Still messing around with that new 50mm lens. I'm hesitant to call it a "nifty-fifty" as I may get excommunicated from the cult. Oh, and I also went to an Artist's Talk. Fun !!!

 

One of my friends needs a photograph for a book cover so I'm coming out of retirement for one hour this coming Saturday to make that photograph for him. I hope I can remember all this incredibly complex photo and lighting stuff... 

In other, more exciting news...

I went to an artist's talk given by my friend, Will van Overbeek, on Sunday afternoon at the Neill Cochran House Museum. The venue was packed. The event was surreptitiously and ably covered by noted photographer, ATMTX. The folks at Tito's Vodka provided alcohol and mixers. Local museum and gallery luminaries, and other photographers, were in attendance and Will V.O. did a great job both entertaining us with a slide show (digital projector) of his work while providing insight into why and how he photographs what he chooses to photograph. In this case the photos being discussed were from his recent project, "Wet Dogs." It's nice to see real, printed photographic art, well framed and hung up in a spacious gallery, with good lighting!

I did not take my new lens. In fact, I didn't take a camera or lens of any kind. I figure a fellow photographer's talk isn't the place for me to wear unneeded, flashy photographic jewelry...

The new lens (Leica 50mm APO SL Summicron) break-in period is gaining traction and I'm becoming more and more comfortable shooting with a lens that actually costs more than the first three cars I owned. It's nearly flawless, optically, but it is large and a bit ostentatious. I first tried it on the SL2-S camera and it did a great job but lately I've attached it to an SL2 camera and I think I like that combo even better. It might be the placebo effect since I know that camera has twice the resolution. Makes me think the images will be twice as resolution-y. 

Kind of funny because all of Will's Wet Dog photos were done in the early days of digital and, to add even more "resistance" the making of the images they were all done with early digital point and shoot, fixed lens, compact camera, and mostly coupled with the integrated pop-up flashes that served those cameras. Nothing in the show was done with a camera that was much above 6 megapixels and a few of photographs were done with absolutely prehistoric compact digital cameras --- some with a whopping.... three megapixels of resolution. The 20x30 inch color prints (contrasty and intentionally highly saturated)  are presented framed and matted and no-one could discern that the images were made with low res cameras. No one. They look that good. Which makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing with all this pricey, high end gear. 

Incidentally, if you have a hankering for one of the "Wet Dog" images they are for sale for $950 each, unframed. So, 20+ year old, cheap, compact cameras, on camera flashes, wild color printing and a packed house, mostly of people in the business who found the images magnetic and wonderful. A counterpoint perhaps to all of the online influencers who constantly strive to convince us now that nothing less than a 100 megapixel, medium format camera will cut it for professional work. If they only knew what actually constituted professional work...

Will's first big, widely done project was a story about the ROTC culture at Texas A&M University. The Aggie Corps. The project took place back in the 1970s and was initially done for Texas Monthly Magazine. All on black and white film.  

Will thought up the project and pitched it, pretty much right out of school  at the UT Photojournalism Dept. Will studied with FSA photographer, Russell Lee, and took four or five semesters of classes with visiting lecturer/world famous photographer, Garry Winogrand. More  GW than I could endure... but obviously formative. Inspiring?

Here's the magic though. Texas Monthly initially paid for his gas, and film --- and that was it. Will pursued the project, going from Austin to Bryan, Texas on a regular basis for TWO YEARS!!! And instead of timidly standing back and shooting "discreetly" he made friends, got close, shot fearlessly,  came back again and again with prints for people he'd photographed, and eventually assimilated into the group. He earned the images. He earned the access. And he put his time into the project. 

The photographs were so well received that he was offered a book contract and the book about the Aggies took off like a rocket. And so did his career. And throughout his working career his personal projects have almost always been accomplished using small, cheap, lousy, funky but also pretty good compact cameras. In the film age and then again in the digital age. Different technologies but the same basic idea throughout. 

Will said that it's not the gear or really even the photographer but that the world offers up interesting, captivating, wonderful visual stuff. The photographer's job is to recognize the opportunities and record the miracles in front of the camera. Made by the universe. Captured by those lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right skills. 

Something to think about. His approach to gear is so antithetical to mine. But you gotta hand it to him; it works.  It works really well. Which goes a long way toward explaining why museums and foundations collect his work.

The stuff here, in this post,  are photographs I shot with the 50mm lens that probably cost more than all the compact cameras Will has ever purchased. I shot them before I went to see his talk. Now I'm embarrassed by the lack of interesting content. But I guess everyone does their art/hobby differently. No rules other than the ones you make for yourself. 

Thanks for reading!

Dry Dogs.