Making new friends on Sixth Street.

 

"Casino"

I was out leisure walking with a small camera and a wide angle lens yesterday. It was late afternoon and even though Autumn would officially arrive the next day it was hot. Blazing hot. Another in an endless series of high pressure systems has parked itself over Texas. Again. 

But if you are acclimated then 100+ degree temperatures are no impediment to the intention of a good walk. You just have to wear cooler clothes and a better hat. And it helps to bring along a smaller and lighter camera and lens. Not the kind of day that's conducive to sliding under a black dark cloth behind an 8x10 inch field camera. 

I was strolling down the shadow side of Sixth St. when I passed by this guy (on the right) taking a cigarette break outside his bar and grill. The place is called "El Camino" and it's a classic Sixth St. establishment specializing in food and adult drinks, along with live music. 

He asked me what I was photographing and I stopped to tell him about my 35 year-long project of documenting our changing downtown. We got to talking and found that we had a lot of Austin history in common. Of course I asked if I could take his portrait and he was all in. 

After I shot a bunch of frames he invited me into the bar and gave me the full on tour. It's a visually fun interior and I loved it. He invited me in for a burger and beer at any time. On the house! I guess I was looking like I might need a free meal, what with the sloppy clothes and me meandering around in the heat. 

I will try the burgers. I like trying new places and I like making new friends. Seems fun. 

Yesterday's adventure was documented with a Leica CL camera and one of the TTArtisan 17mm f1.4 lenses. I'm sure I was shooting around f 4.0 for this shot. But you never know. Might have been f 2.8. Not that it matters. 

In honor of Michael Johnston's latest dive into monochrome-only cameras this image started life as a black and white Jpeg and ended up as a black and white Jpeg. No potential for a retreat into the warm and comfortable bossom of color for this photograph....

Taking a look back as I work on a new style and new projects. Nothing particularly interesting to talk about today. I'll let the photos carry on the conversation. Amazing how many different cameras are represented here.

Canon 5mk2, Canon 1DS mk2, Canon 1Dmk3, Nikon D800, Nikon D2H, Nikon D810, Fuji XH-1, Fuji XT3, A Contax G2, Various Leicas, Hasselblad film cameras, Rollei MF film cameras, Samsung Galaxy GX,  Phase One, iPhone, Olympus PenFT film camera, Olympus EP series cameras, Panasonic GH cameras, Sony New-7 and various other Sonys, and more.  

I'm taking a few days off here to relax and play. We're photographing live theater at Esther's Follies tomorrow. Got some portraits to do on Friday but I'm just coasting through to the end of the month. No big trajectory yet figured out. Just swimming, fun shooting, dinners with friends and other chilled out activities... enjoy the snaps.