A photo rich blog post. And...where do we start???

Added this morning (12-5): a really good, tangential video about this general theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QltxZ-vPMc

Good viewing.

Just a few years back. I've gotten into the habit of buying fresh flowers once a week. B. likes it and it makes the house seem more.... inviting. Shot with an older 50mm f1.4 Canon FD lens...

I just listened to a lecture about...happiness. Not from a spiritual point of view but from a neurological/pyschological point of view. Seems I was right all along. Adding friction to the modern, first world lifestyle adds more happiness. But it's more complicated than that. The premise is that life has always been hard. In the past, for millenia, the basic struggles for survival provided most (all?) of the friction of daily life. Finding enough food. Staying warm and uneaten by predators. Surviving all manner of disease. Avoiding participation in wars, etc. 

Since the middle of the last century life has remained a struggle but for profoundly different reasons. At a certain point in time,  in first world countries, most people didn't and still don't struggle to get enough food, or shelter and, at least in the USA and other prosperous countries, wars have been distant and not existentially dire on an individual level. So why is life still hard? In a word? Boredom. Most of our day to day lives, once we've attained adulthood, are...boring. Which is depressing. And since the human brain craves stasis it will push you to do what it can to counteract depression. Which, for current people, means distracting ourselves with entertainment. Virtual anti-boredom. Which mostly translates to scrolling through websites on our phones and computers, going through our daily routines and scrolling some more. While we might not be ecstatic while we're scrolling we are okay--- but the minute we stop the flow the realization of our boredom pushes us back to depression and the cycle continues. 

What's the antidote? Likely it's not to "find" meaning in life as much as it is to "create" a sense of meaning in life by choosing interesting things to do. It's likely why people attempt to climb Mt. Everest, sail across oceans, run marathons and, yes....even go out and take photographs. We're mostly attempting to do things that we can infuse with value or "meaning" that we also enjoy. And most of those undertakings are successful because, unlike endlessly watching sports on TV or the web, these activities attract us because doing them entails working against friction. Embracing friction. Working alongside friction. 

If a task is easy and mundane it's generally something we dislike. And avoid. But even if a task is tough, hard, requires increasing skill sets and also comes with a strong chance of failure it also comes with something to push against and to win against. And mostly that's the friction entailed in the process. 

Think of the happiest people you personally know. How many of them sit on a couch and browse the latest offerings from television and the web? If you really look you'll probably find that the happiest people in your lives are the ones who are busy doing work they value or which adds value to them and the people around them. Or they are the artists who are wholly committed to the near endless pursuit of their art. Or they are out challenging themselves. Pushing their hobbies from time frittered away to time spent challenging themselves to get to a higher level of achievement and proficiency. Done by working against friction. 

For some people regular work delivers the challenge and the friction people use to moderate the ups and downs of pleasure stimulation and post pleasure pain or emptiness. The stories are legend of the powerful men who are pushed into retirement, dolefully play golf and subsequently die 18 months later. The friction of the business challenge provided the mental physics to hold everything together. Remove the friction and you remove the sense of meaning that keeps people on track. The work and the challenges of work keep one from just modulating between the pleasure and pain cycles all day long and helps satisfy your brain's desire for homeostasis. Without constantly cycling between the momentary "happiness" of empty entertainment and the resulting sadness brought on by stopping the entertainment the brain can more easily maintain a healthier mid-line of emotional energy. There's something to be said for the even keel.

I'm probably going into the weeds here but the basic idea I believe is that re-introducing friction into the lives of the bored population would go a long way toward bringing back more authentic joy into people's lives. 

One of the reasons people are drawn to photography in general and street photography specifically is that the whole practice is fraught with ample opportunities to fail interspersed with sparse opportunities to succeed. But it's that very friction of the attempt that makes it personally worthwhile. And the value really is in the ongoing process and not the random trophies printed and hung on a wall.

To my mind depression and momentary relief from depression is mostly about the cycles of dopamine delivery and dopamine withdrawal. Little pleasures derived from scrolling the web, or being engaged in other entertainment episodes provides a bit of uplifting dopamine but as soon as the entertainment is withdrawn the dopamine drops away. What most of us need but few of us are educated to know is that the pursuits that challenge us consistently tend to smooth out the oscillating peaks and troughs, the amplitude between the ups and downs, and offer a way of living with more satisfaction. And that satisfaction creates a virtuous cycle in your own pursuit of meaning and your sense of fulfillment. 

The more passive your approach to life the less you are able to embrace the feeling that things make sense. The more consistently motivated you are to work on (non-passive) challenging undertakings the greater your long term satisfaction. Imagine how good it feels to write a book. All the way to the end. Or to make a wonderful quilt. Or to produce a well made movie. Or to create and run a successful company. These things may just hold the secrets of our own happiness. Process and completion.

 

Rehearsal with small cameras. Hmmm. 

We can feel good momentarily when watching tennis on TV --- if we like tennis. I don't really see the point. But if we play tennis instead of passively consuming it on screens we can feel the physical and mental challenges and also enjoy accrued benefits such as greater physical fitness and a (hopefully) increasing skill set. As well as a healthy social bonding with our (non-virtual) opponent. If we turn off the TV and our driver of momentary happiness comes solely from passively watching then we are doomed to be deflated, at least to a degree, the minute the program ends. There are no lasting benefits. No new skills learned. Nothing in our lives changed. When the drinking is over there's nothing left but the hangover....

Rome. 1995

Verona. 1986.

the more affluent people become the more they invite constant demands on their time and the more they get done. The happier they report being.  People at lower income demographics have, interestingly enough, more "leisure" time. But less happiness. It's an odd finding but there it is. 

Vatican City. 1986.

Barton Springs. Austin, Texas 2016

Paris. 1992.

Experiences create more lasting joy than objects or products. 

We're planting more and more Lamb's Ear in the back yard garden. 

Photographing is not just about photographing. It's a cultural survey of sorts.

It's exercise. It's a re-acquaintance with where you are and why you are there. 

It's an exploration into human nature. It's a pleasant way to learn about the dynamic graphics of making images --- which most of us can only really learn by trial and error. Right?

It's a chance to roam free like the animals of the Serengeti. The roaming is

both a feature and a benefit....

Children have a sense of creativity that, in too many adults, has been crushed, defeated and killed off. Maybe we should believe in the resurrection of the creative spirit and bring it back into our own adulthood. Beats making fun of the liberal arts majors...

Design evolves faster than viruses....

Okay. Now I know where I am. 

the Ancient Greeks were always at war with some other country. 

Maybe that was the friction that created the next 2,000 years of civilization. 

The friction of Jo's is that of finding any nearby parking...

Naked women statues everywhere. including in this lobby of a Montreal building.

I guess that's friction too.

Getting myself steeled up to do a bit of self brain surgery. 

A few less I.Q. points will certainly add some much needed friction points...

this camera is much more difficult to use well than most current AF, auto everything cameras. 

Maybe that's why I like the images I get from it so much better and it may be why many of the people who pooh-pooh this sort of camera in favor of ultra-auto cameras tend to give up the pursuit so quickly. 

Same. Hard work feels better than drifting around with floaties.

The more challenges life throws at you the more adventures you have under your belt. The more good stories you can tell. The more the simple pleasures of life provide deeper enjoyment. Safe and sound is boring...and will make you depressed. 

Cameras at the ready!!! Charge!!!

My brief affair with current medium format digital cameras has come to an end. I tried to make it work. Really, I did.

 

I am in no way a neophyte when it comes to medium format digital cameras and the general practices of using them. The image above was done with one of Mamiya's attempts, circa 2007-2009. As a camera reviewer/writer for Studio Professional Magazine I enjoyed extended use of various Phase One cameras and Leaf Aptus cameras. I even spent some time with the Leica S system.  The difference between the CCD sensor-ed cameras from earlier days and the current CMOS offerings by Fuji, in their GFX line, rests on two things. The first is the the increase in both resolution and high ISO noise performance while the second is the $10,000 to $20,000 price drop from the bleeding edge days until today. You can now buy a used Fuji 50+ megapixel "medium format" (just barely...) camera for around $2,000 to $2,500; depending on the mood of the markets.

When one of my friends bought the GFX50Sii he thought he'd give it a try and see if it was much better than his current high res digital camera which, like most others, is based on a 35mm sensor size. Being affluent and able to turn on a dime he decided in short order that a newly released version of the 100 megapixel Fuji camera might suit him better. He jumped on the new product and offered me his scantly used 50+ megapixel model for a bargain price. I bought some extra batteries because I'd heard through the (accurate) grapevine that the bigger Fuji cameras sucked down battery power voraciously. That's also quite true. 

When the camera stores had sales on Fuji GFX lenses I bought the 50mm f3.5 and the "kit-ish" 35-70mm zoom. I quickly decided that 70mm was not going to be long enough for portraits so I looked around and played with a number of candidates. Having spent most of my budget for cameras on various  Leica camera bodies and lenses I looked for older lenses that might fit the bill for the MF camera. I stumbled onto the Pentax 645 AF lenses and I have to say that several of them are at least as good, optically, as some of the popular Fuji GFX lenses. I'll quickly add, for the naysayers, that none were as good, wide open, as the Fuji 110 f2.0. That is a nice lens. Pricey and heavy but optically very nice. 

I used the camera and the lenses on a number of involved photoshoots and, for the most part, I found the files to be at least as good as the images coming out of the Leica SL2 that I've owned for the last four years. But not much better. Certainly not remarkably better. If pushed I might say that the difference added up to about 1 or 2 % --- if every parameter was optimal and I could work with great care. 

But here's the deal. The Fuji GFX50Sii just didn't feel anywhere as sturdy and reliable as the camera I'd been using. Even the SD card slots are upside down (two is on the top, one is on the bottom. The opposite of every other camera with two card slots that I've used...). Even with Fuji lenses it's not a focusing speed demon. It makes contrast detect AF Leica SLs look fast by comparison. Then there is the unreliable performance from the camera if it is ever used in direct sun with an ambient temperature over 85° Fahrenheit. I've had the high temperature/thermometer icon go on sometimes in as quickly as fifteen minutes on a hot day. Go out shooting on any day with the "mercury" over 100f and you will quickly find that you are shooting on borrowed time. 

And then there are the batteries. The charged life reminded me of the painful days of the early Sony A7 series cameras and their tiny, weak batteries. Most pros I met out in the field who were shooting with those early Sony cameras (myself included) had a handful,  or maybe even a dozen spare batteries waiting for their 15 minutes of fame in one of the cameras before exhausting themselves and having to embrace a recharge. And, glory be, my Fuji GFX was in the same ballpark. 

Finally, the menus suck. Never drive a car that's faster and better than the one you own or you'll be disappointed with yours for as long as you own it. In the camera world I might say, where menus are concerned, that you should never shoot with a current Leica SL series camera if you plan on sticking with a Fuji GFX. The difference in menus is about the same as either having a clear and concise interface versus learning to read Klingon presented via a nasty and poorly designed font. Outrageous that menus have become so unwieldy and complex. And ugly.

While I got some good work out of the GFX I'll be un-modest here and say that it's mostly because I understand most camera operation basics and I spent time getting the lighting just right --- which is camera independent. When I finished my big group shot of the sixteen doctors with the downtown skyline in the background, last month, I was pretty much over any good feelings I may have had about the camera. 

The camera and the attendant lenses have now all been sold. The warm and happy feeling that this provides me is ... comfortable. If a job comes up that can't be done with an SL2, and a sensor with nearly 50 megapixels, then it's probably not the right job for me anymore. And that makes me happy. 

The ongoing purge of gear is all part of my current mania to pare down the excess inventory, simplify my professional and hobbyist life, and to stop thinking that I need to have every conceivable base covered by the appropriate photo gear. Might have been true when we were all professional generalists back in the 1980s and 1990s but now? Forget about it. 

Additional silver lining of no longer being a "Digital Medium Format" photographer? A lot more space in the storage cabinets. Who knew that negative space would be more comfortable?

The reason so many of us might be attracted to medium format digital cameras, especially since they are now so affordable, has to be our memory of the film MF cameras with their generous 6x6cm or 6x7cm film "sensors".. The geometry and size of the film formats gave us a lot more than just resolution. It also provided us with a different look and a different ramping of depth of field --- which made many subjects look so much more elegant. The current Fuji MF sensors are less than half the size of those in their film ancestors and not that much bigger than the 35mm size of most full frame digital cameras. Add faster lenses for the smaller sensor cameras and you've got marginal differences in the looks you can get. 

I'm waiting until some company designs and brings to market an affordable 6x6cm digital sensor medium format camera. That would be MF the way the photographic gods intended. And a sensor size that would make much more interesting photographs.

In the meantime I might go over and check out the new Hasselblad offerings. I hear the MF bodies are beautifully designed, feel much more solid, and the menu layout is even better than that in the current Leicas. If that's even possible.... But maybe I'll just continue to enjoy my four year journey amongst various Leica offerings. They are much more fun. Just sayin.

Thanks for reading. 

Learned a bit of sharpening finesse from a video on YouTube by James Popsys. Old dog. New tricks.

What a wonderful day in Austin, Texas. It was 42° when I crawled out of bed and staggered to the kitchen to make a revitalizing cup of coffee. I stayed up too late last night reading a riveting book. Couldn't put it down. After getting enough caffeine coursing through my veins I pulled on a new pair of Timberland hiking boots, grabbed a favorite sweatshirt and headed out for adventure. Or, at least a good walk...

I chose an underutilized Leica SL2-S camera and a perennial favorite lens; the Sigma 45mm f2.8, and headed into downtown. My primary goal is always to have fun taking photographs but today I had the secondary goal of breaking in the new pair of boots. 

Yesterday, during some much needed downtime, I watched a new video that UK photographer, James Popsys, posted on his YouTube channel. He was going over post processing and he called out something that I do too often as being a quick way to ruin good photographs. I have tended, in the past, to use a plus setting on the clarity slider in Lightroom far too often. I think subconsciously substituting the visual effect of more midrange constrast when what I really want, most times, was more intelligent sharpening. I made note to wean myself off the clarity slider and then James hit me with a perfect tip about sharpening. 

I learned to sharpen way, way back in the early Photoshop days when some of the tools were more like blunt hammers than fine scalpels. I barely even noticed when Abobe added masking to the sharpening tools and have ignored it until James flung a dose of revelation at me. I really didn't understand what purpose masking would serve in sharpening (even though the Photoshop version is called "Unsharp Mask."). 

Using the masking slider in Lightroom allows you to fine tune what tones/intersections will be sharpened and what will be left alone. Leave the masking at zero and the program tries to sharpen everything. Not just the subject of the image that you might want sharpened. But when you sharpen everything you also end up sharpening noise and artifacts. Which then makes you dependent on the added step of messing with noise reduction when, many times, you don't really need to. If you use the masking slider well.

The secret is so simple. More slider = larger details and tonal intersections get sharpened instead of tiny and visually inconsequential data. Less slider = increasingly includes smaller details such as the aforementioned noise in the file. Wanna see how much or little the masking slider will affect? Hold down the option key (on a Mac) while sliding the control and you'll see an inverted, black and white version of the image and you can see how, when you move the slider to the right, it ignores smaller details and instead only changes bigger details. It's a revelation. 

What I found right off the bat with my new information was that my skies looked more natural and less crunchy. The big details that draw one's eyes were satisfyingly sharp while the small details that don't really register stayed smoother and more realistic. Here's a link for James's video covering this and a number of other post processing tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUbzmWfQFmk&t=825s

He has also convinced me to pay much more attention to luminance in the HSL panels when fine-tuning color in files. But you can watch that part for yourself. 

I tried using the masking in sharpening on all the files I processed from my walk today and was impressed with the improved subtly of the finished files. See what you think.

Today I started my walk by heading over to Torchy's Tacos on Second Street for a bacon, egg and cheese taco on a flour tortilla. That, and a small cup of coffee. Business was slow there this morning. I guess everyone was already out shopping. Being as how it's Black Friday and all. My taco came out quickly and it was enormous. Packed with eggs. Overflowing. Fork necessitating. Napkin swamping. And delicious. 

It was just the protein hit I was looking for. I headed East and dropped by the JW Marriott Hotel to use their superb restroom facilities before walking across the Congress Ave. Bridge and heading South toward the trendy shopping and dining area they now called SOCO. (Yeah. Kinda dumb. South Congress. Right. We get it.). The whole half mile of the street with the fashionable shops and "fine" dining choices was packed with people. Mostly visitors from out of town, judging by their excitement at seeing everyday excesses of Austin's post-hippie-cowboy culture.

I shot a mix of black and white and color and had a blast sliding through the crowds with as much grace as I could muster. Like photographic ballroom dancing. At the end of my long walk the temperature for the day crested around 65° and the sun was lighting up everything. I headed home to see if there was any pecan pie left. In a fit of muddled but optimistic thinking I decided a big wedge of pie would make a perfect lunch. And it did.

the mannequins are ready for the holidays.

and the holiday parties. If you blow this up every single sequin on the dress is well defined and edgy.

For part of the walk I was interested in trying out my black and white chops.

Since I am happily well adjusted (mentally) I found that I could easily switch between black and white and color when the subjects would benefit from one mode or the other. It's not that hard. 

Two things I have never understood about Yeti. Their advertising and their prices.

But here's their Austin showcase. Right at the intersection of S. Congress Ave. and Barton Springs Rd. 

deep in the heart of SOCO I found a bevy of mannequins surrounded by holiday decor. I tried out my skills. The images would look better, I think, if blow up to a couple of feet by a couple more feet. 

Your call.

holiday wall art at the famous Continental Club. 

That's where we shot the Billy Joe Shaver music video that won 

the country music video awards one year. I was the DP on that project.

It was very cool. Steve Mimms was the director.

Kendra Scott wasted no time in getting here holiday decor in gear.

just the present with which to ingratiate yourself with your favorite spouse or mistress....

interesting packages of tea at one shop in SOCO...

Purchased one and sent it to a blogger who tends to overthink... a lot of things. 

Nope. Not me. I rarely think things through. Just ask my attorney...

Youthful appreciation of art on the street.

A new way to shoot on the street. Set the camera for f8. Set the shutter speed to 1/500th. Set ISO to a wide-ranging automatic setting. Blaze way with abandon. Next time we'll work on finding more interesting subjects...

way to block the entire sidewalk with one extended family. Not mine...

the sign in the center says it all....

A couple at the street facing bar at Jo's Coffee. Just chilling out and watching the endless show of people walk by. Pretty good idea.

If it's under 68° the big, puffy down jackets are a must have!!!!

Always wanted to see what ISO 12,500 looked like in one of the restrooms at Jo's. 

I guess it looks like this...

This building, on my route, is a complete mystery to me. No signage. No windows. No signs of human activity. maybe the headquarters of an invading, superior race of lizard people? Eerie. 

I know these balls of concrete exist to prevent people from driving their cars and trucks into the sides of buildings but they still seem out of place to me. I guess it takes balls to deal with bad traffic...

That's it for today. A marvelous walk. With luck we'll be back in the pool tomorrow getting some real exercise. I've got some pie pounds I need to work off. I think a three hour hike was a good start. Now off looking to see if there is still more pie. Pecan pie. The best pie.

I did  search on the web to find out what the human limits per day of pecan pie might be but my research came up empty. I guess the real number is....unlimited.

Hope you all had a fun and vibrant holiday filled with all kinds of food and photos. Skip black Friday and wait for the 2029 models to arrive. That's one plan.
 

Oh darn. Did I forget the affiliate links again? Dear me...

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful that camera introductions have slowed down enough so we can take time to enjoy what we've already got.

2005-2013. Those were heady years for camera introductions! Many a baleful and plodding blogger paid his mortgage introducing camera lovers to an ever expanding and ever "improving" flow of cameras; each camera model arriving with just enough new features and performance boosts to make a recently purchased model seem old, obsolete and borderline unusable. This, in turn, prompted photographers and camera lovers to keep chasing after each new camera model because of their fear, in commercial circles, that they would be missing out on a feature that clients might find useful --- which might give an opportunity to competitors who were quicker to upgrade. Amateurs felt that any additional advantage would help them make better and better photographs. The bloggers who incessantly praised new cameras didn't really care whether a newer camera was better than an older one as long as their reviews could generate revenue through their affiliate links. 

It was a crazy time in the industry. The turnover of gear was astounding. The ability to spend seemed bottomless. But in truth? It was mostly money down the drain. The benefits of the churn rewarded the camera makers and their co-conspirators; the recipients of affiliate cash, much, much more than it ever did the working photographers or the people who were trying to polish up their camera skills. 

And, if you go back and read the blogs most of the writers postured and pretended that the "new" camera was so much better that they found themselves on the fence and might be buying one with their own money. But, most never did follow through and as soon as the access to the sample loaner expired so then did their interest in the new model. But that was okay for them because it was a time in which a new camera or lens from another maker was already arriving via the Fedex truck. 

Hoodwinked by persuasive writing so many people rushed to buy based on the sweet words of "reviewers" who had never worked a real photo job in their lives. Or even worse, people were taking advice from writers who had tried their hands at photography only to not succeed. To not make the grade. To not have successful encounters with cameras! 

Pretty darn amazing. My least favorite type of manipulation was perpetrated by "influencers" who never even touched the cameras before writing their reviews.  Bold. Insightful? Manipulative!!!! But I guess it's all fair game if money is involved. 

But we seem to have turned the corner. At least for a while. Many regular folks are realizing that the cameras they bought three years ago, five years ago, even ten years ago still work perfectly well. Some older cameras, by my measure, are even better than the latest models. Or at least they are less complex in actual use --- which counts for a lot.

About four years ago I bought a Leica SL camera. That's a camera that was introduced to the market back in October of 2015. Nearly ten years ago. It's a solid, full frame, 24 megapixel mirrorless camera which lacks a few features people take for granted these days but is, frankly, the most fun and best performing camera I have ever used. I liked it so much I bought a second one as a back-up. Then?  Covid interceded and camera makers slowed down the pipeline of new introductions and, since there was no compelling reason to get rid of the first SL, or the second one I bought as a back up, I had time to really get to know and appreciate the original. 

And if push came to shove today, in very late 2024, if I had to sell one of the Leicas the SL2 I bought later would go ---long before either of the two SL camera bodies. The older model is just more or less perfect ---- for me. I have a friend who works professionally and bought one of the first Nikon D850s to hit the market. He could well afford to buy any camera on the market right now without breaking a sweat but when he compares the new options against his tried and true D850 he sees absolutely no compelling reasons to "upgrade." 

The basic fact is that there have been very few actual/noticable improvements in cameras, image sensor design, or camera firmware over the last five years. At least not improvements that make a difference for the grand spectrum of our actual practices. And even comparisons with older cameras show that the newest gear has gained at most very small, almost imperceptible improvements in the way photographs look coming from any of the comparable cameras. People have learned now that it's okay to step back, take a breather, and enjoy the use of the cameras they've already had, and mastered, instead of being on the prowl for the next one. Which is great for the end user because the next one might not benefit them much --- if at all. 

While this line of thought is true for most professional photographers (I'll exempt sports photographers who've been brainwashed into believing that ever higher frame rates are always mission critical) it's even more true for the folks that don't need to earn a living working with their cameras. For them, if the camera did what they wanted it to when they bought it, and it still delivers the photographs they want today, then for all intents and purposes there is no reason at all for them to lose money trading in a long time friend for a pricey new friend of unproven quality. It's probably the case that their D800, D810, Canon 5D3 or Sony whatever works perfectly well for all of their uses and all of the targets for which their output is intended. 

So, today I am thankful for all the things most happy adults are thankful for. A great kid. A wonderful spouse. Life in a fun city. Good friends. Health, and more. But I am also thankful that we aren't subject to the near endless equipment churn we endured in the past. That we now have time and space to appreciate what we already have in the camera bags --- and now have the bandwidth to relax and enjoy the gear that has been a steady companion for years instead of months.

That's a relaxing prospect for this blogger in particular. I have little to no interest in writing about an endless progression of new cameras. And even less interest in begging for money via affiliate links that tout products 99% of my readers don't need and probably don't want. Refreshing.

On a more moving note..... I drove to San Antonio today to have Thanksgiving Lunch with my in-laws, my spouse and my adult son. The dinner and time spent were wonderful. No conflict. No political fired discussions. No drama. Just mutual respect and ample servings of love. But the real story is in the driving. 

The weather was perfect for driving a car. Clear, clean highways with temperatures in the 60s. I made the round trip in the Subaru Legacy Sport I bought earlier this year. With nearly seven thousand miles on the odometer I have decided that I love sedans far more than SUVs, and that every big sedan should have a big, powerful motor, and high performance tires. I averaged 80 mph on the highway while getting 30.8 mpg. The car is heavy and solid on the road with a great, low center of gravity. The way the turbo kicks in when passing other cars is amazing. And exhilarating. 

Traffic on the way home was light. I drove fast. But no faster than the rest of the other crazy Texans blazing down the highway. I'd almost forgotten how much fun driving can be when you aren't stuck in midtown traffic, or stuck in an bloaty SUV bouncing down the road on the automotive equivalent of an easy chair. Vroom. Vroom. 

Tomorrow I will be thankful for everything I wrote above but will be additionally thankful for swim practice in the morning. We didn't swim today because of the holiday. Sad. But what can you do?

Dance with the camera that brung ya? Relish the classics? It's all good.

Here's a book recommendation: David Hobby, of the Strobist.com fame, wrote a book that was published this year. It's called, "The Travel Photographer's Manifesto." It is by far the best book I've read on the subject and you can be sure that it's not just a self-serving vehicle used to print a portfolio of greatest hits because there are no photos in the entire book. Just great writing (not weird, overly fraught academic pablum) and lot of great information. I learned a ton.... and I thought I already knew everything about photography (smile emoji goes here....). I'd buy this book again in a heartbeat. David walks the walk (actually makes a living taking photographs) and talks the talk (well, I guess writes the writing....). Whatever. Just go over to Amazon and buy a copy. If you don't like it a lot then you might just be a landscape photographer ---- or an odd duck who doesn't at least think about traveling. And photographing. 

No hidden agenda here. No links to David's book. No cash in my hands.

Final Thanksgiving advice. Don't trust the writer who does love to read fiction. A favorite quote: 

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one. - George R.R. Martin

 And a sad one at that.

Night.

 

Let's talk about a fun job!

There is a medical practice here in Austin for which I've been making photographs, video and written content for nearly thirty years. There is a constant roster of sixteen doctors and each one is also a partner in the practice. The jobs range from the typical "doctor in white coat looking congenial and concerned" to event coverage and photos of their different locations/buildings for their website. 

To a person they are all pleasant, collegial with me, and down to earth. When one doctor retires the rest take a good long time to interview, interview and interview potential new additions to the practice. It's fun to watch. They only want to bring in fellow doctors that they'd enjoy hanging out and socializing with. 

About fifteen years ago they decided they'd like to do a group photo for use on holiday cards and various promos. Their marketing staff decided on a location which had as its background the downtown skyline of Austin. It was on the front plaza of a big event center just south of Lady Bird Lake (which used to be named, Town Lake). The plaza has a  big arch and, in the late afternoon I could arrange for the group to be in open shade. Without the building the doctors would have been in the same sun angle as the downtown skyscrapers. The shade of the building kept the docs from being directly lit with harsh sun. 

The problem for the photographer to solve was that the open shade was three to four stops darker than the full sun on the buildings. A correct exposure for the buildings would leave the docs in the dark. Obviously, they needed to be lit to a level that would compete with the sun. We'd need powerful fill flash.

The first year we did this kind of photo I used a battery powered flash with two heads. It was called an Elinchrom Ranger RX. The battery powered generator put out 1200 watt seconds and the power could be evenly distributed as 600 watt seconds to each flash head. Nice. Powerful. Just right. 

With enough power you could distribute the light across 16 subjects and gain f11 @ whatever your highest sync speed might be. Enough to evenly light the foreground while maintaining a good exposure on the skyline. 

Over the years I made use of several different flash systems. After the Elinchrom I tried one year with a set of Alien Bees monolights and one of the Alien Bees battery power packs. Those power packs used sealed lead acid batteries which made the whole combination quite heavy. But it all worked. When it worked. 

The next time we did the images in that space (about once every four years) I used a Profoto battery powered system which consisted of a battery box/flash generator and two flash heads. The power was lower, at 600 watt seconds, but we were able to time the near end of day light on the buildings with the full power output of the Profoto units to get the right balance of exposure.

This year I used two Godox AD200Pro flashes firing into a dual, bare bulb head for my main fill light. It was less power than I'd used in the past but I knew we could make it work by 

 

Sea Change. Getting rid of lots of stuff. Feels good to downsize the inventory from time to time.

From the fashion shows at the Louvre. 1994

Certain photographers who worked professionally through the decades have a propensity for accumulating more and more stuff as time goes on. I count myself among the worst offenders. I've rarely met a lens or a camera body in which I wasn't at least passingly interested. Recently I looked into a drawer that holds most of my lenses and realized that things have gotten a bit out of hand. Especially when it comes to vintage 50mm lenses. Then there's my whole flirtation over the last year and a half with the Fuji medium format cameras and various MF lenses. I also found that I have too many big LED fixtures but that's not really my fault. I found newer ones with better, more consistent color and in one stroke they made my previous, first line LED lights obsolete. But the bottom line is that all this stuff is too much to keep up with and needs to go. 

A friend of mine offered to sell the Fuji stuff, and assorted lenses, on Fred Miranda for me. That's great. I'll do much better than trading it in on store credit here in Austin. But everything else? I just want to move it out of the physical space and the mental space. If I make money on it that's swell. If I don't that's no sweat either.

Which brings me to today's subject: The cost of mind space as it relates to diverse photo gear. 

It dawned on me when Leica discontinued M240 batteries as retail items ( you can still order them as parts, thank you! European consumer protection laws!!!) that having lots of different cameras means having to have lots of different batteries on hand. And though they last a long time they are, in the end, a perishable item. Batteries have a finite life and they also require routine maintenance during their lives. Lithium batteries need to be charged and used from time to time to ensure their long term health. Spread that around several different camera systems and you might end up with lots of batteries to think about. That takes up a share of brain power.  Having to keep track of them all is more trouble than it might be worth. One reason I love my Leica SL and Q stuff is that they all take exactly the same kind of battery and the batteries for these current and recent cameras keep improving (more power) as they become more affordable (price drop from $285 to $200 for the SCL-4 versus the newer SCL-6). One battery type works in everything from the original SL to the SL2 to the SL2-S to the Q2. The newer SCL-6 batteries I have been buying are the same as those that come with the (on perennial back-order) Q3-43 camera, should it ever arrive. But the batteries for the big Fuji 50Sii are a whole different kettle of carp and are disappointing when it comes to the amount of charge delivered to the camera. They just run out of power too soon. 

Having used the Fuji 50Sii for the better part of two years now I'm ready to see it gone. The files from the camera can be great but....  In the Texas heat I get temperature warnings almost every day that I try to use it outside. Not right away but frequently enough to assure me that it's not really a "professional" piece of gear. Good in an air conditioned studio but that's as far as it goes. The focus ability isn't what I would call quick and....the files are just about as good as those from my SL2 and I anticipate that they won't be any better than the SL3 camera I've been eyeing. I guess technique still matters.

All the manual focus lenses I've accrued for the Fuji are Pentax 645 lenses that I use with an adapter. The lenses are all quite good but everything is too heavy. They all would have made sense in earlier days when I was working more with assistants and also more frequently in the studio but now they are just an unnecessary burden. The sooner they leave my orbit the less I have to consider.

The general equipment purge is delicious. As I close in on complete retirement from the commercial field I find that many of the previous rationales I held onto for keeping certain gear in inventory are no longer apt. They no longer make sense. An example? Well, when I was photographing endless dress rehearsals at the theatre, shooting mainly from mid-house, I needed longer lenses. I depended on a series of 70-200mm lenses from various makers. The last one was the Panasonic S-Pro 70-200mm f4.0. It was rugged and reliable and I felt that I could not deliver the tighter images I needed in the mix without it. 

I stopped photographing dress rehearsal in the big theater back in early 2021 and, miraculously, I've found absolutely no need for any lenses longer than 90-100mm in my daily work. The 70-200mm left the studio several years ago and I've never looked back. I harbor no longing for a new one or a new variation. Around the same time I stopped doing multi-camera video productions and no longer need an assortment of microphones, gimbals and additional tripods. On one of our last video projects of a live concert production I was setting up five 4K video cameras. Four ran in unmanned set-ups while one was used as a main, or follow camera. When I quit doing that kind of work it orphaned three or four tripods and other assorted gear in short order. 

These days I am mostly doing environmental portraits for companies. I never need a lens longer than 90mm and I never really need lenses shorter than 35mm for 99.99% of the commissions. It's a pretty tight window of focal length requirements. But I do keep some wider lenses around for the errant street or tourist-type city scapes; just in case. 

In the past I would have said that our gear lust mirrors the parabola of our enthusiasm for the art form. We begin tentatively and then, as we gain more knowledge and money we buy more and more stuff, experiment with a wider range of options and generally expand out to, or past, our comfort zones. Only when we pull back would our equipment lust go out like the tide. I would have said this but now I know better. I know it's quite possible to maintain the enthusiasm and passion but at the same time pursue a narrower and narrower selection of necessary tools. And, if this is true of cameras and lenses I think it is also equally true of lighting gear and lighting modifiers. 

Stuff left the studio yesterday and today. The space looks bigger now. Less cluttered. Big enough for a couple of billiard tables (God forbid!!!) but not big enough for an indoor Olympic pool... There are now fewer decisions to be made when I get ready to walk out the door to work or just to make fun photographs for myself. And that's a good thing. The next purge will have to be extra tripods and also light stands. The studio feels over run by C-Stands. And heavy duty light stands of all kinds. 

More and more often I find myself going out into the world with a beater Leica SL and an older Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4. Not the big Milvus version but the much more manageable previous model. Seems like a good combination for most things. And it falls nicely into my routine. 

Marie Kondo had a good mantra. She suggested evaluating your possessions and only keeping the ones that continually bring you joy. It's a tough standard but you have to start somewhere. 

Have you winnowed stuff down to a manageable pile? It's never too late or early to start...