Category: Gear

Remains

temporary containers
still life

(click photograph for larger view)

Canon 5D, 24 – 70 mm 1:2.8 L USM

The Remains by Mark Strand

I empty myself of the names of others. I empty my pockets.
I empty my shoes and leave them beside the road.
At night I turn back the clocks;
I open the family album and look at myself as a boy.

What good does it do? The hours have done their job.
I say my own name. I say goodbye.
The words follow each other downwind.
I love my wife but send her away.

My parents rise out of their thrones
into the milky rooms of clouds. How can I sing?
Time tells me what I am. I change and I am the same.
I empty myself of my life and my life remains.

Wabi-sabi Wednesday (continued)

Consider this: Men mine iron ore; smelt it; turn it into steel; form the steel into sheets; transform the sheets into heavy equipment. At each stage labor and resources add value to the ore. People then use the heavy equipment to transform the earth; plant and harvest food; process that food; transport that food to super markets where we pick it up and drive it back to our kitchens in our steel vehicles. When the heavy equipment is used up and no longer functions as intended it goes to the scrap yard; where men cut it up and smash it into manageable chunks. This steel, now reduced to $100 per ton raw material (or $.10 – .20 per lb in small quantities) had a full life. It sits in the yards for decades; oxidizing, pitting and developing altogether new properties. The steel waits. Last week’s wabi-sabi wednesday photograph was just that — scrap steel in the yard of  Tyler Studios, ltd; waiting.

In the hands of a creative talent this scrap becomes raw material to create a beautiful “new” object.

(click photographs for larger view)

With each heat and hammer blow the craftsman adds new value to the old material. Additional photographs of this process can be found here.

The artist, Seth Tyler, has drawn the plans and made the prototype model as the first steps toward creating the full scale range hood.

Within a few months the completed range hood will hang in a fine kitchen. It will absorb the cooking aromas, heat, laughter, anger and tears of the family cooking and dining there. From morning coffee to celebrations it will continue to evolve with an ever changing patina; unique to its new environment; full of  wabi-sabi to be sure.

Leica R8, 35 mm Summilux (15 mm Super Elmar)

What do people, places and things look like – photographed?

I’m always amazed when people look at photographs of themselves and say things like, “I look old and fat…” or “I look awful…” I look at the same photograph and think, “I’ve managed to capture your beauty.” It makes me wonder what they see in the mirror. Garry Winogrand said, “I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.” It would seem that many people do not want to know what they “look like.” Every now and again, mostly while checking the light for some other photograph, I too wonder what I look like photographed.

(click photograph for larger view)

Leica M8, 50 mm Summilux Asph

Fireplace Surround by Nathaniel Reinartz

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to photograph the beautiufl fireplace surround, hand forged by Nathaniel Reinartz; and installed in an equally gorgeous arts and crafts style home located on Milwaukee’s East side. Nathaniel brought many of the formal details of the original woodwork, as well as the masonry, into his metal work. Additional details of this piece (as well as some of Nathaniel’s railings).

Leica R8/DMR, 21 mm Super Angulon

Leica R8/DMR, 35 mm Summilux