NEW YORK NEW YORK – I spent the morning working from home and getting myself sorted for our trip to Italy tomorrow. Photographically I used the quiet time to test my new Leica 50mm Summicron asph lens. We know that it’s very sharp at all f-stops shooting distant subjects. I confirmed that with some shots out my window which I haven’t posted because the difference doesn’t show up at web resolution. Around the apartment I shot a bunch of subjects close and wide open, test the character of the lens’s rendering of the out of focus background, the so-called “bokeh” of the lens. It turns out that the bokeh is neutral and rather pleasing (this is sometimes not the case with highly corrected lenses(. Here’s an example taken with my Leica M:
Best lens
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Wine dinner tonight with some college classmates and other friends. Photographed with my Leica Monochrom and Dual Range Summicron lens. The cab ride (on a horrible night) to the dinner; some participants; and the wines.
Ride to wine eventWine dinnerThe wines
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – We had dinner with our friends Kimball and Patrizia Chen. I’m using my Panasonic GF1 now in situations where the light permits. Here’s Kimball declaiming on a bottle of Gaja Barbaresco (I think a 1997).
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – A Commanderie de Bordeaux dinner at the Knickerbocker Club. Wines included the 1982, 1989 and 1990 vintages of Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Lafite Rothschild, as well as the 1983 Mouton:
1983 Ch. Mouton Rothschild
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I attended a wine dinner with a dozen or so friends. We sampled a half dozen vintages of Château Pichon Longueville Baron, a so-called super second. One of our guests was Jean-Rene Matignon, the winemaker at Pichon Baron.
Pichon Baron dinner
