video. 

I'm happy with the straight out of camera performance 

of the monochrome profile. A little tweak in contrast and I'm happy. 

and right across the main street ("the Drag") there is an endless collection 

of shops, bars, and targets for graffiti of all kinds. 

 

Little web gifts. Here's a quiet, understated vlog that I like a lot. And I'll tell you why...

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbTioHxiyv-KeNztc4xLF8A

It's a channel by Matti Sulanto. He's a Finnish photographer who is also a Lumix Ambassador. That means he shoots with a lot of Panasonic gear and also reviews it on his site. I like that.

But what I really like about his channel on YouTube are the videos he does of his "photo walks." On many of them he takes only one camera and one lens and, in between shooting and showing images he's taking, he talks through his own process for both finding subjects to photograph and working within the constraints of the gear he decided to bring along. More "how" than "what gear?"

While he is a Lumix ambassador there is never a hard "sell" for the equipment. The discussions are always centered on what he uses the gear for, how he chooses his gear, and the end results. 

The nice production value and lack of hysterical video trash make an engagement with Matti's V-Log feel more like you were sitting down in his living room discussing some fun, new gear over coffee. Or like you had decided to go for a stroll with Matti and find out how he takes the images he does. 

I keep being guided to comfortable photography sites by friends and blog readers here. These eight-to-ten minute programs are a welcome break from bad news and relentless merchandizing. 

Please check out Matti Sulanto's YouTube offerings. Today's video takes place on a cold and snowy day in his part of the world. It's best enjoyed along with a warm cup of coffee and light pastry. 

For more info on Matti here is his website: https://sulanto.fi

One more thing....I really like his accent.

More fun sites discoveries to come!

Photographing with the Fuji X-100 V again. It's such a pleasure to walk with.

B. at the museum.

One thing that I thought I would miss when using the Fuji X-100V was image stabilization. Surprisingly, I don't. I'm letting the camera range through the ISOs instead and keeping the minimum shutter speed at 1/60th of a second. Seems I have no problem hand-holding the camera well enough at that shutter speed and so far none of my images have been compromised by camera shake. It's interesting because we've come to believe that image stabilization is so critical. I'll admit that it's almost mandatory for me when using longer lenses but shorter focal lengths seem to have a quantum of immunity from the effects of camera shake.

I didn't realize how much I missed working with a small, discreet and non-confrontational camera; especially one in consumer happy chrome finish instead of sneaky-stealth, black finish. The camera and lens are capable of high sharpness when used wide open at most distances. I haven't done too many shots within three feet of the camera but I've found that if I get close and stop down to about f2.8 the sharpness continues right on through. 

Yesterday we took a break from the political madness and spent the morning at the Blanton Museum. It's open but you have to sign up for a slot. You are only time limited by their closure from 12-1pm. Come at 10 a.m. and you'll have the run of the place till noon. Come at 1 p.m. and you'll have access to the full facility until closing time. It's nice to look at beautiful art as an antidote for contemporary anxiety. I find the abstract expression show in the main gallery particularly soothing. 

Bare trees at Barton Springs Pool parking lot.

This morning I decided to break with tradition, skip my usual morning swim workout, and head out for an extended walk. I wanted to spend more time getting up to speed with the Fuji X-100V. I have one thing I haven't been able to figure out just yet. If I select "S" setting for focus and "still image" on the drive mode, with the review off, the camera blacks out until it writes the frame I just shot and locks me out of rapidly shooting another one. But when I was in the "classic chrome" profile I could shoot in the normal way, pounding out two or three frames without black out. It seemed like it was only in the "standard" mode that the camera became so deliberative and slow. Any ideas?

Barton Springs Pool was closed for most of last year. 

It's life affirming to see lap swimmers enjoying the cool, clear water

in the middle of the winter. More like this...

The trail is not really closed. It's only the eroding bank that's off limits. 

I guess they only have a small variety of signs available. 

That's okay. It's all pretty obvious.

the camera is downright spiffy for big building shots. 

When I punch in the detail is pretty nice. Rivals my bigger cameras and it's so much

fun to carry around. You won't wreck a shoulder with this one.

I love how considerate some drivers can be. Stopping behind the crosswalk is an appropriate 

and polite gesture. It always makes me happy when my rights are upheld and

we all get to happily share the public space.

Some drivers are not so kind. They position their cars right in the middle 

of the pedestrian cross walk while waiting for the light to change 

at a four way intersection. I like to think they are just being absent-minded but

I really think drivers who routinely do this are mostly just being assholes.

I guess, in the long term the messaging might be accurate, a lifetime spent drinking lots of wine 

might have you ending up in heaven but I think you might be accelerating the process 

if you drink wine to excess. Nice to see God. But maybe just for a quick visit while

taking care of business in the here and now. Time for a good, long, chatty conversation 

later. Much later. 

The single ugliest pair of trousers I have ever seen.

And I lived through the 60's and 70's. 

Just ghastly....

That's a nice Ellsworth Kelly painting on the right hand side of the frame. 

See how crowded the museum was yesterday? It was a wonderful time

to visit. I could sit on that bench and look at the Kelly painting for 

a good long while and not get bored.

All with the chrome finished X-100V. 

 

Want to see how my images of Jaston Williams are being used? Click on the link and go see the trailer!

 https://vimeo.com/498502786

https://vimeo.com/498502786

Last October my good friend, Jaston Williams, sent me a script for his newest theater project. It's called, "I Saw the Lights" and it was hilarious. Jaston (of the "Greater Tuna" and "Tuna Texas" fame) is nationally known and celebrated for writing and acting in plays with multiple, eccentric, small town characters. This play features nearly a dozen of these sort of characters and Jaston plays them with a touch of true genius. 

A week or so later I got a call from his representative in L.A. asking if I wanted to make the photographs that would illustrate each character and, if so, what would I budget. Having worked on half a dozen projects with Jaston and his creative team over the years I jumped at the opportunity. 

We worked with make-up artist, Serret Jensen and, over two days, we photographed a bunch of variations for each character. It was a wonderful job. The kind you dream of getting when starting out. 

Since we're in the middle of a pandemic Jaston knew he couldn't produce this for a live audience sitting in a theater so he and his crew decided video tape the production with multiple cameras and projection to \ present the performance as a live-streaming form of entertainment on the internet. 

I wrote about the project right after we finished with it here: Jaston's Project.

Here are some other posts I've written about working with Jaston: Laramie Project, Tru, Angel Man, Maid Marian

If you are interested go see the trailer and pay attention to the last half where my images are mostly shown. I can't wait to watch the finished "movie." 

My favorite job for all of 2020.

Back to Square One. Continuing exercises with the square format in a rectangular camera. Also, a few thoughts on a lens.

Before yesterday I was embarking on an experiment to starting shooting the Panasonic S1R set to the 1:1 aspect ratio and also with the camera set to record both a black and white, jpeg file as well as a raw file. I shared some of the black and white images with you on Tuesday because I was able to use them, mostly, straight out of camera. But I did go back to the same photographs and work through a few of the raw files to see how the images looked in color. It's always an interesting exercise because half the time, when shooting black and white Jpegs, I wish I was shooting in color --- and vice versa.

To be more clear, I've been looking at the combination of lens, camera and aspect ratio as a complete system rather than a disparate set of thrown together, working considerations. And it seems to be working out well. 

I'm shooting with the S1R because even when cropped to 1:1 the files are about 31 megapixels and there's enough detail (and dynamic range) in them to overcome any sloppiness in my technique. And, of course, the camera is comfortable to handle as well as a most stable shooting platform. 

If you've read the VSL blog for a while you'll get why my camera is set to 1:1. I "grew up" shooting with Rolleis, Hasselblads and Rolleiflexes and that set my early preference for squares. A preference that's continued through my career. When the camera is set to raw+jpeg fine the Jpeg shows up exactly as I have it set in the parameters. If I've selected to shooting in L. Monochrome and have added some menu tweaks that's exactly what ends up in the final Jpeg frame. But the raw frame shows up as a full raw file, in color. 

I know some cameras that do this show the full 3:2 frame when the raw files are brought into image processing programs but when using the Panasonic S1 series raw files in Adobe's Lightroom the program writes the preview as a square; if you've set a square aspect ratio. I really like that because I'm able to keep my preferred frame geometry exactly as I want it throughout the process. If I want to change my mind and go for a 3:2 from a raw file that I shot in 1:1 format I need only go to the crop controls and extend the crop to include the entire frame. The raw files maintain all the pixels from the sensor.

I selected the 50mm S-Pro f1.4 from Panasonic to complete the system because I see best with a slightly longer than normal lens (the square crop changes angle of view slightly). This lens is my first choice because it's the sharpest one I own; just right for the times when I want to use a lens at a wide open aperture. Or when stopped down just slightly. It's not enough to have narrow depth of field if what's in focus isn't all that sharp. The limited focus plane technique works best if what's in focus is really sharp and detailed. Then, the difference between in and out of focus is that much more dramatic. 

It's the same reason I bought the original Sigma Art lenses. They were very sharp wide open and that made the soft backgrounds seem more special. If you have to stop down a couple of stops to make sure the in focus parts of your frames are adequately sharp it's just not as much fun; or as visually interesting. 

When I add in the good image stabilization provided by the S1R body, and also its high ISO performance, which is quite good, the combination, along with the fast apertures of the lens makes for a great low light shooting experience. 

I've got the camera set so that auto-ISO goes all the way up to 12,800 and I'm shooting with the lens mostly at f1.4 or f2.0 so I can shoot with good results in very low light. I should also mention that the auto-ISO is set up for a low end shutter speed of 1/60th but I notice that when I hit the top of the ISO range the camera progressively lowers the shutter speed rather than underexposing. If I don't want that to happen I set the ISO to a fixed value.

Taking as many decisions out of the mix is a nice way to work because it's easier not to get side-tracked. Here are some images from the same excursion. Most shot at f2.0. A couple at f2.8.