Seems like a day for birthdays. I'm happy to report that I'll be writing a monthly column on Photo.net, starting today. A lot of you probably remember my old "Sunday Morning Photographer" column at The Luminous Landscape. My friend Michael Reichmann, the larger-than-life Internet legend who was generous in giving me my space there to begin with, was also generous in letting me share the content with other sites. Eventually, "SMP" was appearing on Steve's Digicams, Photo.net, and—translated into Polish by my friend Lukasz Kacperczyk—on Fotopolis.pl, the largest photo website in the Polish language (I still write monthly for Fotopolis, always expertly translated by Luka, who recently became a new dad). Although it was written intermittently and had no consistent focus, "SMP" was surprisingly popular. We believe that at its peak, it was probably seen by something like 80,000 people a week, give or take thirty thousand or so (a big swing, but it's very difficult to estimate such things accurately in cyberspace). I gave it up in 2005 to start a print newsletter, which quickly went under but then morphed into the free website you're reading now. (Call it the Blind Squirrel theory of endeavor.)
The new Photo.net column is called "Johnston on Photography." The first number, called "Maturity in the World of Digital Photography," is up now. As before, the columns will all be listed on an Intro Page, most recent first. I intend it to be a home for longer articles that don't quite suit the gestalt here at T.O.P., and I'm hoping to give it a definite slant: assuming I can get the cameramakers and lensmakers to help out with equipment loans, I hope to write often there about optics and fine lenses. Although these won't be "lens tests" per se, I'm hoping I'll be able to find things to say about top-tier lenses that people will find interesting and useful. (Or at least entertaining). That will begin with a bang next month; the next two columns will talk about the SMC-Pentax 35mm ƒ/2.8 DA Macro Limited and the Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm ƒ/2 ZF/K lens.
______________________
Mike
Could you mention on here when one of these articles is
Posted? That would be great!
Posted by: Dennis | Friday, 18 July 2008 at 08:08 PM
Dennis,
I will.
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike J. | Friday, 18 July 2008 at 08:10 PM
I, too, was introduced to you through the Photo.net S.M.P. columns. They're awesome. I recently read "Uses and Applications of Lenses" for the first time and had a very hearty laugh over it, especially re: your lines about 135mm and normal zooms.
Me, I'm not sure how posts there wouldn't also fit the gestalt of T.O.P. I always thought of this blog as a continuation of what you had been doing there, and I would hope that setting aside some things as SMP-only doesn't draw some of the magic away from TOP, turning into not much more than a newsreel. After all, your SMP-style posts are what attract me most to TOP.
Anyway, I hope everything works out. I look forward to your review of the ZF 28/2. Is a ZF 35/2 review further down the pipeline?
Posted by: Eric Ford | Friday, 18 July 2008 at 08:23 PM
Mike, those SMP columns have aged really well; most of them are just as helpful, enlightening, and entertaining as the day they were written.
I'm glad to see the archives of those columns are readily accessible in your new pad at photo.net, and I'm gladder still that you're back to a regular column!
Posted by: Robert Noble | Friday, 18 July 2008 at 09:41 PM
If you ever decide that you want to look at a Zeiss ZF25 f2.8, I'd be happy to loan it to you. Has some interesting characteristics...I wouldn't make the offer if TOP didn't have a gestalt, to say nothing of its contribution to the zeitgeist.
JC
Posted by: John Camp | Friday, 18 July 2008 at 10:06 PM
Wooohoooo!!!! I spend too much time during the week on photo.net (mostly in the Pentax forum), and now I'll get to spend my Sundays there too. Thanks Mike!
I'd wish you luck, but you don't need it.
Just break a leg! ;-)
-M.
PS: I know you have a soft spot for Pentax, so maybe you'll visit us every now and again...? Here's the address, so you don't get lost:
http://photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/
Posted by: Miserere | Friday, 18 July 2008 at 11:22 PM
OK Mike, now someone has gone and started a thread about you on p-net:
http://photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00QDb7
You're going to have to make a short appearance and at least wave at these poor people.
-M.
Posted by: Miserere | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 12:25 AM
>>>
Next month, for instance, I'll be writing about a brand new digital lens that I think is one of the greatest lenses I've ever used. And that's really saying something, since I've used far more lenses than I care to count. (Don't assume it's the Zeiss I mentioned earlier. But don't assume it isn't.) Hope to see ya then.
>>>
You're killing me Mike! Is it the Pentax? Please, let it be the Pentax.... that way you'll save my family at least $4,000 ;-)
An by the way, I've read ALL your "Sunday Morning" essays, and as a previous commenter noted; they age well ;-) Reading these articles always make my day. And, the more the better for me... and hopefully a better way for you to reach your readers. Good luck.
Posted by: Shadzee | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 01:44 AM
Shadzee,
...Or, it may be something else entirely.
[g]
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike J. | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 02:46 AM
I think its funny that you've got a stalker...lol I know it isn't funny being stalked, and I shouldn't laugh, but I'm an unemployed single father too. I'm not important enough to have a celebrity stalker though. Maybe someday! Hopefully she's cute.
Posted by: Chris Crawford | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 03:05 AM
Your bokeh test shot is very nice Mike, a pity about the colours (those two sad greens) but the composition & framing are satisfyingly tidy - much better than my average bird feeder pic!
Good luck with the reprise of S.M.P.
Cheers, Robin
Posted by: Robin P | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 04:57 AM
Best of luck Mike with the new column on Photo.net break a leg as they say in "theatre world"
Seany
Posted by: Michael | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 08:13 AM
Excellence will always find an outlet.
More Mike = good!
Jim
Posted by: Jim Metzger | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 11:59 AM
Congratulations on the new column Mike. When I discovered SMP you had long since stopped writing it but I'm not ashamed to admit that I read the entire archive and enjoyed it immensely. I'm very pleased it's back.
By the way, I'm amazed at the variety and volume of content that you generate. I've read your work on TOP, LL, and in Black and White Photography and I've never had the sense that I was reading a re-hashed article.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Matthew
Posted by: Matthew Allen | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 06:34 PM
Yup, more Mike is a good thing. It is difficult to find engrossing, intelligent writing, especially writings AT LENGTH, about our hobby, at least on the ol' "Internets". More opinion, more real-wrld testing, more insight, less arrogance, etc... the best around. Thanks for keeping it up!
Posted by: jchristian | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 06:45 PM
"By the way, I'm amazed at the variety and volume of content that you generate. I've read your work on TOP, LL, and in Black and White Photography and I've never had the sense that I was reading a re-hashed article."
Matthew,
I think that's what we call "functional obsessive-compulsive disorder." [g]
I joke, but thank you for the compliment. It's nice to hear.
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike J. | Saturday, 19 July 2008 at 09:25 PM