It's Tuesday. I'm thinking about attending the LSI (Leica Society International) meeting in Montreal October 23,24, & 25th. Who is going?

 

photographer with Leica TL2 camera. At the W Hotel

The LSI grew out of the original organization called, The Leica Historical Society of America. Going international pretty much made the original name a bit... obsolete. I attended the LHSA meeting as a guest of LHSA back in 2000, when it was held in San Antonio, Texas. That was resolutely and firmly in the film days for Leica. 

A year earlier I had written a long piece about the Leica M6 system for Photo.net. The article got millions a millions of page views and hundreds of sometimes heated and confrontational comments. It got Leica's attention. One of the main speakers at that year's meeting was the famous rock-n-roll/music photographer, Jim Marshall. He and I spent some fun hours at the bar at the Gunter Hotel one afternoon. He was beyond interesting, and hilarious once we got going. 

I'm thinking about attending the meeting in Montreal for three reasons. Maybe four reasons. First of all I wanted to go to Montreal in October anyway and had been lazily planning a trip there long before I got news about the LSI meeting. Second, my friend and fellow Leica enthusiast, ATMTX is already on board with the meeting and made his arrangements a while back --- before I was even aware of the event. Third, a photographer whose YouTube channel I follow, Gajan Balal, will be one of the speakers and I'd love to listen to his commentary. And finally, four: There is always a tech component to these shows with new product announcements and showcases. And if history repeats, there is a marketplace appended to the show filled with used Leica products and knowledgable vendors. 

If a bunch of VSL readers are headed there for the LSI show it might be a fun idea to schedule a casual coffee meeting on one of the mornings, pre-show opening. Or not.

On the other hand I'm not much of a joiner and might just head to Montreal for no other good reason than to walk around aimlessly with a Leica "X" in hand and make pretty pictures while taking advantage of great hotel rates. I'm most likely going one way or another.

Swim news. In previous years, when I have gotten a flu shot or Covid vaccine, the following days have usually been...uncomfortable. Sore arm. Headaches. General bleariness. And some low energy swims. But not this time. While my right shoulder is a bit sore I'm generally pretty good shape. I woke early, ate an early breakfast (a couple hours before my 8 a.m. swim) headed to the pool early. The outside temp, according to my car's electronics, was a wondrous 63°. Even better, the water temp was a perfect 78°. 

I swam with Dan this morning. He's a former college swimmer who is younger than me by a decade. He's fast! But he's fun to swim with. And accommodating about intervals. They have to be just long enough for me to make them! Coach Jenn put up a complicated and challenging set of distances with ever shortening intervals. I was mostly out of breath for the better part of an hour... The things we do to maintain those glistening, Adonis-like bodies...

Travel. Now tossing an M Leica in the Subaru Legacy Sport and heading West towards Fredericksburg, Texas. Just for the heck of it. A nice, sunny day on which to walk around and photograph somewhere different. But still thinking about the LSI thing. I'm at a cautious maybe right now.

Hope everyone is happy and having fun today. 

OT: Rockin the new Covid vaccine this morning. "Be Prepared."

 I mentioned to a group of swimmers this weekend that I was heading over to get the Covid vaccine on Monday morning. Everyone seemed indifferen to the idea and talked about acquired immunity or something. I mentioned that I'd gotten the previous shots but I HAVE NEVER HAD COVID. People were surprised that there are actually people who have NEVER HAD COVID. But the vaccines seem to work; at least for me, my spouse, my extended family and a lot of people who don't fly across the country at the drop of a hat. Or sing in a choir. Or go to packed blockbuster movie openings. Or hang out at crowded bars. 

At this juncture I think 93% of people in the USA who have been tested have tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies in their systems. That leaves 7% completely uninfected. 

But my diligence in getting the vaccine, especially as a 69 year old, is not only to prevent initially catching the disease but to also have a shot at surviving it. People are now acting like it's no different than the common cold but according to the CDC 2,200,000 Americans have died of Covid19. That's a lot. And the vast majority of them are in the demographic that I think is most prevalent among VSL readers: Ages 55-90. 

Keeping current on the vaccines is no guarantee that you'll never catch the virus but it is a statistically relevant way of preventing death or lasting infirmity if you do get the virus. 

And for all you old, cheap bastards, the vaccines are widely available and, to just about everyone 65 and over, absolutely free. Takes ten minutes out of your day. May keep you from coughing to death. Seems like a smart trade off to me. 

I got the latest 2025-2026 formulation of the Moderna vaccine which is said to do a good job against the newest strain of the virus. You could get one too. 

I'm flying across country several times in late September and mid-October. Nearly every one I know caught their first bout of Covid right after flying somewhere for work or vacation. I'm not taking chances. It's the same reason I don't smoke cigarettes or snort cocaine -- I'd like to not flirt with an early death. And yes, I'll likely wear a mask while waiting at the crowded gate and in the airplane.

I mean, after all, we worked really hard to save up all this cash for retirement it just seems logical to make plans to stick around and enjoy it for a while. Right?

(have no fear, that illustration above is a radiation shielded injector made for injecting isotopes for radiology. The real vaccine needle is tiny and almost pain free in use). 

Now....who is up for a nice flu shot?

Some more random shots with the new Thypoch Simera 50mm f1.4 lens. It's adorable.

It's been hot here in Austin, Texas for the last week or so. I go to swim practice, have coffee and breakfast, read the news and return emails. By the time I've finished with the daily rituals it's generally past noon and already in the mid-90s. By the time I get motivated to go out to photograph it's nudging the 100° mark and it just feels kinda stupid to go out in the heat to walk around aimlessly, taking photographs that aren't really part of a logical, unified project. But not today!

Today a Northern weathe front came through town and cooled us down into the 80s. And it rained. And the rain was most welcome. After a late lunch I fired up the VSL studio car and headed over to South Congress Ave. to play with a Leica M-E (typ240) and the 50mm Thypoch lens. It was raining but not a hard, continuous rain --- more of a drizzle punctuated by bigger drops at random intervals. Stochastic rain?

I wore a hat even though the UV threat was low. The hat is a convenient camera rain cover for those times when the rain picks up and seems more threatening. Mostly paranoia on my part but I'm unsure about the weather sealing on the lens so it seemed prudent to take proactive care of a temporarily unproductive camera. Worked pretty well and I sure didn't mind a few drops of water on my head as I walked along.   

I made one gear mistake. The camera I picked out of the drawer was wearing a +2.0 diopter on the viewfinder. I was wearing my eyeglasses so I didn't really need any correction to see the  50mm frame sharply but I didn't have a convenient place to stick the little, easy to lose, diopter. I stopped and had a quick self-debate. Was it more important to jettison the diopter and just use my glasses; as I do with most other cameras, or should I just stick my glasses in a convenient pocket and continue on with the diopter? I decided on no glasses/yes diopter which, of course, meant that the world around me, when my eye wasn't glued to the viewfinder window, wasn't tack sharp. Not even rusty nail sharp. More like Nerf Gun Bullet sharp. But I decided that I didn't really care if the world around me was a bit diffused and I went on photographing just the same. 

The only real issue, should you decide to go with a +2.0 diopter and no glasses comes when you want to review something you've shot, on the back screen, or when you need to engage the menu for something. Fortunately my eyes aren't so far off that squinting won't work. It does. It just makes me look dorky in the moment. Oh, who am I kidding? Any 69 year old man in shorts, Birkenstock sandals and a goofy hat, with a camera hanging around his neck, is going to look goofy anyway so why bother worrying about it?

I could go on and on about the lens and get lost in the weeds of detail but essentially it works as well as all the other M mount 50mm lenses I've tried. More than sharp enough, good detail, nice mechanics, etc. I like shooting this one wide open because I always feel like I'm getting away with something. You know, f1.4.

I walked through the touristy area for an hour and didn't really see much I wanted to photograph beyond the mannequins and a few details, but that's okay because it's an hour spent moving and taking in the weird consumer culture of one of high end shopping destinations. And it feels weird to write that because when I first came to Austin to go to school this area was very dicey. Lots of really slimey XXX theaters, sex workers working the intersections, drug deals going down and Texas State Legislators routinely being busted by undercover cops for soliciting sex or buying drugs. It was almost a thing to read the newspaper on Monday morning to see which devote, Bible thumping, conservative lawmaker had been caught with his hands in one of the cookie jars --- so to speak.

Now it's one of the pricier neighborhoods in central Austin and filled with high end retail shops and restaurants. One of three or four epicenters of tourism in the city. And still a lot of fun to walk through. If Austin really needs extra revenue the sheer number of parking meters in this areas should be a huge help...

The rain picked up a bit. My previous dose of coffee was wearing off. My hat was getting soaked. It was time to head home through the traffic generated by the 100,000+ people who'd come to watch a football game at UT Austin. And I needed to make sure I had some presentable clothes for later. A nice dinner out with the spouse. A dressier location. Might even spiff up the shine on those shoes...

Here's some more: 

I just missed these two young women taking selfies while holding a tray of pastries. 

I'm not too shy so I asked them if they would do the selfie thing all over again. 

They did. And I photographed them. And they were happy. And so was I. 

Glad NOT to have been wearing felt hat out in the rain. 

Wet felt hats always smell funky in the car on the way home...

Office window at the Hotel San José. 

And a  walkway between rooms below...

I always thought this was a fun car. 

In other news:

MJ at TOP is doing a fundraiser: details:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-online-photographer-would-like-to-relaunch

if you like to read his writing about photography (and other stuff) you

might consider making a donation to the cause...

Just sayin.

 

New News about Michael Johnston and the renovation and relocation of THEONLINEPHOTOGRAPHER blog. Just below.

 At the behest of one of his regular readers Mike has set up a GoFundMe site to help with all the work that will need to get done to ressurrect his blog. Seems like a great idea!

Here's that link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-online-photographer-would-like-to-relaunch

I have no connection to the fundraiser or the TOP blog other than that I consider Mike to be a long time friend and a great writer. I wish him continued success and a quick restart to his world famous blog. 

Every time the blog clocks another million pageviews I like to note it. It "seems" like an accomplishment. We just passed the 36 million mark.

 B. holds an umbrella in a sleet shower in Paris. The original was in black and white. Shot with an old, Leica M3 and a 50mm Summicron. I used Neural Filters in Photoshop to add color to the image. Same with the image just below...

These images were taken about 39 years ago.

I like that I've been taking photographs for such a long time. 

There is a feeling, for me, of comfortable continuity with the past.

Blog Note: MJ's blog, TOP. Info as delivered by MJ

https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2025/09/news-from-michael-johnston-aka.html

Selling furniture is not that difficult. Adventures with a 4 megapixel camera and some lighting. New, old school.

 Olympus E-10 camera. Many years ago. Near the dawn of easily accessible digital cameras.

All lit with traditional, big, Profoto strobes.

Photoshop is getting better and better at colorizing black and white files. Plus, Frank showed me something from Google unofficially called "Nano-Banana" that was nothing short of miraculous.

 

From film. A Contax RTSIII and a Zeiss 85mm f1.4 lens.