1.11.2024
An unexpected pair. A big, medium format camera attached to a small, skinny 75mm rangefinder lens. Let's see how it all worked out.
1.09.2024
Group of Italian Visitors to the Vatican. Circa 1995
I made a trip to Rome to photograph with the Mamiya 6 camera in 1995. It was a delightful camera. The rangefinder made focusing quick and easy. The big, 6x6cm film format made for luscious prints. The 50mm, 75mm and 150mm lenses were nothing short of fantastic.
I wasn't a small camera. It wasn't unobtrusive or discreet. But really, all that blather about having to have the tiniest, fastest, quietest cameras in order to operate in the street is really just a reflection of the self intimidating self-talk of timid photographers. Working with honest intention is the best form of invisibility.
I spent a bit over a week walking through the streets of Rome that year taking photographs of whatever caught my eye. I never got push back from anyone; anywhere in the city. I don't hide my cameras. I don't put my cameras under a jacket or coat only to be whipped out for a tiny moment to steal a scene. I work in the open for everyone to see. A genuine smile is the best lubrication for making photographs with strangers more comfortable --- for everyone. It's also better than resorting to long lenses.
When I walked around with my medium format rangefinder camera I kept it focused to about ten feet. I learned to read the light and to keep the shutter speed and aperture settings close to what I thought the prevailing light might call for. The settings got tweaked when I pulled the camera up to my eye but... the settings were already in the ballpark.
I hardly ever settled for one quick frame but would shoot at least two, and usually four or five, frames of a scene, trying with each new frame to fine tune my composition further. To narrow down to what caught my eye in the first place.
I felt the same pattern emerge when I went to Montreal last year with a Leica M. It's fun to look for images. Even more fun to continue shooting until you've distilled the moment down to its essentials. Walk for ten or twelve hours a day when you are out on an adventure/vacation. You'll beat the odds for getting photographs by playing the numbers, constantly practicing, and getting yourself to the places where the situations for photos are most interesting...
OT
I often talk about exercise here. Most of the people I know who are around my age and who are active photographers are also in great shape. And few of them can "blame" being in shape on genetics. Good physical fitness, heart health, lung capacity, walking endurance and so much more is accomplished by spending the time and having the discipline to exercise every day. Not just an amble around the block if the weather is nice but long runs or long swims, or anything that gets the heart rate up and sustained for an hour or so every damn day. A good standby? Toss a camera bag over a shoulder or a backpack over both shoulders, toss a battery and a memory card into a favorite camera and head out the door for a two hour photographic fun walk.
So many Americans are sedentary throughout their work lives and then, when the results of not having the discipline to exercise come home to roost they just pass it off as a normal part of "getting older." And they throw up their hands in surrender to America's enormously profitable medical industry, leaving "the system" to tidy up the mess. If I had one tip for younger photographers; hell any younger people, it would be to get up off your butt for at least an hour a day and put in the time doing something fun, enjoyable and physically demanding. Go play soccer. Ride a bike; fast. You'll thank me decades later when you are prescription free, not getting bigger and bigger, and not having to give up the very things that bring joy. Like walking for hours through fascinating streets with your camera as your companion, discovering and rediscovering the big, beautiful world.
My other tips: wear good shoes. eat well. smile more. worry less. You live well by living well.
1.08.2024
Monday's shoot goes well. Coffee and preparation are the secrets.
Ah, the influencers...from a morning at the museum - last week.The woman with her back to me is standing in the Ellsworth Kelly "Chapel" at the Blanton Museum on the UT campus. When I walked into the art space I see that she has set her seflie stick tripod with phone on the floor at the center of the space and walked about ten feet in front of it to do a series of poses and then to narrate, in Japanese, a short presentation about her experience. All to the "audience" of a mounted smart phone.
I thought it odd that, a. The museum staff would allow a tripod in the gallery since it's against the museum rules. b. That this influencer was able to commandeer the public space. And, c. That this kind of content would have a big enough audience to make her work there profitable. But then I don't really understand the economics of being an "influencer."
I wonder if I could get away with the same strategy. Crusty old guy walks in with a huge Gitzo tripod, plumps down a big medium format camera on top, and maybe a few lights around the edges, and then paces backwards until the distance is just right, and then dances a little jig while humming some 1950's show tunes. I'm pretty sure it would trend on TikTok. Can't wait to see what kind of sponsors I can get.
But I'm pretty sure the museum would toss me out pretty quickly... "Ageism" I'll scream...
Why the big soft spot for Leica's M240? Isn't that camera just obsolete? Depends....
Added: Since writing this I have added a +2.0 diopter to one of my 240s. It's perfect. Also bought one more, new battery just in case they become rare/hard to get. All set for a year of fun-tography.
1.07.2024
Back to work. Turns out my former neighbor is the CEO of an Austin based tech company. He'd like me to make some portraits of his senior staff.
This semi-retirement or progressive retirement concept can be tricky. I've gotten in six swim practices in a row and been to the gym twice this week and done a number of long walks but I have to admit I was getting a bit...bored. I was missing the early in the year photographic activities that usually arrived, like cedar fever, in the early part of January, in years past.
I was just cracking open a new book to read. One about Josef Koudelka, when I got an email from the former neighbor who recently relocated from the house next door. He asked if I could make myself available for a photo session. His company needs five people photographed for website use and general P.R. He asked for an estimate and I went online to see what new Carl Zeiss ZM 21mm f2.8 lenses were selling for. I added about 30% to that and sent over the proposal. The bid was accepted and now I'm booked for Monday morning. But at the civilized start time of 9:30.
We'll use a similar technique to the one I used in the image above. I'll photograph each of the subjects against a white background, or a green screen, here in the studio and then I'll work with the new company's art director/marketing director to choose urban background photographs with which to composite their chosen people poses. It's a great way to work as opposed to attempting to go out to five different locations and shoot. Especially since the weather forecasts are getting dicier and dicier for the next couple of weeks. Including a 50% chance of rain on Monday. We already have a catalog of 1100+ urban images from which to choose so...no glitches in the schedule.
This will be the second commercial shoot I've done here in the studio since it was recently painted and upgraded. I'll be lighting with a handful of Nanlite LED fixtures because I like the continuous light and I've used them enough to be quite comfortable with their color. No surprises. It's also a chance to work more with the Fuji GFX MF camera and a few of the lenses I've acquired.
Diving back into the Josef Koudelka biography, "Next" can wait until Tuesday. After swim practice.
I'll admit that I've been choosey with work over the last six months; turning down more and more projects. But my former neighbor is a fun guy with a sweet family and he's the kind of client you always wanted to work with.
Bonus: the masters pool is closed on Monday so no loss of swim opportunity is entailed. And I can always go for a nice, chilly solo swim at Deep Eddy Pool in the afternoon. Now....when am I going to work that nap into the schedule?
My favorite scan of a black and white negative to date. B. at Sweetish Hill Bakery about 23 years ago. Sunday breakfast.
Damn. I used to take that camera everywhere. Including to our weekly Sunday breakfast and coffee klatch with friends. In this instance the camera of the day was the Pentax 645N. Almost certainly equipped with a 75mm Pentax lens. And the film, of course, was Kodak's amazing Tri-X 400. Fun to have a camera casually sitting on the table, out on the bakery's patio, just waiting to be picked up and used.
Just digging through my visual past and having fun in the New Year. Hope you are having a blast as well.