The Eclipse is coming! The Eclipse is coming!!! So are my new glasses. And a replacement for a stupidly lost diopter. And I think people's taxes are coming due. But Leica and Fuji still can't promise us their cool new cameras are coming.

 

I'll admit to being absolutely amazed that the coming eclipse is such a big deal to so many people. Eclipses have been happening pretty much forever. At least forever in human terms. They tend to be very short in duration (totality measured in single digit minutes) and there is no longer any mystery or magic involved. The moon transits between the earth and the sun. Forgive me, but isn't the moon constantly circling the earth? Day in and Day out. And, if you look at it all from the opposite point of view isn't the earth nearly constantly "causing" eclipses on the moon? Whatever. If you really think it's smart and wonderful to travel hundreds or thousands of miles, braving weather reports now suggesting clouds or even thunderstorms, to catch a brief peek of the sun being momentarily blotted out by the moon then knock yourselves out. Go for it. Be sure to buy a bunch of stuff in central Texas before you go back home. We could use the sales tax income. But I'll still sit and wonder "what the heck?"

I'm much more excited about the arrival of my new eyeglasses tomorrow. Maybe the new prescription and the "precision" lenses will improve my photography. Maybe I'm just grasping at straws. But I'll try anything at this point to add some pizzazz to my work. I do guarantee that the glasses will at least look very cool. The glasses were the lollipop at the end of my eye exam but I guess I should consider a good outcome from the exam as the real reward. Heading toward 69 years of age this year but no signs of cataracts, glaucoma, or other issues. All the veins running across the back walls of my eyes look great. I'll take that. But being shallow and silly (sometimes) I still think getting new glasses is the cool takeaway. 

Why? Because everyone else in my family had glasses. My brother and sister got theirs early on. In the first part of grade school. I was so jealous. From my first memory of my parents to the very end....glasses. But I was not on the "A" list. Never got glasses. At least not for a very long time. I was forty-six when I first was smacked upside the head with the need for glasses. Bifocals in fact. But I dodged eyeglasses for a long, long time before that. Always felt left out. Deprived. Even though my eyes were 20/20 and I couldn't make use of glasses in my youth even if some adult was silly enough to buy some for me. The real agony was the fact that everyone with glasses looked smarter. They just did.

I made up for the deprivation by always having really good sunglasses. Really good!!! Blocking out all sorts of harmful rays. My ophthalmologist friends tell me that my constant wearing of good sunglasses from an early age is probably a large part of my resistance to ocular deterioration in my "old" age. As in "now." A habit I've passed on to my son --- who is also blessed with perfect, uncorrected vision. 

But now I do need glasses to see exactly. I passed my last driver's license vision test without glasses. But I know things are much clearer with them than without. And when it comes to reading, well, much more so. And, when I wear them people ask me to help them with the New York Times crossword puzzles...

And this brings up the great tragedy of the week. A Friday horror story of massive proportions. Let me set the stage. I got a text from a photographer friend who had just returned from a quick trip to Paris. He went over to see the Mark Rothko show at the Foundation Louis Vuitton. He wanted to meet up for coffee and tell me about his adventure. He also wanted to show me stunning images of food and architecture he'd shot on an iPhone 15 Pro. The images were, indeed, amazing. Not just amazing for having come from a phone camera, they were just amazing in their own right. (Note to self: buy an iPhone 15 Pro!!!!!!!!!!). 

We agreed to meet lakeside at a coffee shop called Mozarts. It was a very pleasant day and there was plenty of outside seating. I stood in line to get a iced green tea and as I stood there I was juggling a camera over one shoulder, a hat which I took off as I was indoors, in one hand, a cellphone and my car keys. We found table and I was blown away by my friend's work with the photos. Amazing. And Paris continues to be amazing. And always new. 

When I got home I saw something in the studio that I wanted to photograph so I grabbed the camera I'd taken with me for our coffee meeting and pulled it up to my eye. The finder was fuzzy. I put my glasses on and the finder was sharp again. Took them off and....fuzzy. Hadn't I just equipped all three Ms with pricy diopter attachments that screw into the eyepieces? Yes. I had. But apparently all the handling, rubbing against my shirt, tossing into the passenger seat of the super high performance Subaru Forester and other kinetic actions had caused the diopter to.....become unscrewed. And when your Leica camera eyepiece diopter is unscrewed then you....are screwed. Tragic. Sad. Anxiety provoking. 

I took the car apart looking for the lost diopter, hoping against hope that I'd lost it in the car. No such luck. I went online to my favorite Leica store. No luck. The diopter I needed was out of stock. The dark clouds over my head increase in being....oppressive. I finally sourced the right replacement at B&H and ordered it. 

But now I am consumed with worry about how to keep these little suckers from falling off. And falling off unnoticed. At $150 each (with shipping and tax) I am loathe to lose any more of them. Weld them on? Super glue? Scotch tape? Prayer? I'm certain some wiser and more experienced Leica user who visits here from time to time will tell me. And will be in disagreement with the other few dozens whose advice will directly conflict with everyone else's. It's emotionally taxing...

We've already filed our taxes. We are ahead of the curve. Someone younger, much younger, asked me "How much will you be getting in your refund?"  I laughed and laughed until I got the to privacy of my office and then I just weeped weakly for a spell. I kept repeating to myself: "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." Coupled to another connected mantra of: "My CPA deserves his fee since he keeps me on the straight and narrow."  Still not sure how it's all working out.

And, while on the subject of taxes my mind immediately goes to various ways to legally reduce the amount I pay in taxes. My favorite strategy being the purchase of too many fun toys. For the business. Of course. Most of which can be deducted. Not depreciated but deducted. (thank you Ronald Reagan for ACRS). So, with the strategy firmly in place I checked in to see how my place on various waiting lists for the Leica SL3 was progressing. 

Not a chance. I'd have better luck getting a basket full of Fuji X100VI cameras. I wish camera makers would cobble together thousands and thousands of new cameras and have them on hand BEFORE they make their announcements. The eternal shortage of the really, really cool photo stuff is vexing. It's enough to make me stop buying cameras altogether and just work with what I have. But before that happens I need to stock in whatever the best camera is for that five minute eclipse. The eclipse millions of people are coming to central Texas to see next Monday. Bring umbrellas...

Oh. A quick explanation for all the stuff I wrote above. I got my Covid Booster (yay! Moderna) this morning at 10:15. I'm expecting an onset of horrifying side effects shortly. Thought I'd get some blogging done before I start bleeding from the eyes and ears and seeing visions of Lady Gaga using Sony cameras. Coupled with Tamron lenses.

In answer to MJ's question on his blog, which was: How often do you shoot with your lens wide open? I have to ask: Which notes do you play on the piano? Which ones do you avoid? I've never particularly liked f sharp...