An exercise with which I convince myself that any black and white image can be interesting if you plow in enough contrast and a certain kind of small detail sharpness.

I've been working on the nuts and bolts of becoming more savvy about not working for clients much. It's a science as much as it's an art. You want to keep the good clients, discard the bad clients and keep a certain cash flow humming along so you don't have to prematurely dip into savings as you put off taking Social Security till age 70. Which will be this year. Unless it's all cancelled.... 

But all accounting, work scheduling and gentle abandoning of difficult clients can be boring and exasperating. Sometimes you need to go out and play for a while until your head clears. Today, for a fun diversion, I switched back to rangefinder mode. 

I'm finding that I have two favorite cameras these days. I like them so much that I've become indifferent to new products from Canon, Nikon, Sony and Olympus. The only camera companies besides Leica that I have any interest in these days are Pentax and Sigma. And unless Sigma brings out another full frame fp camera I'm probably set. I loved my Pentax K1 for a lot of different reasons but none I find compelling enough to try it yet again. 

The two cameras I've come to trust and enjoy are the Leica SL2 and the Leica M240 M-E in its hammered, gray metal finish. Both are very transparent cameras in use. Both are a joy to hold and look at. Both make very successful files. 

But today? Eh. Any camera would have done well enough. Add a certain mix of grayscale, contrast, mid-tone snap, etc. to an image and you'll have a visual formula that makes some stuff look exciting even though it's not. My shots today came from the M camera with the VM 50mm APO. I had three or four people actually stop me in the street just to tell me how much they liked the look of the camera. I can assure you that this never happened with other brands. Now considering making a red dot/Leica logo tie tack to wear around as a fashion statement.... 

Air conditioners. The hardest working appliances in Texas!!!

 time for a little pitch n putt golf. Or not.