Camera guys love to "modify" their cameras. I am no exception. Just added....

The unmodified Leica CL.

The Leica CL with an added grip and base extension. (Today's add-on). 

The "must have" thumb grip for the Leica CL. 

It is rare to meet a photographer of the male gender who does not openly or secretly enjoy adding things to, and otherwise modifying his cameras. The understood goal is usually that the adaptation modifies and improves the handling of the camera in such a way as to make it easier to hold correctly, easier to control and use with only one hand, and because it adds to one's image of professional panache. The idea being that the user spends so much time with his tools (cameras) that he finds things through experience that hamper his performance, diminish his ability to respond to a scene in front of his camera with the utmost finesse, which can only be remedied by taking his choice of camera and personalizing it. "Tweaking" the operational characteristics. "Fixing" some sort of ergonomics that got "overlooked" by the camera maker. 

And I totally get it. We all have different sized hands and our fingers fall onto the camera's surfaces in different ways. If a few bits of apparatus can make using the camera more comfortable and efficient then why not give them a try?

Some people are strap-sensitive and like to find different camera straps that better serve them. While I am a traditional strapist and strongly dislike several of the recent and popular straps I'm certainly not against other people using them if they find more enjoyment of photography as a result. For the record though, the straps I strongly dislike are the Peak straps because some design fool put the sticky, please don't slide off my shoulder stuff on the wrong side of the strap. If you use the friction-y side then the buckles face in towards your torso. A complete design failure. I understand that the whole idea of the Peak straps is to wear them across the chest and let them slip-slide around but as a traditionalist I always want the more discreet "over the shoulder" carry instead. And really, $50 for a slippery strap with some little red disks held on with strings? No thanks. 

And don't even get me started about the camera-killer strap-crap from Black Rapid. Yuck. Bad-gineering

But finding and using a great strap (for you) is an important part of camera modding. Especially for the camera that is your every day carry camera. 

Another add-on is the soft touch augmentation of any shutter button that is center-threaded. People love to put little metal mushrooms onto the shutter buttons hoping it will make the whole process of half presses and full presses more tactile and controllable. Some of the button plugs are made in colors out of anodized aluminium. I think those look pretty cool --- on the right camera. I have a black one right here on my desk but currently have no cameras that have threaded shutter buttons; the kind that were made to accept cable releases.... But I do have one. 

I have become a sucker for using thumb grips on smaller cameras because then my right thumb has somewhere to rest. I never appreciated the thumb grip concept until I bought and began using a Fuji X100V. That was a really good camera which was made remarkably easier to handle and shoot with once I added a thumb grip to the hot shoe. After I installed them on both of my Fujis they never came off again. I just gave up shooting with flash on that camera altogether because the thumb grips seemed the more valuable extension to the camera. 

When I got around to buying a Leica CL I realized that it was the same size, generally, as the Fuji X100V and would probably benefit equally from a thumb grip. I checked on the Leica grip but was aghast at the idea of spending something like $175 for a simple curve of metal. Not when I could get one from a different maker for something like $50. I tried an inexpensive one on the CL, loved it and when the second CL landed it was fitted with a thumb grip as well. 

The thumb grip improved the handling of the Leica but there was one other thing that was sub-optimal. The camera is short. from top to bottom it's just...short. When I use it in it's naked form I have to put one of my fingers under the camera body. It's okay and I can handle it just fine but I always wondered if one of the grips made for the CL would improve the handling noticeably. 

Yesterday, after I billed my two big portrait/composite projects for the month I was feeling the swagger of impending cash flow and I was emboldened to splash out for a Chinese version of the CL grip. I didn't bother to check on the Leica branded version because I knew I wouldn't want to spend crazy money on it. And the Hoage model (yes, from China)  got lots of praise in reviews on two different camera retail sites. 

The grip arrived today and it's actually well finished and almost pretty. If you can call a hunk of camera metal "pretty." 

I'm not sure if it's going to work for me or not because it's hot outside, it's late in the day and I haven't spent any time with it. But the bottom plate and front grip is my latest modification. If it's great I'll get a second one for the other body. And I will have mindlessly modified yet another tool in the camera bag. It's only a matter of time before I convince myself about the value of leather half cases....

I like to make modifications that aren't permanent and can quickly and easily be reversed. Other people are more daring. I had a student in one of my classes at UT that decided to paint his then brand new Olympus OM-1 bright red. He taped over every port and control and sprayed the camera's metal body with red spray paint. I had to admit it looked pretty good. I saw a Hugh Brownstone video in which he interviewed an English filmmaker whose gear was stolen. One piece of gear was a Leica SL but instead of a black anodized finish his was left in a bright metal finish. A special edition? "We deliver less and charge you more?"

I'd love to have a metallic finish SL. But I'm not willing to scrape off the current black finish to get there.

Recently I watched a video on YouTube about the photographer, Steve McCurry, using a Leica SL2 in Italy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nThspSqTzBA I was baffled to see that he has a grip or handle screwed into the bottom of his camera (tripod mount) and holds the grip with one hand and stabilizes the camera with his other hand. Rollei used to make grips like that for the square format TLRs but I can't see how Steve McCurry is at all comfortable turning that camera sideways for verticals. His elbow sticking out to the side in a perilous fashion... But he's famous. And that's one of his mods. And not the first time I've seen video of him working that way. Eccentric but most modding probably is.

A recent and somewhat odd trend for photographers is the adaptation of video camera cages for their specific cameras. Sure, there are mounting points galore on cages for stuff like external monitors, huge batteries and audio equipment, and I understand that this is great for videography but it makes little to no sense for people who just want to do still photographs. I guess you could make the argument that the cage protects the camera but in my mind any protection is offset by the huge reduction in handling comfort conveyed by a cage that should either be sitting on a tripod or a gimbal. Right? I think these people are just trying to announce to the world that they are really --- film makers.

Have you modified or augmented your camera? Are you willing to tell us with what? 

Just trying to stay cool and keep the trees on the property alive. We have fourteen live oaks that are between thirty and fifty feet and I'd hate to lose one to the drought and the heat...  I've stopped bathing so I can give them my ration of water (just kidding, kind of) but the grass will probably be sacrificed sooner or later. 

We're in stage one water rationing. If the city catches you washing your car in your driveway they send out a team to slash your tires. It's all very fraught. 

My workaround is to swim every day and then shower at the pool. Seems to work. Ready for the cold front.....any time.....is any body listening.....?

 

Photographing in very hot weather.

Taking a chill break at the W Hotel.

 My first suggestion for working in extreme heat is to weigh carefully the necessity of doing so. Can the project wait? Are you acclimated to working in the heat or will you be putting yourself at risk by doing so? Remember that taking a chance and getting injured means you'll be taking up emergency resources and potentially even putting the first responders at risk as well. If you are not used to the heat and haven't built up a resistance over time my best advice is to find somewhere chilly and settle in until the heat wave passes. But, if you don't like that advice let's get into what you can do to stay reasonably safe.

1. You've got to stay hydrated. I usually don't carry a camera bag or backpack with me when I go out shooting during most days. The exception is when I'm working in the heat. Anything over 95° makes me more cautious. If I'm being cautious I bring a small shoulder bag or backpack and I bring along two 16 ounce bottles of water. If I'm being indulgent I fill one of the bottles with ice from the freezer and top it off with water. It'll stay cool for a while. I start drinking before I start feeling thirsty and you should too. 

Figure on downing at least eight ounces per hour. Minimum. If the heat and humidity combined yields a heat "index" (or "feels like") of 105 or higher then double that. If you are bigger than I am add more to the total. Your goal should be draining your last supplies just about the time you make it back to your car or your air conditioned destination. 

I also keep a 32 ounce bottle of water in my car, right next to my swim gear. If I'm feeling a bit overheated when I make it back I will soak my shirt and hat (but not my straw hat!) with some of the water and couple that cooling power and the evaporative cooling with that of my car's air conditioning. Even standing in the shade, soaking wet, with a slight breeze will go a long way toward lowering my skin temperature and helping to lower my core temperature. When we worked in the vineyards last August for the Texas Wine project I tried to keep my shirt and hat damp and cooler as I worked. It sure helps. 

2. When walking through city streets you'll usually find one side of the street is in shade and the other in direct sun. Obviously you want to walk on the shaded side which generally means avoiding being at a location during a time when the sun is directly overhead because.....no shade. For downtown Austin this means the best shooting times are from sun up till about 11:00 a.m. and then again from 2:30 p.m. till sunset. 

3. Think about devising ongoing shade for your black bodied cameras and their black bodied lenses. I love shooting photographs with a Leica SL but there's a design flaw that comes to the fore when you get out in super hot, direct sun. The body is made of black metal and it acts as a heat magnet. If you leave it out in the sun it can get hot enough to burn your hands and, even worse, the heat affects the electronic noise of the system which makes your images noisier and peppered with various visual artifacts. There are a couple solutions. I have actually thought of painting one of the two SL cameras white. I'd do this to reflect the sunlight and reduce the heat absorption. It's a radical idea. But a more practical idea would be to bring along a small shoulder bag that's made in a very light color and keeping the camera and lens in the bag until such a time as you need it. Sure, it's not a quick approach to street photography but the upside is no burned hands and no images ruined by noise caused by excessive heat. 

With a camera that's well sealed against moisture and dust intrusion you might even consider wetting down the camera bag to take advantage once again of evaporative cooling. Works best on canvas bags. The same bag that carries your water supply. 

4. Hopefully you will sweat as you walk out on the streets in the heat and humidity. That consistent sweat goes a long way towards keeping you alive. But it's a bit problematic when it comes to camera handling since sweaty hands are slippery hands. I carry a small, white terry cloth rag with me, stuffed into the side of the camera bag or in a back pocket. I use it to wipe the sweat off my hands before handing the camera. In a pinch I can wet the rag and use it around my neck to cool off. Sweating though is good but it's also a sign that you need to keep drinking water. If you stop sweating on a hot day you are already in trouble and need to seek shelter and help as quickly as possible. 

5. It's hard to find sunglasses that are not polarized but it may be well worth the effort for two reasons. First of all I'm sure you've noticed that everything, every sky, every lake or pond looks better and more exciting through polarized sunglasses so if that's your point of visual reference you'll be disappointed when the images you photograph don't match the enhanced sizzle that you see through your polarized sunglasses. A pair of sunglasses without the polarization will still do a good job blocking UV and IR energy from hitting your eyes and bringing along the prospect of long term, progressive damage, and you'll be able to see your intended photo subject in a realistic way. And deal with it accordingly.

But the second reason is that with some EVF viewfinders and LCD rear screens you might lose the view altogether. I noticed recently that when used the Leica CL in the landscape mode I was able to see the rear screen with no issues; even with my polarized, prescription sunglasses on but when I turned the camera to portrait mode the viewfinder blacked out. The polarizing screen and the grid screen on the camera cancelled each other out. In that case I pulled off my sunglasses and composed the now revealed image again but it delayed the shot and also gave me something else to keep my hands overly filled. 

I fished around in the center console of the car later that afternoon and unearthed a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses that were not polarized and found that, while the sky didn't look nearly as exciting, the screens of my camera didn't black out when I turned them by 90 degrees. If you are into pre-visualization the polarizing nature of some sunglasses isn't doing you any artistic favors. Yes for driving and boating but, sadly, no for working with cameras of various vintages. ( I first saw this effect, the blacking out of a screen, with the optical finder of the Mamiya 6. I think owning several of those cameras is what drove me to buy the Ray-Bans in the first place. 

6. Dress for it. Going out in a "Summer" wool suit with a Nicole Miller necktie is very much contraindicated. You'll roast and probably spend a fortune getting the suit cleaned back up. The reaction from people unaccustomed to severe heat is usually to wear a pair of shorts and a tank top or t-shirt. Maybe a pair of sandals. A baseball hat (uniquely American?). And that's okay when you are dealing with lower temperatures and lower UV energy ranges (thinking 70-95°) but it's the super strong rays of the sun that drive up the heat so you need two things: clothes that breathe and wick away sweat for better cooling,  but also clothes that cover as much skin as possible. You really don't want to sport a bad sunburn in conjunction with uncomfortably high ambient temperatures. It's discomfort squared. 

I want a long-sleeved shirt made from a very thin fabric that invites breezes and does a good job wicking away sweat --- again, thinking about the evaporative cooling effect. But I also want a shirt that is rated at 30 or 40 or more SPF or UPF to keep my skin from burning. A shirt with vents is also great. And do yourself a favor --- we know artists are supposed to go around dressed in black --- but just for this special situation consider light colors. White, near white, almost white, sorta white and, in a pinch a very light beige. You want the most reflection of heat and radiation you can get commensurate with providing enough protection. Sure, you won't look as cool without the black turtleneck but you'll actually be cool(er). 

Same with pants. Unless you want to play "Where's Waldo?" down the road with various skin cancer tumors you'll want to cover those "I mostly work indoors on a computer" legs. There's a clothing maker called Kuhl that makes great long pants with vents hither and yon and they are cool to wear. My favorites are the REI Sahara pants which feature thin fabric, stated protection and the ability to zip off the legs of the trousers, below the knees. Which in most situations (other than extreme heat) is tres nerdy.  I wear them long when in the sun for all the reasons we've already covered but I sometime zip off the lower legs when I'm somewhere with cool air so they can help me lower my core temperature. I hide behind my sunglasses while doing so.

That covers the middle but don't forget the top and the bottom of the package. You know you need a hat. But it's not the time for a beaver pelt, Stetson, Open Road hat. They don't breathe at all and they insulate your head like crazy. You'll fry your brains! You need a good bucket hat or, God forfend, something like a wide brim Tilley-esque hat. Something that casts shade on your face and especially the tops of your ears. But also something with some flow through ventilation near the top. 

I have more hats than I have cameras and that's saying something. But a good hat can help keep you cool, will protect your skin and has the added benefit of acting as a lens hood for your own optical system; your eyes. If I'm planning be outside for a long period of time I grab for the hat with the biggest brim in the stack. The bigger the brim the more available shade for your neck and shoulders, and it's just basic science that the less radiant heat you soak up the better you'll feel and the longer you can go. This Summer's favorite is a bucket hat I bought from REI. It's their store brand. I like it because it's very light weight, has a wide enough brim, and the brim is flexible enough to give when I press a camera up to my eye. And about a third the price of a Tilley chapeau. The Billingham bag of hats....

At the other end it seems to make sense to wear sandals but you would be wrong. On a nasty hot day you have too much danger of getting parts of those naked feet burnt to blisters by the sun. But another consideration is the surfaces you'll be walking across. If you are spending a lot of time on pavement or, even worse, asphalt, you'll find that the ground beneath your feet has done an exemplary job of soaking up heat. Especially black top. A sturdy pair of hiking shoes or mid-weight hiking boots is actually the optimum tool for the job. The thicker soles do a better job of insulating you from the pavement. The thicker soles slow the heat transfer way down. Long term your feet will get less hot even though that seems counter-intuitive. Plus good, enclosed shoes are better for stomping on scorpions or accidentally stepping on broken glass or nails. 

7. With extreme heat comes extreme UV radiation so it almost goes without saying that you should cover any exposed skin with a good sunscreen. Even the parts of your face that exist under your bucket hat. Remember, there is such a thing as reflection. You might even consider using a reflective umbrella. Create our own, wider shade...

8. Plan your activities with an eye to accessing cooling interior spaces. If you start to get too hot take refuge in a hotel lobby, a library, a museum or a coffee shop. On the days where my planning is off and my immediate feeling is that I've bitten off more than I can chew (heat-wise) I make a straight line to the W Hotel. They have a cool lobby and it's rare anyone is there. I mean, in the lobby. In the winter I sometimes go in for a ridiculously expensive coffee but I don't mind the price since I consider that I'm offsetting my taking advantage of their largess in the Summer months. Twenty or thirty minutes of cooling, along with a good act of re-hydration, can literally be a lifesaver. And if you feel as though you can't go on you've got a nice place to wait for a car share ride back to your vehicle.

I've got downtown planned out so I'm rarely more than 800 yards from some refuge from the heat. You should plan for that too.

9. Park your car in the shade. Put up the windshield sunscreen. If you can't find a shady spot or there are no shady spots then go ahead, piss away the money, and park in a garage. You'll be much happier if you come back to a warm car rather than a raging inferno of a car interior. And your car will thank you for at least temporarily reducing the heat stress. If it's hot for more than a week be sure to monitor your car's battery. Heat is one of the biggest causes of premature battery death. And being stuck somewhere when the temperatures are hitting the danger zone is absolutely no fun.

10. This is my final number and a catchall for everything else. 

Don't bring along a lot of black metal. Like that enormous, black metal Benro tripod I own. The metal soaks up heat like a sponge and transfers it efficiently back to your waiting hands. Ditto black light stands, etc. Leave all that stuff at home. You'll quickly get too tired to carry it as you spend more time in the inclement heat. It has a way of draining energy from even the most disciplined workers. Same with black hats, black backpacks and the like.

Walk slower. You don't have to walk in slow motion but if you usually walk at a brisk pace tone it down about bit because every added bit of speed takes its toll on the body. Find a pace that's comfortable instead of competitive. It might take a bit longer to get anywhere but with street photography and what not isn't the journey the important thing? I walk a about sixteen minutes per mile in comfortable weather. I measured last Sunday when it was near 110° and my pace was about 25 minutes per mile. For about a mile. Before I realized that walking in that dangerous stew of heat and humidity might kill me. 

Always tempting somewhere along the route to stop in some where for a cold, frosty beer. Normally I'd be right there with you but in extreme heat that brewski will dehydrate you at the speed of light. And the affects of the alcohol will be enhanced. But if we're talking extreme conditions it's the exact time that you need all your wits about you because the heat saps your attention and your reasoning skills. 

Finally, if you start to feel bad get into someplace out of the heat and get help right away. Heat kills far, far more people every year than even the worst cold. Quick action saves lives. And, if you want to be a good guy, be sure to keep an eye on all those people around you, watching for signs of heat exhaustion and other distress. Your quick action might save, or at least improve, some stranger's life. 

Also.....finally, finally, don't take your dogs out in this. The pavement will torture their paws and they don't shed heat nearly as efficiently as humans. Taking Rover out in an urban heat jungle is just cruel. 

Bring an extra battery for the camera. The heat affects them too. Keep your cameras cool enough so the lubricants in the lenses don't vaporize and coat the internal elements. That'll save you money. 

Be careful out there. And, if this is a wildly unusual circumstance for you then you have my empathy and my sympathy. Go slow and stay in the shade. And have that water bottle handy. 

all done for now. 

Reading the blog on small iPads. Hmmm.

 One of my readers wrote to ask about the readability of the blog on an iPad. I'll take a stab at answering but I probably need some additional info from other readers who have a successful time reading the fonts on their iPads. 

As I understand it, Blogger, who hosts the blog and provides templates for content creation, makes several formats available. One is formatted for traditional desktop viewing and another is set up for iOS or phone operating systems. The iPad uses iOS as its operating system so the hope is that the iPad automatically gets the slimmed down version with font sizes optimized for viewing on the smaller screen. 

When I open VLS on my phone it seems to automatically select the right format and it is readable even on my small phone screen (10XR). 

There might be an icon up in the bar with the URL that one can click to switch between systems or formats. 

Can someone who uses an iPad to read the blog respond and flesh this explanation out a bit?

Thanks, Kirk

Thanking Phil for pushing me to research the intent of the T-shirts in a previous post.

 Turns out it's anti-Joe Biden, anti-Liberal, hate thing promulgated by the reich-wing here in the USA. You can Google the t-shirt slogan if you want more info. I'd suggest you not bother.

I'm not a fan of fascism or child indoctrination in hate speech so as soon as I researched this I raced back to the blog and deleted those images. 

Sorry to not have done my research sooner. 

I have friends on both sides of the aisle but I draw the line at nasty hate speech and adolescent innuendo. 

Reasonable people can disagree but there it is. Ageism is just as nasty as rascism. 

thanks for the push Phil. 

Revisiting the Panasonic G9. Diving a bit deeper with the Panasonic/Leica 42.5 "Nocticron". And embracing today's dry heat.

Walked. Shot. Posted. 

 

An unedited, editorial style, street portrait.

 

couple on Sixth St. at 2:00 pm today.

Panasonic G9 + Pana/Leica 42.5mm f1.2

Brain fried after a week of retouching and compositing portrait files for two different clients. Be careful what you bid....

 Ab Astris Winery. Grape Harvest. Summer 2021.

Camera: Sigma fp

Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f2.8

Over the last several weeks I had a couple of clients who really wanted to get a bunch of environmental portraits done of their people. When I talked to the people requesting the photos they each suggested that they really liked environmental shots done either outdoors or in various locations that were indoors but showed the outdoors through windows. 

When we first started talking the temperatures in Austin were already stultifying. In fact, we just set a new record last week for the highest average temperatures in a seven day week. Our average temperature (coolest night time and hottest daytime - averaged) was 92.5° Fahrenheit. Over the last week, during working hours, the high temps ranged from 110° and 105°. And we are not living in a super dry desert; we bundle the heat with the humidity for heat indexes as high as 115°. 

After talking to both sets of clients I realized we needed to deal with two different issues. One client wanted all outdoor shots and the heat made that ... inadvisable. No matter where we shot in Austin anyone in work clothes would have to get to a good location and there were none we know of (or that the client liked) where someone could drive up in an un-air conditioned car, hop out, get photographed in a few minutes and then leap back into the comfort of their still running vehicle and drive away. So we needed a solution for shooting exterior Texas location portraits without dragging employees into the great, baking outdoors. Otherwise I'd need to take a crash course in retouching sweat covered faces and melting make-up. 

The solution I presented was to photograph each employee against a light, neutral background, in an air conditioned space, and then drop them into a previously shot image from one of the environmental backgrounds we all agreed we liked. So that's the way I photographed them. A bunch of people on soft white seamless and then a bunch of actual location backgrounds from a quasi corporate location. I brushed off the whole process of doing convincing composites as being "easy as pie"; especially when armed with the new selection tools in PhotoShop. 

With the second group we didn't have to discuss much to get them "on the bus" when it came to photographing everyone inside. In fact, it worked well for them because they had their annual board meeting at a local hotel and were happy to rent an extra conference room there and schedule all of their people into a four hour time chunk of time. The bigger challenge was getting a good selection of background images that represented corporate environments and which would also read well when made out-of-focus so we could keep the attention on the human subjects. 

The shoots came off without much of a hitch. I did learn one thing that was interesting to me. I've heard for years from other photographers that some lenses are just too sharp to use when taking portraits. I never really experienced that, or believed that, before. But with both of these portrait sessions, just days apart, I used the new (to me) Panasonic/Leica 42.5mm f1.2 short telephoto lens on the new GH6. Okay. The lens is too sharp for portraiture. When I opened the files in Photoshop they revealed every nook and cranny and every pore on every face. In the raw conversions the preset for sharpening is something like +40. I had to set the sharpening during raw conversion to "off" (or zero). Anything else was just cruel. 

I've been making portraits of people on locations for .... decades. I have that part of the process down. But the part that's relatively new to me is compositing something like 32 different people's images onto a collection of backgrounds of office interiors, industrial exteriors and general corporate environments. 

I bid a day to do the post production work on the second job. It took two full days of sitting in front of my computer fixing double chins, getting rid of layer matting, matching colors and general contrasts, and even just trying out a certain background with a certain person and quickly realizing that the two images just didn't resonate well with each other --- which sent me back to the "selected backgrounds" folder to try a few other options instead. 

I'd never really admit it to a client but a lot of the time was spent using the liquify tools to take the appearance of weight off various subjects. That, and fixing double chins were the two most time intensive parts of the process but I'm happy to let people believe that I'm just really good at lighting them well. I never really want to explain just how much retouching actually gets done on some photographs. It would be borderline cruel. 

I delivered the files to both clients this week. The bigger job just went out yesterday, at the end of the work day. I took a few notes:

I'll never bid a project with intensive post processing without first testing the procedures I'm going to use first, and keeping track of just how much time each image will take. Especially the worst case scenarios. I thought I could ballpark it but I guessed wrong. I'm also out of practice at sitting still for long periods of time and my attention would wander over to that newish pair of hiking boots in the corner....and the lovely camera and lens on the edge of my desk. And that hot dusty trail that might need human company...

So, why would I put myself through this work stuff? Why not just stop working and retire? Hmm. When you've built a client base and have been successful at raising prices to at least keep up with inflation there's always the lure of potentially living from your cash flow. You may have saved up a huge nest egg of cash and you may have done so well that you'll never run out, but if you've been running a business for decades, and living completely from the cash flow that the business generates, then actually accessing your own savings instead is a new and painful process that has (yet) to be mastered. And I'm not about to learn this new trick yet. Especially when the markets are down.

I know my brain well enough that I can almost hear the little hamster wheel spin when I think about which jobs to accept and which ones to pass on. Knowing our family's general burn rate and also my general tolerance, or intolerance, for being trapped by scheduled work I'm always looking for jobs that can be completed in three days or less which have the potential to return enough in fees to cover one month of our minimum burn rate. If I can consistently do three days (or a few more) in a month and hit the needed budget then that's one more month that retirement investments can remain in their accounts and create more future money. "Photographers become exhausted. Their money never gets tired of working...." (Robert Adams).

The balance is to find the types of jobs, and the clients who have the jobs, that provide a good working base. The other part of the balance is to get rid of the clients whose jobs you don't enjoy, who don't want to pay what you need to offset your burn rate with the least amount of long term work or commitment. 

Next time I'll know to bid more on the post processing part of a job. It's part of the ever-present segment of the learning curve. 

Oh, and next time I shoot a portrait for a client I'll find a less over-achieving lens with which to do it.

The Nocticron is great for shooting gritty, contrasty, ultra sharp art portraits and photos but there's no instance in which I would describe it as "flattering." 

Learning to live well with the heat. Or in spite of the heat. Pray for our fellow humans in the UK. They are about to experience the same kind of intense heat wave but, for the majority, without the gift of air conditioning.... Yikes.

Morning out with a Leica TL2 and the Sigma 24mm f3.5 lens; complete with an L mount...

 

automation comes to Barton Springs Pool. 

Pre-purchasing tickets speeds up the line to get in. 

Having a pool pass makes things even quicker.

It's a little after noon and the heat index is already at 109°. That's okay. I got out earlier this morning when it was still a brisk and cool 90°. Complete with a refreshing four mile per hour breeze --- but only if you were walking a 15 minute per mile pace...

As reflects my ever advancing chronological age I was able to park in front of Barton Springs Pool courtesy of my newly acquired "Senior Season Pool Pass." It's good for free admission to all of the Austin public pools and an added bonus is a hang-tag for the car that gives the holder free parking as well. Double bonus. 

I wanted to walk before noon because my TL2 came to me in a dream during the night (I blame the full moon) and indicated that I wasn't using it enough. It felt neglected. I can understand. There are only so many days in a week and there are so many cameras that need walking around. So after early swim practice and a meager first breakfast I put on some long pants, grabbed a big hat, slapped on some sunscreen and headed out the door. Oh yeah. I also took the TL2 outfitted with Sigma's dandy little 24mm f3.5 Contemporary lens. A far more amiable package than the Art series 24mm 1.4 and the big SL2. 

I really liked being able to park near the pool since it's on the hike and bike trail around Lady Bird Lake. It's a good spot to start a walk from and an even better end point for a long walk on a hot day. 

I've gotten better at dealing with cameras that have no eye level finders or EVFs. I even had luck today shooting in bright sunlight. I guess it's a matter of training oneself. It's not my preferred way of shooting but it's not as odious a routine as I once suggested. Either that or rear LCD panels have gotten a lot better. 

A quick shot before starting my walk. Pool attendance was brisk today. 

And remember, if you want to come and swim laps for free you can do so between 

five a.m. and eight a.m. It's not crowded then either. But there are no 

guards and there are no underwater lights. Keep clear of the sides 

in the dark so the snakes don't get you......

One silver lining to the tremendous heat is that as the day goes along

there is less and less traffic on the walking trails. 

funny. That building wasn't there last time I looked...

I am enjoying the colors I get out of the .DNG files from the TL2

They are also very easy to work with in post. Lots of D.R.

Just on the other side of the bridge is the spot where a garbage truck driver 

tried to take the curve too fast and lost control of his huge vehicle. It skidded over

the curb and right into the hike and bike trail just as then governor, George Bush, was jogging by the same spot with his security entourage. The truck missed him by "that much."

And now we'll never know what history would have been like if we hadn't been 

manipulated into attacking Iran's arch-enemy, Iraq. Only to find that,

just like voter fraud, there were no weapons of mass destruction....

Thanks George. It's a Wonderful Life.

The 24mm lens and the TL2 body work seamlessly together. 

The angle of view is much like that of a 35mm on a full frame camera.

At the end of a long walk I was hot, tired, covered with sweat and a bit drained from the heat. But since I parked across from the pool and I had a brand new pass I.D. card in the car, I tossed my camera, wallet and pocket junk into the car (don't ever try this in San Francisco...), grabbed my swim pass and headed into the pool. Minutes later I slid into the 68° water and could actually feel my core temperature dropping minute by minutes. Once I felt good and cold I got dressed and headed back to the neighborhood on the daily search for coffee. Oh, and a blueberry bran muffin. Second breakfast. Now heading for lunch...

My first attempts with the Leica TL2 were misguided. I tend to treat every camera as I would a professional camera. I expect to spend time intervening in the settings, carefully examining the frames, adding my input where I felt it was appropriate. But the TL2 isn't like a Nikon D850 or even a Leica CL. It's really designed, I think, to be about as welcoming of "outside" instruction as a cellphone or an artist. 

I've decided that the optimal way to use the TL2 is to consider it a smartphone without any telephony capability. You trade the ability to make phone calls and trade on the stock market for a bigger sensor and interchangeable lenses but your approach to this camera should be the same as your approach to your iPhone. Wake the camera up, point it at the subject you'd like to capture, half press the shutter button to focus and then....commit. 

I have my TL2 now set up to shoot Raw+Jpeg Fine. AWB. S-AF. Single Frame. Auto-ISO. I point, make sure the green square lights up and then shoot. That's it. I never check a histogram but that's because I permanently have the camera set for minus two thirds of a stop with the exposure compensation. I figure if the frame is too dark I can easily fix it in post. This is, for all intents and purposes, a point and shoot camera; the iPhone of mini-cameras, etc. If you want to be more serious in your pursuits you might want to consider something more festooned with controls.

At some point my obvious contrarian nature will rear up and present itself by taking this small camera (with no finder) and putting the biggest and most expensive lens on the front of it. Something that absolutely dwarfs this little box. Then I will attempt to shoot a big and complex project with the odd and totally counterintuitive pairing. Stay tuned. 

For now I'm getting comfortable learning to enjoy this little camera in the way I think it was designed to be operated --- and enjoyed.

Also learning to ignore (for the most part) the heat and get on with life. It's all a mindset.