Thursday, July 17, 2025

Borghese Sculpture Museum. Thoughts about modern photography...


 Photography today is in search of its own relevance. There is so much of it out there that it's hard to understand what is truly new and innovative. Judging by endless articles and vlogs about photography there is an undercurrent of desire to go back to the simpler, more documentary style of black and white editorial journalism. Or classic, black and white fine art work. Photographers who love photography seem afraid that A.I. is here to ruin everything. And that may be so. But maybe not. But it sure explains why we praise the standouts from the 1940s until the days of digital. 

It used to be that photography was something that was connected in a way to aspirations of getting exposure via magazines, books and early curated websites. Now it's different. Maybe not for you specifically but in a general way. Now photography has become analogous to the ping that your cellphone continually sends out to cell towers letting them know that you are here and your phone is on. Your photos, uploaded to Instagram, Flickr, Smugmug, Facebook and more are a consistent ping that lets your cohort of friends and followers know that you are still alive, that you had a visually interesting lunch, dinner, sailboat ride or fashion moment and you are pinging it out as proof of life. Proof of contemporary existence. Proof of your idea of personal coolness. And the photos don't really serve that much more of a purpose anymore. Even in advertising.

It seems like uploading photos to your favorite "share" site is the modern version of tricking people into watching your slide show of vacation photos. "Here's is Gertrude in her new hat at the beach. Here we are eating hot dogs at the fair. You can't really tell from this angle but just around the corner was a big statue of Mickey Mouse. I didn't really get this one in focus but it's a shot of the twins eating cotton candy... etc. etc. etc. And really,  you'd have to have given birth to the twins to accept every shot of them as "brilliant." The unspoken presumption is that if I look at your stuff you'll look at mine. Like em or not.

I'm of a certain generation. We thought we were hot stuff because we could get things in focus just using our own fingers. We could figure out exposures; sometimes without even a meter as an aid. Printing well was hard to do so when we got lucky we had something we really felt we could show off. When we watched TV and wanted to change the channel or the volume of the program we actually had to get up off the couch and physically touch the actual television set. There was more friction in every day stuff. 

There are billions and billions of publicly displayed images that are instantly accessible on the web. It's easier to do now that it is to drive a car, or make decent toast. As a reaction to the overwhelming nature of this "bounty" the folks of my certain generation seem to be regressing back toward that time of more process friction. There are altars made to worship the folks who became famous for their photography from 1900-2000. Made famous specifically because they had fewer points of competition to consider and so stood out as beacons. Magazine pages were very limited and editors played it safe by mostly showcasing proven stars. A virtuous circle. Few people were willing to put up with all the friction and uncertainty and embrace the profession at that level. Sometimes it was just the realization that making good photos took some talent and some taste. That made our predecessors who had these attributes into standout examples and we lavished attention and approval on them. 

Now? Taste? When a large chunk of the population thinks wearing track suits or "coach" shorts out in public as day-to-day wear I don't think we can rely on requisite taste to make or discern good photos. Or to recognize valuable work either. I guess that's why we look backwards. Most people looked so much better in tailored suits than in lumpy Spandex or stuffed into sleeveless t-shirts. Men wore hats then but now everyone is hatless in order to show off poorly conceived and badly executed hairstyles. The disintegration of culture through mis-directed attempts at style...

I continue to do photography because the process is fun for me. It's habitual now. It's an excuse to see the world around me each and every day. But I have no expectation that anyone shares my enjoyment in the same way I do when I make my own images. And, for the most part, I don't enjoy looking at most other people's images. Why? Because at this point in our combined history everything looks pretty much the same. There's very little new. Sure, half naked female model images will always get a "like" but I'm equally certain that the expressive photography involved is not even close to being the primary driver of that big "thumbs up." Go look on Instagram. Do the math. Mostly naked, non-chubby young woman, poorly composed and badly exposed, gets thousands of likes. Wonderfully done images of anything else? A casual nod. 

That's okay as long as everyone is having fun. But underneath we wish someone out there was actually the god of curation and could find and show us the real, current "good stuff" that's hidden under miles tall piles of nearly identical images. Wouldn't that be nice?

Remember a time when cameras were considered so dear an expenditure that many people kept them in leather "ever ready" cases to protect them from bumps, scratches and other forms of camera mortality? People felt invested. Now we go from camera to camera like food reviewers going from restaurant to restaurant. It's different. In the same way we try on new style after new style.

Photos. Used to be artifacts and souvenirs. Now as consumable as a Mojito at a swim up bar. 


Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Did we swim yet? F#ck yeah, we're swimming every day.

KT's "happy place." The Western Hills Athletic Club Pool.

Human beings were designed and built to move. We can sweat so we can run further than most other animals. We can figure out, intuitively, hydrodynamics and physics so we can swim. We're built to walk miles and miles every day. We were not really made to sit around all day doing nothing. In fact, a lot of experts believe that it's mostly inactivity that kills people before their potential expiration dates. 

The previous two weeks were a bit of torture for me. I had surgery on my face and the surgeon was pretty adamant that she didn't want me in the pool, or doing any sort of "strenuous" exercise for at least two weeks. I was compliant. Didn't break a sweat. Never went to the pool. Didn't even do the daily push-ups. But once I got the thumbs up to get back to it I was in the pool so fast you'd think we were diving for free money.

I tossed on a bunch of sunscreen yesterday morning, drank a big glass of water, and headed over to the pool early. Just to savor the scene. I watched a newly arrived swimmer named Alex tearing up the fast lane, saw his tattoo of his Olympic rings and realized why. A recent grad from UT learning now to really enjoy swimming outside... 

I was worried that I'd lost my touch for the water. Worried that my level of fitness would relegate me to a slower lane. That I'd embarrass myself. That I'd be relegated to lane one and start over from scratch.

Naw. We had a great workout. Lane 5. An hour of constant movement and the thrill of gliding through the water at speed. 

It felt so good I hurried back over this morning for more. And I'll be there tomorrow morning. And Friday morning, and Saturday morning, and Sunday morning. But on Monday I'll have to go to the Deep Eddy Pool because ours is always closed on Monday for maintenance... and to let the water chill out. 

I missed this a lot. More like this. You can keep the cameras, I'll take the pool. 

Calvin and Ben back when they swam age group. many years ago.

Warm ups at UT for the USMS 2009 Masters Nationals Short Course meet. 



this is the finishing shot for Ben's first one mile swim at age 7. 
Good job. He's still swimming. And running. And biking. 

It's good to be fit.



 

A few thoughts about the newly announced Sony RX1rIII. And other random stuff.

 

KT on the Eiffel Tower in 1978 scanning the horizon for wine merchants.

I bought a bottle of wine to take to a friend's house so I wouldn't arrive for a happy hour/dinner empty handed. The wine was a Sauvignon Blanc. A Chateau Briot labelled as a "Grand Vin De Bordeaux. Not a very expensive bottle at under $20. In the course of a pleasant Spring evening spent around an outdoor table filled with delicious treats we got around to opening that bottle and sharing a few glasses. While everyone's tastes differ I thought it was a remarkably good wine. Especially for the price. 

A couple weeks later I decided to splurge and buy another bottle to share with B. over a quiet dinner at home. Again, I was impressed by everything about the wine. I took a photograph of the label so I could ask for it again if I couldn't find it out on the shelf at my favorite wine merchant. The shop just at the end of the street. The place I've been buying wines since 1996. 

Several weeks ago I went in to pick up another bottle for yet another dinner with friends but couldn't find it on the shelves. I asked Chip (store manager) about it and he took a few moments to wax on about how that was one of the staff's very favorite, affordable bottles of all time before delivering the bad news. They were out of stock and didn't know when they might have more. I pushed a bit since the store is part of a big Texas chain and Chip got onto his computer to check inventory at other stores. There was one store that apparently didn't move much white wine in their area. They had one case in stock. And it was from 2023 which was a good year for Bordeaux. 

I asked if they could transfer the case to our store and Chip said he'd work on it. Sad to think that getting a favorite wine is now getting as hard to do as getting delivery on a Fuji X100VI or a new Leica M. But this afternoon I got a phone call from the store. The case had arrived. It was set aside with my name on it. I dropped by to pick it up and was happy to see that even on my special order I was given a 30% case discount. The unit price came out to $15 a bottle. A nice price at a time of perilous price increases on products from the E.U. 

Tongue firmly in cheek Chip reminded me not to leave the case of wine in the trunk of my car for a couple of days. Good advice since the current temperature outside is a lovely 98°. The wine is already on the bottom shelf, bottles laying flat, on one of the shelves about five feet under the studio's air conditioning vent. Pretty much a constant temp zone.

If you like white wines that aren't too high in alcohol content you might want to try a bottle. It's delicious and comes in at 12.5% alcohol by volume. Low "octane" by today's California standards where even Chardonnay wines are routinely nearly 15%. By comparison it's almost healthy.

The secret to wine is to always drink enough, never drink too much and always consume it with food and friends. That's why it exists. And for those of you with a religious bent --- wine's in the Bible.

On to the today's camera ramble.

One of my friends, who is a very good photographer, has had the previous model of the new Sony RX1r III   (the RX1rII) for a number of years. I've borrowed the camera from time to time and found it to be a good photo tool for a number of reasons, but hampered by a few drawbacks. The new model seems to have answered the few things that kept me from seriously considering ownership. 

What is the RX1r III? It's a compact, fixed lens camera with some style and panache. It's got a full frame, 61 megapixel, state of the art sensor, and a Carl Zeiss 35mm f2.0 lens  which is perfectly matched to the sensor. Really, the lens is made/designed for this camera specifically.  The camera is smaller and lighter than a Leica Q3. It has Sony's current top line AF systems (PD-AF on sensor) as well as A.I. processors for subject recognition stuff. It's a lovely camera, has an EVF, seems custom made for travel photography and I don't know what else to say about it. 

No one has one in-hand and the announcement earlier this week seemed to have surprised everyone; after all, it's been ten years since its predecessor was launched and it seems a bit odd for Sony to have circled back to this form factor after all these years. But it's right in line with the resurgence of popularity for compact, fixed lens cameras. Fuji, and especially Leica, seem to have shown the way with the X100 line and their Q3 line respectively. If you create a smart, especially well built camera consumers will likely find it and love it. And pay a premium for it...

The prior version of the Sony had the same lens as the new camera and that was always reviewed as being one of the finest implementations of a prime lens, permanently mated to a high resolution camera, in the whole camera market. So, nothing has changed there. 

The EVF is no longer a pop-up and somewhat gimmicky module; it's now a permanent and integrated feature on the new body. One caveat though is that the finder diameter is smaller as is the magnification of the new finder. Also, in a time when Leica Q cameras routinely come with 3.68 MP OLED EVFs the Sony makes do with a 2.36 MP version finder. I think they were trying as hard as they could to keep the total package small which is probably why they also abandoned the tilting rear screen in favor of going back to the fixed screen of the original version of the camera. The rear screen is also 2.36 MP.

In addition to faster and more complex focusing chops and a higher resolution sensor they did vastly improve on what was the biggest bitching item from most users on the previous camera. Those older cameras had horrible, terrible, crappy battery life. The new one is bigger and has about 50% more power. But if you are going to splash out for this camera ( and you probably should if you like the product concept ) you'll want to buy a couple extra batteries as the CIPA rating gets you about 300 shots. And none of those are with flash because there is no flash. Three batteries, with those specs, would just about get me through a day of artsy street shooting. 

Taking a cue from Leica you can also drop more cash at Sony by buying a (not included???) lens hood for around $165 as well as a thumb grip ( I'd want one ) for around $200. 

I'm not going to write about the video specs because you'd have to have some very odd and very specific video use cases for this camera to make any sort of sense as a preferred video camera. And Sony kind of lets you know that by equipping it with a micro-HDMI socket and no mic or headphone jacks. You also only get one card slot. It's an UHS II slot but it's still only one card slot. Not an issue for me but I can already hear the howls of "DEAL-KILLER!!!!!"

Who is this new camera really for? I'd venture to say it will poach some of the market for the Leica Q3 cameras ---- especially for those who have a grudge against the idea of Leica or those who just really hate good, clear menus and user interfaces and want more friction in their camera operations. If the Leica Q cameras didn't exist I'd probably be in the market for one. The price is a bit sobering at a little over $5,000 but you probably won't hear a lot of grief from Leica users who are currently paying something like $6700 for a stock Q3 and $7400 for the (cherished) Q3-43. Hard to play the whiny budget card if you've already shown your cards --- German style. 

It's fun to see the relaunch of this camera line. Sony will probably make good bank from it. And it really does offer more choices at the higher end of the market. A "bargain price" Veblen good? We'll have to ask the "expert" about that. 

Why am I sitting here writing about yet another camera? A camera I probably won't buy. Mostly because it's too damn hot to walk around with a camera in the heat of the day here. The humidity still has a lock on us and now we're getting hit with a cloud of Saharan Dust. No lie!!! Dust all the way from the Sahara. Got asthma? Maybe don't do any long walks outside today or tomorrow. At least this blogging thing keeps my fingers busy. 

Whaddya think? Are you going to rush out and buy one of the new Sony RX1r-iii's? I notice that B&H indicates shipping in July.   Of this year.   (sad we have to be that specific...).

Camera review over. Now going OT again....

Everyone seems to be giving sleep tips this week so I thought I'd jump in and share my closely held secret for getting almost exactly seven serially attached/contiguous hours of sleep every night. First, you should be at your optimum weight. Your preferred BMI. Most breathing issues in sleep are caused by obesity or just plain overweight. More fat = more snoring. Oh....and sleep apnea. If you are 5 foot 8 inches tall and athletic you might want to aim for something between 155-160 pounds. Next, you should get an hour or two a day of vigorous, getting your heart rate up, getting out of breath, exercise every single day. More if you have the time. Swim a couple miles, walk five or six miles. Sure...if you want play vigorous tennis for three hours a day that might work as well. Don't eat stuff in the three hours before your bed time. Put your head down on a nice pillow and don't worry about stuff. Whatever you like to worry about will be there tomorrow. 

Or you can build wild spread sheets, make complex plans, consult voodoo priests and generally worry the process even more. Your choice. Always your choice. 


Just remember......the keyboards......

Monday, July 14, 2025

First Day Without Rain in a While. Out for a walk but damn it's hot again... Leica CL + Sigma 24mm f3.5. Nice Combo

 


The blog continues to be pummeled by thousands of page views which all seem to originate from Chrome browsers in Vietnam. The real number of human visitors is around 2700 today. The numbers with the artificial visitors included is over 75,000 today. Strange and disquieting to say the least. 

I had coffee with my good friend James today. We talked about the industry. He's still making a living producing videos and making spectacular photos. I told him I was trying to get rid of lots of gear from the studio and asked if he knew some younger, just starting out, photographers or videographers who needed gear. He did. Even someone close to his family. I was able to divest of three shiny C-stands, an Atomos monitor, a bag full of wireless lav microphones, receivers and transmitters, extra Pelican cases, a tripod with a cool video head that hadn't seem the light of day since January 2021, and some other odds and ends. Every time something leaves the studio I rejoice a bit. I get more square footage back and someone gets to use the potential locked up in gear that would otherwise sit dormant until it decays and fails.

I wrote the headline too soon. I just heard thunder rumbling out to the West...

After lunch I decided to get out of the house and go for my second walk of the day. I did a long one this morning with B (spouse) and I wanted to do a photo walk by myself in addition. Damn it was hot out there. First time we've seen bare sun in two weeks. Pretty amazing run of weather for Austin in the Summer. 

Today I decided to gear up "old school". By that I mean I pressed a Leica CL into service along with a Sigma 24mm f3.5 contemporary lens. They are made for each other. The camera is small and unobtrusive. The lens is small and discreet. The 24 = a 35mm focal length on the CL's APS-C sensor. Just right for a walking around combo. I set the camera to take raw files and headed over to S. Congress Ave. I forgot that it's Monday and half the shops are closed. The tourist traffic is very low at the beginning of the week and especially in the mid-afternoon. 

I'd almost forgotten what a great camera the CL is. Smaller and lighter than the M cameras and absolutely petite when compared to the larger SL and SL2 cameras. The Sigma lens can be used with full AF and AE automation on the CL and that 24mm is nice and sharp even at its widest aperture of f3.5. A happy trade off of aperture speed for handling on a daylight camera and lens rig. 

I did my usual loop and I worked hard to protect the recent scar from direct sun. I applied sunscreen before I left the house and used my hat with the biggest brim. I think I skated by unscathed. If not I'm sure I'll hear about it from my doctor. 

I don't know why I'm always surprised and delighted at the files I get out of the CL. The color is great and the overall integrity of the raw files is delightful. I'm very happy I held on to this combination. 

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record but I'm very excited that, barring any catastrophic event overnight, I'll be back in the pool swimming the eight a.m. masters workout tomorrow morning. So, so, so happy. 

Not sure how much longer I'll continue to present the VSL blog. The weird stat numbers and the near total concentration of views from one source is spooking me. If you visit later and the blog is closed I'm probably just trying to dissuade the perpetrators.

Can't wait to read those Epstein files. They should make the Summer a bit more fun...


Wall of music posters at Jo's Coffee...




There is actually a street here named, "Music Lane." 




FEMA shut down their phones right after the July 4th floods struck. 
Nothing like bad timing to accent poor politics and a profound lack 
of being able to "read the room." 

blue table.






Formal footwear for Austin Summers.
Still  having trouble finding steel toed Birkenstocks for work at the factory...



Sunday, July 13, 2025

Reporting from Austin on yet another rainy, super humid Sunday. Today's favorite camera? The Q2. Because it's water resistant...

 


We've made it to another Sunday. It's rained here in Austin for at least ten of the last ten days. I got out of the house yesterday when the sun was lifting moisture from the ground up into the air for a while. At least we had real sunlight to work with.  I took the Q2 and did my old walk through downtown. I took that camera in case it rained while I was walking.  Nothing much had changed. 

Some big bank buildings are in the middle of renovating their large, ground floor spaces to make way for new tenants. There are more homeless people out on the streets than I remembered. People still drive like shit and ignore traffic rules. And even the idea of crosswalks.  Nearly everyone is either kind of too fat, way too fat or Methamphetamine thin. The number of tattoos per capita has risen since I was last out and about with a camera. But mostly it was the humidity that made the walk seem uncomfortable. Imagine standing in a hot shower for a while... A really hot shower. For a really long time. So humid you resist going into air conditioned spaces because you know your front lens element will instantly fog over when you walk back out. 

The test lab at VSL seems to be closing in on the best choice of hats for the Summer in Austin. We've tested many and come to the conclusion that there is no "one hat" which will fit every Summer circumstance. But having three choices seems okay. After all, the two not in use can ride around in the back seat of the VSL staff car until needed. 

The right hat (or hats) has become mission critical now that I've waded through a bout of skin cancer surgery again. My wonderful surgeon made me promise not to let sunshine touch the scar until it is 100% good as new. So now that everything is on the mend I start out every adventure outside the house or the VSL bunker by slathering on sunscreen and then auditioning hats. I actually wore the white (dorky) Tilley hat the first day back outside, mostly because the brim is nice and floppy and flops down just right over my left cheek to keep sun off the X. I bought a new Stetson hat but I'm not fond of it yet. The straw weave is too loose so the sun protection is mostly surrendered. But an even more recent acquisition; the Outdoor Research Oasis Sunhat has a really nice, wide brim which holds its shape well and is lightweight on the head. Anything to keep future visits to the surgeon at bay...

The new air conditioner in the house works so well you could chill a six pack of beer in a short amount of time by propping it in front of one of the vents in the dining room. Now sleeping soundly with two down quilts on the bed and a fire in the fireplace. Nixon-style. Aiming for maximum condensation on all the outside windows...

I'm counting down the hours to my first, post-op swim practice. Tuesday morning. The pool looks good, the weather looks good and the scar is looking good. I'm not sure I will remember how to swim. I might have to start all over again in the slow lane and work my way up. But maybe not. I guess I've only really been out for two weeks come Tuesday. We'll see if my lane mates missed me or gave me up for dead and have already moved on and replaced me with someone new. They can be quite practical...

I'm never going to shoot another video so I'm grappling with pulling out bags and backpacks and rolling cases full of mixers, microphones of all types, endless cabling and too many HDMI connectors with the idea of giving some away to struggling, young videographers or just dropping the whole package to the used equipment expert at Precision Camera here in Austin and accepting like twenty five cents on the dollar for the good stuff. A move that will free up floor space and shelf space. Next up goes the lighting gear. Tired of looking at C-Stands, light stands, a forest of tripods, and way too many softboxes and electronic flashes. Oh, and also a surplus of LED light fixtures of all kinds. 

I'd be so happy to end up with one tripod and a drawer full of cameras and lenses. But even there I am thinking of continuing the process of winnowing down. I've got too much camera stuff. Too many choices. Sometimes I think it would be a fun challenge to dump everything but the Leica M cameras and M lenses and see if it's true that the equipment really doesn't matter. Three cameras, eight lenses and a sack of batteries... Sounds like a plot for a movie. Too bad I'm getting rid of the video stuff....

Found a handwritten, double entry ledger for the business that mercilessly covers the period from the end of my time running a regional advertising agency, the start of my photography business, and right up to around 2004 when we went fully in on QuickBooks Pro and did the accounting on our office computer. OMG!!! I worked a lot over the years reflected in the ledgers. For a while we were averaging well over 250 jobs a year. Keeping one or two assistants on the payroll for years at a time and traveling at least a week out of most months. Photography could be quite lucrative pre-digital. Now I know why I feel like I'm being lazy these days. It's all down to the contrast between then and now. 

Just glad I didn't piss away all the money on crazy stuff. Nice to finally understand what B. was talking about for all those years --- about the power of compound interest. And why, "No!" I could not have a  shiny new Porsche. Or a louche Bentley. Or the analogous example in some other part of the consumer spectrum. Just cameras and lenses. And only ones that could be deducted or depreciated. 

So this is what it feels like to start processing the idea of retirement. Novel. Fun in a way but also scary if one has defined at least part of their identity as a working photographer. Or as an artist. Seems the photograph part and the working part was more important to me, almost always, than the money part.

It's always something. 

Silver lining of the endless rain? The primary lake that provides water for Austin and beyond is Lake Travis. It's been steadily dropping lower as drought after severe drought hits the area. The lake level was  down to under half its full volume recently. All the rains have been incredibly beneficial and the lake is within striking distance of hitting its FULL capacity. Which gives us all some breathing room. I haven't watered the grass for over a month and every blade is emerald green. The mosquitoes are having the time of their short, annoying lives, the frogs are insanely happy, and maybe those water restrictions we've had in place will get relaxed for a bit. 

The weather people have been predicting that we'd have a hotter and drier Summer than average. So far they could not have been more wrong. The highs for July have barely hit the 90° mark. We've had far more wet than dry days. We're still digging out in the surrounding towns from catastrophic flooding and much loss of life. But we're not suffering through the near endless plus 105° days we had in 2023 and 2024. We're halfway through Summer and still expecting more rain. When I drove home from the hardware store today my car's display showed the outside temperature at 79°. A humid and sticky 79 but still not even up to 80°.  It would be even nicer if the humidity dropped. 90 to 100% is pretty obnoxious. 

Today is rushing by. It's always that way when I'm sorting gear to get rid of. Nice problem though. Looking forward to a home cooked meal with B&B. Always affirming and fun.


A small show at the upstairs gallery at the Blanton Museum.

Celebrating the mere idea that I'll be back in the pool in less than 48 hours.

And, as always, celebrating the mannequins. 


Digging around in the old film archives. B and Dad in San Francisco. On the wharf.





Most of the lighting inventory is heading to new owners. Just not yet identified...

Anne with the studio's old Rollei 6008i. Ah....the film days. 
At Jo's Coffee Shop. Mid-1990s. Jo's has been there for quite a while. ..

Umbrellas at the ready

Friday, July 11, 2025

Stitches out. Face recovering. Blog is doing something very strange. More details in the post.


First things first. The blog has traditionally gotten between 2500 and 5000 pageviews per day. If I write stuff that's really, really boring it drops to 1200 pageviews. No problem for me since I generally like to write and pontificate and ramble so I'm not put off by low numbers. But lately I've been having the opposite issue with the blog and its stats. For the last month or so we've been logging well over 100,000 pageviews per day. And when I dive into the Google Blogger stats I can't find any specific source responsible for the out of control traffic. 

Now, if I was writing this for money and could convert the views into cash I'd probably be pretty happy but I read a lot of spy fiction, have a short fuse for anything that feels like fraud, and would hate to think that there are still just 2500 loyal readers supplemented by 100,000 robot hits that will somehow turn into online ammunition to defraud someone who absolutely doesn't deserve to get defrauded. Right?

Be super cautious if you get any emails or texts that seem to come from VSL or my own website. I don't send any. None from VSL. 

I've come to like posting photographs on Instagram so I'll probably ramp that up and post even more. It's easy and fun. I might even write some long captions there to take up the blogging slack here. 

I wanted to let you guys know. This will all stay up as it is unless something untoward happens. 

There it is.

In other news I'm finding it very pleasant to walk around without a huge bandage on my face. Less attention from the world at large. I feel great. My face feels a bit stiff on one side. The doctor says this is to be expected. I'll be back in the pool on July 15th at 8 a.m. I can hardly wait.

While I like all of my cameras my long time favorite seems to be the SL2. More so than the M's or the Q. More even than the D-LUX 8. It's just fun to shoot and the big files lend themselves to a square crop. 

I'm taking the rest of the Summer off from any client work in order to swim and run every day. I'd like to be in better shape on my 70th birthday than I was on my 60th. --- and so on. 

That's about it. 

Alanis Morrisette at Liberty Lunch in Austin. 

A very young and very pink Renee Zellweger. 

VSL's happy place. 

Super model Lou.






 

Old School Street Shooter. Ever-ready case protection included....

 


Siena.