Vacation: Check; Now, for Re-entry

Yoshihisa Maitani, 1933-2009

Photo: Olympus Corp.

I've returned, ready, rested, and rarin' to get goin' again. I notice the world has not stood still while I've been away: on July 30th the world lost Yoshihisa Maitani, who, partly by happenstance* and partly by accomplishment, will be forever known as one of the great camera designers in photo history; and, in light of new intelligence, I have decided to retract some past snarky comments I made about Annie Leibovitz. I hereby apologize for calling her Romulus and Remus riff for the Lavazza calendar "the worst photograph ever made." She's had more important issues to deal with, as recent news makes painfully clear, and was doubtless scrambling to crack a hard nut when perpetrating that pic. On a different level than many of us will ever inhabit, true, but that probably makes it worse, if anything. Most of us mortals have been between that nasty rock and hard place a time or three. So I take it back, what I said. Good luck to her.

So what did I do on my summer vacation? I hope to write at least one report. (One of my grade school teachers gave everyone an automatic "A plus" for their "What I Did Last Summer" essays. I hope you'll be feeling similarly lenient when you slog through mine). One thing I can tell you is that I only used one single lens for ten days, the Pentax 15mm ƒ/4, to try to force my eyes to deal with its flagrant wideness. The strategy only sorta worked, but it kinda did. Sorta. Again, I hope to report, once re-entry into real life is fully accomplished. (Re-entry being my sister-in-law Basia's apt term for returning from an extended vacation. Hold the emails: I'll be dealing with the existing stack for several days. What's harder, do you suppose, getting ready to go away, or coming back?) Posts might be light for the next little stretch, but rest assured the fire's relit and the old engine chuffing away again. Thanks for coming by while I was gone (the site received a little more than 160,000 visits while I was away. Not losing all my traffic sure makes it less stressful to go).

Cheers,

Mike

P.S. Oh, and, to brag shamelessly, I sank a 37-foot putt, longest of my life by far. Sixty-odd shots that good, all strung together, and I could beat Tiger Woods. Yeah. Right. I'll work on that.

*It was not common then or now for Japanese workers to be allowed to stand out and do the star turn, and Olympus management reportedly had to be persuaded by its American advertising people to allow Maitani-san to be singled out in a series of still-famous ads.

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Featured Comment by Roger: "I'm not hooked on T.O.P. I could have stopped my daily checks of the site to see if you were back early any time I felt like it. Really."

Featured Comment by Dave Kee: "Annie, oh Annie, what were you thinking? Never having had much money I am always amazed (and a little repelled) by rich f#%ks who can't seem to make do with so much. On the other hand who really needed that red Miata? Tolerance, tolerance."

Mike replies: Thanks, Roger (and to everyone who sent good wishes on either end of my recent break). Dave, how come you wrote "#%" for "ol"? (Just kidding.)

Comments

[Simon, Norfolk UK]

"the site received a little more than 160,000 visitors while I was away"

and that included me most days
you were missed
either I'm a saddo who needs more of a life or a loyal supporter, you decide

anyway a big welcome back and hope you are well rested

Simon

[Mike Johnston]

Simon,
Definitive answer--LOYAL SUPPORTER!

Thanks.

Mike

[Melvyn Cobb]

Welcome back Mike, glad you had a great holiday (oops, vacation)!
Now, what do you make of the Panasonic GF1 rumour?

Melv

[Rana]

Welcome back! I look forward to the report - will there be an accompanying slide show? :)

[Tom]

I need my Ctein fix, man! I need it! THERE ARE BUGS UNDER MY SKIN!

[Bernard]

Sadly, I missed the news about Maitani's demise. The polish photo-sites didn't announced it.
So, it turns out that your blog is an important thing.

[Simon Griffee]

Looking forward to summer report and GR Digital 3 review. Welcome back!

[Dawson]

Woohoo!! You're back, and earlier than the 10th August date that I'd drummed into my head... even if I kept checking the RSS/wandering back to the site anyway!

So glad to hear you're rested and ready to go again - I've been missing just these sorts of posts whose links spark an interesting ramble across the internet for the rest of the day...

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

Congrats on the putt. Me, I've been called many complimentary things, including even an outstanding singer, but nobody ever called me a good sportsman. I'm lucky if I can pour a glass of juice without spilling.

I never take vacations, I can't relax more than I do (and I do), and they brake your stride.

Well, it means I can afford cameras. I just bought a Lumix G1 with both lenses AND a Canon 5D for which I already have a few excellent lenses. That should about cover me for a while!
(Both these cameras feel fantastic in the hand, in very different ways.)

Love ya all.

[Scott]

Hi Mike,
It may sound crazy, coming from your brother and all, but I missed your blog as well! I found myself checking it repeatedly despite knowing that you were away (and being able to picture where you were quite vividly, having been there myself a time or two). Anyway, count me among your many fans who are happy that you are back in the saddle! Your blog performs that same function as turning on Letterman in a hotel room in a strange city--it orients me in the cosmos.
Consider me officially and contentedly re-oriented. Cheers, S

[James McDermott]

Speaking as a fellow owner and admirer of the Pentax 15mm f4, that was a pretty wanton testing of the MJ 'one lens' philosophy. I'd have gone mad after two days, tops.

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

Reading the Maitani ads brings it home to me what towering achievements the OM system was. I was not aware because I only came to photography in the late seventies, when others were by then plagiarizing them. (And I think only Pentax actually managed to make them equally compact, a testiment to how difficult it was.)

[Lars K. Christensen]

Welcome back Mike!
I don’t think you need to apologize for your remarks on Annie Leibovitz’ Lavazza pictures. We should all feel sorry for her: first she lost her life companion, and then she got into financial trouble.
Leibovitz certainly had very compelling, understandable personal reasons to sell out. You and I might have done the same – if we were in the same situation and had anything to sell…
But that doesn’t mean, that you or any other should refrain from legitimate criticism of the outcome.
The bottom line is: those pictures were in fact very, very bad. And they are still bad, no matter what we feel about the artist and her situation.

[Ned]

Thanks for not taking down the Joyful Nudes link while you were away, that would have been cruel. :-)

[JohnL]

Welcome back and thanks for the Maitani link - what a superb series of cameras they were/are.

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

Thanks, Ned. As you may be aware, the "Joyful Nudes" link leads to my site. It's hit by the crisis like all are, but it's still making a good living for me, and I'm my own boss.

I put up the ad mainly to support Mike's excellent site, but it turns out that it does send very good traffic, so it's good for all.

[Tony Mindling]

I agree with Lars, Mike - if a work is poor it can certainly be identified as such, regardless of the personal issues the artist may be having. And welcome back, by the way!

[Siu Hay]

Hi Mike, wonderful to hear from you again.

[Bob R]

Didn't realize you were gone.

[Mike Johnston]

Okay, who woke Bob up?

Mike

[mwg]

I didn't realize you were gone, either--until I got back from my own vacation. I was disappointed not to have a couple of weeks worth of entries to read.

[cfw]

Maybe a little financial humility is what's needed to avoid future visual train wrecks like Leibovitz’ Lavazza calendar photos.

[Catherine]

Dear Mike,

What was that you said again? "I'm so profoundly sorry that Annie Leibovitz made such a horrendous photograph, in my humbly expressed opinion, that not only was my initial searing critique inadequate, but I was forced also to bring it all up again in the context of soliciting the sincere empathy of my readers about her financial woes...the poor, poor lady. And I'm also really very sorry that the photo was so egregiously horrible, I was forced to elevate a comment from one of my readers referring to the repellent behaviors of "rich f#%ks" to "Featured Comment" status, just to emphasize the horribleness of it all. I am truly sorry for all of that."?

That's what I thought you said!

I had the privilege not long ago of attending a talk and book signing by Ms. Leibovitz at the Philadelphia Free Library, following the publication of "At Work." Especially on the heels of a similar presentation several weeks previously by a different, but equally renowned photographer, I was struck by the degree of humility she projected, and the way in which she talked deeply about her photographs in a way that was completely void of a "see what a great photographer I am" subtext. She has a way of vanishing entirely from her photos, leaving them to be thoroughly about the subject. Quite a feat for such a famous snapper, critiqued and psychoanalyzed by so many. In my humble opinion.

By the way, a few of your followers, as reflected in the comments to your original post on this topic, seem unaware that the "Whoopi in the Milk Bath" picture grew from a deeply poignant character Whoopi herself created in her stand-up show early in her career, of a little black girl dealing with her feelings about her race. The picture was about Whoopi Goldberg, not about Annie showing the world how creatively hip and ironic she was.

And lastly, a word about the now-infamous Lavazza calendar visual monstrosity, I mean photo: Bravissimo. One image that perfectly displays the core of the Italian cultural soul (I'm Italian American so maybe I'm at least half-right in my interpretation): Historicity, decay, beauty, Mama, unbearably adorable children, over-the-top-ness in all things, more beauty, and oh yes, CAFFÉ.

Thanks, Mike. Great blog.

[Mike Johnston]

"Thanks, Mike. Great blog."

Thanks, Catherine. Great comment.

Mike