Family and Friends – Imagist Blog

“Phenomena of Being. Missing.”

…the working title of this recently completed encaustic painting.
Though words seem to interfere with visual aesthetic experience:
(click image for larger view)
Encaustic paint, on stretched fabric, and RC silver print, ruined by flood.
I found myself unable to throw away this particular scratched and ruined print,
with the others which were laminated to it by moisture.
I’d soaked the stack for days; hoping to separate and save the memories.
This photograph was made on the Eastern shore of the Great Lake Michigan;
sometime around 2005; give or take a few years.
This encaustic painting was created on the Western shore of the Great Lake Michigan in 2023.

Last day of “summer vacation”

Yesterday… cycled to the Out ‘n’ Out to meet Tanya and Sophia… Last day of summer vacation for Sophia… After her mac’n’cheese and chocolate malt… Sophia waded in Cedar Creek… below the rapids… attempted to capture micro minnows… swimming upstream… in a tiny school… as I experimented further with the iPhone 6S and the “Slow Shutter” app… attempting to capture a sense of moving water.

iPhone 6s

Leica M8, 40 mm Summicron with B+W 092 Infrared Filter

Father’s day…

summer. super hot. slow choosing. not choosing. Jerome chose, “atlas bbq.” first time. last time.
back to the house. lazy. hammock. run Ann’s RC boats in the pond. feed the fish. play a game of Lasso Golf.
later: half hour conversation about iron cookware; and a bigoted cook.

(click photograph for larger view)

Leica M Monochrom, 50 mm Summilux Asph

Leica M, 350 mm Telyt-R

the last day of Christmas…

…on the first day of January.
Finally delivered Sophia’s gifts to her.

(click photograph for larger view)

And Jerome requested that we attempt to recreate a pose that he and Tanya took on their wedding day…
as they’re celebrating their 10 wedding anniversary on this first day of January.
So how did we do Jerome? Which one do you want a print of? Or all three?

Leica M, 50 mm Summilux Asph

and we have bitter, bitter cold… -8 degrees F… -35 “wind chill”… car didn’t start this morning

Leica M Monochrom, 28 mm Summicron Asph

May be the best $10 I ever spent… Cadillacs and brunettes @ 3

I saw the Garage Sale sign on Pioneer Road; just around the corner from the house we’ll soon move into. I turned onto a very long driveway; between a corn field and a bean field, over water filled pot holes, including a ninety degree right hand turn, and a ninety degree left hand turn — finally up to a metal pole building with large sliding doors. Just inside that huge doorway sat a dirt encrusted Cadillac Escalade. “How much for the Escalade?” I asked. “$10 includes a charger and a dead battery.” came Bob’s response. “I’ll take it.” It needed a new battery — $70. Some new wheels — $80. And a whole lot of tender loving cleaning by Nanna Anna. That was one happy 3 year old, Jace, the birthday guy, when he finally took the wheel of that Escalade, with a brunette riding shot gun — just like dad.

I do love to rummage through garage sales.

The rest of the birthday photographs can be seen here.

(click photograph for larger view)

Leica M, 50 mm Summilux Asph

Leica Monochrom, 50 mm Summilux Asph

A day with the Leitz Apo—Macro—Elmarit—R 1:2.8 / 100 on the M (240)

(click photograph for larger view)

Dust to dust. Wabi (a quality of austere and serene beauty expressing a mood of spiritual solitude recognized in Zen Buddhist philosophy.) Sabi (“The concept sabi carries not only the meaning ‘aged’—in the sense of ‘ripe with experience and insight’ as well as ‘infused with the patina that lends old things their beauty’—but also that of tranquility, aloneness, deep solitude” (Hammitzsch, 46).)

Sophia and Tanya enjoying our new old hot tub for the first time.

Frog

Two Frogs

Garage visitor

Sunset on the pond

Leica M, 100 mm Apo Macro Elmarit R

Leitz Wetzlar Summicron-R 1:2 / 35 on Leica M: So, so sweet.

The Leitz Wetzlar Summicron-R 1:2 / 35 hanging on the Leica M (240) with Multifunction Grip and EVF truly feels like a terrific walk around kit. Extremely well balanced. Able to focus down to less than 10″; while offering a slightly wide field of view; yet maintaining terrifically natural sense of perspective and scale. And of course the Summicron signature has always flattered its subjects.

Shooting with this kit reminded me how much I’ve missed using these wonderful lenses on a 24 x 36 frame. Post processing brought back memories of my favorite “old Agfachrome.” Of course I could have also post processed them as “ekta… fuji… koda… or whatever other …chrome.” Though I always found Agfachrome to most closely synch with how I perceived “natural” color in the world; just as I always found a 35 mm focal length to most closely synch with my “natural field of view and sense of scale and perspective.” Of course I also enjoyed the drama of wider focal lengths; as well as the compression achieved with longer focal lengths.

(click photograph for larger view)

Pull the cap and check that close focus… wide open… not “macro”
though certainly a wonderful “are you ready for your closeup?” lens.

Great field of view

Fueling up while waiting for the rain to pass… before the Virmond Park Kite Fesball can begin.

the 54″ wingspan kite took off like a rocket… especially after Ann opened up those wing tails.

Jace’s little kite never quite made it… in spite of Dad and Nana’s tenacious efforts.

Leica M, Leitz Wetzlar Summicron-R 1:2 / 35

Leitz Wetzlar Elmarit-R 1 : 2.8 / 24 mm on Leica M : Grassroots Politics on the North Shore

The Leitz Wetzlar Elmarit-R 1 : 2.8 / 24 – A Minolta lens design – performs admirably on the Leica M sensor; just as it did on the DMR sensor; and on film before that. Good center and corner performance. Good flare resistance. The mildest bit of chromatic aberration; easily corrected with slightest adjustment in Lightroom.

The 24 mm Elmarit opens up a room with a minimum of distortion.

(click photograph for a larger view)

Allows inclusion of the “environment”

Took the M/24 combo to a Grassroots Northshore political meeting last Tuesday evening. Found the EVF a bit troublesome in that environment. Though that could simply mean that I need a lot more practice in those types of situations. I would have been a lot more comfortable with the 28 cron and using the rangefinder. Yet I determined that I wanted to see what I could do with the R/M/EVF and the focal length really was perfect for the room; and the feel of the meeting.