NEW YORK NEW YORK – We had a moment of brilliant light just outside of the building that my office is located in. One of the lessons that I learned on a four month photographic excursion in Brazil a decade ago was whenever good light arrives stop and shoot whatever is at hand. Anyway, the following are taken with my Leica Monochrom and am 18mm Super Elmar lens.
On this day last year: Shake Shack.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – It gets dark early this time of year. A school buss in the very early evening taken with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summicron FLE lens.
On this day one year ago: Maria on the Acela.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I enforce a “no pets or cute kids” rule. Really. Well I’m making a sort of exception today for an image that started out as a picture of a standing vase from Spin in Shanghai in interesting light but ended up as a picture of Basil the Norwich Terrier. He’s a pet for sure so the picture breaks the rule. I’ve added a two frame stitch from the scuzzy stretch of Broadway in the 20s in case you’re a stickler and don’t want to look at a transgressive dog image. Your choice. Both taken with my Leica Monochrom; Basil with a 35mm Summilux FLE lens and the building with a 50mm Summilux, which is just back from a cleaning and adjustment from Nippon Photo Clinic.
On this day last year: iPhone Gallery.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Our local Presbyterian church in New York, Brick Church, celebrates the beginning of Advent every year with a ceremony on the Church steps lighting the trees all up and down Park Avenue, and singing carols. We’re members of Brick but not currently that active because of our weekends in Connecticut. When our children were younger we were very active – I joked at that time that at one time or another I held every non-paying job at the Church. A lovely community. Anyway I took my Leica Monochrom and Noctilux lens to this year’s carol sing.
On this day one year ago: Still life with iPhone.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – A chance to recharge in this rustic corner of Connecticut. Here’s our gate (which is grander than we are) taken with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summicron lens on a tripod. Three frames stitched.
On this day one year ago: the iPhone does architecture.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Wow. A very long and demanding week in my day job. I’m beat. Too tired to raise a camera to my eye. I’m home mid-afternoon and ready for a nap but I pulled it together to shoot some images around the apartment. Here’s a porcelain piece from Spin in Shanghai. Taken with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summicron lens. This is odd. This image has been received with much praise in the informal network that I use as an editorial resource. It was a casual capture on a day when not much was happening. I guess this is the benefit of shooting every day – a monkey typing on a word processor long enough will eventually produce the entire works of Shakespeare.
On this day last year: at the office with my iPhone.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – As you have seen if you’ve been following these pages my 50mm Dual Range Summicron has become my best friend – it mates wonderfully with the MM. It’s the iconic Walter Mandler design that defined the Leica look for a generation. Surprisingly more than 50 years later it stands up to the demands of digital resolution. So I asked myself which 35mm lens is most like the 50mm DR Summicron? I spent a bit of time with Irwin Puts’ Leica Compendium, an essential tool for anyone who fancies him/herself a Leica nut. The long-running 35mm Summicron Asph has very similar MTF curves and narrative but based on personal experience supresses flair better than the DR. I’ve owned this lens but sold it when I got my first 35mm Lux. So . . . I found a nice looking sample on ebay and bought it. First sample below, which is a flair and contrast torture test.
On this day one year ago: Walk about.
