A Nighttime walk down a mostly deserted South Congress Avenue. Old camera in hand. No IBIS. No super sensor ISOs. No game plan. Just a walk, alone, at night

 

Mannequins for Bryan from the South Pacific; by request.

 

Fun with portraits. All manner of cameras. Mostly just for fun. Also, why didn't anyone tell me about the Avedon show coming up in Montreal?

 Important stuff first: There is a show of Avedon portraits, which are about aging, starting on February 12th, 2026 at the Musee de Beaux Arts. Here are the details:

https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/richard-avedon-immortal-portraits-of-aging-1951-2004/

I can't wait to see the show. Avedon was one of the most important photographers of the entire 20th century. And the art museum in Montreal does a great job with exhibitions. I got the book today as a birthday present. Also got the new Sally Mann book and the Leica 100 book. And four different volumes of Billy Collins poems. People seem to have mistaken me for an addicted reader. And someone with an interest in photography.

Sadly, no Leica M11s in the stack of gifts. And I went to all that trouble to send along links....

Earlier today I was thinking about portraits so I looked through the 27,000+ portraits I've posted over the years to my Google Photo album (they wind up there automatically when I upload images for inclusion or possible inclusion into Blogger blogs). Here are some of the images that I enjoyed looking at again. 

I thought I'd share them with you for fun.

Self portrait. Of me. By me. 

The Avedon show. Heading there for sure. 

Already selecting matching down jackets and boots...

Hope airplanes are still flying between the two countries by then. 

The last photo walk before 70. It's all a matter of perception.

 

It's Sunday. Our second practice of the day is at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays so I got to sleep in an extra hour. I ate a vegan, blueberry and zucchini muffin and drank vitamin B12 infused coffee before I headed over to the pool. We had a "cold front" blow through last night and it was cool in the morning, with some fog hanging around. I've been working on both phases of my freestyle kick and I could feel a bit of fatigue in my legs this morning. But all-in-all the workout was great and we nailed down a bit over 3,000 yards in an hour. 

I came back home, gobbled down a huge serving of non-fat skyr (sibling to Greek yogurt: tons of protein; no added sugars of any type) topped with half a cup of organic muesli (no added sugar of any type), topped with half a pint of fresh blackberries. All washed down with one more cup of the vitamin B12 enhanced coffee. Then I did what a lot of people who are turning 70 seem to do these days, I started grappling with the upcoming cancellation of my Medicare Advantage plan and exploring just the right Medi-Gap supplemental insurance policy to combine with traditional Medicare, parts A and B. And that's just f-ing boring.

I think I have it figured out. We'll see after I've talked to my trusted advisor. 

With a happy belly and some resolution of the only "big thing" I have to deal with this week I thought I should grab a camera and do one last walk while still sub-70 years old. I mean, it is kind of a tradition for me...on birthdays and such.

I grabbed the M240, put an EV-2 EVF in the hot shoe, put the trusted Carl Zeiss 50mm on the lens mount, and headed out to see what might be interesting to me today. Turns out not much was. I blame it on my lackadaisical attitude. I secretly, or not so secretly, hate events like birthdays for myself. I'm always happy to drop by with flowers or a bottle of Champagne, or a brace of ribeye steaks to help a friend mourn the passing of years but for me? Not so much.

The weather was fine. Nice and sunny. Temperatures in the 70s. People out enjoying the day. But enjoying it in non-interesting ways; at least when it came to interesting visuals. I walked around for a couple of hours and really tried to find fun stuff to snap but I think my ennui about the upcoming aging milestone put creative blinders on me today. It happens. 

But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with photography. It just means a crowded mind can be an inefficient mind. Too distracted to concentrate on photo-epiphanies. I predict that after tomorrow I'll be back single-mindedly looking for fun and inspiration and finding it everywhere. At least I hope so...

Random interior shot at the Austin Event Center.

Today's events were a LP record convention and a Coffee festival.

I was going to check out the coffee festival but heading into a fluorescent lit room 

in the middle of a beautiful afternoon seemed just...wrong. And so did the $30

entrance fee. I would have paid it but you could only sign up online and 

I generally don't bring my cellphone along with me on walks so I was 

stuck. Out of luck. Maybe all for the best.  I no longer have a turntable to play records

on so I "dodged that bullet" as well. Lovely dynamic range in those older 

digital M cameras....

Hat. Long sleeve shirt. Sunscreened to the max. 

Paranoia runs rampant after the latest phone call from 

the dermatologist. But nothing too unusual.

Scooters, powered rickshaws, etc. are making everyone who is using them in Austin

get fatter and fatter. Lazier and lazier. Semaglutide to the rescue?

Or maybe just....I don't know....walk?

yes, yes, the Punctum exists here for me.

It's the circular pattern of the sprinkler's outflow in the top right corner juxtaposed with the circular pattern of the semi-coiled hose in the opposite corner of the frame (diagonally). It of course reminds me of my mother since all philosophy fabricated by Roland Barthes is "Mother Centric" doses of Punk-tum.

Maybe the real punctum here is the light colored dog and the dark dog which represents the evil versus good aspect of mothers. Or Barthes's mother, at least. Anchored together on leashes extending from the dogs' implied human mother. Puntum-licious. All nonsense, of course.

One thing. I never get tired of this bridge. 

Yes. I am posting tomorrow. Drop by and say "hi !" 

With or without the exclamation mark...

Ellipses are always in fashion. Believe me. 

Just some odds and ends I keep coming across. From the "life of a working photographer."

 

video on location in Toronto.

It's kind of funny but every time I mention going someplace like Montreal at any time of the year, except the middle of Summer, people rush to tell me that it's freezing cold there and that I should buy lots of Arctic Expedition type clothing. People! Give me a little credit. I can read weather forecasts. I spent two weeks in St. Petersburg, Russia one very cold February (minus 25° anybody?). My toes, my fingers and even the tip of my nose survived with no frostbite. Insulated boots? Check. Inner gloves, outer gloves, huge mittens? I've got a box full. Hats? I probably have more winter hat inventory on hand than a typical REI store in the northern wastelands. Long underwear? Double check. Polartec, down, fleece, Gore-Tex, Smart Wool, and silk? Got em all. I've lived in cold environments and visited, during winter months, in many more. One of the things I like best about the cold weather is the increase in calories burned which means I can eat more fun stuff...

I was planning a trip to Montreal in mid-November. Just about to make hotel and airline reservations at the end of last week. But then I got a call from my dermatologist and got crappy news. The biopsy she did on a little spot on my left shoulder blade tested positive for squamous cell cancer. Something you want to get remediated ASAP. Like...on the 11th of November. If I could reach the spot on my back in order to clean and re-bandage it every day I'd probably leave town any way but... nope. Not that flexible. Also, and this is the most tragic part, I'm told I have to stay out of the pool for two weeks and no strenuous exercise until the stitches come out. Kill me now... But that means the soonest I can get out of town and into Winter weather is going to be early December. Hotel and air travel rates are even lower in January but we may already be at war with Canada by then so I don't what to put off traveling for too long....

More in a future post.

Movie making in Toronto.

I was in Toronto making videos for a German Medical appliance company six or seven years ago. I arrived during the first big blizzard of that winter. I re-learned how to drive a car with conventional tires, at night, on black ice. The secret, of course is to give up and not drive on black ice. But I am stubborn and there was a schedule to keep and work to be done. It wasn't super cold on the days we shot outside but it was still down in the single digits (Fahrenheit) and I noticed some peripheral members of the Canadian marketing team sitting in cars with the heaters running while we were out shooting in the deep freeze. Note to Toronto marketing people: Dress shoes aren't made for exterior, low temperature location work.... Nor are business suit pants...

Again, I survived.

But a large percentage of my working life was spent in Texas and while we can occasionally get super cold weather it's more like a two or three days per year thing. Many times at Christmas and New Years the dress code leans to short pants and short sleeve shirts. Survival tactics for a zany environment. 

The late-learned secret in this environment is to limit UV exposure as much as you can. Long sleeve, tight weave shirts, long pants with similar breathable, UV resistant fabrics. Big hats with big brims. And the ever present need to sunscreen the hell out of any exposed flesh. On extreme UV days sunglasses are mandatory. Looking back I wish we'd spent more time in air conditioned studios and less time feeling bulletproof and adventurous by shooting in the great outdoors...

Rehearsal. The process that makes everything work. 

Whether you are shooting in deep freeze cold or sweat drenching heat you'll probably want to work as efficiently as possible to limit your time in harsh conditions. During a blizzard or during a heat wave is no time to learn how to use a piece of gear for the first time. Pulling that instruction manual out of the camera bag while you get heat soaked is contraindicated. And learning about camera battery endurance while your breath freezes in front of you is also....not wise. 

The best approach? Rehearsals for every step you anticipate during a harsh weather shoot. You should know your camera operations by heart before you step into the atmospheric oven. You should know exactly how you want to light something before icicles form on your light stands. And you should rehearse the poses and looks you'll want from your talent while inside warm location, sipping hot toddies in front of the fireplace--- before you head out the door. 

Andy Roddick, Sir Elton John plus friends and relations. 

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. 

I enjoy hanging out with some famous people. If you are good with people and have a non-creepy personality you may find that once you get into an celebrity rich environment and don't do something stupid, like pushing that screenplay you wrote at the director you are photographing, or talking too much, you'll be able to stick around for as long as you'd want. After working with Andy and Elton John for fifteen or twenty minutes I was able to pull up a chair and listen to them tell stories and joke around for an hour or so. I was also invited in for rehearsals for Elton John's private concert and then asked to stay on, at the back of the room for the actual concert. Being low key and low profile, and mostly silent, is a plus. Works with former presidents as well. 

If you want fun photographs of actors it's better to spend a lot of time on set and work at becoming just another part of the cast. Make friends. Become a familiar presence. Don't be pushy. Don't invade space or privacy. Just emulate the other crew members. My favorite theater shoots are the ones at which I know and have worked with the cast members over and over again for years. Once you are part of their "cast" you have the freedom to work the way you want to --- as long as you don't step over the line.

the Wings of Desire. Or just light blockers. 

Ah. The dreaded, impromptu group shot. Evenly lit and no wild distortion on the edges. I'll take it.

The secret of throwing together a group shot of 50 to 100 people in twenty minutes or less is to do your scouting well in advance, know how you'll light a large group evenly, and then BE COMMANDING and LOUD. Get them in position. Get the group looking in the right direction. Get them on the same page. And don't expect them to stay in place and be cooperative for more than about ten good frames. This is not the time to stop and learn how to use that new light meter! 

Fun to look back over stuff from a career. Every shoot seems burned into my memory. I can't wait to write the autobiography but I'm waiting for those NDAs to expire......

I'm looking forward to never managing a group photo of more than two people ever again...