Down Time. That gap between "too busy" and "lost in the void."

 

Success with the Nikon 20mm f2.8 Af lens and the SL2.

December without a deadline or a map. This is not something new that's happened to me while thinking about retiring from the drudgery jobs of photography. Nope. This is a malaise that happens every December. Like clockwork. I finish up all the last minute jobs, all the billing, all the studio organizing and I then confront that there are no guardrails, no deadlines, no "must have/must do/must deliver" constraints to give form and boundaries for my everyday. From December 15th to around January 15th it's like entering an episode of the Twilight Zone where everyone is relentlessly busy around you and yet you are able to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, read the news and reviews, make plans for lunch and even look, ruefully, at how your stock market investments are faring. (Do yourself a favor --- don't bother to look this week...). 

I'm looking for a non-work project for the next month. 

What engages me right now? Spraying mold and mildew killer on the beautiful stone wall that runs across one edge of our property to keep the mold from destroying the integrity of the stones. This morning I looked ahead at the weather reports and took note of an upcoming spell of really cold (for Austin) weather. Predicted overnight temperatures in the low 20s. But the weather men did such a poor job with last year's predictions that I'm preparing for Deep Freeze Armageddon, Part II. 

I've ordered a covey of Plankets. These are blankets or covers for plant beds and bushes. I'll start "planketing" the landscaping this coming Tuesday; a few days ahead of the anticipated deep freezes. I've already had a service out to re-weather strip all of the doors on the house (too many!) and we replaced all the windows earlier in the year with stout, double, and in some areas triple, paned windows. We should be good but I always worry that the water pipes from the city's street side to the house itself are not buried deep enough. I'll pay special attention to the outside faucets and known weak spots for water delivery...

With that in mind we just had the 30+ year old water shut-off valve replaced by our favorite plumber. My first "pro-active" plumbing initiative --- but I saw what happened to people's houses the last time the deep freeze hit and they struggled to get the water turned off.....

On the photography side I'm trying valiantly to come up with some over-arching project I will want to work on for the next year or so. I have the time and the cameras but now I need to do that deep dive into my own brain to try and ferret out what it is I really want to do. It's harder than it seems. But I know I won't spend the next 30+ years playing golf, getting fat and giving up. 

I love making portraits. Covid threw me for a loop in that regard but once we finally emerge from our current pattern of sine wave-like increases and decreases in rates of community infection I think we'll get the process of making personal portraits straightened out too. 

Funny that I most like to do portraits which are a slow and considered thing to do and yet I keep buying cameras and lenses that are more geared to street photography than anything else. I'm pretty sure it's some level of boredom with the constraints of in-person, studio photography that motivate my camera purchases but most of the gear is so good I could press it into service for just about anything.

The harder I push to discover my "big" project the more elusive it seems to become. Sometimes I get so frustrated I consider giving up and becoming a novelist instead. But this time around I'll do a better job with editing. Or at least I'd like to think so. 

But as I said at the top. This is a perennial void/gap/malaise that happens each year as we reach the end and everything slows down. By the end of February I predict we'll be back to happily "too busy." 

The photos below are from the Q2. It's a marvelous camera. Can't wait for the 40mm or 50mm version. Easy sale here.

No theological ambiguity here. Not on this truck...

would it really kill the window designer to dress her up for the holidays?

Just reflecting on the current state of my photography. (ha. ha.)

Just a prevention note. I know these are the times when everyone is supposed to gather together with family and friends and celebrate with gusto but... the Covid numbers are rising again just about everywhere and the disease is no less icky and virulent than before. If you really don't have to jam into crowded restaurants and bars maybe taking a pass is a good thing. You may think you look dorky wearing that KN95 mask on the flight home to see the (aging) parents but won't you feel really good about yourself if you don't inadvertently kill off members of your family when you arrive bearing gifts .... and more?

Finally, would it really be such a hassle to wear that mask in the grocery stores? Especially if there is a long line of people ahead and behind you sniffling and coughing? Maybe it's not just the Covid you'll be dodging but also the flu, colds, RSV and so much more. Worth a bit of risk and reward analysis. Don't you think? 

And for all those rationalizing that they've already had C-19 so.....  Please remember you can catch all this stuff again. Well maybe not the seasonal flu --- that seems to be a one and done deal for each year, but our old friend Covid is the "gift" that keeps on giving...

Go buy yourself something fun and let's keep moving forward. 

Rare Fuji Camera Spotted Yesterday Downtown!!!

 I only got a quick look but it sure seemed to me as if the camera was one of the elusive Fuji X100V cameras that have been back-ordered across the country for something like over half a year. I saw this guy out photographing on the sidewalks which is very rare these days. I walk a lot. I see few people with "real" cameras. 

This, of course, gives me hope that one day in the future we'll all have the option of whether or not we'd like to buy and take possession of one of these rare "unicorn" point and shoot cameras. They are actually a good product for $1399. I don't feel the same when I see ads on Ebay and even Amazon for $2500 and up...

Global supply chain disruption still at work? I guess. 

Sales guy at the local camera store said they got in two recently which almost started a fight between the sales people anxious to deliver a much sought after camera to "their" best customers. The two units didn't even make a tiny dent in the store's massive waiting list. 

Also noting that Q2s have been in short supply lately. Wild stuff. 

I wonder if several camera makers are about to drop new products on us and are using the supply side issue to clear inventories. I'll leave all that to the rumor sites.

Morning stroll. A visual treasure found on S. Congress Ave.

Twenty five years ago S. Congress Ave. was home to hookers and drug dealers. Not a month went by without a representative from you know which party being arrested for soliciting prostitution. The street was lined with fleabag hotels and adult video stores. All that is gone now. Replaced by a Hermes shop, designer eyeglasses shops, trendy restaurants, expensive Texas boot stores and the usual mix of over-priced fashion retailers. But two of the motels from the old days remain. 

One is the Austin Motel and the other is the San José Hotel. Both have been transformed into expensive, boutique motels which cater to a decidedly more upscale audience. 

I walked by the Austin Motel this morning and started seeing all kinds of cool Christmas decor scattered about. There was a sign that invited "everyone" to walk through their alley of decorations. I pulled the lens cap off my languishing camera and started making photographs of the kitcsh-y decorated trees. 

I shot wide for a while and then I used the frame line thingy on the Q2 for tighter, 50mm angle of view shots. It was fun. I can only imagine how cool it looks when all the trees are lit up at night and reflecting off the surface of the water in the swimming pool. I think I'll go back sometime next week just to see...

I got back in time to polish off the remains of the arugula salad with lemon basil dressing I made last night for dinner. I offset the health on over-drive by eating some Jarlsburg cheese and a piece of home made grainy, nutty, dense bread. Toasted. 

The year is winding down. The clients have all had their work delivered to them and their bills sent out. I've actually done nearly all of my shopping but I'm a bit ashamed to admit it's mostly being delivered by Amazon. Now we're in that quiet lead up to Christmas which consists of watching favorite movies, baking stuff for friends, and avoiding parties like the plague. Actually ---- the plague and RSV and the flu. They're all back and according to county data starting to spread quicker and quicker here. 

I think I used up all my motivation to do just about anything but swim, eat and sleep these days. It's not that bad of a pattern to fall into. Maybe I'll pursue this for a month or so. All the while loading fresh batteries into the Q2 and having fun walking around looking at stuff. And swimming. Lots of swimming. 

A throwback to the film days.

 

In the 1990s I did a lot of work for several restaurant trade magazines. A lot of it was super fun. One assignment in particular had me driving to Corpus Christi, Tx. to photograph a piece on the marketing V.P. of the Whataburger hamburger chain. He was a great guy and we spent a lot of time photographing and then visiting some of the stores in the area. After the article ran I got a nice "thank you" letter from the exec and in the envelope was a "V.I.P." card that I could present at any Whataburger restaurant in Texas for whatever I would like to order. That was quite a year for hamburgers. And I loved it because Whataburger was a Texas chain and probably the first fast food/burger restaurant to offer sliced jalapeños on their burgers. I also enjoyed their fresh lettuce, freshly cut onions and decent tomatoes. They delivered a quality product at a price that even non-Leica users could easily afford. 😆

The same exec later sent along a signed and authenticated, Nolan Ryan baseball with strict instructions not to let Ben (then 3 or so) to play with it but to keep it safe until Ben was college bound and then sell it to help pay for school. A very kind gesture! But we still have the baseball....

Another assignment I really enjoyed was doing an article way back then for a trade magazine about Austin's best chefs. I would pack some stuff into my Volkswagen bug and drive over to some of my favorite restaurants to make portraits of the chefs. Things were less.....angsty....back then. We didn't travel with every stitch of gear or a truck load of lights. Not for editorial jobs. And not when we wanted to have fun while working. And we generally just called the subject directly on the phone. No intermediaries needed.

The image above is of a chef named, Alma C. who was working at a local favorite restaurant called, Jeffrey's. Her food was wonderful. She had great credentials but the thing that made her cooking different was her time working in Mexico City. She had a different way of approaching some classic dishes. And she was really nice to work with. 

I called up and we talked over the nuts and bolts of making the portrait and then set a time and date. I lived in the neighborhood so I left all the back-up stuff at home. If something failed I could replace it in five minutes or so (depending on neighborhood traffic..) so no worries there. I could travel light. 

On the appointed afternoon I dragged myself into Jeffrey's bar and decided that would be a good place to make the portrait. I stuck a Hasselblad 500CM and a 150mm lens on my old, scarred tripod and attached the (wired!) sync to a Profoto power pack. I loved using big soft boxes with my flash back then so I set up the light with a 4x6 foot soft box and arranged it where I wanted it. Just the one flash head.

Alma came out from the kitchen and asked me to select between two wardrobe choices. I always liked black so we went with that. She went into the back to change while I pulled out a light meter and checked my flash exposure and my ambient exposure. When she returned we were ready to shoot. 

We laughed. We joked around. We had a pleasant 20-30 minute session and probably only shot 48 images total. Not even enough for a warm up today. I liked the out of focus stuff in the background of the photo and I liked the way the soft light treated Alma's skin. Since I was shooting transparency film I didn't have the opportunity to do the mountains of retouching I see all over the place these days. (And yes, I am guilty of doing a bit of retouching in post routinely these days...).  I needed to get the exposure and color exactly right in camera. 

After I wrapped up the one light and the extension cord, tossed the gear into the nearby car, we shared some red wine and a foie gras appetizer Alma had concocted. Delicious. 

Then I trundled off to Austin Photo Lab and dropped off the four rolls of 12 exposure, medium format transparency film and headed back to the studio to unpack and chill out. As I pulled into the studio parking at the big building filled with studios of all sorts, I saw Michael O'Brien doing one of his classic magazine shoots out on the dis-used railroad tracks on the other side of the parking lot. His team of many assistants was setting up a huge canvas background out in the middle of the field. They were using dozens of sandbags to keep the gusty wind from blowing everything down. 

There was the requisite big softbox, also anchored with about 100 pounds of sandbags, and a Hasselblad on a stout Gitzo tripod. Michael was off to one side conferring with the talent and several art director types. It was such a different production than the one I'd just breezed through. But a different level of budget and final circulation as well. 

My film came back from the lab and it looked fine so I selected my favorites, put them in protective sleeves and headed over to the Federal Express office on 6th St. to send off the package to the magazine editor. 

It was such a mellow shoot. No onsite art direction. No make-up person. No hair dresser. No wardrobe manager. No assistant with a serious and pensive look. No nest of wires and light stands. Just me, a light, a camera and a chef. Ah..... such fun times...

I am nearly impossible to buy holiday presents for. Mea Culpa.

 When I was younger I was always able to make a list of things that I'd like to get as holiday presents. while this sounds selfish the making of lists is a family tradition on my wife's side. they like the idea that they'll be getting something the recipient really wants. And in turn something they really want. And her family has always been frugal; no gift on the list has ever come close to costing $50. They don't buy gifts for everyone in the extended family circle. They put all the names in a random generator and pair up a gift giver with a recipient. Your task, where the family is concerned, is to give the one gift or a carefully curated collection of small gifts to the one person that was chosen for you. When this system was "installed" they also decided that it would be a time saver for the giver and a huge relief for the gift recipient if everyone made lists of things they might like to get. 

As commerce and tech intermingled it became commonplace for each person to include a few links to various things they'd be happy to get which makes it even easier on the gift giver. 

this all sounds very transactional but since the giver never gifts to his own gift giver it eliminates the usual quid pro quo of gift-giving. My wife's family is also very kind and well adjusted and with them it really is the "thought" much more so than the actual value of the gift that matters most. I didn't believe this was possible for the first twenty years of marriage since my own family was hell bent on always keeping track....

In our own nuclear families we still give and get gifts from/for each other but we have adopted list-making to ease the almost mandatory stress of the season. It's hard enough scheduling busy work days without having to intuit and track down the "perfect gift." 

I came up short this year. I just couldn't think of anything I wanted. Since we stopped paying for the big items that people in their 30s, 40s and 50s have to pay for (college, mortgages, elder care, etc.) I've had free rein to buy whatever I want. This creates a burden for B & B since they haven't a clue for what to get dear old dad. They know better than to buy camera gear because: A. It's expensive. B. My tastes change too often. and C. If I really wanted a particular camera/lens/flash/bag etc. I've probably already impulsively run out and bought it. Pretty much in the moment I decided I wanted it.

Most of the books I like to read (almost always novels. don't trust anyone who doesn't enjoy fiction....)  come from the local library. It's fair. We support them with our tax dollars. So books are off the table as gifts. We are largely tech neutral so there are few, if any, gadgets I need or want. 

But I realize that my impulsive and spontaneous embrace of photo gear creates a hardship for my loving family in that it removes a big potential source of gifts. 

We all agree that among a close knit family gift cards are tacky. They are too easy and too impersonal. Lately we've fallen back on the path of least resistance which is to choose charities that we know the target of our giving is aligned with and sending money. 

I kid around and suggest to B & B that they just grab the latest camera to come into the studio, wrap it up and put it under the tree. But not too far in advance of the actual holiday....if it's that new I want to be able to play with it beforehand. 

Mr. B (aka: the kid)  works hard to find stuff. Sometimes it's a pricy bottle of wine I would never splurge on. Other times it's a piece of art he knows I'll like. Ms. B has largely given up and focuses on the donation route. Or the shared entertainment category (concert tickets?).  But lately we've downsized our spend to things like gardening tools for her and chlorine neutralizing, post swim body wash for me. We're remarkably easy to please...

I confess to be mystified by my friends who "over-achieve" in the giving of gifts to close family. things like cars for the adult kids or lavish fashion gifts for husbands and wives. Splashing out for Rolex watches or flashy jewelry. But I guess it's a case of to each their own. 

Every year I notice photo-oriented blogs and websites making giant holiday gift lists aimed at their readers. The links connect back to a legion of affiliated merchants who are set to have a nice fourth quarter administering to people who delayed personal gratification, waiting for the holidays to provide the yearly excuse to be lavish and toss budgets to the wind. I guess this point of view comes from owning a business and seeing cameras, et al, as being depreciable or deductible expenses instead of drags on the family budget. 

But I really wonder if the blogger or  the photo website is the best source of photographic gift recommendations to an audience that spends an inordinate amount to time doing their own research about cool gear....

It's almost sinister to watch the buying pumps being primed by the very people one comes to for balanced information all year long. But perhaps the affiliate cash is earned over the course of the year by providing ready access to free content. 

Is it true then that there is no such thing as a free lunch? Or a free post or review?

It's feels almost obligatory to ask at this point, as a blogger --- but what is it that you really, really want for whichever holiday it is you celebrate with your family? And really, it doesn't have to be photographic.

My biggest "ask" this year is for a perfect pecan pie. I think it's do-able and I'll certainly share. 

How are the holidays treating you? 

It's a tough time of the year for some people. I try my best to be a bit nicer and more patient with people. It seems like a good idea.

Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go wrap some potting soil in a nice box with a bow.

I like the Leica Q2 but I'm still searching to find those "horrible" Jpeg colors all the early reviewers went on and on about..

I added some vignetting in post. Otherwise the files would have been too perfect....

The message here is......coffee.

I'm getting settled with this camera in record time.

I am amazed at how quick it is to work with and how 

wonderful the files look. It just works.