I remember back when I was in my thirties and even my early forties and I ignored all weather conditions and routinely ran the four mile loop around Town Lake in the mid-to-late afternoon, no matter what the temperature. I remember being the only other person besides Jeff Ward running the loop one August afternoon when the thermometer temperature (as opposed to the "feels like" temperature) was 105°. I think Jeff and I had a similar philosophy; we were running around a big body of water and if we felt "off" because of the heat we were never more than a few seconds away from the option of plunging in and cooling off. Those thoughts seemed to have sustained us in our runs.
I am no way as brave (or foolhardy...) these days. The idea of pulling on the Nikes and heading out into the red hot swamp today holds no fascination or allure. I've come to grips with the encroachment of age and I've set some new safety guide rails for myself. My physician of thirty years concurs with direction but wishes I would tone down the overall enthusiasm for pushing it. I no longer run on days when the ambient temps are over 95°. And even then I run much slower. Often passed by moms pushing strollers... tragic.
Even the pool was miserable at 8 a.m. this morning. The water was just shy of 85° and once it crests that we're into the danger zone for hard, long distance swimming; or fast sprinting. The aerators at the pool just can't drop the temperature enough overnight because the humidity remains so high. We swam this morning but the coach took the workout down a notch or two (or three) .... for safety's sake.
With the outside mimicking the surface of Mercury (the side facing the sun....) I resigned myself to spending the day inside. That's okay. I got some banking done. Deposited some checks that had been sitting on my desktop for too long. Deposited with my phone. Always novel. At least to me. It's a generational thing.
The studio needed to be put back into shape after two shooting days here this week. Gotta put the gear back away so we know where to find it next time. I was bored so I went to Mike's blog hoping to read something engaging about photography but sadly left after learning about Instant Pots. Something I care less than zero about. I wonder if he's in the process of giving up on covering photography altogether. Why do I think this? Well, how could he have possibly missed out on the BIG NEWS that Leica just introduced a version of their SL2 camera in a silver finish? So beautiful and just right for his audience.... I'll forgo writing about it here --for now-- so he can take the first stab at it.---- if he wants to.
After spending too much time in the studio I started to get antsy. Any day without a lot of movement seems like a period of lost opportunities. I tried to think of some activity to burn off energy without frying myself on the surface of the sun when it came to me: "Go to the gym. The gym is air conditioned. The weight machines have missed you. Fight entropy. Conquer sarcopenia. Get out of the compound."
Apparently there are people who like the heat less than me because the attendance at the gym this afternoon was light. Sparse. Spare. People unwilling to make the long march from their front doors to their cars. I spent an hour making myself tired and borderline sore and then headed back home.
How much can change in an hour?
Well, there is a new piece of furniture in the kitchen that wasn't there when I left. A nice, waist high cabinet complete with drawers for storage and glass-fronted doors with more storage shelves behind them. I'm sure B. talked to me about this at some point... But...it's furniture.
More importantly the driver from Amazon had also dropped by and left a padded envelope outside the front door. High excitement. It contained a brand new metal lens hood for the almost as new Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50mm lens, as well as a B&W filter for the front. A wonderful source of excitement for about the minute or so it took me to attach them to the lens and make sure nothing vignettes. Well, the lens vignettes at f2.0 but that's a different thing. And I knew about that going in...
There is a bit of meteorological progress here today. For most of the day we've actually seen blue sky. Seems that the smoke from the Mexican farm fires has shifted with the wind and gone to torture some other community for the moment. My throat and sinuses are thankful.
I'm waiting either for the dangerous heat and humidity to break or for my new passport to arrive. I'll be happy either way. If the weather breaks here I'll probably head to San Antonio and spend some time walking around with the new lens (and hood, and filter) but if the passport gets here before the abatement of dangerous and uncomfortable conditions I'll be checking on the weather in in the great north and heading there as fast as I can. With camera and lens in tow.
Is the business of photography dead? Well, not today. We billed enough this week and last week to ride all through the Summer on cash flow. That's always my goal. Why use your own money if you can gets someone else to share with you? Some proprietary products and many portraits seem currently immune to the charms of A.I. so I'll take advantage of my clients's trepidation about progress and keep billing in the moment.
Back to the pool in the morning. Hoping and praying for a quick cold front to lower that water temperature. But at least the grid is holding and all the air conditioning in house and studio seems to be taking the 110° (current) "feels like" temperature in stride.
Finally, I used the Voigtlander APO Lanthar 50mm on the portrait job yesterday, cropping an APS-C frame out of the hulking full frame files from the Leica SL2. Everything looked great. The lens is superbly sharp and contrasty and the colors more saturated than I'm used to. All good on that front.
Stay cool. Stay safe. Be happy. If you can't be all out happy then at least try for contented.
11 comments:
This is the ERCOT dashboard. https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards It helps see the grid in real-time.
As someone who grew up in the hot and humid south, an important concession to age has been wearing a fitness tracker when I am working out or doing physical labor, especially in the outdoors. Your heart rate is a great gauge of risk well before you start feeling faint from the heat.
I’m visiting my home land of Scotland at the moment. We have just suffered unusually through a heat wave. A heat wave here is officially decreed when the temperature reaches 25C (77F) for three days in a row. The local government issues heat warnings and takes other measures to prevent heat stroke.
You've probably seen those terra cotta wine coolers that work using evaporation. You soak them with cold water, then put a wine bottle in the middle of the cooler. I wonder if you could build something similar for humans.
When I saw the SL2 in silver, I thought Leicaflex, that is, the 35mm Leica SLRs that were well made until the partying with Minolta started.
Making physical adjustments and concessions as one gets older can be tough to accept, Kirk. But we have no choice - at least if we want to remain active for as long as we can.
For me, my joints began to ache with changes in the weather a few months after I turned 65 last year. And it doesn't help that climate change has meant almost daily changes from hot to cold and back, and wet to dry and back. At least in the Northeast U.S. It hasn't been easy or pleasant. But I keep walking as a major part of my daily commute to and from work in New York City.
Meanwhile, a new Leica SL2? I'm still waiting for my Panasonic S5II to arrive at my local camera store. Apparently the launch of the S5IIx has created a backorder situation. But I'll let you know how the camera works out as soon as I get it - assuming you haven't moved on to a new Leica. :)
Ah, you forgot to add the Tilley hat on top of your head to the "formula".
By the way, Tilley hats are 20% off for fathers day!
Darn, I spent all my extra cash on the new line of Tilley Leisure Suits. I was so enthralled with the Tilley Dickies as well. And if they made shoes...... oh boy.
this time of year I mostly go out after 6-7-8pm when the sun has dipped enough, our uv turns from moderate to mild around 6pm, I imagine you are working under harsher conditions...
Hey Adam, I try to hit the 7-8 a.m. swim, head indoors and do any sort of other outside stuff after 8 pm. But it's just this pressure dome and humidity that's screwing with the program. Once that resolves I don't mind a bit of dry heat.. Hats and sunscreen are always the order of the day here in Summer.
yes, it's something people are getting used to here, I've blissfully ignored the uv index for about 20 years but the arrival of a bcc on my face has me paying more attention to it, I've generally worked to "stay out of the sun between 11 and 3", but seems it's more like 8-6 in June/july here - that full UV faceshield is starting to look more appealing
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