Rainy day, free from painting, getting up close and personal with a 28mm lens. Just for fun.

Leica M240, Carl Zeiss 28mm Biogon f2.8 ZM, Leica EVF finder. 

I have become a lawyer magnet this month, but in a good way. Roused from the stupor of my short-lived retirement dreams by multiplying texts and emails I've committed myself to three or four more projects (still on the fence about undertaking a video add-on for one project...). With a lucrative income stream nailed down for the next month or so, and my favorite stock busting upwards today, I decided that I'd better focus on my downtown walks and general relaxation with a camera while I have the scheduling bandwidth to pursue sloth. Generally speaking. 

The painters were here today finishing up the interior painting but B. was back and a much better paint supervisor than I will ever be. It all looks pretty good to me until she points out the obvious and glaring mismatches to me. This, of course, gives me the out to pass the mantle of authority back to her, stuff some things into a small shoulder bag (fanny pack reimagined as sling/shoulder bag) and escape into downtown to rummage around looking for fun stuff to shoot, and generally being fascinated by the EVF I bought for the M240 camera. It's old tech, that's for sure. It's pretty much the same finder I bought along with an Olympus EP-2 way back in 2008 or 2009...only the logo on the front of the unit is different. 

There is a therapy for various fears called exposure therapy which relies on systematic desensitization to help people with phobias, social anxieties, etc. I am using a casual form of this to get over my hesitation or discomfort when photographing with weird, wide-angle focal lengths. And one in particular. The feared and hated 28mm. With photo therapy in mind I stuck the 28mm Zeiss ZM lens on a battered and bruised, and recently powder dyed, Leica M240 in preparation for an early afternoon walk-n-snap(tm). 

I couldn't decide which way I'd view the composition with the lens but finally lighted on adding the EVF. I figured that of all the digital cameras I've owned I'd have the best shot of making it all the way through my 10K steps on one battery with the M. I was not disappointed in this regard. The EVF sucks up battery power like a vacuum cleaner but the freshly charged battery was up to the challenge and I returned home a couple hours later with a battery boasting still over 50% remaining power. It's also easier to look through than my cheap 28mm optical finder...

There is something to just being lazy and walking around looking at stuff that agenda-driven people have a hard time understanding. I love the currents of chance. Sometimes the universe tosses you boring days but mostly the universe is neutral and you get to decide how much fun you are actually having and how interesting everything is. Or can be.

The painters couldn't stick around and work on the exterior stuff today. It was raining; on and off. Not a big-ass, pouring thunderstorm (like last night) but instead a calm, soft rain that seemed to be on as diffident a schedule as I was. One block walking with rain, the next block without. And so on.

I've come to like the 28mm focal length so much more than I did just a year ago. And I seem to be circling back to it more and more. The one I have, made for M series rangefinders, is wonderfully small and seems extremely well made. The focusing and depth of field scales engraved on the lens barrel are highly legible. And from my limited experience working with 28mm lenses I think it's a good optical performer. 

Curious how many people besides myself had or have trouble warming up to this focal length, or this angle of view. Let me know, if you want. 

Below are images from today's downtown time with captions where I felt captions were either necessary or would be fun to write.

The intersection of Lamar Blvd. and Fifth St. Four lanes across and 

peppered with drivers who are Jonesing to turn right on red even though there

are three signs telling them not to. Some of the drivers don't look for 

pedestrians crossing. We bring along big rocks to throw at their cars. 

Like Boy Scouts, we are prepared. Bring your running shoes in case you 

manage a good rock throw and the person emerging from the car turns out

to be enormously bigger than you are.... (we don't really throw rocks. 

All we can usually manage is a withering glare...). 

Parking lot trees. Next to the railroad tracks. 

Can't pass up mirrored windows. Loving the mismatched, Smallrig camera strap. 

Brown shoes with a black suit?

Tiled building image for that one guys who always comments about converging parallels...

Put a ruler on it, dude. The ZM lens is surprisingly undistorted as well.

and yes! the freight trains go right through the middle of town. big, long, noisy trains coming from somewhere and heading to somewhere else. Not as regular as Swiss trains but still... 

All that stood between me and my favorite coffee joint... 110 cars. I counted.

Stopping to smell the scrub brush and opportunistic vegetation. 

Seaholm Power Plant in the background. 

Taking a break from reading: 

"Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, Sexy, and Smart―Until You’re 80 and Beyond"  

and, of course, you don't have to ask...the secret is vigorous exercise, six days a week, every week, every month, etc. That, and keeping your hands off the deep-fat fried, jumbo-sized Snickers candy bars...etc. Read the book.  Oh, and getting up from the desk chair and walking around. You might find you really don't have to buy into all the cultural crap about getting old early and falling apart. No weird fitness or diet voodoo required.

A show of hands. Who got their 3200 yard swim in this morning? Who did their 10K steps walk this afternoon? 

End of preachiness. 

Here they come!!! It's mannequin time. All dressed for Spring/Summer.

(by popular demand???)

The shop called "Hemline", for the win. 

Man and bush. Cloud and mountain. Beef Jerky and Swisher Sweet cigars.

Equivalents. All praise Minor White.... 

Strangely...."titillating". 

Amazing. The one train route we have in Austin actually runs even when it's raining.

by and large we, as a city, are fascinated when we actually see trains in our downtown space. 

Most of the civilized world has mass transportation. We're just flirting with it now. 

It's a very, very vague relationship. We drive our one passenger cars into downtown 

just to see a train and sometimes take children along so they too can see trains.

They are somewhat amazed that the trains don't speak; like Thomas the Tank Engine.

Remnants and artifacts of what was once a thriving, downtown Italian restaurant located in a series of historic structures. Now left to decay and rot. But they are leaving behind a dandy parking lot. 

I went down a "dangerous" alley. No one cared. I emerged at the other end unscathed. camera as well. 

this guy wasn't so lucky...

Have I mentioned lately how much I like the color from the Leica M240s when I use them in their raw fine, DNG format? Well, I do.

Mother's Day is next week. On the 12th. That's a Sunday.

If you were thinking of surprising the mom(s) in your life 

with the thoughtful gift of a Leica Q3 or M11, or maybe 

an SL3, you'd better get moving. They're hard to find.

You know they'd love one of the above. Much better than flowers 

or a brunch at a crowded restaurant...

Step up. Make their Mother's Day special, and maybe they'll 

let you borrow their new camera...

Nope. Not even going to try going there at my house...