The Battle of Otumba (Blog Notes for the Week)

Thus endeth a very short week on TOP, truncated by the Fourth of July on Monday. Here in Western New York, a few stragglers were still blowing off fireworks last night—perhaps to celebrate July 7th, 1520, when Hernán Cortés and the Tlaxcalans defeated a numerically superior Aztec force at the Battle of Otumba, Mexico. The Battle of Otumba must be important to some Americans, I guess. Must be some reason for those firecrackers yesterday. Maybe that wasn't it.

Tories
If I were rich, I know where I'd go over the Fourth of July weekend: England! Might be just the place to get away. Surely they're more reticent and quiet on that date over there.

It would make a certain amount of sense: like roughly a fifth of the white American population during the American Revolution (as well as many blacks, not all of whom, contrary to common belief, were slaves), at least some of my ancestors were Tories, a.k.a. Loyalists. Is that safe to admit now, or is it too soon? Although the ones I know about didn't go back to England or to other parts of the British Empire during the war or afterwards, as many "King's Men" did. One, the owner of vast tracts of land in Maryland, did get stripped of most of his holdings after the war, however. When we moved to the Maryland side of D.C. years ago I tried to figure out if our house sat on land once owned by my ancestor. That would have been cool. My research was inconclusive; where are the History Detectives when you need 'em?

This week we started out talking about sensors, and my fears on that score were realized—people who own medium-format digital cameras, like Tex and Darlene, did have glowing things to say about them. Apart from a few snaps with Jack's S2 (...a portrait, of course, which had way too much resolution), I've never tried one. It's a gap in my education. Not a single such camera is remotely close to affordable for me, however, so I think I'd probably better go on sleeping in my darkness.

After that we talked about the Olympus E-M1, which readers couldn't make up their minds about; where the dust settled and the numbers ended up with our book sale; TOP's style sheet and how to properly write "Micro 4/3"; Alex Ross's article about violent music and music as violence; "Vemödalen," which means that, as the Preacher said, there is nothing new under the sun—although of course there is; why high resolution sucks in portraits, even when you don't take them with an S2; and, THE most expensive photobook you can buy new...even though we had no idea what it costs (now we do: $25,000 and up).

A short week, then, but we got some stuff in. One last post to go before I knock off tonight for what the French call le weekend. (Seriously, that's what they call it. Despite possessing a wonderfully expressive language, they don't have their own word for "weekend." By the way, the US would never have won the Revolution without the help of the French, so if you're an American and your ancestors were Patriots, I hope you kissed an attractive Frenchperson on both cheeks four days ago. It's as good an excuse as any.)

Ding, Junhui & friend
...So if I did go to England maybe I could see a snooker match in person. Although I never write about pool or snooker, I will mention that I just finished watching the finals of the 2016 World Championship between Ding Junhui, of China, and Mark Selby, who apparently either comes from Lester or knows a guy named Lester, who might or might not be a soccer player and who apparently just won something too. I didn't follow the connection—British sports is like a giant Masonic secret society, which to outsiders looks like a smooth impenetrable stone wall in the corridor of a dungeon unless you know which wall torch to pull. Ding had a case of nerves out of the gate and lost the first six frames, which was great for Selby, because over the remainder of the contest Selby got outplayed 14–12. But of course won anyway, on account of those first six frames. It was a Titanic match that had everything except O'Sullivanesque speed and fluency. Most notable were the grueling tactical frames with some otherworldly safety play. I cannot even imagine how those guys do what they do. One of the frames lasted more than an hour—and the match was best 18 frames out of 35. I watched the entire thing, every shot, and I'm proud of that—the entire contest took 13 hours, two minutes and 28 seconds all told! Kudos to Mark, but if Junhui ever comes out confident and stays that way, he could be the one to walk away with the big cup.

Anyway, I never write about that sort of thing.

...As you know.

See you on Monday, when we'll feature a Guest Post by Gordon Lewis. That gives me enough of an excuse to once again post my portrait of Gordon which I like so much. (Disclosure: it's Photoshopped.)

I hope you have a very nice weekend, and that wherever you are, your lenses are blessed with with the best of light.

All best,
Mike

P.S. For extra credit, guess how the picture of Gordon was Photoshopped:

1. Photo actually taken by Gordon in a giant mirror, reversed in post.
2. Original subject was the late Muhammad Ali, but was Photoshopped to look like Gordon.
3. Gordon isn't actually that handsome.
4. Gordon isn't actually that trim.
5. "American flag" was originally a huge banner ad for tampons.
6. Photo taken in backyard in suburban Philly; New York background taken by B unit comped in later.
7. There was a bit of a newspaper box and a lamppost showing at the far left edge. Begone!
   
8. Three men in rickshaw on sidewalk removed.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

A C Eckert: "I would guess #7 if I didn't instantly recall your Sunday Morning Photographer article, 'This Bothers Me,' from back in 2002. That article profoundly affected my approach to photography while I was starting out with my first serious camera around 2008-ish. It gave me an appreciation for imperfection and a respect honesty in photography, and was just the right antidote to the nitpicky, light on substance, photography advice that I was reading other places. So my vote is for #1!"

Comments

[Ken]

"Three men in rickshaw on sidewalk removed."

Man, what is with people removing rickshaw passengers from pictures? First McCurry, now you? Et tu Bru... oh never mind.

[Paul Amyes]

If you go to England to escape fireworks make sure you're not there on 5th Novemeber when everyone celebrates the failure of one Guido Fawkes.

[Rusty]

got to be seven

[Lois Elling]

Thanks for the many late afternoon smiles from this Friday blog post! As for Gordon's picture, I'm going with answer #1, even though it's not as fun as the other answers. Enjoy your weekend.

[Bill Wheeler]

Ha! Even so I like it.

[David Millington]

Dear Mike,
Mark Selby comes from Leicester (pronounced 'Lester') and Leicester City won the Premier League title in May (the top football league in Great Britain).
Leicester City was a very much unfancied team for the title,winning against the odds but doing it in style, at the expense of more fancied teams(read overpaid and oversized egos).
Not only the French aided your upstart (LOL)rebellion, but the Spanish too.
And, yes, I'm British.
Have a nice weekend!!
Regards,
David

[Bill Wheeler]

Oops. I thought it was all of the above. (Dang! He's good.) I'll go with number seven.

[Stephen J]

If you want a real challenge with British sport Mike, you might want to take a look at the upcoming series of "Tests" between England and Pakistan.

These 'Tests' are cricket matches with a time limit of five days. The rules are as you say impenetrable, but after a short while will make complete sense.

During that five days, both teams get the opportunity for all eleven players to bat twice, and the idea is to get the most runs...

In recent years it has become less often that a test runs to the full five days before one of the teams win, but if they can't finish in five days, the match is declared a draw... It is a tie, if they get the same number of runs, and this sometimes happens in one day cricket.

So anyway, there are four tests, beginning next Thursday, and these are followed by five one day matches and one twenty-twenty match... Don't ask!

All very exciting though... Leaves snooker (a parlour game) for dead!

[Richard Parkin]

I'm so pleased you never write about snooker because, like so many other things, it ain't what it used to be. The game was truncated to fit television timings. The matches used to be of indeterminate length and the 1946 World Championship final lasted 145 frames and 17 days.
I am sad to hear that having fought for the traditional rights of Englishmen, the victorious rebels then stripped your ancestors of their rights to their land. I am wondering if history will repeat itself in the UK. In the recent referendum the Brexiters said they were "taking their Country back" so they may start confiscating the property of NO voters and foreigners 😟

[Dear God, Richard, have a heart. It would take me ALL YEAR to watch all the matches of the 2016 World Championship on YouTube, even as it is. "Truncated to fit television"? Not by MUCH, would be my comment.

Recall that the game was invented by occupying officers during the British Raj as a means of whiling away endless idle hours out of the sun. A purpose for which it is more than well suited. Modern man no longer has that need. --Mike]

[Robert Roaldi]

There is a French expression for weekend, "fin de semaine", literally end of the week, which is used a lot in Quebec, but France prefers "weekend". There was a good French movie called "Le Weekend" that I don't remember anything about except that I enjoyed it.

[MikeR]

If it was taken in Philly, then some curbside trash was removed. Since that's not given as a choice, I'll pick #1.

Is it Philly, or NYC? If the former, I'll guess it's along Market Street, maybe near the Drexel campus.

Thanks again for summarizing the week. I can't say just why I like it, but I do.

[Gato]

You're not a real photographer until you've Photoshopped a rickshaw.

[Speed]

In American English, the first day of the week is Sunday and the last is Saturday so weekend refers to the two end days.

In the French I learned in grade school (and confirmed by the all-knowing internet) the week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday which makes Sunday a week end-day and Saturday a not-quite end-day. I doubt that this is the reason for no "week-end" in French but it could be.

[Dennis]

Wait I thought the French were working on a program to remove all the foreign expressions, like le software, from the language. Maybe it was a Mitterand idea that never launched. Dunno.

[Darlene]

Thank you Mike for the recap of the week. I like recaps as they help me catch up and organize where I need to read.

I enjoyed hashing through the comments regarding resolution and portraiture. One thing that struck me as missing from the discussion is how portraiture can be used to capture personality. When a photographer has captured that essence, resolution may not be that important by itself.

I understand and can appreciate when photographers do not like the plastic look over-the-top retouching programs and plug-ins can produce. Unfortunately I have witnessed from my recent pool of portrait shoots the majority of the female general public appreciates seeing themselves 'optimized' in regards to their eyes, skin and lips. And we will not go to the hips!

The optimization program we use provides tools that smooth over details, enhance highlights in the eyes, and can reshape the face, but the user is at the gas pedal with control.

Recently a young female client complained the student digital artist changed the structure of her nose (actually it was her facial bone structure) and she was not pleased about it. No problem. This could be solved in less than 15 minutes. The student reprocessed the image and the client was presented with two of the same portraits; one with no optimization, and one with optimization minus the facial bone structure changes previously done. She immediately chose the later. I think this speaks more about what has influenced people's conception of beauty than it does about portrait photography in general.

I appreciate all the commentary about portrait photography when you do not have to deal with clients that have low self esteem, or are following the latest fashion/beauty trends. All I am saying is the general public wants this stuff and to what degree is the job of the photographer to figure out.

--

I am pleased to have a copy of Edward Curtis's Son of the Desert hanging in my home. I forget the process that was used to print it, but it has a lot of detail. Right down to the blood shot eyes of the subject. It was expensive, but not like the books (old or new), and was a gift so it holds a lot of meaning to me. Curtis's work inspired me early on into photography. I have read a lot about him, from his early days of running a portrait studio to the sad ending. He will always be top on my list as a human being and an artist.

I think Gordon is standing on a corner in Philly and the flag is made out of tampons. Dang Mike, you are good at PS-ing either way!

[Gordon Cahill]

As far as trying a medium format camera go, my advice is, don't. Just don't. Don't even rent one. Stay away from forums. Maybe consider a full MF media blackout. It's the only way to stay safe!

I've gone to the dark side recently and it's going to cost me. It just is. :)

Gordon