Someone implied that everyone is tired of the images from South Congress Ave. Me too but I'll miss the coffee. In the meantime here's a random gallery of images to help get that bad taste out of your mouth.

All material ©2026 Kirk Tuck and presented exclusively at www.visualsciencelab.blogspot.com  If you are reading this on another site, without proper attribution it is not an authorized use of the material. If you are reading this on unauthorized site DO NOT CLICK on any links in the body copy as it may infect your computer with serious viruses. Sorry to have to put this warning here but a recent search turned up dozens of similar infringements. Thanks for your authentic readership. 

"will it be sharp enough?

"Can you really shoot outside on a sunny day?"

"Is it possible to light stuff with LEDs?"

"Can you really take a decent photograph with the much maligned Nikon 43-86mm F lens?"

"Is it really super scary to take photographs of strangers out on the streets?"

"How do you get credentials to go backstage at the Lagerfeld show in Paris?"

"Can you clean acrylic spray paint off the front lens element?" 

 

New Adventure with a small camera. Take the bus. Walk a lot. Use a small camera.

All material ©2026 Kirk Tuck and presented exclusively at www.visualsciencelab.blogspot.com  If you are reading this on another site, without proper attribution it is not an authorized use of the material. If you are reading this on unauthorized site DO NOT CLICK on any links in the body copy as it may infect your computer with serious viruses. Sorry to have to put this warning here but a recent search turned up dozens of similar infringements. Thanks for your authentic readership. 

the wheels on the bus go round and round...

Way, way back in time, when I was an undergraduate at UT, I survived without a car. Or much money. Or fancy cameras. I spent most of my time walking across campus to class and trying to meet pretty women who might want to go out with a guy who had...no money, no car and no fancy camera. 

The one thing I did have was a bicycle. At some point entreaties to my parents to raise my monthly allowance (verging on non-existent) seemed not to work; and not to work in the future, and so I got a part time job selling sound systems (AKA: Stereos. AKA: Hi-Fi gear). At first I worked at a really fun shop that was located just on the periphery of campus. A five minute walk from my dormitory. The shop was on the bottom floor of a 26 story private dorm. The bottom two floors were fast food restaurants, our audio shop, Capitol Camera's original store, and a bunch of small shops selling trendy clothes. 

I liked working there. We sold a lot of gear. High end audio stuff was still quite popular in the mid-1970s. At one point the shop was doing so well that they opened a store at a shopping center in north Austin, about seven miles from campus and the original shop. I got assigned to work there. I had a choice. I could go and sell gear there or decline their generous offer and stay near campus with no job. I chose the job. 

The catch, of course was, no car. So I pulled out the trusty Fuji 12 speed bicycle, pulled out a paper map,  figured out the least trafficked route and then, on every day on which rain was not forecasted, I'd ride my bike up Burnet Rd. to Northcross Mall and spend the afternoon and early evening endearing myself to customers with my wit and charm (as if....). If the weather was particularly nasty I'd wear my poncho and wait for the always running behind city bus. It was an existence that took extra time but what student taking eighteen hours of course work in a semester really needs sleep anyway?

I thought of this when I woke up this morning. How we were able in our younger years to get by without all the stuff we take for granted now. Cars, money, time....sleep...

I wondered if I was remembering it all correctly. So, instead of doing my usual routine of driving to a picturesque part of town, paying a fortune to park, spending too much on fancy coffee and lavish lunches and playing with Veblen-Luxy cameras I decided to channel the spirit of my 19 year old self and go low profile. On a budget. Rejecting the current, comfortable resources.

I wore an old pair of shoes, pants with a few paint stains on them, a long sleeve shirt to fend off the sun (we had an 88 degree day without a real cloud in the sky), a camera I wouldn't mind carrying for miles and miles of walking, a stout new book to read if I found myself waiting for a while for a bus to come along, and a small, black canvas backpack in which to pack it all. 

Then I popped into my car and drove the half mile to the closest bus stop and parked my car in the parking lot of the big shopping center adjacent. And waited for the number 30 bus which goes from the edge of my neighborhood (we have no actual bus service in our area...) all the way through town; past the hotels in downtown, past the state capitol, up past the University of Texas campus and all the way to the mall I worked at some fifty one years ago. wow. It's been a while!!!

I was a bit surprised when the big, shiny, new bus got to the stop exactly on time. To the minute. One recent improvement in the bus service (and a cheat for my retrograding idea of the day) is the fact that the buses now let you use "tap to pay" payments. You can use ApplePay with your phone to pay for your bus rides. Or a credit card that has "tap to pay" enabled. You could even deploy your smart watch...

I expected the bus to be decidedly down market. Not sure why. But the reality was a sparkling clean interior with comfortable seats and ample air conditioning. Oh, and wi-fi. That's actually pretty much a bargain for a $1.25 ride. A side benefit of paying with a credit card or payment app is that your costs/fares per day are capped at $2.50. You could get on and off the buses all day long, on any route, and the most you'll end up paying is....$2.50. Cheaper than a cup of bad coffee!!!

My driver's name was Alex. He seemed to know it was my first time on a bus in a quite a while and since we were the only two people on the bus for the first 1/3rd of the trip he took it upon himself to make pleasant conversation. He gave me details about the bus routes and what to expect as we picked up new passengers. Some, he cautioned me, might be homeless. And every once in a while we might have a person with mental health issues. But it was pretty rare on this route, he assured me. 

I stayed on the bus all the way north until we were about to intersect with the UT campus. Alex let me off at the closest stop to the Blanton Museum. A few blocks east of the stop. I don't know if this is routine but Alex shook my hand and said he was very pleased to meet me. Hoped I'd ride the bus again soon. I got off pretty much amazed that I'd made the trip (one I do on a regular basis in a car) in about the same amount of time as it would take to do it by car. But the bus was quicker overall because I didn't have to find parking and go through that process --- which can be very fraught when competing for parking spaces with 50,000 students and a horde of faculty. 

So, here I was, on campus without the convenience of a private car. It was fun. A change. I only took a small camera with me and I was mostly interested in photographing in black and white. Or as the tony people in the Northeastern states refer to the process, "Monochrome." 

I dropped by the Blanton Museum and saw fun, new stuff. There's a big show opening on March 8th but there was plenty on the second floor to hold my interest. I also dropped by the HRC (Humanities Research Center) to confirm my attendance at a seminar about the Magnum Collection. That happens in early March. I don't know if it's being 70 and wearing glasses and a shirt with a button down collar but the staff there made me feel right at home. Familiar. Of course I've been attending functions, openings and meetings there for at least 45 years...

I made it over to the Fine Arts College to see how much my old stomping grounds had changed (not much) and to the law school to look up an old friend who teaches there. All in all it was a fun day. Around four I was getting hungry but as I was still channeling my younger, poorer self I decided to call it a day and head home. Again, the bus from UT back to the edge of my neighborhood was ... right on time (fucking amazing!!!) and the trip was uneventful. Alex was not driving this one and the bus had more passengers so I passed the time reading a great new book: "Everything is Photograph: A Life of André Kertész"  by Patricia Albers. I'd put a link here but I've been avoiding buying books from Amazon and was able, last night, to access a copy from one of our local, bricks and mortar, independent bookstores, "BookPeople." 

I drove back the half mile to my house and capped off my day of pared down existence by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a late lunch. It felt pretty great. Thinking I'll whip up some tuna salad for dinner. 

Today's camera choice was the little, cute, Leica D-Lux8. A wonderful picture taking machine that no one seems to take seriously. Here's today's catch...

The little Leica reflection. Blanton Museum.

Can't believe that this image and many others here were shot at ISO 6400.

Amazing. Just amazing. And all started life as Jpegs...

this is by a young and brilliant artist. Info below. 

Gotta see it in person to be stunned and impressed by the detail and nuance in the work...

Video installation.

The Ellsworth Kelly Chapel at the Blanton Museum on the University of Texas campus

has one flaw. The windows are all bright colors and face east or west. Color floods into the 

interior space. So colorful. So saturated. So over the top. Cured by shooting only black

and white and ignoring the artist's intentions. (kidding or joking, your choice). 

This image and the one just below show the art and art history building at UT.

Several ultra famous photographers taught here. Lectured here. Did endless critiques here.

Two I can think of off hand are: Garry Winogrand and Kirk Tuck.

I've heard Tuck's classes were a lot more fun. A lot more.

As a good UT grad I'm allowed to make jokes about competing schools.

Rumor has it that this is what the Texas A&M prototype of a phone booth looked like.

Thank goodness we don't depend on phone booths anymore....

Hey! Photo Nerds!!! Look! This is part of the building that Garry Winogrand taught in. 

Right there. For three years. Right here. The stories we could tell...

This is an addition to the Cockrell Hall facility on the UT campus.

Home to electrical engineering and other exotic pursuits. Rumor has it (true)

that there is a functioning cyclotron in the basement. In my freshman year, first semester, my eight a.m. class (after two hours of swim practice) was held in this building. Five days a week.

Introduction to circuit design. A thrill a minute. 

Same. 

A detail shot of the LBJ Library at the UT Austin campus. 

I took Elliott Erwitt there once to see the Lyndon Johnson animatronic display.

He photographed it with a smile on his face. With his Leica M7 and 50mm lens.

I noticed Leica had engraved Erwitt's signature on the top plate of the camera. 

Nice. His archive is coming to the HRC. The whole collection.

 I smell a retrospective show coming up...

You can dress sloppy in every other regard...as long as you wear a nice, pressed, clean, button down shirt with long sleeves. Then you can get in just about anywhere.

The Bass Concert Hall. 

inside the famous UT Tower. 

Escaping from the UT Tower. 

Every day is a good day to spend at museums and galleries. 

There's a lot to look at and not much time to waste. 

The "economy" experiment was fun and productive. 

I loved the "freedom" of riding on the bus. 

I know you big city people aren't impressed. But it's all contextual.

 

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 !!!

 All material ©2026 Kirk Tuck and presented exclusively at www.visualsciencelab.blogspot.com  If you are reading this on another site, without proper attribution it is not an authorized use of the material. If you are reading this on unauthorized site DO NOT CLICK on any links in the body copy as it may infect your computer with serious viruses. Sorry to have to put this warning here but a recent search turned up dozens of similar infringements. Thanks for your authentic readership. 

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.