Blogger's Lament.

After so many years of writing a blog I've come to realize that on the days I don't post something I feel a bit let down. A bit lazy. So there's almost always a certain feeling of duty to come up with a subject that's photographically relevant and still fun for me to write. As an adjunct to that, any time I post something about a lighting or photographic technique and don't accompany the copy with a photograph illustrating what I've written about, I feel like a fraud or a poseur. Sure, I could say that this post or that post is really about the writing but in truth it always seems to me that the photograph(s) and the written content should exist together as a symbiotic pairing.

I often read stuff written by others in which the writer trots out his or her qualifications or personal history, delivers some re-warmed stories about their prowess in the good old days and recounts his or her zealous hard work at the time, but comes up short on the photography which would have given credibility to the range of their experience and their expertise. The text is there. The bravado is in attendance. But the images which would constitute the proof have gone walkabout. At that point the copy requires many leaps of faith. And one wonders if each leap is worth the time and energy.

This is an image of Fadya. I like it because, a. I like Fadya. b. I like the way I got Fadya to look straight into the camera, which equals straight out to the viewer. c. The image works well in the square format. d. The skin tone in the black and white rendering looks exactly what I think the black and white should look like. And e. When I first posted it the image helped to visually explain a lighting technique that I wrote about in the same blog. The image was the proof of concept. The proof that we'd taken a step past theoretical to practical. To practice. 

Nearly every blogger I read suggests strongly that what they really care about is the art. The final photograph. The artful interpretation. But in many cases the only evidence of their process are nuts and bolts images of gear, the affiliate selling of which is their underlying goal. Close ups of USB-C connectors. Comparison shots of the sizes of two different cameras. A sexy shot of a lens. But no finished work. Nothing that one could remotely describe as the art they profess to want to talk about. 

Yeah, the closest most come is to show a book cover from a mainstream art photographer coupled with a shopping link. And therein lies my lament. With the exception of Andrew Molitor's blog (which is far too infrequently added to...) very few of my peers actually get beyond describing how they will choose their gear. They certain don't address why they photographed something or what compelled them to do it in the way that they said they did. And that's the disappointing aspect for me. 

I already know which lens to use, which camera works best, how to light a subject, how to set exposure but...I keep waiting to read about the "why." And that is the failing of most photo blogs for me. YMMV. 

Writers such as Thom Hogan are honest in their presentation. They let us know up front that the subject will be gear. That's helpful. And he's good at it. The majority seem to think we're here to enjoy the story of their existence. And most of them have....a pretty boring existence. Maybe that's why no photos are forthcoming...

Sharing the mundane for dollars.... 

 

It's the dog days of Summer. Better spent indoors. A chance to revisit old photos.

 

This is Ben early in the teen years. We're having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Asti Trattoria. 

I had a camera with me. A Leica M9 with a 35mm Summilux. While we were waiting for our first course I snapped a photo of the kid. The light was beautiful because while it was indirect sunlight it was flowing through a window just to the right of the frame. A nice time to live in Austin. 

This is one of my favorite combinations for photographing slow work. Situations in which you can take your time and play around. So, a Leica SL2 mostly for the 47 megapixels and the nice color but a Voigtlander 50mm APO to match the high res potential and give me sharp detail. It's on my desk right now. It will be over my shoulder and out the door in an hour or so.

On the other side of the entrance door for Crew Café in Montreal. Traveling light that morning. Just a Leica Q2 over one shoulder. What more did I need? Well....coffee, of course. 

Waiting for my dermatologist to drop by, check out my epidermis and maybe burn some unwanted stuff off with liquid nitrogen. Reflecting on all those times I neglected sun screen at the noon swim workouts. Eventually paying the piper. Leica M-240 with 28mm f2.8 Carl Zeiss ZM lens. 

I asked if I could keep the cool, long shirt but....no.

Not really practical as it fastens in the back.

An additional favorite combo. That same 50mm APO from above married to an M240 body.

The APO can resolve the 24 megapixels on that sensor in its sleep. 

Intermission. Samsung Galaxy NX camera with Samsung long macro lens.

Getting some use out of that EVF-2 finder. Perfect for those times when the 28mm seems okay.

Why is this photographer so squinty? 

Love the cheap, leather straps from Small Rig. Less than $20. 

It's fun to look at myself in self portraits so I can see how the world sees me when I am out photographing. Always seem to need a haircut. Reasonably good shape otherwise. 

I don't have the patience for Apple versus Android, ICE versus Battery cars, programmable keyboards and discount pens, but I did restore all 6,115 blog posts about....photography. (With a little swimming tossed in to sweeten the pot).

 

Man makes snap decision to buy camera. Has fun actually using the camera to make 

photographs for his own enjoyment. 

It's so easy to get fixated on one small aspect of modern life and turn it into a neurosis. Research is word repurposed now to mean "pathological obsession." When we look to products to give foundational meaning to our lives we have begun to mentally color outside the lines. 

The bandaged photographer above is shooting a self-portrait with a Leica D-Lux8. Rather than fixate on whether it is a re-badged something else, whether a m4:3 sensor is enough, whether it is too heavy or too light, if being made in China is really a consideration, how the price compares, etc. the photographer looked at the product, decided it might be fun and practical and so bought one. That's the last time he had to decide anything about the product other than when and where to use it. Done. 

I get that people have budgets. I get that "researching" seems like you are doing practical work even if you are just reading other peoples' opinions, sometimes bereft of actual facts or statistics. But enough is enough. 

Having trouble deciding? Get a sheet of blank paper. Draw a line down the middle, from top to bottom. Put all the reasons you want to buy X product on one side then put all the reasons you don't want to buy the product on the other side and use the weight of your own preferences to make a choice. And like a "y"  in the road in front of you there isn't always a right choice or a wrong choice because none of us is adept at predicting the future. Once acquired your real preference should be engendering your maximum enjoyment from your purchase. End of story.

Boys race cars for fun. Sometimes to the next traffic light and sometimes in Formula One.

photographer uses a camera, now long since discarded, to make a fun and happy photograph of a model at one of the fashion shows in Paris. Behind the scenes. The camera worked. No research was done in the acquisition of the camera. It was a same day replacement for a different camera that decided to stop working at an inopportune time. Grab what you can get your hands on!

I had a small camera and a small zoom lens. I had a choice. I could have been in my hotel room "researching" what camera might be best for street photography or I could be out on the street with any camera taking fun images. Seemed like a very straightforward choice. 

 I did not research anything about taking this particular photograph of actor, Renee Zellweger.

We were playing around in the studio and she struck a pose. They pose and you push the shutter button. Research means sitting motionless in front of a computer or with a photo magazine in your hands doing essentially nothing to really move your game forward. 

Ah. The huddle. Going out to see stuff instead of making minute by minute plans. 

Bic pens or Pentel? 

Paper or plastic?

Nikon or Canon or Sony?

Mac or PC?

Gas or Battery?

Choose quickly and get on with the important stuff in the life of an artist....

Making the art.

After Action Report on My Portrait Sessions at the Seminary. One camera, one lens and some lights. And some black and white photos from Rome.

 

Via Condotti. 

I meant to say, "no." But I didn't. I have no other excuse than that I was bored on the day I got an emailed request from my contact at the Seminary of the Southwest. And, that I have always enjoyed the laid back, easy going nature of this particular client. So I said, "Yes. Sure." So much for sticking to my guns about retirement.

The project was straightforward; I would make portraits in a small video studio in the library. The people we were photographing would be faculty and staff members of a small theological college that exists in the shadow of one of the country's largest Universities. The contrasts between the two facilities are obvious. UT is huge and well funded. SSW is much, much smaller and feels not poor but never extravagant. We'd be photographing 12-15 people during a long morning and into the short side of the afternoon. Later, after people got to choose their favorite pose/expression I'd circle back, retouch their selection and then choose a background in which to place them. 

The backgrounds exist in a catalog that I created a year ago for the same client. They consist of out of focus scenes around the SSW campus; buildings, walkways, stands of trees, and little manicured plazas. It was also my job to match the feel of the exterior background shots with the color and feel of the interior studio shots. As much as possible. 

My contact and I scheduled a morning arrival by nine for load-in and lighting set up and then a start time for the first portrait at 9:30. I was up early on the shoot day and arrived around 8:30. I pulled the gear from the trunk of the car and loaded it onto my trusty cart. Called the art director who would be hanging out with me for the day and arranged to meet her at the library loading dock. 

The small studio we worked in had a cyc wall that was painted white. The place had programmable lighting fixtures suspended from ceiling tracks and my first task was to call up the lighting app on the control desk computer and turn off their lights. Once I figured that out I set up my basic lighting design for the day. I used three 16 by 24 inch Nanlite LED panels and one small Nanlite LED panel. One of the bigger three was a main light to the left of the camera and always set with the bottom of the fixture above the subject's chin level. I wanted shadows to fall under the chin to give people a fighting chance at hiding any double chin action. The fill light was the same kind of LED panel used on the opposite side of the camera and also elevated high enough to keep reflections out of even the least anti-reflection coated eyeglasses. Both of these panels were used with fabric grids to help eradicate spill light.

I  used a third panel from the back of the set on the opposite side of the main light to emulate sunlight outdoors sweeping across the subjects from behind. This panel features color control so I warmed it up to emulate late afternoon sun. Finally, a small Nanlite panel was used directly on the background cyc to raise its value and make the background a very light, soft gray. That seems to work well when separating an image from the background in order to drop it into a new background. So, four panels all set and ready to go. 

Why am I using these panel lights? Mostly because it's so darn easy. You put a light on a light stand and turn it on. The front of the panel is a permanent, neutral white diffusion panel. No need to rig a soft box or an umbrella. And you can use them close in to good effect. They are so fast to set up and use it's almost embarrassing. Same with the small light on the background. Set it up on a stand, turn it on, and aim it in the right direction. Done. 

I vacillated a bit on lenses but I was certain that I wanted to use the Leica SL2-S as my camera. The files are big enough but not too big. The camera's low noise at higher ISOs meant I could use ISO 800 or ISO 1600 without any worry at all about grain/noise and ... the colors out of the camera's raw files are super easy to manipulate and fine tune. The SL's 47 MP raw files would have been too big for this use case. 

I thought of using a zoom lens like the Leica 24-90mm but I ended up using the TTArtisan 75mm f2.0 for every one of the portraits. It's a beautiful lens for portraits. Sharp and detailed but in a "rounded" non-clinical way. So, f5.6 and be there. 

All of that is secondary to what should be the only challenge for an experienced photographer. That challenge is the ability to develop a quick and very positive rapport with the subject. Both sides of the camera have to be engaged. I have to be curious and a good listener. The sitter has to be engaged and relaxed about the process. 

I spent about 15 minutes with each person and we started each conversation with me asking: "Tell me what it is you do here. What's your role?" And while it's pretty much cliché my next question is usually along the lines of, "Tell me what are the challenges you find when doing your work?" I try to get a conversation going and letting the sitter talk about things they are keenly experienced with is the best way to start.

The art director was good at scheduling in flexible breaks so we could go on a hard target search for coffee first and then maybe cookies, and finally a well catered lunch. 

At one point in the morning we had a 45 minute gap between sessions and since I hate to sit around doing nothing we decided to go and do interior photos of various guest quarters the school maintains for visiting scholars, clergy, etc. I brought along a 28mm lens just in case and it was the perfect match for some interior architecture. We made a contest of moving fast and did three apartments and change before rushing back to our temporary studio. Just minutes ahead of our next appointment. 

The social engineer for the school had lunch catered for us by a favorite Austin restaurant and by 2:45 I had finished the photography, filled my stomach and loaded the car for the trip home. 

It was our first really, really hot day of the Summer. My car was like a mutant toaster oven when I got in. With the A/C blowing hard I drove over to my favorite car wash, halfway to home, pulled into a shade covered stall and gave my car a long, luxurious wash. It also helped to cool it down and make driving home more pleasant. Which was the important part of my plan. 

The architecture files have been post processed and sent. Client liked them very much. The people stuff has been edited down to 25 poses each and I've done a round of preliminary A.I. retouching to them all. The files were uploaded yesterday to Smugmug and I'm hopeful that we'll see final portrait selections by mid-week. Everything is going to plan. 

All the gear choices were just right. Maybe we were being watched over by a divine power but really, I think it's just my Boy Scout training mixed with a bit of anxious hyper-vigilance. More to come. But I do have to admit in getting no pleasure from unloading a bunch of heavy stuff from the trunk of the car in the middle of a heat torrent sort of day. No fun breaking a sweat on the way into the office. 

But here are some images from Rome. 

As you can see, the Spanish Steps were packed with tourists....

Keeping up with the Joneses. The mindless pursuit of stuff. And experiences.

 

B. CFO. 

The topic of phone upgrades came up on the  web today and I was inspired to explain my take on buying new phones every year. Or not. My readers sometimes think of me as a person who spends money at the drop of a hat and makes outrageous impulse purchases and, where cameras and lenses are concerned, that's somewhat fair. But in every other regard I am quite the financial conservative. 

We're hardly early adopters of most trends. I'm using a perfectly good Apple iPhone that I bought years and years ago. It's the XR, a model that was introduced and purchased in 2018. Apple is on record offering support for the product through 2025. Seven years. After that some upgrades in firmware and software will not be relevant to my model. I paid something like $899 USD for the phone. If I keep it for the rest of this year I will have "invested" about a little over $10 per month to own and use the phone. It's still highly functional. Since I understand batteries pretty well I'm happy to say that the battery life indicator shows that the original battery is still at 92% of its delivered spec. Not bad after 6.5 years of daily use and near daily charging.

I use the phone mostly for its Map function, texting, mobile email and actual voice conversations. I do have a number of apps that are useful to me but very, very few of them have anything to do with photography. I have two banking apps, the Whole Foods/Prime app, the weather app, the stock market app and the calculator app. All the apps work really, really well. I use the camera feature mostly to deposit checks into one of the two banks. I also use the camera feature to record documents to send to various requestors. I don't use the phone camera for photography, per se, because I have so many other cameras, the operation of which I prefer. 

I can't recall using Siri for anything at the moment but I do use it when my iPhone seamlessly connects with my internal combustion engine car via the ever reliable, CarPlay. The product, the phone, has done and continues to do EXACTLY what I bought it to do. And I'm quite happy with that. 

I have missed the following upgrade cycles: iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15 and iPhone 16. That's six upgrade cycles. At an average of $1,000 per upgrade I have saved about $6,000 since my purchase of the XR. That's a lot of money. If you factor in the same lifecycle discipline for my spouse, whose phone I also bought, it's a family savings of about $12,000. Half the purchase price of an acceptable, used electric car. Wow. Until this moment I never thought about it that way...

My CFO always tells me, re: Apple, "If you love the company and think the products are good then buy the stock, not the toys." 

Had one followed my phone buying pattern and used the savings to buy Apple stock instead of continually changing phones you would have seen a basis return of nearly 140%. About 20% per year since 2018. But even more appealing would have been the stock split of four shares for one in 2020. And those 4x shares grew faster after the economic recovery, post Covid. But wait! One has to also factor in that during the entire time I've clung to the XR Apple has paid quarterly dividends on its stock. By not reflexively buying phones before they cease completely to be supported one could conceivably have saved, across two phones and two users, and re-invested at least $18,000 --- when factoring in the stock appreciation. Three quarters the price of a used and quickly depreciating, used electric car.

We don't really use our phones as mini-computers or entertainment centers, we have products we use that are optimized for those uses. But the thing we value most in the iPhones is not the camera or the apps, or the kindly but sometimes confused voice of Siri, instead it's the advanced security offered by Apple's products and systems. It's possible that we could save money and get more features from a phone not running Apple's software but almost certainly we'd be giving up layers of security. More so as we opted to use more and more Android based apps. That could be a hefty penalty to pay for a bit of novelty disguised as technology. 

I'll replace me XR iPhone when security updates and patches are no longer available and when I do I will understand that I've gotten great value from my phone while saving prodigious amounts of money at the same time. Funny how that works...

While Apple's products have gotten better and better over time, and their new processors are light years ahead of those in the competing products (which should give me tremendous potential benefits over their competitors) the real secret to "keeping up with the Joneses" has been to also buy the company's stock. The phones are good but the stock is better and has grown by 159, 281% since 1984. An investment of $1,000 USD in 1985 would be worth over $250,000 today. Not a bad return at all. And a return like that would allow one to upgrade phones as often as they'd like without breaking a sweat or eating Ramen. Imagine if you had invested ten thousand dollars in 1985.... As some people did. And then were smart enough to hold onto your investment over time.... As some people have.

Funny that when some people concentrate really hard on one product category the tunnel vision created by that focus makes each small "pro or con" become magnified all out of proportion. Product features seem to become existential. But really? All the phones are just appliances and most of them do a decent job. Some with more security and some with less. Buying them frequently mostly boils down to consumerism and personal choice. Great if you can afford it but not mandatory for continued, successful existence.

Just sayin.

Do I really take my camera with me everywhere? Is that just hyperbole?

Julie needed a photograph of herself swimming breaststroke...

I think nearly every photo writer of note brags about taking their camera with them everywhere. And what they really mean is that when it is convenient, and they have ample time to attend to their camera, and they might need an expensive piece of jewelry to accent their carefully chosen artist outfit, they toss a camera over one shoulder and sashay out of the house. But as soon as the cellphone beckons or they are off to a social engagement, doctors appointment, audit, or nice dinner out, the dedicated camera gets tossed by the wayside.

Oh dear! What would their seemingly endless supply of mentors have to say about that? And why is it that the least interesting photographers have seem to have the most ample supply of mentors and inspirational role models? And could it be that mentors, teachers, workshop leaders and the usual suspects are actually a net negative for anyone trying to build a truly personal style? For someone who professes to have a unique vision? I'll ponder that in a future post but the more I read about someone's "interesting" role models the less interesting I find their finished work...

Here's my favorite quote of the day from writer, Ken Dixon: "W is for workshop. A two-day, three-dimensional version of a one-hour YouTube tutorial.”  

(more here: https://www.orartswatch.org/a-photographers-alphabet-a-to-z/ ).

I think it's funny that something as logical as camera operation requires some sort of advanced level of rigorous preparation; a long, long runway of instruction and practice. And it's funnier (more funny) to presume that a "teacher" can authentically convey to students any sort of rational framework for making something new and exciting. Just go to a faculty show at a university if you want to see how orthodox the work of most people who have survived the day in, day out routine of instructing in academia can be... It's amazing how abruptly their "real" work stopped; usually within months of landing a teaching job. And these are the folks who pretend to be able to convey anything meaningful about the aesthetics of new, artful photography? 

Anyway, everyone talks a good game about making their camera a permanent appendage. Grafted to shoulder and hip. A closer relationship than a spouse or child. But how many of them really follow through? I often wonder when I run into fellow "photographers" out in the wild who profess to have left their cameras at home because it's not a "work" day. 

I went to swim practice this morning and it was good. My friend, Julie was there, swimming in lane three with her usual crew. She reminded me as we were finishing the last set that she needed a photograph of herself swimming breaststroke for an article she wrote for a swim magazine. Did I happen to have a camera with me? Would I take some photographs?

I got out of workout five minutes early, dried off, put on some pants, a shirt and a pair of sandals and walked out to the car. I pulled a Leica SL2-S off the front passenger's seat, looked at the settings and walked back to the pool. We spent ten minutes making photographs. We got some really good, useful shots. I walked back to the locker room, tossed the camera and lens into a cubby and took a quick shower. Then I got dressed, tossed the camera over one shoulder and headed back to the car. I also took the camera along with me to get coffee this morning. Last night I took my camera to my friend's, Will and Mary's, house for a dinner party. I photographed Will carving a turkey he'd been cooking out in his hand-built smoker in the back yard. My spouse was wearing really nice, black linen dress so I photographed her engrossed in dinner table conversation to show off both her brilliant expressions and her casual but near perfect fashion sense. 

The camera went with me yesterday to the car wash, and to the grocery store. It will accompany us to our favorite hamburger joint at lunch today. The camera doesn't languish on the floorboards of the car, nor is it relegated to the back seat, unattended. It's at my place at the dining room table when I get up for swim practice and it's still dark outside. It keeps me company when the house is quiet and I'm having coffee before swim practice. It's there on the desk in my study when I check my email before bedtime. And there's always a camera sitting on the dresser across from me in the bedroom. Just in case I hear something outside during the night that might need photographing. It's there at every doctor's appointment, dentist's appointment and coffee meeting. 

Sure, there are long spells when no pictures get taken. No shutter play. No immersion into this or that. But the camera is steadfastly there...ready... bestowing a constant reminder that the potential to make an image is always there. Always a possibility. Because most of the good stuff in life and photography seems to happen spontaneously. 

Mentors tend to be as valuable as random opinions about the weather... I don't believe in them. Better to spend time making photographs and learning from your own instances of satori and inspiration.

 

A first "test" walk with the Voigtlander 35mm f2.0 APO-Lanthar lens. Wearing my much maligned Tilley Hat.

 

I wanted to go out yesterday and put my new lens through its paces. But after swim practice, chores and packing for an upcoming location shoot I had waited too long and the afternoon temperatures were oppressive and  brutal. Being a wimp at heart I decided that a heat index of 105° would just make my hands sweaty, my viewfinder clouded with misplaced sunscreen and my mood...apprehensive. I chose grocery shopping and office work instead. 

Yesterday evening I went to the dress rehearsal of "The Wizard of Oz. An Immersive Twist on a Beloved Tale." I went not as a photographer but as a civilian. I watched the next generation of photographers and videographers work the show from a static position and silently wished them well. 

The show was a big production and part of the idea of "immersion" was that the stage protruded into the house and there was also seating around the entire periphery of the stage. It's something I think many regional theaters are toying with in the moment. The idea that audiences will be thrilled to sit in absolutely close proximity with the cast and the set. I'm not a fan of the concept but I was a fan of the cast, the show, the music and the lighting. They lost some very seasoned crew when the theater shut down during Covid and they still have a ways to go to recover their complete mastery of audio. It takes time. And every venue is different. The main issue with the audio last night was not enough volume separation/differentiation between solo singers and the orchestra which muddied the delivery of some of  the lyrics... 

But all in all it was a very fun way to spend an evening. And since I seem to get invited to every dress rehearsal it's a very cost effective dose of culture for me. I'd forgotten how wonderful parts of "The Wizard of Oz" could be. And how much fun live theater usually is.

After my morning "compulsories" I judged that the day wasn't going to get any cooler as it wound on so I was in downtown rambling about by nine o'clock. I put the VM 35 APO on one of the M typ 240 bodies and set up the camera for raw shooting, aperture preferred auto, ISO 200, Daylight. It was hot and humid and I kept smudging the viewfinder window and the smaller rangefinder window with my clumsy hold on the camera. I'll work on that. 

A common complaint about the M 240 is that the live view screen on the back is low contrast, not very color accurate and very low res. I agree with all of these things. At first I was hesitant about the cameras but after the shooting, when in the throes of Lightroom, the files reveal themselves to be just fine. If you don't blow highlights you'll pretty much nail your image if the rear screen shows you an image that is even remotely in the ballpark. I can only imagine that M11 screens are cheery, bright and accurate but if you absolutely need that in a camera you might want to pass on the M 240s and go straight to the most modern M Leica you can get your hands on...

While the M240 uses a relatively old 24 megapixel sensor and isn't a low light/high ISO champion it does a beautiful job at ISOs from 200-1600 ... if you nail exposure. Which should be second nature to you anyhow. I use the M240s mostly in the .DNG (raw) format these days because memory and storage are cheap and you never know how you will end up using a final image. Especially if you circle back to something years from now and have new applications to feed. 

Something to be aware of when using a Leica M camera with a 35mm  or 28mm lens is that the lower right section of the viewfinder will be blocked by the lens itself. If you are fussy this is an issue but it's been a consistent "feature" of M series cameras since 1954. Most users are pretty good at anticipating and interpolating or guessing what's hiding in the corner. I thought this would bother me with a 35mm lens so I acquired a Carl Zeiss 35mm Brightline finder from a friend and stuck it in the hot shoe. I shouldn't have bothered because I became "acculturated" to the viewfinder "feature" in about a day. After that the bright line finder in the hot shoe was more of a nuisance than a help. With a diopter on the eyepiece and my glasses off I can see all the other parts of the finder frame quite clearly and I find that I rarely put anything vital in that lower right corner. If you have the opposite mindset and DEMAND to see every micron of the image before photographing an image you can choose the auxiliary viewfinder, or use live view via the rear screen, or buy an EVF-2, put that in the hot shoe and look at the frame at its 100% accurate self. I've tried it every which way and will say that it's lens dependent. 

With a 50mm or 75mm I'm totally happy just using the viewfinder as it was intended. With the 35mm it's more important for me to use a diopter on the eyepiece so I can lose the eyeglasses and better see the bright frame lines, corner to corner in the viewfinder. With the 28mm I use an auxiliary bright line finder in the shoe for quick shots in conjunction with zone focusing. If I want to do a "perfect" shot with a 28 or 21mm I reach for the EVF-2. Your mileage will vary. 

I found the Voigtlander 35mm APO to be a great lens. Mostly invisible in actual use but providing wonderful results when I toss the files into Lightroom. There is even a lens profile available for that lens in the Adobe program. It makes the files look even better. And it manages the vignetting very well. Sharp at f2.0, sharp at f11. And everywhere in between.

Here are some samples I shot while walking around this morning. In my white Tilley hat. Nobody laughed at me but one person said, "Good morning sir." Go figure. 

Ruscha-ism.

Stoller-arity

Eggleston-ality

The city of Austin built a big, beautiful and highly functional convention center way, way back in the late 1980s. It's been the home for Dell, Inc. shows with 6,000+ attendees, tons of other corporate shows and a yearly event called, South by Southwest (SXSW) which, if you believe the fictive metrics of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city during a two week long marathon of music, tech, film and education. And delivers hundreds of millions of tourist dollars into the tax coffers and the pockets of local restaurants, bars and hotels. 

But some snake oil consultants have been making the rounds in Texas convincing every city with a population over 50 that the one thing holding them back from being the next Dubai is a new, giant, state of the art convention center. Our city council bought the pie-in-the-sky fantasy lock stock and barrel and they are now in the process of demolishing our right in the middle of downtown fully functional convention center and already starting work on their new, gleaming, magic project. Oh, but of course there is no other venue big enough in town for the shows that put our city on the map and the project is expected to take three more years. So, those merchants and tax collectors will just have to patiently cool their heals until the Wizard of Oz reveals the new tourist magnet to the public. Yeah, Austin city residents will be on the hook for the now 3 billion dollar project. Should  be interesting to see what the final price tag will be. I'm guessing 6 billion dollars. Or enough to pay everyone in Austin not to work for a year or so. Build it and they will come... 

I do like the double entendre of the signage. They are currently breaking or breaking down the old convention center. I'm always a bit amazed at the idea of saving money by spending more money. I should run that concept by the CFO on my way to a Leica store....

Yes. There will be road closures. Count on them. 

Meanwhile...over on historic, crumbling Sixth St.... business as usual. 

Tomorrow I'll be spending my day wrangling some big LED light panels and cajoling seminary faculty and staff to look intriguing, bright and welcoming for the camera. Given the demographic -- off color jokes probably won't go over very well. I'll try to act earnest, mature and reserved. It's a big ask.

Sorry for all the posts at once. I'm just happy the "data scrapper" episode seems to have resolved for now. I've been replacing all the posts I took down. Thanks for coming back to what has mostly become a daily blog with resoundingly quick comment moderation. Welcome.