father plus son
“Are we not like two volumes of one book?”
— Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
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Leica R8/DMR, 350 mm Telyt
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the fall leaves continue to fascinate both eye
and mind (as metaphor for life’s cycles)
(R8/DMR with 60mm Macro Elmarit)
Gazing up while waiting for malts with Sophia
(M8 with 28mm Summicron)
holiday remnants seen while waiting for David
along with a striking SUV interior
and finally a delightful David
a stroll about Virmond park
(with R8/DMR and 350mm Telyt)
after a day’s work – young men park the landscape truck – for a bit of ball
and found myself mesmerized by wind, waves and birds
porch sitting- mesmerized by the light
Since the release of the Hasselblad CFV 39 back I’ve wondered how it would feel and function. Yesterday Steve Goldsmith, from Calumet, kindly drove 2/3rds of the way, through rain and beastly road construction traffic. A big thank you goes out to Steve. We met in Racine and put the back on my old CM and made a few shots with each of my lenses:
40 mm, (click images for larger view)
80 mm
and 150 mm.
(ISO 400)
(ISO 100)
A very interesting experience from the start right through to post processing. Drop in the supplied ground glass with crop indication. Attach the CFV back; just as simple as switching a film back. No cords or electronic connections. Very cool. Buttons and menus are clear and quick.
The view screen had plastic on it and the images looked horrible (hopefully better without the plastic).
Viewing angle is extremely critical on this view screen. Shooting is exactly like using a film back; including the cranking after each frame – which really felt wonderfully nostalgic. Pre-release of mirror and shutter release all work just as it did in the good old days.
Back at the computer: The large 45 MB RAW files take significantly longer to load into Lightroom; when compared to DMR, 5D and M8 files. The files look quite impressive at ISO 100. At ISO 400 a fine grain “noise” begins to emerge in shadows; however with a very tight film grain look. Exporting from these large files also takes a lot more time. In other words big sensors need big computers and hard drives.
Last week I stopped at Virmond Park to get my weekly dose of the Great Lake Michigan. There on the bluff I watched a young man attempt to fly a trick kite. The kite had two lines and some serious rigging under it.
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He tried over and over again to create or catch a breeze; just couldn’t get it in the air. A young woman appeared walking out of the trees. And they worked together; yet could not gain flight.
Leica M8, 28mm Summicron
Alverno College kicked off its 50th annual Alverno Presents season with Global Union 2009 at Humboldt Park this past weekend. Always a wonderful time and place to enjoy people, music, children, dogs and dancing (additonal images in slideshow).
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(Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron)
August 2, 2009, Ann decided to take her granddaughters to see the Dancing Horses on Hwy 50, west of Lake Geneva, WI. Quite a unique and entertaining afternoon — most especially for the young girls who already ride and now dream of “being” what they saw there. (click on image for larger view – Slide show of additional images)
Back in June Ann’s nephew, Mike McDonald, played in the Wisconsin State Amateur Golf Tournament. Mike also plays on the Marquette University Golf Team. At the State Tournament his dad, Bob, caddied for him. A fine father/son moment caught. (click image for larger view – Slide show of additional tournament images)
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Traveling through the last few weeks with thoughts mostly of Ann and her upcoming birthday; which occurred on August 17th. It all began with a trip up the coast to Sheboygan, WI to introduce Jim Proue and David White. I’d thought it would be fun to have them sing and play at Ann’s little surprise family birthday celebration. They’d never played together yet hit the mark right from the get-go.
(click image for larger view – Slide show with more images from this get together)
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The night before the party we went to hear Tracy Chapman at the Pabst Theartre. Without doubt – the most incredible concert I’ve ever attended. Ms. Chapman (and her band) performed flawlessly; and actually “better than” the original studio recordings. (click image for larger view – Slide Show of a few “intermission” images)
Of course it took a few phone calls to invite the family; a bit tidying up, arranging for food and errands with Erin’s help; and then – the party sort of just happened. (click image for larger view – Slide show of additional party images)
The day after the party Ann did her annual Irish Fest. Below we see one of Ann’s customers — not showing off his hair cut — but rather performing a fine Irish kick. (click image for larger view – Slide show of additional Irish Fest images)
Then it was getting ready for a four day road trip to the beautiful Mississippi River hills and valleys in Northwestern Illinois, Eastern Iowa and Southwestern Wisconsin. (click image for larger view – Slide show of additional river trip images)
“As photographers we sell emotion not emulsion. The tools are immaterial, the resulting piece is all important.” — Jeff Adams
In principle I agree — yet fine tools do make getting to the result a tad easier. Today I began a 15 day trial of Silver Efex Pro for use with Lightroom. It is quite a fine tool; if you’re interested in processing digital color files to black and white effect. Its built-in presets for tone-color, various filtration effects and simulation of (various types of) film grain appear first rate. This image of Sophia at the Children’s Museum (last week) was processed to Acros 100 with slight Selenium Toning and subtle ‘rectangular’ edge burn. Very quick and easy to compare effects. If you’re familiar with the Lightroom GUI (graphic user interface) you’ll find the Silver Efex GUI very intuitive.
In the end every craftsperson (and artist) appreciates fine tools; yet will find a way to express themselves with the tools at hand.
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Duncan moved on out of this life Wednesday evening.
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Mary Kelly stopped by to show me
that 10 years after receiving a print from me as a birthday gift
she decided to frame it.
I was most impressed with my multi-color inking on my chop
Last Sunday (father’s day), before a lovely brunch, Sophia presented me with
an abstract expression titled “fireworks” (from her fever series)
after which Ann and I headed for her son Josh’s farm
where Cadence and Cassidy rode around the barrels and Clyde chewed on T-bone’s ear
(slide show of additional images from the farm)
