As commercial photography changes more and more quickly I am running out of things I want to write about here. Validating my long held hypothesis that everything has a parabolic trajectory which starts at zero and inevitably ends at zero. The longer the curve up, generally the longer the curve down.

I have to confess that I'm feeling less and less connected to the rapid evolution of photography. You can  see it, I think, in my purchasing habits when I buy older cameras designed in 2012 and use them in the same way that my old photo-heroes used their rangefinder cameras in the 1950s and 1960s. My selection of favorite lenses is also boringly traditional and echoes what better photographers have preached for decades. I'm attached to the iconic old focal lengths of 35, 50 and 90. Trained by my parents' subscriptions to Life Magazine, National Geographic and Look Magazine. I am a product of my own history and the era in which I grew up, and during which I started working as a photographer. 

In the arc of my career I've mastered everything from shooting still life photos with an 8x10 inch view camera and color transparency film to shooting 4K digital video on small, sleek digital cameras. But to me, now, nothing is as attractive or alluring as the older digital rangefinder cameras and lenses that could have come straight out of 1965. 

I'm slowly winnowing down my client list and re-directing myself toward more and more fun, self-assigned projects. And here's the issue for a blogger doing work for himself; it's less prone to fit into norms and structures of mainstream photography. I can frame a photo the way I like to but bristle when I post it and get feedback that it doesn't work because I didn't consider the rule of thirds, or impart into the image a full range of tones, or that the noise in the file is too obvious. Or the subject matter is boring. The reality is that I've never posted to the blog with the intent that the photographs represent some sort of online portfolio and I've never really looked for feedback of my work. Having a representative gallery of images was never the intention for this blog. 

While I impulsively pre-ordered a Leica SL3 last week I doubt very much that I'll follow through and buy one. I already have too many choices to make every time I go out the door. While the price isn't an impediment what's stopping me is the fact that, over the last year or so, none of the new additions and features to new cameras do much to excite me. Cameras are already so good that it would take something truly spectacular to move the needle from "oh that's pretty cool" to "Oh Dear God I must have that NOW!"

It's always enlightening to have a long history with a practice. One can look back at work done over decades and see what was and wasn't important to your own art. The work that truly made you happy and satisfied. The work I did for myself in 1980 - 2000 is still very satisfying for me to look at. Not because the cameras and film were so great but because of my enthusiasm for the subjects. For the "look" and for the entree photography provided for social observation and cultural literacy. 

It's inevitable that one becomes jaded by experience and age. Lost is the newness of things. 

As I look across the blogging and personal video landscape what I'm finding everywhere is repetition, repetition, repetition. Since camera introductions have slowed down and the progress of camera and lens technology has become less and less important content producers/creators have stumbled about to find things to fill the space (and time) with. I can't imagine that my descriptions of walking through the streets of a car-centric, middle class city are so riveting and fascinating that they fill a need for my readers. I can't imagine what people are thinking when fellow photo bloggers veer into posts about mid-brow, mid-century home architecture or tube amplifiers. I can't share the enthusiasm over videos of younger people with cameras roaming around urban landscapes pontificating about the perfect street shooter lens while sneaking zone-focused shots of inherently banal subjects. I guess that's when you know it's time to move on and mark the end of an era. 

And by saying that I'm not implying that these are not the "golden years" for someone else. Kids just now discovering the magic of photography have their own point of view about what is relevant and what is cool. It might not be shared universally but it's good for them. It all has value for them.

I have never had the intention to steer the blog into being a geriatric entertainment channel. I don't want to write about high blood pressure, compression socks, senior discounts, the benefits of Metamucil,  or how we used to do things in the good old days. I'm not interested in how to "slow down gracefully." I'm already tired of writing about my hobbies (swimming. more swimming. food that's not "health guru approved" and so on). 

I think I wiggled under the lowest bar my younger and more interesting self might have set for me when I started to write about the installation of a new floor in our living room. I can't imagine for a moment that anyone thought that was the least bit compelling of a subject. 

And then there are the comments. Most of them are fine. A lot of them are wonderful and insightful. But so many are about some favorite camera from the 1970s that you love and which is not even on my radar. Nor does it need to be on my radar.  I'm resistant to every comment that tries to shame me into traveling more. I'm not the world's greatest or most fervent traveler but I have been to over a dozen countries and many of those countries I have visited more than a few times. So much we've done that isn't in the vitae. Have you been to Russia? How about the Dominican Republic? Turkey? Jordan? Or even Mexico City (as opposed to the tourist towns on the Mexican coasts...)? And, oh my gosh, I spent most of the 1980s through the early 2000s traveling from one corporate event location to another. From one advertising location to another. Including some annual report jobs that kept me on the road for weeks at a time. All over the world.  I'll travel for my own pleasure and on my own schedule now...

My least favorite comments have always been the ones that insist I be nicer. That I overlook dumb content elsewhere. That I cut every content "creator" more slack. But why? There's never a good reason to shy away from delivering deserved criticism. My readers do it to me all the time. Not ad hominem attacks. Just honest critiques written out plainly and without pulling punches. 

I've tried to walk away from blogging before but something always pulled me back in. I do love the practice of writing but I think there must be some more effective venues in which to do so. While we can't all be a John Sanford  (and here's where a more mercenary/desparate blogger would add an affiliate link to his latest book...) I can do a decent job of writing like Kirk. 

Blogs are dying off and the ones that remain are ripe for the contagion of generative A.I. Sooner than you expect you'll inadvertently be reading the musings of a computer program as you savor that morning cup of coffee. And you might never suspect it... We'll all be living in the matrix.

Just a few thoughts on a Monday morning. I'm not angry, sad, disgusted, frustrated or otherwise emotionally stressed. To be frank I've become bored and by extension the writing is getting boring. Long in the tooth. Time, I think to try something else and to leave the photo space to writers who need to generate income from their writing work. And the audiences who will support them.

Writing out loud. Mostly just for me. Feedback not necessary. 

A lot of times it's the necessary nuts and bolts of camera gear that makes the difference in photography.

 

Heading back to my car after a pleasant afternoon of photography.

Interesting that most folks are fixated on their camera and lens when it comes to the idea of going outside your home base to make photographs. Sure, you need a decent camera and lens if you are going to come home with nice photographs but so many times it's the lack of a small and inexpensive product that messes up your otherwise best laid plans. 

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only photographer who has absent-mindedly left the house without a memory card in his camera. You might have come in late the night before and rushed to download your files and,  being all sleepy-headed you left the camera's usual memory card in the card reader. You get to your shooting destination, turn on your camera and get a message telling you that there's no card. 

You probably have read so many times about the necessity of making a checklist for commercial projects and I'm sure you follow that checklist for work; it's when the career is not on the line when the checklist gets "overlooked" or ignored. Knowing that no client will be disappointed is nice but it doesn't take the full sting out of having to circle back home to find that missing component. It's much worse if you've traveled for an hour or so to your destination... That's happened to me. I searched out an office supply store and paid an outrageous price for a mediocre card with limited space. But at least I got to do some photographs. Better to check for a memory card every time you pick up your camera to leave the office or the house. Even better to keep a back-up card in the car and maybe even in your pocket.

Remember the film days when camera straps had attachments that would hold an extra roll of film? Maybe someone will come out with a small strap attachment that holds and extra memory card. Or two. 

A different version of the "lost" card is grabbing a card that still needs to be downloaded before it can be re-used and only finding that out on arrival to your once in a lifetime photo opportunity. Do you erase those previous great images to make room for a new group? Do you sit in your car and try to edit down the number of images on the card so you can continue onward? Naw. Better to always check. I usually re-format my cards as soon as I've downloaded jobs, projects or even an afternoon's fun shooting. When I pick up a camera these days I turn it on and hit "play" to make sure there is nothing on the card that might need to be saved. 

Of course, if you are updating memory cards it always makes sense to me to buy a lot of capacity. I try to buy 128 GB cards --- at a minimum. And I always try to buy V90 rated cards as well. The larger capacity means I can probably shoot on a previous used and un-formatted card with enough space for both the last job and the current one. The reason to buy V90s is my belief that the fast the card's read and write speeds the faster the operation of the camera will be. 

I've met a number of photographers who've bought state of the art cameras and then, in a state of ignorance or self-defeating frugality, have put in older, slower, smaller capacity cards. The one's they've been using for years. These are the same ilk of photographer who buys a top of the line camera and, to save money, uses it with a cheap and mediocre, third party ultra-focal length zoom lens. And then complains about the lack of sharpness in the corners. One good body and one great lens is better than a whole raft of crappy lenses. And easier to carry as well. 

Then there's the camera battery. Or batteries. Once you've checked to make sure you have a memory card in the camera and that it has enough capacity to hold the number of images you want to take the next biggest point of failure is the camera battery. So much to go wrong here. 

I've heard stories of people checking their batteries, finding that they've got a full charge and then shoving the camera into a camera bag in such a way that the camera gets switched on and the shutter button gets constant pressure from the material in the bag. The battery that was perfect when they left the house is on its last legs upon arrival at the destination. If nobody thought to bring a back-up battery then the shoot is effectively over. And...good luck trying to find a Sony, Nikon or Leica battery at the drug store in tiny Johnson City. Or at the convenience store closest to that state park you wanted to document. You might have ten thousand dollars worth of camera gear in your hands but it's all kind or worthless without a charged battery. At that point it's just ballast for your camera bag...

When I go out for an afternoon of photographing for fun I make sure my camera battery is fully charged. If I'm using a camera bag I take the battery out of the camera and put it in its own pocket. No accidental discharges happen that way. I also have some little thick plastic bags that are just the right size for most camera batteries. I keep an extra battery in the little plastic bag. Fully charged. If I'm using a camera bag (not often) the battery rides in the small bag, in the camera bag. If I'm going with the "one camera/one lens" rig then the extra battery (and its plastic bag) goes in a pants pocket. Why the plastic bag? To keep from accidentally shorting the battery out on a set of car keys. That would be the most dramatic version of a "Hot Pocket." 

So, you've got the batteries sorted, and the memory cards. You've arrived at the parking facility for your final destination and you decide to double check everything. You pull off the lens cap and, just in that moment, your allergies hit and you have an uncontrollable, autonomic urge to sneeze. And you do. Right on to the front element of your precious and only lens. That's when you're so happy you brought along a cheap, inexpensive, easy to carry, lens cleaning cloth. And you fish around in the center console of your car and find a small spray bottle of lens cleaner. Hurray! Your foresight pays off. 

I keep Zeiss lens cleaning kits in all the cars, in my camera bag and on my desk in the studio. Most of the time all I need to keep a lens working right is a little bulb blower. Just enough air pressure to take the dust off. But if you need a cleaning cloth you really NEED a cleaning cloth. Just try to protect that front element if you can. As an ancient photographer once famously said, "It's better to keep your lens clean than to keep cleaning your lens." The idea being that no matter how resolute the coating is on the front element it can eventually be scrapped off. And now one wants an expensive but very low contrast lens...

I find the biggest culprit, when it comes to dust on lenses, is our cavalier approach to lens caps. If you are like me you are generally in a hurry to get busy and you pull of your lens cap and stuff it in your pocket. But most pockets are lint magnets; dust storage areas. If you must toss your cap in a pants pocket then get that little bulb blower out and give it a few squirts of air before you put back on your camera. And remember, those plastic lens caps can generate their own static electric charges that are even better at attracting and holding on to dust. Dust is just about every where. Unless you are photographing in a .35 micron clean room...

This will probably fall on deaf ears but I have two lens cleaning rules. First, your shirt tail or sweaty t-shirt is not a lens cleaning cloth. Most of the time it just makes things worse. Second, exhaling on your lens to help clean a spot is, well, a bit crazy. As you exhale on the surface of your lens you are coating it with moist acid from your mouth. And then, no doubt, scraping it with that shirt we talked about. Bad news for the multi-coatings. If you are going to photograph someplace sloppy, with flying diet Coke, some rain in the forecast and with a dusty, unpaved racetrack as your location then I would suggest that you cover that lens with a very high quality filter. Shooting sparks and molten metals splashing? Maybe a cheaper filter. Clean air, blue skies and no small children splashing around juice boxes? Maybe lose that "protective" filter and get your money's worth out of your lenses. 

Finally, I'm going to suggest something that I never really thought about until a brand new camera and an iffy strap almost parted ways on me when I was walking downtown. The strap retainer was defective. The strap was holding onto the camera by the barest of connections. I happened to look down and saw the strap about to abandon one side of the camera. Hasn't happened to me in decades but there you are. I got back home, ordered new straps and checked all my other cameras. Crazy shit happens. And it happens mostly to people like me who just take stuff for granted. But who would I have blamed if I ended up sweeping up bits of my Leica off the sidewalk? There's only me. 

All these things come into play and can ruin an otherwise pleasant shooting day. A bit of time spent double-checking is good insurance against either frustration or lost opportunity --- which I guess is the same thing.

Why did I write this? Because I made a stupid error yesterday. I forgot that the camera I selected was the one camera that doesn't have a built-in diopter or an accessory diopter added on. I need a +2.0 diopter on the eyepiece of my Leica M cameras if I am to focus correctly. Either that or I need to wear my glasses but the eye point stand off on the M240s is a short and it's hard to see wall-to-wall for the wide angle frame lines with glasses. Forgetting all of this I tossed my glasses on the dining room table (don't need them yet for driving) and just took for granted that the camera had diopter-ability. It did not. So I spent the afternoon pressing a 28mm lens into service; mostly for its extensive depth of field. Instead of  the 75mm lens I really wanted to shoot with. When I screw up on one aspect I tend to start reviewing all point of possible failure. Why? Hmmm. Maybe it's 40+ years of being scared of disappointing paying clients of all kinds. One screw up per decade is about the most your business will grudgingly accept. So there's that. But even if I'm just shooting for fun I'd always like to optimize my experience just because it feels so much better to get everything just right. 

Amazon Prime advertising an upcoming series on their video service. Grab shot. 

the $1920 dollar Ferris Wheel. Right on Congress Ave. 

this giant piece of temporary infrastructure is actually a super large screen (see through-able in daylight) that is used to project video after dark. It's a street corner that Netflix is using 

to market themselves at SXSW. I think it beats the Amazon truck advertising. 

Portrait of a photographer I often run into downtown.

Below: We took turns photographing each other photographing. 

Zone focusing can be wonderful. And quick. So quick

Quicker than your Sony can AF....

Caffeinated sports/energy drinks everywhere. Free samples until you go into 

atrial fibrillation. Not a big worry for those who are still young at heart. 

All photographed on the 28mm lens and a rangefinder camera. 

a rangefinder camera with no diopter...sigh.

Warming up to the 28mm focal length by default. Lens pressed into service to compensate for user unpreparedness. Photographer now on probation at VSL...

 

Sixth Street was strangely quiet on this second afternoon of the SXSW event. 

Busy day. Morning swim practice. Coffee with two friends after. Home to help move furniture for Monday's big floor project. A break to eat Chinese food with spouse at a favorite, nearby restaurant. Back home to take a door off its hinges and remove it. Facilitating the repositioning of a large, sectional couch into one of the unused bedrooms. 

By four in the afternoon I was ready for a break. I grabbed one of the black Leica M240 cameras. I stuffed the 50mm f2.0 and also, as an afterthought, the 28mm lens into a very small Domke shoulder bag. The lens on the camera when I backed out of the driveway was the new-ish 75mm f1.9. In fact, it was my intention to use the 75mm exclusively and I would have done so if I had not (uncharacteristically) screwed up my preparation at every step. In fact, I'm amazed I made it back unscathed. 

I have diopters on two of the three M240 cameras but of course the one I grabbed to use this afternoon was the one without the diopter. First mistake. Thinking I was fully diopter-ized I left my eyeglasses in the car. Second mistake.  I walked about a mile before stopping to take my first photograph and realized the diopter imbroglio when I went to focus the rangefinder and the patch was too blurry to nail perfect focus. I didn't want to go back to the car because the weather was gorgeous and it was a perfect late afternoon to walk through SXSW with a camera in my hands. 

I dug into the camera bag and brought up the Ziess 28mm lens. I figured I'm pretty good at zone focusing and that the increased depth of field would save me from out of focus shots. It was actually an advantageous choice since I had just taken delivery on a 28mm accessory viewfinder that fit into the hotshoe of the camera. Easier to see the edges of the frame with the external finder than through the regular viewfinder. And I was anxious to test out the new finder...

Next up, I thought I had mastered all the menu items required to operate the camera effectively but I hadn't. I wanted to use the camera in manual exposure mode and I also wanted to take advantage of the auto ISO controls. I set the camera up the way I thought I'd get the best results and shot a couple of test frames. I was disappointed when every frame was two or three stops too dark.

Frustrated, I went back into the camera menus and looked for a solution. It's right there in the Auto-ISO sub-menu. The fourth line down reads: "AUTO ISO in M mode" = On (or off). I set the selection to "on" and instantly cured my exposure issue. I was elated. I'd never really noticed that control in the menu before but it strikes me as a pretty critical setting. I need to check that on the other two bodies!

I used the 28mm for the next two hours, randomly walking around downtown while the sun set and the bulk of SXSW attendees stood in endless lines to see lame stuff. Like a tiny amusement park with a small Ferris wheel that the company, Audible, set up in a parking lot on Congress Ave and Third. Imagine being an adult with a job, and forking over $1920 for a wristband to an eight day event in Austin, splashing out six or seven hundred bucks a night for a hotel room, etc. only to stand in a line for about thirty minutes waiting your turn to ride.... on a small, slow moving Ferris wheel. It boggles the independent mind. It really does. 

I came home and looked through the files and was delighted to find the image at the top of the blog. It seems very...forgive me...three dimensional. One of the super powers of the wider angle lenses that I seemed to have forgotten when I wrote in praise of longer lenses earlier in the day. Ah well. Live and learn. 

On my way home to have dinner with B. I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up a pecan pie. My favorite. I wish I could say it was Vegan or somehow healthy and medicinal but it's just a pie. A good pie but a pie. Maybe the joy of eating a big piece is somehow curative. Not sure what I thought needed curing....

Author with 28mm Zeiss Biogon ZM and TTArtisan 28mm viewfinder on a Leica M240 camera. 

Photographer Justin Mott delivers more "Reality Therapy" about professional photography in the midst of a sea of YouTube influencer (uninformed) fantasies. Good stuff.

 Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XihVfuRoIUE  Watch that. Come back and tell me what you think. 

Does subject matter drive lens preference or is it the other way around?

 Throughout my time as a photographer I've had an affinity for short telephoto lenses. I like the idea that a tighter angle of view helps to eliminate clutter and allows me to really zero in on the things about a subject that I want to convey. One of my photographer friends, Will, gravitates to wider angle lenses for his images. His work incorporates much more of the context in which his subjects exist. Neither point of view is the "correct" one but I think the choices we make are part of how we, individually, see the world. 

I notice that when I walk around with a camera in just about any milieu I am always drawn to a single subject which I want to largely separate from the background. If I use too long a focal length the images start to feel unreal, inauthentic. But if I use too short a focal length the images seem to be filled with distractions which, for me, dilute the attention I think should be focused upon the main subject.

I often profess a love for the 50mm focal length on a full frame camera but I know that my real favorite focal length for the way I see things is the 85-90mm focal length. I often choose to use a 50mm because it's easier, a looser framing doesn't require that I control the image to the same extent as I would if I had fewer elements in the frame with which to work.

Rome. On the Spanish Steps.

But if I don't have to work quickly I'll almost always default to a longer focal length because, in most cases, the subject of my photo is far more interesting to me than the relationship of my subject to the background or the environment. Since I find people to be my favorite subjects I have to say that I'm more interested in the mystery each person represents than I am in the greater context of where I've found them. 

B. With her OM-1 film camera. 

There are some who depend on wider angle lenses for their art. Mostly, the images I see made with wide angle lenses are from "street" photographers like Joel Meyerowitz and by the legion of street photographers who display work on YouTube and Instagram. They work with wide angles out of necessity, I think. The photographers aim to capture people and people's expressions and gestures but they do so without the complicity or cooperation of the subjects and so have to work quickly. Since grabbing a shot with a longer lens is complicated by the much more limited depth of field of a longer focal length the shooters gravitate to lenses such as the 35mm and, especially, the 28mm in order to exploit the much greater depth of field. In short, they have a greater chance of getting their subjects in focus but the tradeoff is less control over composition, subject size in the frame, and the ability to control the in or out-of-focus rendering of distracting backgrounds.

In order to effectively shoot on the fly most wide angle street photographers are using 28mm lenses, stopping down to f8.0 or f11, and then zone focusing so that when a subject presents themself to the photographer's attention all that's required is to quickly frame the shot and push the shutter button. And the wider the lens the less rigorous the framing needs to be. But, to my mind, the less impactful each of the images will be. And the more awkward the apparent distortions, caused by close proximity of lens to subject, will be.

Rome. Spanish Steps.

In the two examples of casual street photography I am including just above and just below I did use a 50mm equivalent lens with a medium format Mamiya 6 camera. The lens was a 75mm. I could have used a 50mm MF lens (28mm equivalent) to capture the scene from both angles, on the fly, but in the top image the wide angle's proximity to the row of people on the bottom would have changed the size relationship between their heads and the head size of the young man holding the book. It would have been a "forced" perspective that would have called attention to technique and reduced the reality of the scene. Huge heads in the foreground and small head in the background...

In the scene just below (which is the same group but shot from the opposite angle) a quick "snap" with a wider angle lens would have caused the woman on the right hand side of the frame to look much larger than the people beside her and would have rendered the man on the left side of the frame much smaller. The idea of having an "objective" view of the scene would have been compromised by the obvious signature of a wider lens. Neither of these shots were "set up" or arranged but neither of them were surreptitious either. Working calmly and with no drama makes it possible to take one's time, use the right optic and compose more accurately. Or at least more in line with your own vision. 

Rome. Spanish Steps. Reverse angle.

As I look through decades of photographs the one's that I like best, the ones which describe what I think of as my style are the more considered and less chaotic shots that come from shorter lenses. In the two examples below I've used two different focal length lenses in the same general setting. The image of Lou with the magazine was done with a 50mm lens and includes a certain amount of context. 

Contax RTSiii camera. Tri-X. 50mm lens

Little City Coffee Shop.

The image below was taken in the same location but from a different angle and it was done with an 85mm lens which allowed me to make a close up portrait which, while you can tell it is not a studio portrait, very much eliminates intrusive and unnecessary details. Less of a story, perhaps. More of a "study." More interesting to me, in some regard. Mostly because I was more interested revealing the subject than in showing a scene. 

Contax RTSiii camera. Tri-X. 85mm lens

When it comes to focal lengths longer than 50mm my current favorites are 85 and 90mm. In the film days and in the time when digital cameras had far lower resolutions I would try to match lenses to what I considered would be the final crops. The final presentation. The idea being to maximize quality by using all the available pixels or film detail required longer lenses; like the 135mm. Now that sensors have advanced so far I'm less likely to use longer lenses such as 135mms and default to cropping in post production instead. 

Now I am most likely to work with one of the following lenses for photographing a single subject. Depending on my final use and the prevailing conditions these are: The Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art lens, the Voigtlander 90mm APO lens and the Sigma 90mm f2.8 Contemporary lens. When photographing with the M rangefinder cameras I find I am more drawn to the 75mm focal length and I am more confident now in my ability to crop since all the cameras have at least 24 megapixels of rich detail. 

There is a time and place (and subject matter) for all sorts of lenses but if you want to move from "generalist" to "artist with a style" you will, over time, find your comfort zone in the jungle of available focal lengths through trial and error. Which means you'll need to try various focal lengths to see what resonates with you. The focal length lens you are most comfortable with will usually do the best job elevating your work. And making your eyes happy.

I'd love to say that for me it's the 50mm focal length on a full frame camera but time and self-curation shows me that it's really somewhere "north" of 80mms. And I'm okay with that. 

85mm. 

 Close enough to be able to interact with one's subject.

Long enough to give them a comforting distance.

It's so much fun when Leica introduces a new product. It always makes me think about buying a Panasonic camera...

At a factory in Mexico. Self portrait.

 

I own a SL2 and I like it. It's very nice. Now Leica has introduced their replacement for the camera and it's called the SL3. Changes include the option to use three different resolution settings for raw files (a useful feature I had back on a 2003 Kodak SLR/n digital camera...), a new 60 megapixel sensor, phase detect AF (which might come in handy for event work with flash), a new battery which, surprisingly, the camera desperately needs as it's battery life is worse than previous models, two different type card slots (which for some is great but for me is a pain in the ass), an added, second control dial on the top plate that can provide ISO control but is also programmable, and, finally, a tilting rear screen. They would like for people like me to upgrade to the new camera and have priced it to move quickly...$7,000.  (sarcasm alert).

Of all the new stuff on the camera the only thing that really moves the needle for me is the ability to have 60 megapixel raw files as well as 36 and 18 megapixel raw files. When shooting events, portraits and tons of other web targeted content the ability to shoot full frame at 18 megapixels in raw is great. But really, I've got cameras that shoot 24 megapixel raw files natively, and that's close enough. 

Since there's no obligation to actually consummate the transaction of a "no deposit" pre-order with most stores I immediately pre-ordered an SL3 from my favorite Leica dealer. Why? Because I think it will be at least a month or two before they get product in the door and I may want one by then. Someone has already called me today to see if I want to sell them one of my more "minty" SL camera bodies. A few sell offs here and there and I'd be ready to accept the latest and greatest from Wetzlar. 

But when I really thought hard about it I came up with two scenarios that seem like a better use of my money. And a third scenario where I just keep the money in my investment account and take a chance on some new "hot stock." The first two scenarios for better spending the $7K required for the SL3 are based on the kind of work that requires certain differing performance/use parameters. 

I'm shooting an event in April. It seems like I'm always shooting some sort of corporate event where I need to make flash photos on the fly. Leicas are famous for having a very, very thin selection of (just) decent flashes. And the usability, based on reviews and real life stories, tells me that they are far from optimal for quick flash use in dark spaces. Rather than spend $675 in addition to the cost the SL3 ($7000) for a so-so shoe mount flash, if my reasons for acquiring the new camera are for event work, my logical brain tells me (emphatically!!!) that a slightly used Panasonic S5ii for $1500 is a much better choice. It has the image stabilization that makes focusing through longer lenses better. It has phase detect AF. But just as important, I already have several dedicated Olympus/Panasonic flashes (Like the Godox V1) that work great with the S5. No more money out of pocket to outfit the used S5ii --- and a track record of moderate (proven) success from the existing flash systems. In this scenario about $6,000 stays in my pocket. 

The second spend/spend/spend scenario is based around the idea that the higher resolution of the new SL3 would be helpful for shoots like the ones I did for Abbott last year and the year before which are model intensive, require high quality files for big print targets, and can benefit from higher end Leica lenses. 

And I might have gone down that path a couple of years ago but last year Paul dropped a Fuji GFX50Sii on me and it quickly became obvious that there is a quality difference provided by more square sensor surface. If I get invited to do more jobs like the previous ones mentioned, or the job which required highest quality files for a 30 foot truck wrap for the Capitol Area Food Bank, I'll much more likely reach for a medium format camera body over even a 60 megapixel FF body. And I'll buy or rent the lens, or lenses I need for particular projects; all at a big, big cost savings over the purchase of a new camera from Leica, the major advantage of which is slightly more pixel density. The map has changed a bit for me. 

We're almost back where we were in the 1990s when we mostly used two camera systems for two different types of work. Leicas for event work, public relations, public relations portraits and the like. Medium format cameras for big advertising work. Work that required the highest quality available; especially in the eyes of clients. 

Or, I could just ignore the new product announcements, ditch the work that doesn't conform to my favorite current cameras and move on. It's interesting to have options. This morning I'm leaning toward ignoring everything new. 

Maybe I'll start researching really high end swim goggles instead. It looks like a pair of the best goggles caps out at under $100. That's reasonable purchase. And no firmware updates to consider...

My role in getting our tax numbers together is complete. I'm off the hook now. I'm so happy just to get back to photographing and swimming. Who here is photographing with medium format digital cameras? What do you use?

 

a few years back I was doing an ad campaign for a natural gas company 

based in Oklahoma. One small part of the assignment was to photograph

a particular restaurant kitchen that, of course, used natural gas for cooking.

I did the "straight up" corporate shots of the cook and his kitchen but I also noticed

 the words tattoo'ed on the cook's hands and wanted a shot of that for myself. The original is in 

color. I've shown it here before. I made a conversion to black and white because...

well...because I wanted to. I don't remember which full frame 

camera system I was using at the time but it worked out fine.

Taxes: Most of my current participation in the family's tax preparation is concerned with the Schedule C, profit and loss statement for my business. Mercifully, B. handles pretty much everything else. I bitch and whine (how did "whinge" become whine? Pronounced like: "wine.") about the time it takes but in all honesty it only takes me two days to access all the numbers from two checking accounts as well as the numbers from two credit card accounts and then to filter out all the charges that are not relevant to taxation from the ones that are. For example: Lunch with Ben (not deductible). Leica M240 M-E (nicely deductible). There's not a lot of "gray space" but since every cent I spend in a year is via a credit card there are a lot of lines to look through. Okay. That's not true. I did write 23 checks last year. So retro. 

Yesterday, around two thirty in the afternoon, I put everything into the template that our CPA likes and sent it, along with some brokerage statements, to B. She'll incorporate the rest of the needed information and pass it along. Sadly, I can't just depend on the standard deduction. I have to itemize. Otherwise my CPA will give me a stern lecture. But yesterday, at around 2:45 pm, I tasted freedom. I immediately went out for celebratory coffee. How rich would I be if I could deduct the cost of all my coffee episodes??? More about coffee in the swim section...

In a couple of years it will probably all change but we've been doing accounting stuff this way, more or less for nearly 40 years. Most of them profitable. A few.... not so much. But at least my part in this year's math adventure is done. 

When I hit the point of completion I usually make some bold statement to myself that I'll get much more organized in the current year. I'll become a master of Quickbooks Pro, or some other dorky accounting program. I'll parse out the categories as I go along. Right. But, at 68, I know I'm lying to myself and, in fact, I'll probably just go in the other direction, put all the printouts and stuff in a cardboard box and delivery it (without notations!) to Barry; my accountant. He'll  complain and charge me a lot more but I probably won't care. 

Work: It's been a slow but happy year so far. Most of the work has been portraits. Either in the studio or on location. I'm happy working either way. We've booked a four day event in San Antonio in April and I've got a sprinkling of portrait work until then. But it's interesting. All the panic about money from my early years is gone. If fun and challenging work comes in I'm more than happy to rise to the challenge. If we hit a dry spell (or year) I'm happy taking time off for more swimming, walking and goofy camera fun. 

Most of the portraits I've been doing this year are kind of a throwback to my earlier work. I'm using huge modifiers like 7 foot diameter, soft white umbrellas and going a step further by adding a layer of diffusion to the front for an even softer effect. I'm getting a lot of use out of the medium format GFX camera. Funny (to me, at least) that I have so much fun buying Leicas but I use them less and less in the business side and use the GFX for just about anything where I have a modicum of control with the subject. Not sure this would be true with fast moving event stuff. But, I bought the GFX 50Sii and a few lenses in the middle of 2023 and haven't felt the urge to "flesh out" the system any further. 

The GFX is a good, solid working tool, it's just not as much fun as the smaller, sleeker cameras. 

My kid was telling me that he bought a new computer last week. It's a MacBook Pro, 14 inch with an M3 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 2 Terabyte hard drive. He used to edit video for me and he was telling me that I wouldn't believe how fast the new machine eats through video footage. Multiple streams of 4K edits in real time. He also mentioned that he was surprised by how good the display on the newest machine is.

Ben's first computer. A Blueberry iBook. He had a desk in my office...

It got me thinking that it's probably time to upgrade my system. My 2018 vintage iMacPro has been rock solid and it does have 64 GB of fast DDR4 RAM and a fast Xeon processor but from what I've read on the various computer test sites my kid's machine is faster than mine by a factor of 10X-14X.  I'll justify buying one as it will be a replacement for my 2018 MacBook Pro 13" which is probably one software (OS) upgrade away from being obsolete. And then I'll try sneaking it into the studio mix....

I do need to take a laptop with me for the April event job. The client wants a quick turnaround on some shots from day to day.  Yeah! That's a supporting rationale... 

I'm finding that the idea of retiring is more or less miserable. I'm diving back in with a handful of clients. I like the challenge of photography. I hate volunteering for stuff. I know first hand that most non-profits would rather have cash donations than more hands to manage. Your mileage may vary. And I think mentoring someone would be cruel. For them. I'm too scattered.

Swimming. I was plainly being immature at swim practice today. We had a new coach for today. I approached her at the poolside and told her that this was my first time ever to try a masters swim and I hoped I'd be able to get through it. She was very kind. Until my usual lane mate corrected my story. Drat. I really had the coach going for a few minutes. 

It was 60° when we hit the water at 8:00 am. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the coach was coaching and the water was so clean you could have read fine point type at the other end of the 25 yard pool. If you had your goggles on. We had a challenging workout with lots of 100s on short intervals. In between sets of 100s we had a pyramid of 75s kicking. On the same intervals as the swimming 100s. That'll get your pulse up!  

I'm trying a new swimming experiment. I've had the habit of drinking a cup of coffee upon rising each morning. That means I'm ingesting "healthy" dose of caffeine before practice. But in truth I have always been an anxious person and the caffeine sometimes exacerbates my performance anxiety in the pool. Get anxious in workout and your muscles get tighter and your brain makes breathing feel harder. Genius that I profess to be (sarcasm alert) I finally figured out after 63 years of competitive swimming, and 40+ years of caffeine-drenched morning swims, that I might be better served by skipping the coffee until AFTER workout and seeing if that affects my overall results. 

Goodness gracious! So that's what it's like swimming relaxed!!!! I've been doing this experiment (no pre-workout coffee) for about three weeks now and the difference in workout is revelatory. No anxiety. Faster repeats. Less tired at the end of each set. Why didn't I do this say.....forty years ago? I guess I'm just a slow learner. 

Now I'm wondering just how much that glass of wine with dinner affects my swim performance the following morning. Dropping another habit might just be a second interesting experiment. Guess I'll find out.

SXSW photo thoughts. It all starts on Friday. A great day NOT to be at the Austin airport. It's the start of SXSW. I love photographing there but I'm always trying to decide, right up until I walk out the front door, which cameras and lenses I should take to document the event over the eight days. This year I've had the recurring and strange idea of going really light. Now planning on taking two Leica CL cameras, the Sigma Contemporary 18-50mm f2.8 zoom and the ultra-fabulous Sigma 58mm f1.4. Two cameras with the weight of one. Small and light lenses with lots of good performance. Those are today's front-runners but you know that, with me, it's always subject to change. 

Is it wrong to still be having so much fun taking photographs? I'm guessing not. 

See you out there? 

the chef in color.