I'm trying to be more social. I read that "older" people tend to get isolated. I went out for a long walk through an old Austin neighborhood with a friend today. I learned about looking at things from an architect's perspective...

this elementary school in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Austin 

was re-named after the famous FSA era photographer, Russell Lee. 

He was an Austinite for many years!

It's odd to try and straddle the gap between working as a photographer and trying to be more focused on photographing for myself instead of clients. When I got an invitation to go out to walk and make images with a friend I knew best from the advertising days I jumped at the chance. I've always known Herman as an architect who was also an ad agency principle but lately he's jumped into photography with both feet. In fact, he just returned from Verona, Italy where he was press checking his first book of his photographic art. ( And, impressive to me, published by Goss Books in London --- not self-published!). File this under: interesting things to do when you retire.

He wanted to walk around and look at student housing in the old neighborhood that's just north of the UT Law School and he thought it would be fun if I tagged along. We met at my house around 11:00 and Herman drove us over to his intended photo area. I decided to take the Leica Q2 with me as I didn't know how far my fellow photographer wanted to walk. I wanted a light package that packed a punch and the Q2 fit the bill perfectly. Added to the nice low size and weight of the camera was the wide angle lens. Kind of important when photographing various pieces of architecture.

My friend was using a Leica M10R and a 35mm Summicron. He used to shoot with a Q but fell in love with the rangefinder. But "perfectionist" that he might be he is also getting up to speed with a 4x5 inch view camera and real film. But not today.

It was fun to walk with someone whose perspective on photographing buildings is all about....perspective. And buildings. He liked to shoot "flat" with the buildings head on while I would approach the same subject matter looking for diagonals and leading lines and not really paying attention to keystoning and other perspective "errors." I'm betting, if we compared images from mostly the same scenes the results would be radically different. Not better or worse but different. 

We seemed a good match. We stopped for lunch at a new, little Mexican food restaurant on Guadalupe, north of campus, walked some more and wrapped up our adventure around 3:15. We covered a lot of ground and covered a lot of topics while walking and catching up. 

Every day and every walk I take with another photograph is so different. The experience can be eye opening. Or familiar. All depends.

Here's my take from today, in no particular order:

I got lucky. A cat was transiting the door the moment I pushed the shutter.

I find the Q2 perfect for this kind of photography. It's quick, easy and potent. And I love the colors. More walking to come.