I almost bought yet another lens today. I still might follow through. It's such a nice idea for a lens.... Or lenses.

Such a good look for a 70 year old man. Call my publicist!

First of all, I am reprising my "Kirk in Hats" images here to remind myself to always, always cover up when possible if going out in the sun. It's been a full week now since I had a quick bout of surgery to remove a cancerous spot on my left shoulder blade and it's been a lot less fun of a week that it could have been, but at the same time, much better than it might have been. I didn't see the size of the incision when the surgeon finished stitching me up but, damn, it's almost 2.75 inches in length. Since one has to clean, treat and re-bandage this kind of surgical incision daily it's been a logistical pain in the butt. The crappiest part is... no swimming until the 29th. Bah! Humbug.

I did all my own "wound" care for the last bout of surgery but that was on my face. Hard to miss it and easy to treat it. But...not only can I not turn my head around 180° to see this one, I can't effectively reach it either. Which basically means I have to depend on others once per day to keep this recovery rolling.

I hate that. But whatcha gonna do? 

Since I'm not swimming or running I'm participating in what is a favorite pastime for many, many photographers; surfing the web and thinking about buying stuff that looks like a lot of fun but at the same time is stuff I really don't need. Not that this has ever stopped me from making impulsive purchases followed by months and years of looking at stuff I've only used once or twice whenever I open a drawer to get a more useful piece of gear out. So, what are we considering today?

There are two lenses I have halfway convinced myself I might need for some vague, future project. The new Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO lens for M mount and the Thypoch 75mm f1.4 lens, also for M. Each has their own charm --- or at least it seems so when reading the specs, reviews and odds and ends. But here's the rub. There are no more clients and so no lens is really rationizable in the same way it would have been just a year ago. Then there would have been at least the presumption that at some point I might need a specific lens's unique and charming view of the world. Now? Not so much. But that shopping pattern seems hard to break... 

Here's the real problem in both instances: I already have lenses at each of those focal lengths for both the M system and the L mount system. And they are lenses that I haven't historically used as much as I have other lenses. Other focal lengths. 

I am considering the 90mm for the dopamine hit one gets from scoring a lens with "APO" in its name. There is some spot in my brain that lies to me and tells me that it would be beyond cool to have a set of Voigtlander APO lenses ranging from 35mm to 90mm nestled in a small bag, getting chummy with a couple of rangefinder cameras and all of us exploring the great Southwestern United States on an epic but gear efficient road trip. Three lenses to handle everything. The ancient Leica rangefinder trilogy of 35,50, 90. And viewfinders to accommodate all three focal lengths. With nifty frame lines. 

I have both the Voigtlander 35mm f2 APO and the 50mm f2 APO so the 90mm just makes some sort of convoluted common sense. But then there is the mysterious allure of the 75mm f1.4 Thypoch. I could see myself doing some variation of the great adventure with the 28mm, 50mm and 75mm Thypochs. Two  of which I also have sitting here on the desktop. They are only impatiently waiting for the 75mm to join them. All of them being f1.4 lenses is like catnip for an older generation of photographers...

A singular benefit to all these lenses is that M mount lenses can be adapted to any modern mirrorless camera, across brands. If you buy rangefinder lenses because you thought you might leverage the M series cameras to become the next Robert Frank or Henri Cartier-Bresson but have since decided that the whole act of rangefinder focusing doesn't suit you it's nice to know that you can use the lenses, with inexpensive adapters, on Sony, Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Panasonic and Leica L mount cameras instead. 

While you won't look as cool and trendy as you would sporting an M10P or an M11 monochrom you'll still look pretty savvy. And fashionable. Well, unless you use them on a Sony... A conflicting aesthetic and conflicting operational ethos there....

I'm currently leaning toward the 75mm Thypoch because in the swirling mists of the past I owned and used the Leica Summilux 75mm f1.4 on an M6 and loved the focal length. It's also short enough so the finder frame lines are workable. The Thypoch is fast but an added benefit over that older Leica lens is that the Thypoch has a floating element design that preserves its performance even at very close focusing distances. And that's really nice if you end up using it with a Visoflex on your M or with an adapter on something like an SL3. It's also about $100 lens than the Voigtlander 90mm.

I also find 90mm lenses harder to use (composition within smaller frame lines) on my rangefinder cameras without wanting an optical viewfinder in the hot shoe or at least an EVF in the hot shoe. 

I already own and rarely use the Voigtlander 90mm f2.8 APO Ultron lens. It's small and nice but maybe a little too small and dainty when used (with an adapter) on a big camera like the SL2. I've used it so infrequently that it seems to caution me against getting yet another lens in that focal length. But it's this same cautioning that keeps me from immediately ordering the 75mm I talked about above. Because I already have the Voigtlander 75mm f1.9 lens and while it's not the absolute best performer at its minimum focus distance it is small and light and ... already paid for. 

And speaking of duplication we've got a 75mm f2 AF lens for the L mount gear as well as two different 90mm lenses. One AF and one older MF. So, really, shopping is just an addiction for people who, for medical reasons or sloth, can't get out the door and use the cameras they already have. 

Sorry to burden you with this but... That's the nature of this blog. Sometimes it veers into gear talk. 

Stuff comes in waves. So last week it was the surgery and this Sunday, almost instantaneously, I came down with a weird head cold. Runny nose forever which then, on Monday evolved into a hearty cough and now both of those symptoms have mostly subsided and I'm now left feeling a bit ragged. When stuff like this happens the only comfortable thing for me to do is to type and type. And scroll through the B&H website, the Leica Store Miami and KEH. Sad, isn't it?

Ready for that trip to Costco.

included as wishful thinking. Someday, someday.

Running on a beach in Vancouver with a black umbrella. It rains in Vancouver. It rains a lot in Vancouver. And it gets chilly in the winter while it's raining a lot. I imagine that's why there are so many good coffee shops and more than a handful of great donut emporia. Gotta have a pastime....

I am back from Chicago. It was a nice, long weekend. I made photographs while following my art director wife from museum to museum.

 

A fellow photographer we met out on Wabash Ave. 

Chicago is a great city; at least the parts of it that I saw... The people I met in the streets were mostly congenial and, well, normal. It's kind of amazing because I read a couple of guidebooks and watched a couple of popular, mainstream YouTube videos before we headed there and each one tossed in a warning of sorts about crime. Lot's and lots of crime. It was suggested that I avoid publicly visible camera wearing and that I keep whatever bag tightly cinched across my chest or risk being robbed in broad daylight; right there on the streets. But I have to tell you that inside the "Loop" I felt as safe or safer than here in Austin and I consider Austin as pretty darn safe. I've long since given up worrying about carrying a camera in the streets -- even a pricey one. 

It's an easy journey from Austin to Chicago and I have to sheepishly admit that I have been to the "City of Broad Shoulders" a half dozen times or so, but mostly on business during which we flew in, shot a job at a specific location, and then flew out again. No tourism and no sightseeing. It was so different for me this time...

B. and I left on Friday morning last week. I opted for premium economy seats on United Airlines and paid a small, additional fee for priority boarding as we were packing only carry on luggage and I didn't want to be in one of the boarding groups that requires battling for overhead compartment space. The flights are easy; it's about two hours and twenty minutes between the two cities plus whatever lucky time you get to spend on the tarmac waiting for a gate to clear. The price of the tickets was acceptably low and I was reminded that domestic airline pricing was, on average, higher back in the 1990s. At least the way I remember it. 

I packed two cameras and used one of them about 90% of the time. My choice? By far the little Leica D-Lux8. The other camera was the Q2 which, on paper, should produce superior files but in reality is limited by comparison to its smaller, lighter and cheaper sibling. I brought along four extra batteries for the D-Lux8 but really could have pared it down to one battery in the camera and one in the pocket. The camera sips battery juice and I found a fully charged battery lasted all day long. But in context, that's a full day of tourism, not full-on photography mode. As it was I shot about 1600 images over the four days I was out of town and by the fourth day my concern about running out of battery juice dissipated entirely. A big plus over the Q2 is that D-Lux8 batteries can be charged in camera which means I don't need to pack an external charger. 

I wore my camera with me everywhere. On every street. At every venue. Usually right over my left shoulder but sometimes just dangling in the middle of my chest, tourist style. No issues. No second glances from...anybody but a few young photographers sporting their own cameras with their straps wrapped around their wrists. A quick smile and nod of recognition in both directions and everyone moves on. 

We stayed at a nice hotel at the corner of Wabash and Wacker (which sounds funny when you say it out loud...) and it was nicely positioned for quick, pedestrian access to nearly everything we were interested in seeing. Our overriding goal was to spend a day at the huge, labyrinth-like Art Institute of Chicago. 

I've written this before but I'm writing it again because it was so amazing: Seeing original art, as opposed to seeing photos in books or online or on post cards is a whole different experience. When one stands in front of a favorite Renoir, Monet or Hopper painting and sees the rich detail, the elegant brush strokes and the magnificent handling of color --- at scale --- it's a whole different experience. Like the difference between watching a great movie in an IMAX theater instead of watching the same on a cellphone screen while bouncing down a potholed street on a shaky bus...

Hopper's "Nighthawks" is now burned into my retinas and my brain. So wonderful when the original painting is right in front of you... So different from a postcard...

Fifteen minutes after checking into our hotel we were out heading South on Wabash looking for a sandwich shop for a light lunch. That's when we ran into Teri B. photographer. She's a well established Chicago and San Francisco wedding photographer. Here's her website: https://www.teribphotography.com/

She was sporting a shiny and vintage Leica M6 and photographing a friend in the street. In one hand she was carrying a plastic bag filled with fresh film. We chatted for a few minutes and I asked her if she was exclusively a film shooter. "Nope." she replied, "I have an M11 and an M11-M (monochrome) up in my hotel room but I mostly use them for work..." No fears about a "public display of camera" here either.  Nice. Love her website. The visuals are great and the copy is letter perfect. 

Teri B's M. with 35mm Summicron. 

the plastic bag holds the film inventory. I think she had just stocked up at Central Camera which is across the street.  She has a nice and interesting YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@teribphotography/videos

And I especially like her story about doing a whole wedding in France with one Leica M240: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlT7Ml4iwM0

Sorry YouTube makes you watch commercials. But it's worth it to see good stuff.

After meeting Teri and photographing her friend, B. and I headed down the street to a bakery/sandwich shop/café called: The Goddess and the Baker. The sandwiches were huge. We split one. The guidebooks all caution tourists not to make eye contact with locals. Ha! We were in the middle of lunch when the folks behind us asked about my camera and we ended up yakking with a charming, young couple who both had cameras and were obviously interested in photography. Paranoia makes for many lost opportunities....

Dinner the first night was at a restaurant called, Perilla Steakhouse. It's a Korean steakhouse where meat entrées are prepared at one's table. Here's the website: https://www.perillachicago.com/ Our server was fun, very knowledgeable and has an advanced degree in political science. She made our meal one of the most memorable we've had in years. And her wine selections were so perfect. Prices? Reasonable. 

We walked around on Michigan Ave. for a while and then, beat from traveling and mild sightseeing, headed to our very, very quiet room to get some sleep. We were anticipating a six hour Art Marathon at the Art Institute the next day and wanted to be on our game. Favorites in the galleries all mapped out in advance. I'll have more as I dive into processing the images. Hope you come back and read it all. 

This place is filled with new and used treasures. Modern and some even predating me.

Gracious and happy counter help and so much to see. Almost bought an ancient Leica SL film camera complete with its original 50mm Summicron lens but in the end "settled" for a Central Camera bucket hat. Couldn't pass it up. A very nice bricks and mortar camera shop. Old school. 

This is Johann Buis. He is a musicologist connected to the Chicago Symphony. We met him in front of the camera store. Turns out he is a good friend of our mutual friend, Anton Nel, the world renowned concert pianist. You might remember him from my coverage of "33 Variations" Here is the blog post with lots of photographs of Anton: https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2012/12/look-to-art-and-youll-look-at-fun-art.html

More info about Anton: https://music.utexas.edu/about/people/anton-nel

Johann Buis was wonderful to meet and converse with. He's been a leader in the  classical music world for decades. And a long time Chicagoan. So nice to meet interesting people in the streets....

The amazing fountains in Millennium Park. Ever-changing images of Chicago residents; 2000 of them, shown on fifty foot tall video monolith. Kids spend happy time running through the water. So relaxing to just sit and watch. Every once in awhile the people in the photos on the towers would purse their lips and water would shoot out. Kids laughed, parents smiled.

People photography at "The Bean." 

While we were out seeing the sites B. had an observation. Seems every so often a couple would walk up to me and ask me to take a photograph of them with their phone. Three, maybe four times in a day. She wondered if there was some sort of photographer vibe that attracted them. I kept having to move people closer to the camera. I got good reviews on the work. But it wasn't so much fun that I'm rethinking retirement. Still, it's fun to photograph people just on the spot. One couple looked at their images (I always shoot half a dozen) and suggested that I could have a career as a professional photographer... Sigh. 

This is Henry. He's making a photo of his wife in front of the "Bean." 

I loved the color of the camera and asked if I could photograph him photographing. 

He was quite happy to do so. I then used his Instax camera to make a couple of portraits of he and his wife in front of the "Bean." Fun to meet people!

Breakfast sandwiches? Really, no clue. But hey! Tuck. 

A rare photo of B. Standing in front of the "Bean" I was attempting to explore the sunstars that the Leica  DLUX-8 provides at f11 and f16. Works pretty well as far as I can see.....

And negligible flare...

From the Goddess and the Baker on Wacker Ave. 

I think this means you should find a different blog to read. But that's not very nice!

Exterior signages on the Contemporary Museum.

A very small satchel bag is all I brought along. Worked fine for holding all the crap we usually drag around. And, of course it's a Domke product for which I get not affiliate cash or recognition. 

Neon at the Chicago Cultural Center. 4th floor. 

A lesson I learned on this trip: Hire a good, reputable car service to get from the airport to your hotel, and vice versa. Make reservations in advance. The trip from O'Hare to inside the Loop can be as long as 90 minutes at rush hour. If you take a taxi you are at the mercy of the meter which is combination of time and mileage. A luxurious, private and punctual Lincoln Navigator or a Suburban with a driver is available at a fixed cost. And the price differential isn't much. But a private car service means: No waiting. No lines. No surprises. No dilapidated and smelly cars. A quiet ride. A door to door service. Worked well in both directions. 

I have more to talk about re: Chicago but I'm afraid we've already hit our limit for today. Hope you are  happy and well. It's nice to be home. Already planning the next adventure...

All images from the DLUX8.

It's Tuesday. I'm thinking about attending the LSI (Leica Society International) meeting in Montreal October 23,24, & 25th. Who is going?

 

photographer with Leica TL2 camera. At the W Hotel

The LSI grew out of the original organization called, The Leica Historical Society of America. Going international pretty much made the original name a bit... obsolete. I attended the LHSA meeting as a guest of LHSA back in 2000, when it was held in San Antonio, Texas. That was resolutely and firmly in the film days for Leica. 

A year earlier I had written a long piece about the Leica M6 system for Photo.net. The article got millions a millions of page views and hundreds of sometimes heated and confrontational comments. It got Leica's attention. One of the main speakers at that year's meeting was the famous rock-n-roll/music photographer, Jim Marshall. He and I spent some fun hours at the bar at the Gunter Hotel one afternoon. He was beyond interesting, and hilarious once we got going. 

I'm thinking about attending the meeting in Montreal for three reasons. Maybe four reasons. First of all I wanted to go to Montreal in October anyway and had been lazily planning a trip there long before I got news about the LSI meeting. Second, my friend and fellow Leica enthusiast, ATMTX is already on board with the meeting and made his arrangements a while back --- before I was even aware of the event. Third, a photographer whose YouTube channel I follow, Gajan Balal, will be one of the speakers and I'd love to listen to his commentary. And finally, four: There is always a tech component to these shows with new product announcements and showcases. And if history repeats, there is a marketplace appended to the show filled with used Leica products and knowledgable vendors. 

If a bunch of VSL readers are headed there for the LSI show it might be a fun idea to schedule a casual coffee meeting on one of the mornings, pre-show opening. Or not.

On the other hand I'm not much of a joiner and might just head to Montreal for no other good reason than to walk around aimlessly with a Leica "X" in hand and make pretty pictures while taking advantage of great hotel rates. I'm most likely going one way or another.

Swim news. In previous years, when I have gotten a flu shot or Covid vaccine, the following days have usually been...uncomfortable. Sore arm. Headaches. General bleariness. And some low energy swims. But not this time. While my right shoulder is a bit sore I'm generally pretty good shape. I woke early, ate an early breakfast (a couple hours before my 8 a.m. swim) headed to the pool early. The outside temp, according to my car's electronics, was a wondrous 63°. Even better, the water temp was a perfect 78°. 

I swam with Dan this morning. He's a former college swimmer who is younger than me by a decade. He's fast! But he's fun to swim with. And accommodating about intervals. They have to be just long enough for me to make them! Coach Jenn put up a complicated and challenging set of distances with ever shortening intervals. I was mostly out of breath for the better part of an hour... The things we do to maintain those glistening, Adonis-like bodies...

Travel. Now tossing an M Leica in the Subaru Legacy Sport and heading West towards Fredericksburg, Texas. Just for the heck of it. A nice, sunny day on which to walk around and photograph somewhere different. But still thinking about the LSI thing. I'm at a cautious maybe right now.

Hope everyone is happy and having fun today. 

Photo Essay about Inconsistency on a hot, hot Saturday afternoon. It's okay to have more than one approach to your photography. Honest. And more fun too.

this is Craig and his cat. This was from the earliest days of my photo adventures in lighting. 

A Vivitar 283 flash shooting through a battered 42 inch translucent umbrella. The camera was a Mamiya 220 with the 135mm lens set. And, of course, Tri-X. Circa 1979.

Ben at Asti. Waiting for dessert. Leica M6 with 35mm Summicron. 

And...of course....Tri-X. Circa 1999.

pure magic. pour magic. por magique. Let's make coffee...

Current favorite photo-walk shoes. Oh heck; anything shoes.

An angel with a unicycle. 

Scouting.

Swimmer selfie. CL. 

a fellow photographer. I met him in the alley behind East 6th Street. 

You meet the nicest people in alleys sometimes.

Somewhere in Italy. Hasselblad 500 CM. 80mm lens. Mom and son.

Booting up. 

Somewhere Rome. 1991. Hasselblad 500CM + 80mm.

Renae. 

A display of tableware on the street in Berlin.

Taking a break for coffee. Yes. Sitting and sipping. Tastes better out of a paper cup...

Sam. The studio in Westlake Hills. Last year.

Photographers hanging out above a giant waterfall in Iceland. 

Berlin. 2013.

Outside the Austin City Limits Studios. Ready to roll.

UT does landscaping. Lots of nice landscaping. I need to go by and pick a few to earn points with B.

A rare thing. Rain in Austin. 

Highway project. Big flash. Medium sized camera. 

Sharing lunch and music on the steps of the Opera House in Berlin.

documenting one interpretation of paradise. The spring fed, Deep Eddy Pool, in the heart of Austin.

85mm rain

And more rain

Watching the yearly Ferrari Parade in the middle of Rome. 1991