Voigtlander 90mm f2.8 APO Skopar lens for Leica M mount makes an appearance. It gets a warm welcome.

 

Voigtlander makes a lot of very interesting lenses for M mount cameras and I'd be confident in saying that more M camera users end up buying Voigtlander's lens products for their Leica M cameras than they do actual Leica lenses. One of the reasons I circled back and started buying rangefinder digital cameras was due to the impulsive purchase of a stand out VM lens, the 50mm f2.0 APO Lanthar lens for M. Sure, I'd love to have acquired the Leica equivalent but the current cost of a Leica 50mm APO is $9095 USD while the Voigtlander is just $1,000. After having used the Voigtlander version on an SL2 and, as intended, on an M240 I can't imagine that the eight thousand dollar difference would be worth it considering how I use cameras and lenses (mostly handheld) and what my final targets are for the images I would generate (mostly web-centric). Both lenses are critically sharp at even the widest apertures and while I would guess that they have different "looks" I would also feel confident saying that the differences would be slim. At least to me.

When it comes to lenses I think a lot of the value lies in the subjective appreciation of the user. It's like the differences in discernment between various wine enthusiasts. Under perfect conditions I might be able to appreciate more positive flavors and characteristics from a $50 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon but I'm certain that anything more expensive would be lost on me. And, with good food and good company I can be just as happy sharing a $12 to $15 bottle of wine. Like lenses the appreciation of wine is contextual and personal. ("Buy on bread, sell on cheese". -- tells you everything you need to know...).

If you've been reading here for the last year you'll know that I gave up any pretense of being logical and rational about camera and lens purchases and started tossing good money into a rangefinder system. I started with an inexpensive (?) used Leica M240 and really enjoyed using it. I worked with Leica film rangefinder cameras for fun in the 1980's (M3, M2, M4) and then, more seriously, for work in the 1990s (M6 .72, M6 .85, and M6 .68). When digital arrived, and digital Leicas didn't, I sold out of the film RF system and concentrated for the next twenty odd years on using digital Canons, Nikons, Sonys, etc. Along with some deep dives into 4:3 and m4:3 cameras. When I got my hands back on a rangefinder camera I felt like I was coming home to my earlier days in photography. It felt (and feels) nice. 

Until last week my "new" rangefinder system was barebones. Two identical cameras (who would travel for photography without bringing along a back-up camera???) and the usual complement of M mount lenses in 28, 35, 50 and 75mm. There's also a 40mm f1.4 M lens  in the studio inventory but I don't consider it to be part of this kit because neither of my Leica M cameras have frame lines for that focal length. And, when used on a Leica SL it does a good job of shrinking down that overall package to a more manageable size. So the 40mm camps with the SL stuff.

There was one focal length that I historically got a lot of use out of back in the 1990s that I didn't have for the new system. That was the 90mm. The longest focal length lens I would want to use with a rangefinder camera. As the focal lengths get longer the projected frame lines get smaller and less easy to use. You can get a 135mm lens for the Leica M cameras but good luck using the tiny frame lines for composition... (You could get accurate framing in live view but that slows down the camera a lot...).

I thought that the 75mm would work for me but memories of the old 90mm M Summicron lens kept popping up and poking at me. The 75 is a fine lens and I used it last month for some commercial cityscapes that turned out really well. But that extra 15mm on the 90mm is addictive. What finally pushed me to buy the VM90 was the realization that, with two adapters I could also use the 90 on both the Leica and Panasonic L mount cameras and the Fuji GFX 50Sii. I already had the adapters so all that was left was a trial run. 

When the 90mm VM lens arrived the first camera I mounted it on was not a rangefinder but was the Fuji medium format camera. When using the 4:3 format there is a bit of vignetting in the far corners but when using the 4:5 format crop on the camera the lens delivers good results with minimal-to-negligible vignetting and, at f4-5.6 a very sharp image. It's a "no brainer" on the SL cameras, especially with their easy "punch-in" magnification for fine manual focusing. A plus for both of those camera systems. 

I finally put the lens on one of the M240 cameras and first checked to make sure the camera and lens were well matched for precision focusing with the rangefinder. Yep! Check. 

Then I shot test frames all over the studio. It's a good performer. I can't wait for the current gray days to vanish so I can give the lens the workout in the sun light that it deserves. 

Three attributes of the 90VM lens that endear it to me are: When using it on a rangefinder and taking off the lens hood the lens doesn't protrude into the frame lines for 90mm lenses. Yay! Next, the lens is tiny. Absolutely tiny. Probably the first longer lens I could honestly describe as "pocketable" ---with a straight face. Along with its very small size is a commensurate very light weight. And, in the silver version, it is beautifully designed and constructed. 

One benefit of the Leica M240 and, I assume more recent Leica rangefinders, is the inclusion of live view. While I love rangefinder focusing and optical finder viewing sometimes, especially with longer or very wide angle lenses, it's advantageous to be able to compose across a three inch rear screen instead of trying to accurately assess what's in and what's out inside the frame lines in the optical finder window. Modern tech to the rescue. Live view actually makes the camera and lens practical for on tripod portrait shooting...

I seem to be hurtling in an ever accelerating trajectory toward having and working with a complete M rangefinder system. Why? Because it's fun. The process provides a bit of welcome friction to the process of taking photographs. The tiny size of the lenses makes it a perfect system choice for travel or one person-no assistant jobs. And the cameras are a joy to carry, hold and use. Why M240s? Because they are built like tanks, have massive battery reserves, and since the model was introduced in 2012 used camera bodies are plentiful and relatively cheap. Well, relative to newer Leica M products. I have one more body coming but I'll save that for a future blog post. 

For right now getting used to the 90mm VM lens on an M240 body is the top of my agenda. 

Swim notes: Drat. It rained today. We swimmers don't really care about the rain so the coach and 20 or so swimmers hit the water for the 8 a.m. Saturday workout. Coach Peter was on the deck. I was in my favorite lane and we'd just pounded through the warm up sets and were settling into the main sets when the weather intruded. The morning had been gray, rainy, dark and cloud covered but now, at 8:30 we started hearing distant thunder. A phone app showed the coach that lightning strikes were 14 miles away. Then the thunder picked up and started to resemble a tympani concert. The lightning strikes got closer and when the app showed them to be five miles out and heading our way Peter called it and ordered everyone out of the pool. Ten minutes later we had a thrashing downpour and lightning was dancing all around the horizon. With almost immediate and near continuous thunder. 

Most of us are so addicted to our endorphin rushes that we'll probably hit the pool in the afternoon for self-paced slogs. Depending on weather. Those who only want to get wet once a day will hit the soggy hike and bike trails for an hour run and some of us will give up on the great outdoors for the day and head to the gym for some weight work.

So sad when swims get truncated. Almost as bad as leaving the house and driving a long way for a bout of street photography only to discover that you forgot to pull the camera battery off the charger at home and put it in the camera. ...  Only it's worse because it's swimming. Or, more accurately,  not swimming.

Two hours in with the Leica M240. How do I like it so far? What do the files look like? How are the batteries? Would I do it again?

The Leica M240 arrived from the Leica Store Miami yesterday. I started charging the two batteries that came with it. The packing of the product was impeccable. The camera came in the original box along with all the original cables, manuals, and other materials. In addition to an extra battery there was also an accessory thumb grip. Nice. The guys at Leica Store Miami do a great job curating the used equipment the sell. Their standards for accepting used gear are high and that means when you buy used gear from them you get a well inspected, well considered product. This is the fifth Leica camera body I've bought from them in two years and I'm still impressed by their service. 

(Disclaimer: I don't work for them, am not sponsored in any way by them, don't get any free gear and don't even get a mild discount. I asked for one. It was not forthcoming..... just so you know). 

What the heck is a Leica M240? It's Leica's first big attempt to bring the M series rangefinder cameras into a modern field of cameras. It's a well built rangefinder camera in the tradition of the Leica M3 and subsequent film models. It's full frame as was its predecessor, the Leica M9 but where the M9 had a Kodak CCD imaging sensor the M240 was fitted with a full frame, 24 megapixel, CMOS sensor that is NOT a Sony product. The sensor was designed and produced by two European companies. Details from Wikipedia here: 

The M uses a CMOS 24-megapixel (6,000 × 4,000 pixels) image sensor designed for Leica by the Belgian company CMOSIS,^[5] and made by STMicroelectronics in Grenoble.^[5] The pixels are on a 6 x 6 µm² grid.

The move to a CMOS sensor allowed for the inclusion of video capabilities but more importantly it made the M240 the first Leica full frame rangefinder camera to feature live view. Which opens up other features such as more advanced metering and the ability to use punch in magnification for fine focusing.

Except for special editions the M240 was the last M series rangefinder camera in the family to use brass for the top and bottom plates. Cameras after the M240 used aluminum alloy, which is lighter, but doesn't give you that nice warm brassiness when the finishes wear off on the edges of the camera. The brass cameras feel denser and more stout. 

To keep up with the new features unleashed by the CMOS sensor Leica gave the M240 a much bigger battery that the ones found in previous or newer models. If you choose not to use the live view and video features this bigger battery translates into a much improved battery life. When I was out shooting this morning I didn't take along a spare battery --- on purpose. I wanted to see what one of the two batteries I'd been sent would do in a long walk scenario. I switched off live view and even shut off the automatic review on the LCD screen. I left the camera on from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It was set to go to sleep after 30 seconds of no action on my part but the joyous and exhilarating thing I found out first is that it wakes up in less than a second. A light touch on the shutter button and you're ready to go.

The second thing I found out was that in spite of shooting nearly 200 exposures in the raw/DNG format and chimping nearly every shot the battery still had 85% of its charge left in the tank. Nice. Really nice. 

When I was getting ready to leave the house this morning I knew I wanted to use the Voightlander 50mm f2.0 APO lens on the camera this morning. I had several reasons for this. First, I wanted to shoot a bunch of stuff close and wide open so I could make sure the rangefinder calibration with right on the money. It was. Second, I spent a couple of years back in the 1980s shooting with nothing but a 50mm lens on the Leica M3 rangefinder I had back then. It was a 50mm Summicron. Also an f2.0. A bit of nostalgia for sure, but also a nod toward the fact that I'm now wearing glasses and wanted to see the rangefinder patches clearly, as well as the edges of the 50mm frame lines. Too wide a lens and I'd have to ditch the glasses to take it all in.

The camera and lens together are wonderful. Made for each other it seems. If I knew I'd never accept another commercial job I was rush out and find a couple more pristine M240 cameras, sell everything else, sell everything in the studio and never look back. Getting an M camera back in my hands was like walking back into my Grandmother Tuck's kitchen and smelling cookies baking and peaking into the oven to catch a glimpse of a perfect roast... Like coming home.

I have four lenses to use with the M240. Two are Zeiss (28 Biogon and 35mm f2.0 Planar) and two are Voigtlander lenses. One of the VMs is the ridiculously good 50mm f2.0 APO Lanthar lens and the other is the 40mm f1.4 Nokton "Classic." All four are good, semi-modern lenses and they are a delight to use without the need for adapters which end up adding to their size. 

I thought I'd have a much longer learning curve to get back into the saddle but by the time I arrived back home for lunch, around 1:30, I felt like I knew every square inch of the camera, how to set it up and most importantly --- how to use it. Don't know about anyone else but I find rangefinder focusing quicker and easier than any ANY AF camera I've ever used. It just feels natural. 

So, what do the files look like? Well, I've included a bunch below. A couple have adjacent files which are 100% crops. I think the files are nice and detailed but I didn't expect less. There is more noise at ISO1600 and ISO3200 than on a more modern sensor but not much different than the sensor in the SL cameras. And with the new A.I. noise reduction in Lightroom it's easier to fix the noise than it is to talk about it. 

Would I do it again? Meaning buy an M240 after having played with this one? You've got to be kidding. I'm already on the prowl to add a second nearly similar body - -- the Leica M-P. It's an upgraded version of the M240 with a two GB buffer and twice the speed of the M240. The body is pretty much the same. As is the look of the files. But it's also a bit stealthier --- with no red status logo on the front. I will do it again. Count on it. 

Should you buy one? Naw. You should shun them whenever you see one on the market. And then you should send me a quick note with the name and address of the seller. As quick as you can. 

No animals were harmed in this transaction or test. No bank accounts or investment accounts will collapse as a result of this expenditure. The universe will not implode (any time soon). Just thought I'd share my first time back with an M in a long time. And my first ownership of a digital M camera. It's fun. 

Now, you know, you can click on the images below in your browser if you want to see them enlarged...

B. Having breakfast in the kitchen. Reading. Always reading. 

A 100% crop of the above image one above. 

Post St. Patrick's Day? 

clutter collage. 

It's always fun to walk down the back alleys. Well, maybe not at 2 in the morning...

But around the UT campus the best impromptu "murals" are to be found off the 

streets and in the alleys.

Good dynamic range chops.

The current state of print journalism on the UT campus. 

click in because I think this random photo shows off the 3D characteristics at least of the lens.

While out on the walk I went to the Humanities Research Center (aka: The Harry Ransom Center) to see a new show of very old books. I was the only visitor in the galleries this morning. But it was fascinating to see how well preserved some books from as far back at the 1300s were. 

Most books disappear before they age into permanence. Writers hope for immortality

but damn few see it. The first published book of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" was under glass in a case this morning. Amazing. 

Yes. The Leica M240 does fine at ISO 1600. With an assist from noise reduction in Lightroom.

But you would have had to look into the shadows under the table to really see the noise 

originally in the file. 

A section on the importance of the cover art. In some cases books were produced 

with the content merely being filler for the design and craftsmanship of the covers. 

 The first published volume of Shakespeare's plays....

Exterior. HRC. At UT Austin. Also home of the Gernsheim collection of photography. 

World class collection, indeed. 

the Ellsworth Kelly Chapel on the campus at the Blanton Museum. Exterior. 

From the HRC I headed over to the Blanton Museum of Art to take in two new shows. One is a collection of Mayan art from the Los Angeles museum and the other is a show using articles from the Blanton's permanent collection to create a keen dialog about climate change. Both are worth seeing. 

One upstairs and one downstairs. No freebies today. I had to pay the full "senior" fare of $12. 

this was my favorite modern image in the climate change exhibit.

I ended my visit to the Blanton with a quick visit to the Battle Sculpture Collection. It's a favorite of mine. The entire collection used to be housed on the second floor of the HRC but this small handful of replica sculptures are all that remains visitable by the public. And I'm a sucker for statues. Very fun to photograph and they never move when you don't want them to....

Obviously, a tight crop of the image one above. 

"Alley Art. #1"

"Alley Art. #2"

Trying my timid hand at street photography. Got a rangefinder. Just had to try...

Subjective for sure but... my best shot of the day.

More from and about the M240 to come. 

Please stay tuned. Please consider commenting. 

Please consider doing it authentically instead of advancing

some passive aggressive agent. 

As they say:

have a nice day.

 

A minimalist "carry everywhere" camera system for going out and just living "through" the moments I'd like to photograph. Nothing fancy. Nothing big.

 

the two lens system.

At one point in most photographers' tenure of exploring the world around them they will wish for a smaller and lighter system than the one they've been using. They'll want to move away from large and ponderous cameras and the attendant fat zoom lenses toward something that's less of a burden to carry and also more fun to use. 

There are a number of good options for building a "minimalist" kit and some of them are very good choices for careful photographs who want the lighter load but still value higher resolution,  color rendering and overall performance. I am still fond of the Fuji X100V as a single piece solution. While I wish the lens were longer --- 40mm full frame equivalent --- would be just about right, the camera is lightweight, the images quality delivery far exceeds most expectations and the camera is fun to shoot with.  The only factor that kept me from totally committing to that camera for the long terms was the lack of lens interchangeability. But I'm flexible. I'd be keenly interested in an updated version of the X100V that had a two position (real, optical) lens that would give me something like a 35mm view and also a 60mm view. 

That would cover the range that I use most often and if it doesn't need to zoom, just supplying the two focal lengths exclusively, I think it could be engineered without adding too much bulk or complexity to the camera. It would change the X100V and I think there is a huge embedded base of customers that would hate the change, resist the change, and skew the future market for that camera. 

When I came across the digital Leica CL I knew the small camera had much promise as a street shooter's every day carry camera. I've tried it with a number of lenses and there are several options that really work for me when making this camera into a small system that I'm happy to carry with me. The "upgrade" from the Fuji was the ability to use different lenses. The "upgrade" for me was I could use the L mount lenses I was already buying for my bigger, full frame cameras. 

The camera is very straightforward. It's a basic mirrorless camera with an easier to understand menu and menu interface. It uses a very good 24 megapixel sensor (circa 2017) that's augmented by Leica's Maestro II processor and the camera provides a good interpretation of Leica's color science. There is, even in this less expensive model, the same detailed color discrimination one finds in Leica's flagship SL2 and their medium format S3 camera. 

Unlike most current Leica cameras the battery is not exclusive to Leica. The camera uses a stock BLC-12 type battery which is used in a number of Panasonic cameras, several Sigma cameras, and a handful of other Leica cameras that are variants of Panasonic long range zoom cameras. The benefit is that instead of paying a fortune for extra batteries one can buy "generic" versions for a lot less money.  While a Leica SL2 battery is currently $285 per one can get a Sigma branded battery, made by Panasonic, for about $40. If you really are on a tight battery budget you can source this battery type from several well known third party packagers for around $20 each. 

The CL takes all of the L mount lenses. That didn't seem like a big selling point at the time of its introduction but now, five years later, the number of L mount lenses has increased dramatically and the line up now also includes some L mount lenses made specifically for the cropped sensor sized APS-C Leica cameras. 

Sigma's high value Contemporary lenses in 16mm  f1.4, 30mm f1.4 and 56mm f1.4 are all very good choices that do a great job on this camera. But in addition all of the other Contemporary i-series lenses are also good complements to the CL. I don't own all of the i-Series lenses but there are two that I would use to make a favorite kit with. Those are the 24mm f3.5 which seems to be a near perfect size match for the CL, and also the 45mm f2.8, which is inexpensive and, at all f-stops from f4.0 onward, is an amazing optical performer. It's also just the right size for the diminutive camera body. A third lens which I am just coming around to using on the CL is the Sigma Contemporary i-series 90mm f2.8. I like it because it's a throw back to the very popular (in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s) 135mm  lens on a full frame camera. 

The 90mm used on an APS-C camera is a very sweet combination of telephoto compression, subject isolation, ability to easily toss the background out of focus and lightweight/easy to handle mechanics. 

The one sticking point that many regard as a deal-killer for this camera is the fact that it does not include image stabilization and, while I wish it did, I'm not so attached to that feature that I personally would disregard the CL. Although I understand that for some folks I.S. is a necessity. 

I'll admit that I'm not as steady as I'd like to be with the 90mm f2.8 (135mm equiv.) on the camera but my workaround is to lean on the Auto-ISO and set 1/250th as my lowest shutter speed for normal shooting activities. 

I think the lack of I.S. is important to note because the camera doesn't really lend itself to tripod use. The tiny size of the body makes mounting on a tripod seem awkward. Of course it's easy enough to do but it just feels "off" to me. 

If I'm going out for a walk with no photography subject in mind I usually take the camera with only one lens. Lately I vacillate between taking the 24mm or the 45mm. The 24mm gives me the same angle of view as a 35mm on a full frame camera while the 45mm gives me about a 68mm "look." If I'm feeling uncertain about which way to go I have a different small system mentality I fall back on. 

If it's a hot, sunny day and I might want to photograph some objects as details and then other images require more wide angle imaging (a sky line of buildings, as an example) I'll default to the Sigma Contemporary 18-50mm f2.8 zoom lens. This gives me a 27mm to 75mm range (f.f. equivalent) with a fairly fast maximum aperture. 

If I want to go out in the late evenings and photograph at the theater or in a music venue, or perhaps just a beautiful model in a coffee shop. I switch to fast lenses. The two I really like right now; as a pair, are the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 and the Sigma Contemporary 56mm f1.4. The speed is great and allows me to keep the shutter speeds high enough to ensure sharp frames. Both lenses are sharp and the 56mm is most likely the sharpest of all the APS-C, L mount lenses I've used. 

Circling back to my original premise, the combination of the 24mm f3.5 and the 45mm f2.8 is my idea of t he perfect two lens kit. The wide lens give me a conservative wide angle point of view which is the most comfortable of focal lengths beyond "normal" for me to compose in. With 24 megapixels of resolution the image can be cropped to a 50mm equivalent with little if any loss of image quality. The 45mm gives me enough reach to make good environmental portraits and to isolate details and smaller objects well. 

The camera and two lenses fit into my smallest Domke bag and the whole system, along with a couple extra batteries, weighs next to nothing. It's the system I would bring along on vacations with B. and other times where photography is possible but not the "main event" on the schedule.

Street shooting with the little Leica CL is a wonderful thing. The camera seems made for quick, discreet work in crowded places. Used with either of the two basic lenses it's not at all obtrusive or even noticeable. The AF is quick and accurate. The shutter is quiet and can be set to a silent, electronic-only shutter when needed. The lenses, when used correctly (stop that 45mm down one stop if you are closer than five or six feet from your subject!) are clinically sharp but also have some nice character to them. 

I can generally shoot all day long with three batteries but if I was on a photographic tour of a major city and shooting from dawn to well after dusk I would carry four or five batteries --- mostly because I'm a battery worrier. A condition bequeathed to me by my old Kodak DCS 760 cameras which would average, on a good day, about 100 exposures per (big and heavy) battery. You would probably be comfortable with the Leica CL and three batteries if you thought about it....

I won't wax philosophical about "the Leica Look" or the "specialness" of Leica but I will say that after having spent a century designing cameras for really picky and demanding users they do seem to be able to make cameras that fit just right into certain niches and to provide a value of operability that's sometimes missing from cameras from those who are just lately arriving in the game. 

A Leica CL can mostly only be had used these days and you'll end up paying between $1800 and $2000 for a mint condition unit. A bit more if it comes with all the original trappings. 

Is it worth it? I can only speak for myself. All cameras now in the market should be able to hit a baseline of image quality from which most users cannot differentiate one model from another. The value then will be in what "features" are available, how the handling works out and how you feel about your relationship with pleasing industrial design. I like using the Leica cameras because I like the fact that they have relentlessly simplified the user interface and seem to have resisted adding so much complexity that the camera becomes unusable by people not habituated to working with endless menu choices and "custom settings." I think "custom settings" is another phrase, used in photography, for "punishment." The more custom settings a camera offers me the more I feel as though I'm being punished for not being able to memorize hundreds of settings a what dozens of unmarked buttons have been assigned to do. 

To have a camera that's quick and easy to use for the kind of work I'd like to do with it is a major selling point for me. You have to remember that many of us came from a time when we could only set a few things on any cameras. Those were: focus, aperture, shutter speed and ISO/ASA. All the "color profiles" were set when we decided on the film stock we would use. .  Those are four things to think about in order to make a photograph. 

Now Sony, Canon, Nikon etc. users have dozens of buttons at their disposal, all of which can be programmed to do dozens of different "tasks." I can't imagine having to set and memorize all that stuff just to be able to make a simple exposure. So, for me the Leicas check a very important box. They help me to focus on the real task at hand. Not programming rarely used crap into a menu but the pushing of a shutter button to make an image. Over time it's a big brain and time saver. 

The CL isn't the "everything" camera. If I used big, heavy zooms I'd choose something else. If I wanted to shoot more video I'd definitely choose something different. If I were s sports shooter....same. But if I wanted to walk around Austin, Rome, Berlin, etc. and photography the endless reveal of daily life this would be my choice.

The Lisbon Portfolio, The story of photographer, Henry White, is now available as a 472 page, 5.5 inch by 8.5 inch printed book from CreateSpace. To get a copy right now click here.  In about a week the book will be in stock on Amazon.com in addition to CreateSpace. If you'd prefer the Kindle version, click here.

I was first alerted to the arrival of the UPS truck by Studio Dog. She leapt from the couch where she had been getting the space behind her ears scratched and raced to the front door either barking out an alarm or, maybe expressing unfettered joy perhaps because she knew what the man in the brown uniform might be delivering.

I brought the box into the kitchen (all important boxes seem to get opened in the kitchen) and sliced it open. Inside were the three proof copies I'd ordered of the novel, The Lisbon Portfolio. Belinda insisted on proof copies as she wanted to make sure that the cover printed exactly as she designed it. When she got home from her real job as a professional print graphic designer she gave the book a thorough exam and declared it fit for consumption. 

Frankly I am shocked at how elated I am to see the book in actual print form and to hold it in my hands and turn the pages. I guess it's because I grew up reading real, paper books with the fervor of a true addict. Something about having a print version makes it so real for me. You've got to consider that I've worked on the story for so long and in an electronic format one's reality is comprised of one visible, tangible page at a time. With the printed copy I could feel the weight and promise of all the pages in my hands.

I abandoned everything else I had scheduled last night and crawled into my favorite chair to see how the book reads. As a book, book. I was intrigued to find that the story seemed so new to me, so exciting. I stayed up late and read my favorite parts. The part with the weaponized Leica. The chapter with the bloody restroom. The mysterious woman in the glowing shaft of light. Every passage, translated onto paper seemed almost new to me. I loved the experience.

We are producing the book at CreateSpace. It's Amazon's print on demand company. You will be able to source the book from CreateSpace at the first link above, right now. In about 4 days the book should (almost) magically appear on the regular Amazon.com site, right along with the list of other books I've written. When that launch happens I will announce a link there as well. Finally, CreateSpace distributes books to most major distributors so there's a good chance that you can order a copy through your own favorite bookseller if you'd like. Fulfillment should be pretty quick.

After reviewing the book I ordered a case of 12 copies to give out to reviewers and my favorite bloggers. I am thrilled with the way the electronic copies of the book are selling and I'm hoping that our readers really come to like the character, Henry White. I'm already hard at work on the sequel.

One thing checked off the bucket list of life. A novel. Now I need to start training for Everest...

Here's the link for the Kindle version: The Lisbon Portfolio

#novel
#actionadventure

Street shooting in Lisbon

Do you shoot out in the streets? It's hard if you live in one of most American cities, for a number of reasons. There are really very few places to shoot. People live in their cars and at the malls. And people in American tend to dress down. Cargo shorts and white t-shirts with logos on them. Comfortable and tacky. And we do tend to be the one of the fattest countries around, per capita.

If you live in New York City or San Francisco, save your energy. I know your towns are walking towns with a plethora of rich visual targets, just right for fine photography. If you are large, given to wearing bright t-shirts, cargo shorts with stretchable waist bands and running shoes, please try to look out for photographers and maybe don't loiter too long in front of obviously cool landmarks or architecture.

But if you are really into shooting in the streets you'll want to find towns where people strut their stuff on foot and where the ambulatory culture keeps the people looking good. You'll want to head to a European city. Grenoble's great because a huge swath of the downtown is pedestrian only. But one of my favorites has always been Lisbon because it seems anchored to a time warp that keeps everything five years slower.

Back in 1998 I went to Lisbon to photograph a project for a subsidiary of IBM. The project went well and I engineered some down time in the the city. Two days before the event and two days after. Every morning I left my hotel with a Leica M6, a 50mm Summicron and a 75mm Summarit. I kept a pocket full of slide film, an open mind, an open agenda and a nice pair of hiking sandals and a desire to dive into the city life and come up with some fun images.

Here's the problem for me with street shooting: I get so involved/immersed in everything that I forget sometimes to take the photographs. I found a fabulous little neighborhood bakery and I was in line so quick I forgot to lurk around and try to sneak good shots. Then I was enjoying my creme filled confection and hot, earthy coffee so much I forgot to even meter.

But after a while my basic sense of discipline kicked in and I came back with hundreds and hundreds of images that I really like. The above is a smattering. A taster plate. A flight of photos. When you go out to shoot I think it's best to throw away intentions and schedules and let yourself slide into the process like a you slide slowly into a hot bath. If you go looking for the right moment you'll generally never find it.

It's some perverse law of the universe. It's in the same set of laws that mandate if you see a great scene and vow to come back the next day to capture it the scene will never present itself again. Once Belinda and I were staying in Mexico City, in the very hotel that Trotsky used to live in, oh so many years ago. We were only in Mexico City for a few days and I kept meaning to make some cool photographs of the Hotel's interior but I didn't. Something else always came up. I decided I'd get the photos next time I was there. Of course an earthquake weeks later leveled the hotel.

It's also the same perverse law of the universe that demands you do things here and now. If you delay anything it will be changed, diluted, and made more crass. Put off going to Rome and the Rome you could have experienced will no longer exist having been replaced by a different and more homogenous version.

It's the same unfortunate law of photography that says, "Print now or you'll never see this image again." We have the right intention but we need the right follow through. When an image jumps up in your face and fascinates you the time to act on it is in that moment. But most of us put the images into a folder, go out and shoot more and then put those new images into folder and so on, waiting until life slows down and we have time to luxuriate with our little treasure and to photoshop them just so and make them perfect before we sent them off to the printer. But we wake up to find the moment gone, the image left untouched. And we think they will continue to exist but a certain physical/metaphysical relationship has changed and we'll never come back to the same image in just the same way.

These images remind me that the only time is now. Carpe diem.