WARREN CONNECTICUT – We drove up to Connecticut this morning. Next week is the end of the busiest season of the year in my law practice so this weekend requires some intense preparation. We also have prep work for a dinner on Saturday for two college classmates who are visiting. Once again my visual life is being crowded.
Here’s a hosta (Spring at last!) taken with my Leica S and 120mm macro lens.
Hosta
On this day last year: Francesca graduates from law school. I’ve edited this image since last year, moving Francesca to a place in the image that I prefer.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – We haven’t been here for a while. We love Warren so I actually resent (a bit) our recent travel that has made it hard to get here. Basil the Norwich Terrier stays up here we we travel so I drove up today to fetch him. We’re actually going to be in New York this coming weekend for a vey close friend’s Birthday.
I’ve got a Leica lens from the 1950s called a Dual Range Summicron. The DR is an iconic lens that has produced thousands of iconic images in the hands of the most famous photographers of its era. It has two focusing ranges, near and far, and an eyeglass-looking doodad that clips on to activate the close focusing range and adjust the view through the viewfinder for close focus. Very cool, except that on digital Leica Ms the DR can’t be mounted because the close focus cam on the lens doesn’t fit through the opening in the camera body. The solution (which I’ve adopted) is to send the lens to a machine shop to have the close focus cam machined off. It then fits a digital M but in the close focus range the lens lo longer links with the rangefinder so the close focus feature really can’t be used.
Enter the new Leica M, a rangefinder camera that also permits focusing through the lens with an “electronic viewfinder” attachment. I strapped the DR on the the M, set the lens to close focus range and fired up the electronic viewfinder and voila it worked. This brings the focus distance down to .5 meter. Here are a couple of images taken in Warren with this combination.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – We’ve had a pattern here in the past few weeks where most days have a high overcast, but at sunrise the sun peeks under it for a few minutes. So here we are in lovely early morning light looking straight up with my Leica M and an 18mm Super Elmar M lens.
Dawn
Two takes on the same subject. Same camera but with my 35mm Leica Summicron v.IV, a lens from the 1970s known as the “bokeh king”.
Gas stationGas station redux
On this day one year ago: Spring in Connecticut. Spring is arriving at least three weeks later this very cold year. But last year at this time . . . this year I’m working with my Monochrom a lot to avoid the Spring colors trap.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – The calendar says March 24. The weather gods apparently don’t have a calendar. It’s supposed to be Spring, but there’s no sign of it. Connecticut: the new North Dakota. I’m packing my medium format Leica S today, wearing a 120mm lens (a modest telephoto in this format). Here’s an image of ice on our road.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – I dragged my Leica S medium format camera up to Connecticut for the weekend. Here I’ve taken a detail from our house with Leica’s 120mm macro lens.
On this day last year: Home. Shot with my Alpa Max.
