Packing is such sweet sorrow. What to take and what to leave behind? The mechanics of being an eccentric photographer going on vacation...

From a project for the Texas Hill Country Wine Association. 

Naw. I'm not heading out to pick grapes in central Texas. This time I'm heading further afield and am doing so without a client attached. Or a travel companion of any sort. I'm going off with a small Domke bag that has some carefully selected cameras and lenses as well as the few accessories I know I'll need but might not be able to buy on site. 

After much silly deliberation I've made my choices, charged the batteries and packed my camera bag (singular). I'm lackadaisical about packing clothes and related, normal stuff. I just put a bunch of exactly the same, green t-shirts into a rolling case along with an extra pair of pants (identical to the ones I'll wear on my travel day), a sweatshirt, a compressible down jacket and toiletries. I packed an extra pair of shoes to wear around interior spaces while I'm waiting for my all purpose hiking shoes to dry out --- if required. That's pretty much it for "luggage." One small rolling case. No checked luggage. Which is sad because in business class the extra bags are free...

But you didn't come here to see how many pairs of socks I'm packing so I'll get on with the camera bag stuff. In a dark green Domke F1 (original size) camera bag I am packing two Leica M240 cameras. Along with the cameras I am taking the 50mm Voigtlander APO and the 35mm VM APO lenses. Nothing better except for the big SL 50 APO which is overkill for this vacation expedition. I have added two other small lenses for those times when the the photo spirits move me to go wider. One is the 28mm Carl Zeiss Biogon 28mm f2.8 (ZM) and the other one is the tiny Thypoch 21mm Epoch lens; an f3.5. I'm also packing one of the little Leica EVF-2 finders for use with the 21mm; if I ever get around to using that lens. Also packed in the bag are six SCL-2 Batteries, four 256 GB SD cards, and one hundred thousand dollars in bearer bonds.

Now, I have to be precise here. I have no intention of going out of my hotel with this ponderous bag of redundant gear flung over one shoulder in order to torture myself day-by-day. I'll take one camera, one lens on the camera, and one extra lens in a coat pocket. And I checked the weather in Montreal next week and I will need a coat/jacket. And gloves. And a hat. But I don't need to carry a camera bag or a second camera or the whole collection of lenses. None of that sounds like fun to me. So, the routine is to pare the kit down to essentials. And with the M240s I don't think I even need to take a back-up battery along with me unless I actually do choose to shoot with the wide angle lens. I'd want an extra battery because using the 21mm with the EVF engaged will drain the battery more quickly. And, well... I do like to be prepared. 

One camera over the shoulder. One extra lens in the coat pocket. A stylish hat. Some warm gloves. And, I am working as fast as I can to revive any French language skills I retain from two years of French classes at "University." So far? Damn little retained. Quel dommage. 

I'm looking forward to NOT having a rigorous schedule, agenda or shot list with which to subjugate myself. If I walk and look and eat fun food all day long and don't see anything I want to take a photograph of then c'est la vie. I'm not looking to set a record for how many images I can take in a day...

I had an interesting lunch with a friend yesterday. He's in the tech industry and travels way too much for work. He gave me some travel pointers that I'd never considered before. Nothing to do with photography but, as Andre Kertesz said, "Everything is photograph." (I didn't screw up; that's the exact quote). 

First of all there is a phone app called ArriveCan. It enables travelers to fill out the paperwork required for customs, etc. on the app, having it approved and gaining access to a quicker exit from customs and immigration in Montreal. There is now a phone apps for Global Entry but it's only really more useful than the I.D. card for traveling into the USA with a family member who you can now include on your own Global Entry account. Nice. Finally, there is MPC or MobilePassportControl which allow for submission of one's photo, travel documents and responses to CBP questions at participating U.S. ports of entry. A time saver when used in conjunction with Global Entry. 

Then, of course, there are the usual apps from the various airlines. So much easier to have boarding passes in your iPhone wallet than acquiring paper boarding passes as in the past. I'm old school. I still print out boarding passes and stick them in my bag in case I have a catastrophic phone failure between house and the TSA stations coming or going.... Love the paper. Love the passes in the phone wallet even more.

Why no Leica SL2-S and the ponderous but remarkable 50mm APO? Seemed too much like work. Not enough process friction. The M240s are devilish but fun. Much more overall friction. It coincides with my desire not to make this trip too serious. I've already done the serious trips. This should be more mellow. 

Out next week. Not taking a laptop or even an iPad. I will not be typing new content on my iPhone for the blog. I'm taking a nice little, paper notebook and a couple of pencils.  You'll have to wait a week... But I'll pop one more blog post up before I go...

Hey! Did anyone read M.J.'s column about the complexity of the Pentax Monochrome camera this morning. A rant (by his own description) about how terribly complicated and complex the menus and options are on that camera...  I think he just discovered why the Leicas can be so much fun. Simple interfaces. Simple menus, and simple controls. Just what he was pining for in his post. Could we see the wall crumble? Will MJ get over his fear and revulsion of Veblen items and embrace the camera system that delivers the simplicity he asks for? Curious minds want to know. Is that an SL3 in his future? 

Taking a break from picking grapes to greet the morning sunrise...

Manor, Texas. Sausage. Not for those on time restricted diets...

OMG. Look!!! No cell phones. Rome 1986. 

Not the travel outfit I have in mind... 

Paris. 1994. At the fashion shows at the Louvre Carrousel. 

Backstage. 

Will I be able to find coffee in Montreal? A resounding "YES!"

 

It takes time to learn how to stop working and start art-ing. But the learning process is, for the most part, fun.

 

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. 

As part of my preparation for my photography creation adventure (upcoming) I've been taking out "candidates" from the gear inventory to see which system/camera/lenses I really want to use for six days straight. So far this combo has the inside track.

 

It was cloudy and rained on an off yesterday. I thought it was the perfect atmosphere in which to test a camera and lens combo. I'll be traveling next week to a favorite photo location and I want to make sure I'm taking gear that I really love. No clients to please and no affiliation with any camera company which might nudge me away from good judgment. I get to just select the stuff I like and use it as well as I am able. It's also a vacation so I'm trying not to load myself up with so much gear that I start to feel like a sherpa who missed his nap. 

On this particular day I thought I'd take a test run with an M240 and the very capable Voigtlander 50mm APO Lanthar lens. A very nice combination that isn't too big, too heavy or too intimidating. I used the lens mostly at f2.8 but occasionally, when I wanted to keep more people or things in focus I went with f5.6. 

This is my favorite combination so far. We'll see if I can restrain myself and take this camera and lens and perhaps one back-up camera and lens (which take the same batteries...!) and be done with it. Even more novel might be leaving all the cameras at home, taking a small, trendy looking leather notebook and just writing down descriptions of all the things I see. But that might be more work...

At any rate, when shooting raw I can use ISOs at least up to 3200 --- caveat is that I have to hit the correct exposures. Lightroom now gives us back more low light performance these days. 

Have a look through. I think it's a fun set for just walking around looking at life.

Summer coming soon. 

The patio at the Hotel San José. 

Photographer sneaking around...

eyes wide closed. 

eyes wide open.

NSFW? Change jobs.

 I can't believe people will line up (that's 'queue' for the UK readers) and wait for their turn to go into a shop to buy regular, day-to-day cowboy boots. I should start selling tickets.

A new hat. Not for use in Canada. 

That's about it for today. 

Hello Team Singapore.

OT: This is not a shopping mall. Just a house.

An ongoing campaign to replace 2500 square foot houses in my 

neighborhood with 7500  square foot monstrosities. At least

the lots are big.... Veblen houses???

What would M.J. say?

 

Selecting cameras and lenses for a personal trip. No clients, no assistants, no schedule, no fuss.

 Travel kit candidate. Under consideration. 

I'm heading out of town next week for some R&R. I put off travel for various health scares earlier this year and now more than anything I want to spend some unstructured time in a visually fun but somewhat familiar city. And I want to go by myself so I can stop on a dime, turn around and try a new angle on an old photo. My choice of destination is Montreal, Quebec, Canada and I'll be there for seven days. I've made the needed reservations and I'm very much looking forward to a nice break from....everything. Everything except swimming --- but sacrifices sometimes need to be made...

But, of course, any trip that features photography as a top priority requires me to think deeply about what cameras and lenses to take along with me. What to carry. How to pack. And what I know from past adventures will serve me best. And I'm pretty sure it's all about carrying the least amount of baggage. I know I'll spend a full day at the Fine Art Museum to see both the Avedon "Immortals" show but also to look through gallery after gallery of both new and permanent work.

My next, top priority is to hit both the Marché Jean-Talon food market and also the Atwater food market. I've shot in both locations previously and there are so many great food photographs just waiting to happen. Some of my favorite photos from 2023 and 2019 have been of the fresh vegetables, fruits, artisanal cheeses and sausages on offer.  The rest of the week is unscheduled and open. I'm looking forward to working as I did years ago in Europe; lots of looking, lots of walking and surprising discoveries around every corner. But what to take? Camera-wise?

My first impulse was colored by my long career shooting commercially. I thought it would be the right thing to take along the Leica SL2-S and the newly acquired 50mm Summicron APO SL since they represent the best low noise sensor and the highest optical performances in the system. I love to test gear before I commit so I went out last week and shot with that combo. No question! They do deliver great files. The detail delivered by that lens, even wide open, is a tier above everything else I've used. Really; it's that good. But here's the rub: the combination of the lens and body are heavy, big and, to the people around me, quite imposing. You will not enhance your low profile with this big camera and lens in hand. 

Secondly, I started hedging my kit toward being "all purpose." Adding a 20mm lens just for those times when magnificent architecture (which is not a priority for me) "needs" to be documented. Then I waffled a bit and thought that adding something longer might be appropriate. And then my commercial brain chimed in and asked which SL body I was going to bring along as a redundant back-up; you know, just in case...

Before long I was on my way to filling up a normal (not the large F2) Domke bag with extra gear that I thought I might need for a trip I wanted to take to escape the need to need the gear. If that makes sense. It would have been a unique experiment to bring just the 50mm lens and one body and have faith that my experience and the helping hand of the universe would guide me through six days of shooting with a system pared down to the essential/essence of "Art" photography. But my rational brain just wasn't playing along. I dumped everything out of the bag and started over again. 

Around this time my favorite accomplice in camera buying, selling and trading called to let me know that the Carl Zeiss ZM lenses that I traded to him last year in some convoluted trade deal were destined for the open market. He was considering listing them for sale --- unless I wanted them back. Which, of course, I did. We put together yet another trade deal and yesterday the small case with three lenses landed back in my purview. Add my tiny ZM 85mm f4 to the kit and you've got four lenses, all from the same family, all with the same character, in one small kit. Hmmm. Sounding better. 

As I played with these diminutive but very sharp lenses I thought long and hard about partnering them with two black Leica M240 rangefinder cameras. The combination of all four of the lens still weighs less than the luxe 50mm APO. While the two rangefinder bodies aren't that much smaller than the brooding and perfectionista SL2 bodies they are smaller enough to fit in two ends of a smaller bag. The system is basically what I took with me on my previous trip to Montreal. A choice that seemed to work very well, at the time. I'm not going to be in a rush and I'm still quite capable of accurately focusing with rangefinders. 

Switching to the M cameras from the SL cameras has a few more advantages for a travel photographer. The most important (to me) is the long, long, long battery life of the M240 (especially if you can forgo the temptation to use live view....). While one battery will almost certainly last for a full day of spirited photography in an M240 the SL camera generally require at least three batteries (and sometimes more) to get through a typical shooting day. All of which adds to the bulk and weight of the system.

What I am considering today for the travel system is the quartet of ZM lenses, two black M240 camera bodies, a total of four batteries and an optical viewfinder for the 28mm lens. All this stuff fits into a Domke f1 camera bag and it's easy enough to carry around. But when I am in the city I won't carry more than one camera with a lens and one more wide angle lens at a time. Everything else stays in the hotel room. I hate to carry anything extra. The cold weather gives me an excuse to wear a jacket which means more and bigger pockets and this provides a good excuse for me to carry along the second lens. 

So, what are the four ZM lenses? ZM 28mm f2.8 Biogon, ZM 35mm f2.0 Biogon, ZM 50mm f2.0 Planar, and the ZM 85mm f4.0 Tele-Tessar. All are quite sharp and very well corrected. All focus accurately with the rangefinders of each of the two cameras and all of the lenses are small and compact. My little kit has metal lens hoods for each of the lenses as well. 

I expect I'll get the most use out of the 35mm and 50mm as those are already two of my (historically) most used focal lengths across systems. 

My zany friend and sometime collaborator, Charlie Martini, chimed in over lunch today. He suggested that I travel "Maximum Light" by not taking any of my camera or lenses but, rather, going up empty handed and then, first thing Monday morning, dropping by CamTec, the local Leica store, and just seeing what they have in stock which might catch my attention. And then buying it on the spot just for the trip, reselling it back to the store on my way out of town....  Charlie's advice is not always..."top tier." 

Since the trip is about a week away I'm calling this thought exercise: Candidate One. Since I recently talking about taking the SL stuff I guess it should really be: Candidate Two. But it's rare that I am that well organized. 

After consulting the weather services I have decided that waterproof hiking shoes are a better bet for the week in Canada than my Birkenstock sandals might have been; even with socks...

And then there was last evening's advice from #1 son who suggested bagging the cameras altogether and just taking my iPhone. Heresy under my own roof.... But quickly forgiven. 

I know you are chomping at the bit to suggest various options with me. Here are the ground rules: I'm not buying new stuff to introduce into the mix. I know you are probably a savant with the Fuji stuff or the Sony stuff but just no. Small sensor cameras? Nope; I want to print really big when I get back. Don't suggest I take a flash. I have no interest in flashing people on this trip. Don't suggest I bust up my agenda and go up to Quebec City (because the architecture is so pretty). Been there. Montreal has more people and cultural stuff to see. And....that museum with the Avedon show. Don't tell me about a magic down stuff coat I need to buy to survive. I'm fine with my winter wear. And it's just about time for the Spring season to strike. Don't tell me to skip the Old Town because it's too "touristy." I am, after all, a tourist and I kinda like the old stuff and the cobblestone streets. But don't suggest that I rent a car --- that would be evil. Same with tripods. 

You might be fine suggesting that I upgrade to first class on my flights. That I get a black car service from the airports. (I am currently planning to take the 747 bus into downtown Montreal....). That I ask the hotel to upgrade me to a suite. For free. That it's okay to skip poutine. And bagels. That I pack fewer articles of clothing and instead depend on the hotel's laundry service. 

You could also suggest that I have coffee with a famous Montreal photographer but I already have that covered. 

That's where we stand on gear today. 

I reserve the right to change my mind about cameras and lenses --- right up to the point of departure. Tomorrow the new, best idea might be: one M body and two lenses. The Voigtlander 35&50 APOs and the 240 M-E. You just never know...