Photos from around the house. Mother's Day. Seems the perfect time to use my favorite camera and lens.

B. seems to be filling the patio, the gardens and the walkways with various succulents. This little fella sits right in the middle of the dining table on the screened in patio. Today we had soft rain and cool temperatures and when I came home from (you guessed it...) swim practice she was sitting on the patio savoring a cup of coffee and reading a book called, "Lawn Gone." It's about converting water hungry lawn spaces to areas filled with native species and non water consuming ground cover, like river rocks and crushed granite. 

I made a cup of coffee and joined her on the patio. The smell of the rain was good. The smell of my freshly brewed coffee was delicious. I ate two blueberry waffles. They were a fun divertissement from my usual Spartan fare. The morning was quiet and we both read our books and just relaxed. 

I was reading Annie Leibovitz's book, "At Work" and enjoying it immensely. Especially the essay in which she describes coming to a realization that she'd like to do a project without people in the frames. She was drawn to places that resonated with her, like Emily Dickinson's house and Georgia O'Keefe's Southwestern haunts and refuges. In the moment that desire to photograph objects or places instead of people spoke to me. 

I put down the book and walked into the dining room to pick up a camera from the big table in there and bring it outside. I brought the camera in from the studio the night before. I always like to have a camera in the house in case I see something I want to photograph. Yesterday I was interested in revisiting the 65mm focal length so I had the Sigma 65mm f2.0 on the oldest of my Leica SLs. Together they are a beautiful combination for photographing single objects and small tableaux. 

I tried to use the lens at its widest aperture but sometimes felt the need to stop down a bit to cover the objects I wanted in focus. I photographed B. reading her book but she has issued a moratorium on current images of her appearing on social media so...  I'll have a nice collection of contemporary B. portraits to print and hang around my office.  More >

The images of the yellow tulips above and below were taken in low existing light which required ISOs of 4,000 and 5,000. The SL camera does a fine job handling noise without losing either saturation or sharpness of small details and textures.  More >

We're hosts to more succulents than you can imagine and more seem to keep arriving as gifts on most holidays and birthdays. Some of the bigger ones, planted in beds outside, didn't make it through the recent ice storm but are in the process of being replaced. More >

Baby Succulents. 

When I'm seated at my place at the dining room table this is my view. Well, it would be my view if I saw everything through a 65mm lens...

My Berlebach monopod resting next to a bookshelf in the living room. 

It's lovely to use on hot, sunny days outside.

This old cedar chest from Adana, Turkey seems to be the transitional repository

for photo books I'm in the middle of or returning to frequently. Here's the current 

crop. "Wonderland" is overwhelming in sheer volume so I have to take it in smaller 

doses. It's not a "one sitting" retrospective. Same with the Peter Lindbergh book. 

This book however is a good one sitting read. And every  time 

I read through it I find something or some part being more emphatic and 

interesting than the last time I read it. The book hasn't changed. I guess

it would be my point of view that's in flux.

The view from my chair at the table on the patio. 

Everything in this quadrant of the yard seems perennially green.

So. After a quiet time outside on the porch what could be 

more natural than coming into the office and looking at 

photographs? 

Happy Mother's Day.