A palette cleanser from "Matilda." I must say that I love Paul Sanchez's silver suit almost as much as I love to say, "Silver Suit."

A production shot from the Zach Theatre Play, Matilda.

These are unusual times and the U.S. administration has worked hard to muddy the waters and disrupt any objective truth about the pandemic virus. We are in the position that the late, great Richard Avedon described as the dilemma for portrait photographers ---

--- we can only see and photograph the surface. We can't know what's under the skin and we can't know it anymore than we can truly know what's in the mind of the portrait sitter. Right now our understanding of the pandemic is incomplete. We know that people are dying. That's not up for debate. We know that there differences of opinion about who is culpable for the spread. But we have no knowledge of how quickly or surely a vaccine will arrive, or how it will be parceled out. No idea if a curative will really reduce deaths and how that cure will be rationed, if there's not enough to go around. 

I can't change what has happened. But I can compartmentalize the burden of knowledge about this and keep it from overwhelming all the other things in my life. 

This blog administrator tries to be open to divergent points of view but with something this raw, and now divisive, I'm stepping in to ask that we try to keep as much unsubstantiated political opinion off the blog. If you can show with video that a politician has lied directly to us all then that's fair game. 

Rumor, conjecture and unproven assumptions, political points of view, only serve to make everyone more unsure and uncomfortable. I'm not banning all political opinions on VSL but let us all do our best to stay positive. To discuss photographic issues. Talk about how we're adapting and how we're coping with a bad situation. 

Don't make me get on a plane with my boys from the photo above and take a metaphorical bat to you.

No winners or losers. Just people. Let's help each other stay positive...

Comments closed on this post.

B. At the Galaxy Cafe. Re-worked in Luminar for a different aesthetic.

I think we both look forward to a time when we can go back to our favorite restaurants. I'm probably much more anxious to do so because I'm one of those "horrible" extroverts who has a pressing need to be around people. Lots of people. B, on the other hand, is a pure introvert and is enjoying every moment of sheltering in place. She's got a project to work on at all times. Painting the porch, refinishing a book shelf, experimenting with special inks and watercolors, doing yoga.

I think her favorite part of the day is when I stop buzzing around the house and announce: "I'm going out to the studio to play with some photographs." 

But I do think of my favorite introvert as the "lifeguard" in my pool of existence. She's good about enforcing habits that keep me safe. But enforced in always the kindest way.

B. At the Galaxy Cafe after a trip to the Blanton Museum. From the archives but recently re-worked.

 Yes, Some times when I say stupid stuff I still get "the look." 

A variation on yesterday's black and white post. Re-imagined in Luminar.

From a session at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC for Samsung. Shot with a Galaxy NX camera and the 85mm f1.4 Samsung lens. They got a lot right...

Anyway, I played around some more with Luminar 4.x and it's actually a great program for quickly retouching and enhancing portraits. You'll have more fine control in PhotoShop (for instance you can control eye size for each eye in P.S. instead of having a combined setting in Luminar) but Luminar is great for fast skin smoothing, detail enhancing and color correction. The filters also work well and you can dial back the effects with sliders.

I'm having fun with it. And it's not too expensive. I'd buy it again.

Not supported or sponsored by Luminar....or any other photo company or retailer. So there.

One black and white portrait photographed for sharpness and clarity.

As photographers it seems we've spent so much time trying to 

get shallower and shallower depth of field; as though that would 

be a process by which to distill beauty...

But if a subject is, indeed, beautiful why wouldn't we want to be

able to look at our photo in all the detail we can see with our own eyes?

Black. White. And all the Gray in Between. 

Re-imagining a portrait in a different way. Post processing to get a softer look.

I'm always trying to get weight into my photos.

That, and shadow. 

This was originally a very sharp negative that I reworked in the darkroom many years ago with a technique that softened edge detail and areas in the frame. It spilled light into shadows and shadows into light areas. I made a print and stored it in a box. 

Recently I pulled out the print and scanned it and then re-worked the 

scan in Luminar imaging software. 

I like the softer look of Lou's face in this now. 

I wish I could have people in the studio now. I miss taking portraits 

more than any privation so far in this crisis. I feel disconnected from my passion. 

Destinations I have on my shortest short list for a time in the future when we are free to travel fearlessly again.

Siena. Italy

I'm a bit frustrated. I think we're all a bit frustrated. I just finished up all my major "adult" responsibilities and was looking forward to doing more traveling with my partner and my camera when the Covid-19 pandemic put us all into lock-down. But, ever the optimist, I am planning and looking forward to a time in the (hopefully) near future when we've all been vaccinated, tested and approved for limitless excursions. In that spirit, and at the suggestion of a smart commenter, I've been working on a list of places I want to go; some to revisit and others to see for the very first time.

Here's my list: 

I want to go to St. Petersburg, Russia in the dead of winter. I was there in February 1995 and I had such interesting adventures there that one of the new novels I'm trying to finish writing is set in that time period and in that city. I think seeing it again would help my writing and I think seeing the Hermitage Museum again would be great just because it may be the most comprehensive and wonderful museum in the entire world. Why winter? To match the season of my last visit during which I found the biting, stinging cold to be refreshing and in keeping with my vision of Russia. 

I desperately want to go back to Rome. I've visiting Rome probably more than any other city in Europe except Paris and I find it, as a photographer, endlessly captivating. The people are as wonderful to photograph as well as the ancient architecture. I love the giant public squares and I also have a favorite hotel and a favorite restaurant that I think about frequently. We'd start at the Borghese Sculpture Museum and who knows where we'd end up. It will probably be the rooftop bar at the hotel.... I don't want much, just three or four weeks and the stamina to shoot endlessly. If I can make it happen it will be my first totally film-less engagement with Rome. I also remember Roman women as being both beautiful and very well dressed. 

Istanbul. When I was very young my father (and by extension, the rest of us) was assigned to work in Turkey for two years. It was near the end of the 1960's and I remember it as one long, exhilarating adventure. In the city where we lived there were still horse drawn carts and many vendors with work worn wooden push carts. Occasionally flocks of sheep would march by front of our five story, downtown apartment building. Our parents purified the drinking water with chlorine drops (or something like that) but when they weren't looking we would drink from the garden hose; we didn't want to waste time going upstairs for a drink. In the two years we lived in Adana we didn't own a TV set and missed out on US trends like, "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch" but we didn't know we were missing out, we were too busy having sling shot fights and buying Turkish candy from the cart vendors. 

I remember my mother taking the family camera after we'd all gone off to school and getting a taxi to go to the outskirts of town to a gypsy encampment. She photographed for an afternoon after negotiating with the chief, then things went south. But that's a story for another time....

At any rate, whenever we could catch a free flight mom and dad would take my brother, sister and I to Istanbul --- for some culture. My mom taught herself Turkish and got pretty fluent so she knew how to handle most situations. We ate in so many great Turkish restaurants and were in awe of the incredible mosques. 

I'd like to spend a couple weeks in Istanbul, see how much it's changed and how much it's stayed the same. My memory is that it was a photographer's paradise. We were going to shoot a corporate show there in 1998 but there were some terrorist attacks against western companies and the multi-national I was working moved the show at the last minute to Lisbon, Portugal. I've had it in my mind to go back to Istanbul ever since. 

I want to go to Montreal, Canada again around my birthday in late October. Belinda and I had a great time walking through the old town, taking the metro everywhere and spending time in the museums and open air market. It was relaxing, refreshing and so convenient since it was barely 7 hours away from Austin. This time we will not miss Quebec City and we'll explore in a wider circle outside the cities. 

One trip I really want to take is two trips combined. I want to see Seoul, S. Korea and I want to go to Tokyo, Japan right after that. No sense flying trans-Pacific round trip twice if you can put the time aside to do both in one trip. 

Those are the top spots for my first trips when the world opens back up. There are so many other places I'm anxious to see as well. A winter return to Iceland is in the cards as a solo trip. A vacation to San Miguel, Mexico is high on the general list --- we haven't been there in 34 years... Time rushes by so quickly and there's so much unseen stuff everywhere to uncover. Passport ready, credit cards ready. Now we just need the damn vaccine. 

What did I miss? Where will you go when the restraints are lifted? What will you see next?

Rome. 

austin.