VSL Blog hits 37,000,000 direct page views. Here's a favorite post From 2019 that floated into the stats this morning. I still believe just about every word.

 https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2019/06/age-and-photography-from-point-of-view.html

Posted after this morning's 3200 yard masters swim. Still wearing the same pants. Still weigh the same. Still engaged in the process of life.

Thirty Seven Million views seems remarkable to me. That's a lot of posts...

I took my monochrome camera out for a spin this afternoon. It was interesting. It reminded me why I like color stuff now....so much.

Leica Q2 at f1.7. The remnants of the picadillo taco and a fresh coffee. 

On the patio at Jo's. 

Detail from the Christmas tree in the courtyard at the San José Hotel. 

Mirror in front of clothing boutique. Does that camera make me look fat?

Goal for this year: Same weight and same waist size from the first of January 

till the end of December. Right on track...

Saving money on new clothes left and right. 

Shopping. 

the manager of the Hermés store walking briskly by. 

I wonder if they sell camera straps? 

Community table at Jo's patio. Lots of laptops. Lots of earbuds. 

The mannequin squad prepares for holiday events.

Currently meditating and doing mindfulness exercises. 

Fingertip yoga. How long can you hold the pose?

With the world falling down around us this is no time to give up on recreational 

frivolity. Learning to compartmentalize. Feel outrage. Send check to appropriate charity.

Change clothes, grab a camera and decompress with something happy and 

fun. 

Wall art at the Austin Motel. In the courtyard. 

Prurient but whimsical. No Holiday theme...

I kid but I do love shooting black and white on a routine basis. Works best for me on cloudy, misty days or in the studio. As soon as the sun comes out and the color saturation of real life pops it seems to me that color becomes mandatory. Your interests may not correspond. Shoot what you like. It's the only way it's fun.

Thanks goodness there is a menu setting in my cameras that also allows for color work.

miracle.

 

Getting in the steps. Appreciating the Q2. Chilling out for the holidays.

    

Two car images I liked making this week. 

And I am not a "car guy." 

I've been to several holiday parties in the last week. One was the annual masters swim party. One of the fun games at every swim party is trying to recognize fellow swimmers when they have their clothes on. And no goggles on their faces. It's harder than one would think. 

Every year someone volunteers their home for the party. Usually the host of the party hires a bartending staff and sometimes they augment our potluck dish contributions with an assist from a catering company. A good way to assure that clean up after the party is handled by pros instead of spouses. And so that drink glasses don't wind up on wood furniture tops without coasters...

When we hosted the party some years back we had about eighty people in the house and I think that's as high an occupancy as I'd ever like to experience again. We weren't good about setting boundaries back then and our last guest left somewhere around 1:30 in the morning. We didn't hire staff for our party so we had our work cut out for us in getting the house and the area around the fire pit in the backyard free of trash, empties and other surprises. We learned a lot that time around. The hosts of parties since then have been good at setting boundaries, "Show up at 6 and get the hell out of my house by 9." Makes it a nicer experience for the gracious hosts and probably lowers legal liability for various stuff.

This year's party was wonderful. The hosts' house had the square footage of an airplane hanger but the finish out one might see in an Architecture Digest article. If that magazine still exists. The house was right in the geographic center of our little world.  Everyone showed off their best culinary work and the food was wonderful. Two bartenders kept mixed drinks and wines flowing. Amazing that hard core swimmers sometimes drink alcohol... Must be only on special occasions... (yeah. That's the ticket). 

And yes, many of the conversations revolved around swimming events and esoteric swim techniques.

Warm feelings were had by all but regrets did surface the next morning as the coach on deck at the pool ignored the concept of hangovers and over-indulgence and peppered the faithful who showed up with some tough swim sets in the pool. Chastened, many headed back home to nap.

The fun thing about swim parties is meeting everyone's spouses. Getting their take on swimming. Though some couples both participate in the masters workouts. It's the first party I can remember when I didn't take a camera along with me --- if for no other reason than to have an emotional safety blanket. I take my lack of a camera for this social adventure with a symptom of retirement. 

The next party was the holiday celebration for the Neill Cochran House Museum. It's located near, but not affiliated with, the University of Texas Austin campus. The attendees could not have been more different from the attendees at the swim party. I was, with the exception of museum staff, easily the youngest guest and one of the few who was not retired directly from academia. Hard core, history academia. 

If we were to try and make a Venn diagram between the participants of the two parties we would fail as there would be no intersection. None. But the open bar at the museum party was nice. I tried a drink called a "Greyhound" with is a thinly veiled excuse to pair Vodka or Gin (but not both) with pink grapefruit juice, sparkling water and a slice of lime. It's called a "Greyhound" because the drink originated in the Greyhound Bus terminal restaurants. I found this out with some after the fact research. It is a refreshing drink... but weird that it saw its origination in bus stations.

The food at the Neill Cochran House holiday party was mostly charcuterie plates but very well done and plentiful. One of the activities on offer was to create your own Christmas wreath. Not as exuberant or well attended as the swim party but charming in its own way. Can't imagine the competitive swimmers sitting around making Christmas wreaths. Well, maybe if you made it a timed event...

The rest of the week I divided my time between my two Leica "toy" cameras; the Q2 and the DLUX8. Both have their own charm and both are easier to wrangle than the bigger "pro" cameras but both have their own limitations. I have to say that I'm not able to decide between the two; that is, if I had to choose one or the other. The Q2 sometimes vexes me with it's fixed, wide angle lens, the DLUX8 worries me with its less rigorous build quality...

Today, after routine chores and swim practice (which is anything but a chore) I hopped in the gas powered automobile and headed out for a walk up and down S. Congress Ave. Ate a picadillo taco, drank coffee at Jo's and spent a half hour people watching. The Q2 kept me company. I also did the loop, heading north on one side of the street and then south on the other side of the street. Nothing fabulous to record but the walk itself was fun and I did meet another photographer who was sporting a black, Fuji X100VI. The addition of I.S. adds a lot to the camera's desirability. Too bad it's still back-ordered everywhere. The photographer, who works also as a pharmacist, was very pleasant and the only other person on the crowded avenue I saw with a real, live camera. Amazing.

A lot of people I am friends with are planning trips out of town for the holidays. One couple is taking their family to Bonaire. Another family is heading off to somewhere in Italy. Many are heading to resort-y places here in the U.S. I seem to be in a tiny minority of Austinites who are not at all thrilled at the prospect of doing ANY traveling during holidays. I spent my photo career getting on and off planes a couple times a month for years at a time and I never felt that holiday travel paid off in any particular way. Better to wait a month and travel with a much smaller number of of bizarre strangers that you would, for the most part, never invite into your front yard, much less your house.

Besides, when one travels too much one misses out on too many days of swim practice. Especially during the stress of the holidays when swim practice is essential for mental health.

I guess it's a tradition on photo blogs to ask what you hope "Santa" will bring you this year to augment or turbocharge your own photography. Is there a camera or lens that promises to make you the next Henri Cartier-Bresson? The next Annie Leibovitz? Do you hunger for a new flash that will illuminate your work at a higher level? Have you written to Santa asking to be sent to some sort of mystical paradise where every vista is a potential award winning photo location? Two different swim couples of my acquaintance are taking advantage of the holidays to go to the Antarctic. Both of the males have announced that part of the tour is taking a "cold plunge" into the Antarctic Ocean. Without thermal suits. They are "all in." I wish them the best for their recoveries. I have no real desire to go there but maybe you do....?

Sadly, or happily, I have the habit of just buying whatever piece of gear I am interested in without waiting for a reason, or a holiday, or the largess of a loved one. It makes the holidays seem more transactional for me. I'm always trying to convince Santa that I've been "good" in the hopes that he'll just help me rationalize spending ever more money on whatever it is that Leica decides to toss into the market. And, if it has "pro" in the name or product designation that makes it easier on both Santa and I to bend the laws of prudence and good sense and switch into acquirement mode. Saving my loved ones from spending their own, hard-earned money.

I have sunk to a new low this week when it comes to ordering stuff from Amazon. I actually bought dental floss from them and, since I have a prime membership, I had them do a next day delivery on a $10 order. Outrageous. Imprudent. Immature. But in my defense my local grocery store and my local pharmacy didn't carry the brand I like. It's called CoCoFloss and it's sold by CoColab. I got a sample sized pack from my dentist a couple of years ago and really liked it. I figure anything that motivates one to floss their teeth more is good and getting it here, timely, is part of the process. 

But yeah. It seems to me like a low point in online purchasing. And the power of Prime rationalization. They may have lost money on this delivery but I'm pretty certain they'll make it up on the next one. 

I notice Amazon tends to delivery 20 or so packages in my neighborhood every day so I guess they've figured out the cost/benefit analysis well enough. And clustering deliveries like that is probably better for the environment than if all of us got in our cars, separately,  and drove off sin various directions to get personalized supplies all the time...

(That was yet another rationalization...sorry). 

Three more holiday parties to go and I'll be ready to sandbag the windows and barricade the doors for the rest of the year. I like my nuclear family enough that I'm happy spending time with just them.

So, what's on my photo wish list here at the end of the year? It's actually more reductive than additive. I'd like to divest of all my cameras and lenses with the exception of the Q2. Then I would like to add back one of the Q3-43 cameras I've had in and out of my shopping cart for most of the year and just have and use those two cameras. Same batteries, same memory cards, same menus, same bullet-proofness, same charm. We'll see what I can do about making that happen. After all, if nobody is paying me to haul the big gear around then why not use exactly what I think I want? Right? 

And, NO, I'm not sending anything I'm getting rid of to you --- just because. 

Cold yesterday. In the 70s and sunny this afternoon. Weird. But fun. 

Hope everyone's holiday trajectory is awesome and on the positive side of the ledger of life. 

It was a chilly evening. I had one small camera to keep me company as I walked down the darkening street. And all of a sudden....

 Santa Claus. On horseback. Getting his horse a cappuccino at Jo's Coffee...

(The horse didn't really have a cappuccino. I made that up).

I was out walking around sunset because I wanted to soak in the cool air and also see what one of my favorite locations in Austin was doing in preparation for the holidays. I had on a new windbreaker and it was keeping me right in the temperature sweet spot. I had the Leica DLUX8 over my shoulder, on a strap, and two small batteries for the camera in the front, top pocket of the jacket. I was prepared to be out past sunset and into the night to see if there were interesting lights and characters. But I wasn't expecting to see a person dressed as Santa Claus, riding a white horse and having the horse step to the ordering window at one of my favorite coffee shops. How fun. 

Santa and his horse were being shadowed by a videographer from the local PBS station and we politely shot around each other. Parents passing by were amused. Their small children were amazed... captivated. 

I shouldn't have been so surprised with the sighting. After all it wasn't long ago that I posted some images from the middle of Summer when two people were riding their horses down the same busy street. One was dressed in traditional cowboy garb but the attractive woman on the other horse was wearing a bikini --- and, of course, cowboy boots. 

The folks manning the espresso machines at Jo's are pretty much unflappable and take all horse and Santa sightings in stride. It's a fun little corner of Austin. Nearly a last bastion of "Keeping Austin Weird." I'm happy I was there to see this and document it. Then I moved on the the light show at the Austin Motel...

NPR camera person/journalist in the foreground.

"Happy Trails to you...until we meet again!" 

Yes, this is the spot where one checks into the Austin Model. 

Strange and happy lights...

The backside of Jo's Coffee, which always reminds me of the Hemmingway story, "A Clean, Well-lighted place".  From the web  Especially after dark, on a chilly evening near the holidays...

And...the street facing side.

What's my favorite camera?

The one I happen to have in my hands at the time.

But the better question is:

What is my favorite coffee shop?

That's harder to answer. 

The DLUX 8 did a really nice job considering that some of the images here were shot at 3200 ISO and the like. The I.S. works well and the metering is better than average. And it's small and light.

Journalist's camera?

Hanging out with photographers and bikers and shooting in black and white. (Glossary for elitists, black and white = monochrome).

 

N. on her Vespa.

My friend, David, hangs out at Jo's Coffee on Sunday afternoons. There's live music at the coffee house then. A bunch of David's friends who are really into motorcycles of all kinds show up to sit around a small table out front, in the open air, to drink coffee and catch up. Every once in a while you'll hear a high revving motorcycle approaching from the north or south end of South Congress Ave. and David will stand up, get his camera and lens set and then pan the motorcyclist and his bike as they go zooming by. His hit rate is amazingly high. Practice, practice, practice. 

As a friend of David I am now able to join the group at their table and listen to the conversations. Yesterday I took some photos of the laid back coffee event. A woman in the group has a wide range of cool bikes but yesterday she was riding her Vespa. She is currently working on the restoration of a 1959 Vespa as well. 

I thought it would be fun to do a portrait of "N." and then a "ride-away" shot just for grins. I was using a slow set up. A Leica SL2 coupled with the Thypoch 75mm f1.4 M lens. It's a manual focusing lens designed for rangefinder cameras. I shot everything in color, in raw, but this afternoon I thought I'd see what the stuff looked like when I converted the files to black and white in Lightroom. Well, they look like this. I've included one color shot at the bottom of the group of photos just to show the difference. I'm torn. I think there's more relevant information in the color images but more nostalgic fun in the black and white images. It's nice that we can have them both ways --- if we want to. 

I've recently put on my advertising agency hat to help a photographer friend market a museum show that he has coming up in late January. We spent the middle of the day brainstorming and getting each other up to speed. Me up to speed about what he wants the show to accomplish and He up to speed about the nuts and bolts of good marketing. The bottom line for most good marketing is to be able to tell a story about the show. Not just the technical or artistic details but the underlying reasons for making the particular art on display. What makes the work unique and significant.  I spent nearly a decade in the advertising business. Some stuff has changed but the underlying ideas remain pretty much the same...

Since it is a museum show our goal is not to sell work but to share the vision of the artist with a wide audience and gain some recognition for the work. We'll transition the show to a conventional, commercial gallery after the museum show in order to sell some of the work. Artists... they love the creative process and sometimes disregard the money side of the art equation. But even the best artists have to eat to survive... The marketing folks are the translators between creators and the money people.

We're on the right track and have enough time to create good marketing and have it do its job. 

This is David. He's a really, really good people photographer. 

Better than me by a long shot at putting people immediately at ease. 

I could learn a thing or two by showing up on Sundays...

three bikers. S. Congress Ave. in the background. 

I wonder if it's okay to bring an electric bike...

N. Getting ready to ride.

A sample in color.

I am one of the financial sponsors for an upcoming museum show. On Wednesday evening this week I'll be attending a cocktail party at the museum. I'm already preparing some talking points for my ideas about show marketing. I think photography is quite a different beast to advertise effectively than painting and other media. I hope I can remember how to tie a necktie. 

Last night we watched the movie, "The Holiday." A perennial holiday favorite. Eli Wallach and Kate Winslet are wonderful actors to watch. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law are no slouches either...

The year is ending calmly here --- so far. Everyone is healthy, well fed and happy. We can only hope that it continues. Hope your holidays are happy.