If you could nail exposure and all the basic settings when shooting color transparency film (slides) and you didn't lose the frame in the chemical processing the results could be quite good. On par for use online with the best of the current digital cameras. It's an awkward realization; for sure.
12.26.2022
Photos of a restaurant serving up a ton of pink-ness. And thoughts about the positive role of friction in our modern lives.
I saw an interesting lecture this morning on one of the psychology channels. It was very insightful about what causes depression, anxiety, and sadness in very affluent, modern cultures. To distill it down to its essence, the program's idea was that humans have evolved to work best when they are challenged. Really challenged. Food, shelter, safety and defenses from precarious, life-threatening situations. They did not evolve to be passive and bored. If you have free time and you are unchallenged you start looking for external things to engage with. What we really need are authentic and meaningful challenges. But for most of us in the most affluent societies we've lost the thread.
Our jobs are mostly routine, our lives safe and our extra time and energy is channeled into pursuits that give us momentary dopamine hits which serve to take the place of authentic challenges. We play video games, watch kinetic, action movies, watch videos, and then, afterwards the dopamine wears off and we need another hit. Again and again. Until we no longer get the same reaction at which point we become anxious, depressed, unsettled, suicidal, distraught and on the prowl for something or anything that will once again give us that dopamine high.
What we've lost in most of our pursuits is a natural challenge that gives up a healthy dose of real accomplishment. Like a sine wave our modern lives bounce back and forth from apathy to unhealthy experiential addictions from which we inevitably come back down from in a funk. This got me thinking about why some of us use cameras that are more difficult to master; harder to use. We seem to need a certain amount of friction, or push back from life to work against in order to do our best work. Our meaningful work.
When I rail against a camera that can focus at the speed of light on anything, at any velocity I think what my brain is really trying to say is: They made this far too easy and in doing so sucked out the emotional value that is inevitably introduced by the struggle. Some of us need a level of external resistance to an exercise or effort in order to do our best work. If everything falls easily in place for us we don't feel as though we've accomplished much and the value of the work suffers in our own eyes.
It's almost like the dichotomy of Watching a movie on TV with the remote in one hand and a cold beer in the other versus sitting down and working on a difficult project that requires total engagement. Finish the movie and you feel a bit let down and start looking for the next movie in the hope that it will be the game-changing program you yearn for. Finish writing a novel, printing a photo essay that is meaningful to you or volunteering for Meals on Wheels and you feel a sense of accomplishment that sticks with you and builds real satisfaction instead of a transitory dopamine bump. Sometimes a dopamine hit with an adrenaline chaser.
It's interesting to see research that shows far fewer mental health issues or issues about life satisfaction in most of the poorer (but not the poorest) countries when compared to the most affluent countries. For a while young adults from Switzerland, one of the most affluent societies in our world, had the highest rates of suicide anywhere. Seems that having everything and lacking real challenge in life is a bit soul sapping.
It's widely noted that men who retired from jobs they found to be challenging and at which they excelled by making prodigious efforts at mastery tend to die quickly if they retire into lives of leisure. Lives with no defined and authentic challenges attached.
Some say that youth is wasted on the young which I always took to mean that crotchety old men would love to have the benefits of youth because they would know how best to leverage said benefits. It's becoming more obvious that many wouldn't escape their own youth in good mental health if those formative years weren't at least somewhat filled with the usual challenges and disappointments. Perhaps the assurance of a cushy safety net trades a set of advantages with a bucket full of its own downsides.
Maybe having everything handed to us doesn't make our lives better but sets us up for an addiction to shallow external rewards that are unhappy exactly because they are basically unearned. No pain, no gain?
Having to make hard choices instead of easy ones might be the secret to personal and artistic growth.
How often have I heard people I grew up and worked with for decades talk about how, after they retired, they would pursue their photography with gusto only to see that when the opportunity to stop working occurs the inspiration and resolve don't come along for the ride. The law practice or medical practice or entrepreneurship was a way of building financial nest eggs that would eliminate the friction of doing photography. Why? Because my friends could throw money at any part that was hard. They might try to shortcut their learning process by becoming addicted to workshops and paid, one-on-one mentoring instead of the more painful but effective approach of learning through hands on trial and error.
The learning seems to stick best if it's glued snuggly into the brain by failures. Try and fail at a technique nine times and two things happen by the tenth (and first successful) trial. One is that whatever thing you finally learn is much better wired into your brain than if you are handed a bulletproof solution at the outset. Second, you traded blood, sweat and tears and got back discipline, skill and purpose instead. None of which need an additional endorphin dose to enjoy. It's good to take the middle way between the pleasure and pain to enjoy a more fulfilling life.
You probably know someone that bounces from adventure to adventure. From a first wife to a progression of wives. From bungee jumping to sky-diving. Motorcycle racing to mountain climbing. They are constantly on the prowl for excitement but when you really engage them you find they are sad, and the experiences empty. Mostly because they could afford the seamless indulgence of whatever exciting thing they wanted to pursue at the time. There was no friction. No real investment in the process.
Friction might slow you down. That might be a good thing.
On the simplest level, and relating this to our photography, the very pursuit of the camera that makes taking photographs the easiest might be the thing that degrades our own satisfaction with the pursuit. If it was more difficult to do the hobby or art or work the friction might just be the thing that warms you up to the task. Diligent discovery time from behind the viewfinder pays off with experience and is the sole component that eventually delivers to the user a personal style.
Pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin. A constant pursuit of pleasure is no less damaging than any other, conventional, addiction. And constant pain is the opposite but equal problem. Working with purpose and diligence seems to be the antidote for our angst. It's seems to be the middle way.
Buying cameras relentlessly is part of the endorphin cycle. So is endlessly watching videos that might teach us something we don't know about photography. You always have to ask yourself: To what end?
An interesting video with some good takeaways. Not everything should be easy. Maybe the pursuit of ease and efficiency is our modern trap. Or maybe we're just living in the matrix and it's the way we're programmed.
12.25.2022
Merry Christmas! Five wonderful things photography provides that don't have anything to do with the "magical powers" of any specific camera or lens.
12.24.2022
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, Happiest Holidays, and, if non-aligned, a wonderful time with family and friends.
Many years ago we used to do a yearly holiday card to our photography clients. I'd send out printed cards to about 250 people on our mailing list. Of all the cards we ever sent this one (above) was the most popular. Ben was about a year old and his mom (VSL Chairperson = B) created the wings while I took the photos. We used a primitive copy of Photoshop (1.0?) to do a bit of retouching but in 1996 the capture was definitely on film. And we weren't savvy enough at the time to composite anything so most of the heavy lifting was done in the camera.
The card was very well received. In fact, my favorite story about it came over ten years later when I got a call from a person at Dell, Inc. who wanted to hire me for a project. I asked how I came to her attention and she told me I'd sent the card to someone else at Dell, she liked it and asked the person if she could have it at the end of the season. She said it was then pinned to a spot on her work cubicle wall for ten years until she found the "perfect" project to share with me. I was amazed. A ten year shelf life!
Anyway, you, my VSL readers, seem like family and I wanted to share something for the holidays from 25+ years ago. I also want to thank you.
I appreciate that you show up here, mostly ignore my spelling and grammatical errors, forgive me (mostly) if you think I'm on the wrong side of the political spectrum, disagree with my diatribes, and think my ever changing equipment choices range from insane to diabolically misguided. And I'm amazed that after all that you still take the time to read, comment, agree and disagree. Your attention to my daily writing about photography is the ONLY thing that makes the blog work. That makes writing something every day worthwhile to me.
I no longer consider you to be a "reader." I've come to think of you as friends I haven't met yet.
I know it's been a tough year for some and a decent year for others. Photography is the glue that holds us together. And it's been another great year for photography. In that arena I've been having a blast. And it's twice as much fun because I can share the journey with you.
The holidays are upon us. My goal is to ratchet down the stress for anyone I can. More naps. More walks. More quiet coffees. More time to read. Less arguing. And my tiny present to you is that I'm going to write my way through the next couple of weeks so we have nice continuity. I'll have a reason to sit and think and then write (although sometimes I get that backwards....) and I hope I'll provide you with a little diversion with a fun or interesting read accompanied by a few choice images. Something to enjoy over coffee in the mornings.
May you get everything you wish for. May you wish for stuff that's really cool. We all have enough. So be sure to share.
With my warmest regards to all of you! - Kirk
A neat trick for driving ardent Leica enthusiasts crazy.....
Yeah. Just stick a current 35mm Leica Summilux ASPH on the front of an ancient EPL-2 Olympus camera and watch the knit eyebrows of judgement quiver.
It's a fun game to play but it can get expensive pretty quickly: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/720355-USA/Leica_11663_35mm_f_1_4_Summilux_M_Aspherical.html
I mostly used the 35mm Summilux on M cameras like this one:
12.23.2022
Strolling in the afternoon. So much to see.
Just a few more images on the day before the day before Christmas.
It's the night before the night before Christmas and I'm out casual-shopping with a camera and no real agenda.
It's been a strange December. Usually I'm busy and behind all month long but this year I finished early and got my shopping done quick. We were stuck at home last night to vigilantly tend to the precautions surrounding the Arctic Blast. Dripping interior faucets, meticulously wrapped exterior faucets, conscientious wrapping of plants, moving space heaters into the spots where the central heating is clearly under performing. So today, after a dermatologist performed a quick surgery on my shutter finger (not kidding!) I got back "on the horse" to make sure that finger could still trigger the shutter release on a camera. Of course I couldn't do that at home. I had to have a "real world" test. So I headed back over to S. Congress and pretended to be shopping when I really just wanted colorful stuff to photograph.
The digit still works. The freezing temperatures are novel but wear on one quickly. One more thing checked off the pre-Christmas list. Quick procedure does not impinge on finger performance.
I hope all my friends across the vast expanse of the Western Hemisphere are tucked in some place safe and warm tonight. And that they go to sleep dreaming about making incredible photographs with their favorite cameras. It's cold here. I can only imagine the frosty hellscape further north. Be safe. Stay warm. Drink lots of coffee.
Today's finger therapy camera was the new (to me) Leica Q2. It functioned well in spite of the chilly weather. More tomorrow.
12.22.2022
If I could only have one camera which one would it be?
12.20.2022
The world can seem blurry until you've had that first, perfect cup of coffee in the morning...
Coffee prep. The "pour over." Leica SL + 50mm TTArtisan f0.95. Not sharp until after the first dose.
New Shoes. Starting out the next year on the right foot. Or the left...
My favorite shoes for all day walking around are just about anything from Keen. These Targhee iii casual walking shoes were on sale for half price. I couldn't resist. I get about two years of wear out of most hiking shoes. I tend to put on a lot of miles and very few of them on smooth floors or carpeting. The soles eventually wear down. Resoling them isn't very cost effective. I'm not even sure it can be down. But this brand is one of the few with enough arch support and good tread to make me comfortable and happy.
After wearing this new pair around for a week I could kick myself for not ordering a second pair at that price. It's a good practice to rotate through your hiking shoes to keep them from wearing down too quickly. Also, letting them sit a day or two after a long day's service lets the absorbing materials regain their loft for the next foray.
I think we have three more days of good swim weather until Thursday afternoon brings the deep freeze to town. I made the most of today's swim. Attendance was sparse for the noon workout but that meant the three of us who showed up had more personalized coaching. Thursday morning's pre-storm workout should be packed.
And for the those brilliant readers who follow swimming... I was excited to see Brendan Hanson on the pool deck today. He was giving a one on one coaching session to a lucky high school swimmer. I listened carefully between my sets....
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Brendan Joseph Hansen |
National team | United States |
Born | August 15, 1981 (age 41) Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
Weight | 189 lb (86 kg) |
Sport | |
Sport | Swimming |
Strokes | Breaststroke |
Club | Longhorn Aquatics |
College team | University of Texas |
show Medal record Brendan Joseph Hansen (born August 15, 1981) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a former world record-holder in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events (long course). He won a total of twenty-five medals in major international competition, eighteen gold, four silver, and three bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, and the Pan Pacific Championships. He was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and won the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke and a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics. |