Being retired isn't much different than working as a self-employed person. You can end up going through some of the same motions to create art that you like, you just ditch the clients --- and by extension you ditch actually getting paid to walk around with a camera. At some point it dawns on you that you spent a life time investing so that your money can do the heavy financial lifting for you and you get to do the fun parts of what used to be a job, just for the pleasure of it. You may get tired of working but as Robert Adams (photographer/writer) once said: "As you get older you get tired of working but your money never gets tired of working." And investments are mostly on the job twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. It's still strange though to live by using money you saved instead of money clients paid you. But we're learning...
The harder part is convincing yourself that the work you want to create has value. At least to you and maybe to others as well. Enough value to convince you to get up, go to swim practice and then go out and spend the day making images that you value; that you like. But that too is a process. And as you might know by now, I love the processes. My advice to younger photographers: Save a lot of money. You'll want to use it later...when you get tired of working with clients.
I worry less and less these days. I gauge my physical health by my daily performances at swim practice. If I feel strong and full of energy I'm pretty sure I'm doing well. If I'm dragging and feeling tired at swim practice I can usually tell that the lethargy is coming from over-training and that means it's time to take a day off and get more rest. The other energy drain seems to be dehydration. And since the kidney imbroglio I'm trying to stay on top of that. More water all the time.
I've read so much about the ill effects of loneliness, especially for older men, but I stopped worrying about it recently as a glance at my calendar showed interactions with all sorts of people nearly every day. And sometimes much more frequently. Lunches, random meets for coffee and conversation, continuing (non-photographic) business meetings and just plain old socializing. Dinners, happy hours and the like. In fact, I'm typing fast in an attempt to finish this post before a lunch appointment with a fellow Leica fan at one p.m. today.
The hardest part is giving myself permission just to goof off. To be more of a flaneur, As Chuck Baudelaire coined it. Taking time to enjoy life, the lifestyle and, again, the process.
As you may have sussed out I am planning to be on a fun trip to Montreal in a few days. Like a typical American I started trying to schedule my every waking hour, tried, unwittingly to turn what should be a fun and relaxing time into the retirement equivalent of a job. What gear to take? Where to most efficiently get the most/best photographs? How to maximize my time there? When it dawned on me that I was using the frame or template of work as an overlay to what should be simple dalliance. Time out. Rest. Cavalier fun. The only wretched excess I should experience in my week long disconnection should be the amount of sheer fun I could be having. No targets, no other goals, no quota of photos, no useless economizing, etc. Just .... fun. Oh my god, maybe I'm becoming European. Maybe hanging with Canadians is the gateway passage to learning how to let go of the business mind and embrace the value of lifestyle mind. A very novel (to me) concept.
If you read yesterday's post I talked about a "candidate" camera system I am considering talking with me on my solo vacation for 2026. M cameras and M lenses. Small and light, relative to other gear. Today I'll touch on a different "candidate" and one in neck-to-neck contention for the spot of best under the seat in front of you cameras and lenses for this trip.
This candidate is what I originally had in mind emphasizing this year for as much of my art as I can shoehorn into the formalist limitations of this pairing. What I had in mind was to take only (ONLY) the Leica SL2-S and the 50mm APO Summicron SL. A big, heavy combo but one that I find nearly unmatched for optical and imaging performance. Great color out of camera. Files just the right size. Not too big and not too small. A lens that is like a Russian Nesting Doll in that every increase in review magnification reveals another level of unexpected but rich detail and texture.
A camera that's weather sealed and a lens that matches that level of protection. A bag of batteries. And... that's it. The take everywhere, shoot everything camera. The way I did my first adult trip to Europe: One camera with its own attached lens and a Ziplock bag with a bunch of film. Except now I don't need to worry about sticking film through an x-ray machine at the airport. I can even make this combo a bit smaller by leaving off the lens hood. But I won't.
The upside over yesterday's candidate is the addition of image stabilization for those one second hand held exposures. A newer and more powerful sensor with more dynamic range and much more latitude for high ISO exposures. The sharpest 50mm lens in the universe. One package with no chance of selection anxiety once the trip is in progress.
The downsides? Bigger and heavier in actual use. Batteries with shorter "lifespans" between charging. Did I mention bigger and heavier?
I love the idea of limiting myself to one rig and one way of working it. It cuts out so much gear paralysis. No choices to make when setting out in the morning. No lens changing. No juggling. One camera on one shoulder.
I have a few days left to swim before departure. I have a few days left to agonize over my possible final choice of gear. And I have the comfort of knowing that, on vacation, there are no wrong choices for gear. I'll adapt to whatever I decide to take. I always have. But it's fun to have the bandwidth and resources to pretend to agonize over the choices.
Charlie Martini of course always throws in the curve ball by reminding me of a third option: Walk onto the plane with just a roller case full of clothes. No cameras or lenses. Get off the plane at my destination and take a taxi to the Leica store. See what's in stock. Buy it there. And, insanely, in the back of my mind I haven't quite written that choice off either....
Below are samples taken with the camera and lens I'm pondering today. Hope you like them.
B. and I went "native" on Saturday and went to Rudy's for BBQ at lunch.
Brisket, sausage, potato salad, cole slaw and lots of sauce.
No time limited dining last Saturday. Just deliciousness.
We ate inside the restaurant but the sign above was a reminder that
they also have a nicely landscaped outdoor dining area. Try the ribs.
The classic hat shot at Maufrais. S. Congress Ave.
Gonna miss that Texas blue sky for a while.
So many choices. So little time.
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