PALM DESERT CALIFORNIA – I made the soul-crushing drive up to Palm Desert from Santa Monica this morning to take my medium format Alpa and Phase One gear (a so-called technical camera – probably because you need an engineering degree to set it up and get the most out of it) to Camera West to trade for a Leica S medium format camera. The Alpa just hasn’t been working for me – it requires working from a tripod and my vision suffers when I use a tripod – my work is best when I use a more intuitive and less calculating approach. The Leica S can be hand held elegantly. I traded my technical camera and four lenses for a Leica S and four lenses and got some change back. Nice.
After completing my deal I made the short drive to Sunnylands where I had arranged for a tour through a friend. Sunnylands is the Annenberg estate – it includes a private golf course and a house, grounds and decor that are tributes to mid-century Modern. It’s currently owned by a foundation and used for high-end conferences.
Too much chit-chat here. Let’s move on to some images. The first two with my new camera. The balance are with my Leica Monochrom.
PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – A thoroughly bad day for landscape photography.  Up at 5:00 AM to drive to Palm Springs to catch an 8:00 flight to New York.  All air traffic had ground to a halt because of the previous days bad weather and a heavy ground fog.  Almost four hours of delay.  We finally arrived in New York in the dark.
Here’s our departure gate in Palm Springs, waiting for an airplane.
