The Online Photographer

Sock It To Me

Do you need a pair of socks?

I'm pretty sure you need a pair of socks.

Mike

P.S. These would look perfect with sandals.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Daniel (partial comment): "Nope. Polyester doesn't cut it for some of us. Merino wool or good high count cotton."

Mike replies: Perfect comment for this post! To find a "deal breaker" in the specs...made me laugh.

 

Random Excellence: Jose Luis Gonzalez

Linhof Color monorail, 1960
Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez

TOP reader Jose Luis Gonzalez contacted me this morning to offer some friendly advice, and in the process I learned of his camera collection and the portraits he makes of his collectibles using light-painting techniques. You can view many examples at this 2016 post on Japan Camera Hunter. Great tabletop photography of a lovely camera collection. Nice, all around!

Mike
(Thanks to Jose)

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Fred Tuman: "That same exact type camera of camera was used every day in my studio from 1986 till 2004. It has bought me my home, paid for my wedding, and purchased five new cars over its lifetime. I paid $450 for it used at Ken Hansen's. When I sold it, with a couple of lenses, I took a trip with my wife to Vienna with the proceeds. Will any of my digital equipment reap the same emotional rewards?"

Peter Komar: "Back when I was shooting medium or large format product photography I absolutely recall the 'Light Wand.' It had many 'light end' attachments and a long tethered fiber optic cable to the base unit. It was quite the rage for a short time and the results were unique as far as product photography was concerned. The images of the classic cameras I would bet were shot using that technique, it was a lengthy process and, as I recall, always shot in very dim light studio settings. Nice to see that technique as I have not seen that in many years."

Paul McEvoy: "That Linhoff Color monorail is the most beautiful camera I've ever seen. I remember lusting over one in my LF days. I don't think there's a better looking camera out there."

After Fifty Years

Do you recall my friend Jim Sherwood, who bought a single original photograph for himself every year on his birthday, only to see his collection flourish over the decades and become worth far more than he had paid for it? (At this link, scroll down to "The not-a-collector collector.")

Jim's had a very successful and involved life in photography, which in recent years has extended to photobook collecting and selling. I thought I'd pass along a brief but moving comment Jim made on Facebook about what a customer said about one particular book. Here's the Facebook post in its entirety (very lightly edited):

"To my Facebook friends—some of you know I am a longtime, passionate photobook collector. Over the last 15 years I’ve been an online book dealer. In the process, you develop superficial client relationships with minimal communication. It’s the nature of web business. Rarely do I know anything about why someone wants to purchase a particular book.

"A few day ago I got an order for David Douglas Duncan’s War Without Heroes (1970), a powerful Vietnam War combat zone photo essay. Informing the buyer that I was on vacation and would ship the book upon my return, I received this message:

Understood. Enjoy your trip. I am in the book. I have waited fifty years to bring myself to see all of my friends that did not make it.

Signed, ______, Sergeant Major, U.S. Marine Corps, Never Retired.

"I was speechless, and deeply moved."

I wonder how that Marine Sergeant Major felt after viewing the book—I can imagine it bringing back both bad memories and good. I wonder if he was grateful to have had a part of his life documented that, in most soldiers' lives and experience, wasn't.

I have that book too, thanks to the recommendation of my friend and onetime book dealer Andy Moursund, who called it one of the three best books of war photography ever made. It's powerful work. DDD, as he was called, "embedded" with a combat unit long before that term was common, so it's a view from the inside of what it was like to experience the war in a U.S. Marine Corps unit.

DDD was a Marine himself who served in WWII. He donated the proceeds of This is War!, his book of Korean War photographs, to the widows and children of Marines who died in Korea. He himself passed away only two years ago at the age of 102.

Thanks to Jim for letting me republish this here.

Mike

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Ashton Lee: "In 1967 my father was given a copy of DDD's book Yankee Nomad. I have had a deep love for photography since turning the first page. If anyone had not seen and read it, you must. It is as important and revealing as Weston's Daybooks. I have long thought it interesting that Duncan published his retrospective 52 years before he died."

Dave Levingston: "I have that book and, I think, all of David Douglas Duncan's books. He was my original inspiration to become a photojournalist when I checked his Yankee Nomad book out of my library and read the whole thing. When he published I Protest after visiting Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War, I knew I had chosen the right hero."

Iain: "One of photography's most powerful attributes is that it is able to raise the dead."

Reminder!

If you have some time this weekend, you might want to treat yourself to Bill Jay's famous essay "The Thing Itself." We mentioned it the other day.

The phrase was Edward Weston's. Edward, behind the formidable veil of his artistry and mastery, was essentially a still-life photographer. Few kinds of photographers care more about things themselves.

Bill was an iconoclast, always a little outside the art-world mainstream despite his numerous publications and academic positions. He thought for himself, followed his path, went his own way. He was also a photographer. His primary subject was other photographers. He made a great many fine portraits. I've seen very few less than good.

I think it's probably unlikely that you'll agree with everything he claims and says in this essay. But I also think it's likely that you'll find it thoughtful and thought-provoking—and a constructive, rewarding way to pass time on a lazy Summer weekend.

And if you don't want to read it now, put it on your virtual bedstand for some future day.

Mike

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Ricardo Hernandez: "Thank you so much for linking this Mike. I was not aware of it and it sure is making me think about my photographic journey, what I want to do, and though a big part of me already knew it - how petty are all these tribal sports like fights in forums about camera brands. I really like in particular the example he gave of the violinist on the TV interview, the very pragmatic "if you have filtered subjects of interest and you remain with equal subjects, pick the one people are interested the most at that point (but only at that point)" (I am paraphrasing) - the pick a subject that you are passionate about because it's how you will carry on examining it over and over again. Great, great read. Thank you so much!"

Animesh Ray: "Written with unusual clarity...what a difference from Sontag's On Photography. While trying to read the latter I couldn't go beyond what it is not to get to what it is. Here Bill Jay gets to the heart in a few short strokes of his pen. He writes like the best of the journalists, which he was for a long time. I agree with him on the primacy of the subject in photography. The surprise was his opinion on a personal style, that one cannot make it consciously, that it is an unconscious by-product of passion and work (and, may I add, of talent)."

Bill Jay on 'The Thing Itself'

"...In order to photograph with any degree of continuous passion, you must have a fascination for the subject, otherwise you cannot sustain an interest in the act of creation for a long enough period of time in which to make any insightful or original statement about it. In spite of its seemingly heretical slant (in this day and age) what you photograph is usually more important than how you photograph it.

"The photographer is, first and foremost, a selector of subjects. The photographer makes a conscious choice from the myriad of possible subjects in the world and states: I find this interesting, significant, beautiful or of value. The photographer walks through life pointing at people and objects; the aimed camera shouts 'look at that!' The photographer produces pictures in order that his or her interest in a subject can be communicated to others. Each time a viewer looks at a print, the photographer is saying 'I found this subject to be more interesting or significant than thousands of other objects I could have captured; I want you to appreciate it too.'

"This immediate emotional or intellectual response to the subject matter is at the core of photography. [...]

"I have stressed the importance of subject matter because it is the fundamental principle of photography—and, paradoxically, the least discussed area of the medium, especially to young photographers."

—Bill Jay, "The Thing Itself"

The late Bill Jay (1940–2009) said of his essay "The Thing Itself," "This article has been reproduced more often than any other piece I have written. I think it was first published in Newsletter, Daytona Beach Community College, in 1988—but it is still being used by and copied for college students at the time of posting, 2006."

Bill's writings have been a continuous source of inspiration and enjoyment for me over my lifetime in photography. His book with his mentor and friend David Hurn, the Welsh Magnum photographer, On Being a Photographer, is a must-have for all photographers' libraries. (It's sort of the Strunk and White of photography—and I say that knowing that Shakespeare violated virtually every precept in Strunk and White, and White violated many himself.) It's worth setting some time aside to peruse this essay—something I do periodically.

In fact I think I'll remind you on Saturday morning, to help encourage a few more people to make the acquaintance of "The Thing Itself."

Mike
(Thanks to Mark Sampson)

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Dave Millier: I can see how this is vital to some photographers but not to me. By and large, I have little interest in the subject. For me, the subject is simply some convenient shape—it matters not what it is, because what I photograph is line, curve, pattern, tones and contrasts. I'm perfectly happy photographing a shadow, a crack in a wall, a bent nail, whatever meaningless object, as long as it forms some kind of graphical pattern, line, curve etc, often fleeting and transitory while the light strikes at the perfect angle. Come back 30 minutes later, and most of my photographs have vanished with the light and that angled rusty nail casting a perfect diagonal shadow across a textured yellow wall is now just an unimportant hook and there is no photo to be seen. I see photographic subjects, not as subjects in their own right, but as collections of graphical properties that interact with nearby objects to form a picture. Man consulting a map, or merely a bit of rusty old iron and the momentary perfect angle of light?"

Mike replies: Fair enough certainly, but could you be thinking in a little too limited a way about what "subject" is? You've eloquently stated your subject to be "line, curve, pattern, tones and contrasts" that "forms some kind of graphical pattern." Sounds (and looks) to me like you know exactly what your subject is.

Or maybe we're both thinking about the word "subject" more flexibly than Bill Jay intends in this quotation, I don't know.

Bob Keefer: "You inspired me to download this book on my Kindle and read it today. It's an excellent guide to how to go about actually being a good photographer, as opposed to talking and thinking about it. They rightly pick on academic photography and critical theory, offer sensible advice for how to approach a photography project and emphasize working on photography that moves you. Among my favorite sections was on the subject of gear. Hurn wrote that he originally used Leica rangefinders, but eventually switched to SLRs as his need for eyeglasses messed up the rangefinder view. 'I use the cheapest amateur model in the Canon line for one reason only: it is the quietest in operation. I certainly do not need all the bells and whistles even on this camera.' He does add, though, that his backup camera is a top of the line pro model—because it's resistant to the rain in Wales, where he lives and works. And Jay said, 'Beginning photographers are obsessed with equipment, but there comes a stage when they deny that cameras have any relevance. Yet the best photographers do seem to spend a lot of time talking about cameras again.'"

Mike replies: Supposedly David Hurn had six EOS Rebels around the time he wrote that book. I actually went out and bought one to mimic him...and lasted only a few months with it. Worked fine, but for me it wasn't satisfying to use because of the wee little tunnel viewfinder. I still remember a number of the pictures I took with it, though.

Curtis: "Dear Mike, Were you aware of the documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay? It can be viewed on YouTube and is a very interesting overview of his life. A one-of-a-kind individual I want to learn more about. Thank you for posting the quote!"

Mike replies: I was not aware! And I will watch that. Thanks.

Jim Henry: "Bill Jay's writings have resonated with me since I read them in Lenswork and then in his books. His language was simple, clear, direct, and free of words like 'vision' which I do not understand. I do miss his take on photography and his honest writings. They work for me. Thanks for reminding us all of him."

Camerasize

camerasize.com is asking for our help. Apparently expenses are getting to be too much for the site's owner and developer. I use that site a lot (in fact I found out about this because I was using it for the next post) and really appreciate it, so I made a donation.

Patreon and our Patreon supporters (thank you all) have really helped this site (TOP) survive, and I can tell you any little bit helps!

Mike

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Lenses and Losses

John Loengard 1934–2020

Sorry I didn't get to the Print Crit this week. We'll resume on Monday (not Sunday), and I'll be talking about three prints next Monday rather than one.

TOP reader Joe Holmes was quoted in this article about leaving New York. I met Joe at the Javits Center a few years ago—he's a very talented photographer and a chronicler of his city. Thanks to JG for the tip and a nod of respect to Joe.

Here are my top takeaways from the Micro 4/3 lenses post—first, I had never heard of the Olympus 12–45mm ƒ/4 zoom before. It looks to be small and light yet of good quality, a combination of assets that gets my attention and has done from the days of the Leica M and Olympus OM Zuiko film-camera lenses. I wonder why there haven't been more utilitarian ƒ/4 digital lenses—what with high ISOs and mirrorless camera EVFs, there really is no argument against them. Another worthy-looking lens that had not penetrated my consciousness is the Panasonic 45–175mm ƒ/4–5.6 that Christopher Midyet, Andrew Johnston, and others praised. Next, I learned that Ctein has switched allegiances from the Olympus 45mm to its Panasonic 42.5mm competitor—interesting. Finally, essentially the same lens as the 45–175mm but at the other end of the "basic to deluxe" range, the Panasonic/Leica 50–200mm ƒ/2.8–4, drew the highest praise possible from Harold Glit—he called it the finest zoom lens he has used in his career as a photographer across all platforms.

Izzy from B&H Photo is sending me a Panasonic GX9 for review. Should be here next week. I wonder if that means I have to test the kit lens?

Elsa Dorfman selling prints in Harvard Square

"It's true. I sold my black and white archive pictures at Holyoke Center in Harvard Square from a shopping cart wagon I borrowed from the Beacon St. Somerville Star Market. It was 1972. The Star Market basket had the perfect configuration: A shallow top tray and a very deep bottom tray. Probably to take home big packages of baby diapers and toilet paper and Kleenex. Or six packs of beer.

"I charged $2.50 for an archive signed original print!!!! I stayed up all night for weeks printing, trying to guess what wd SELL.???? I put each image in a plastic bag to protect it. I only accepted cash. No checks. No credit cards. I had a ball. I saw all sorts of people: people who I knew well and people I knew in a vague sort of way. It was such fun."

—Elsa Dorfman, from her website

Elsa Dorfman and John Loengard have left us. Elsa, who was 83, was one of the few photographers of her era who got to be defined partly by her technique—she made distinctive portraits using one of the rare giant 20x24-inch Polaroid cameras. She had a studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts and you could walk in off the street and get your portrait taken for three grand. John Loengard, a onetime hero of mine, was a LIFE magazine photographer—I still miss LIFE, and it's been 48 years since it was a weekly—who became a LIFE editor. He was part of a generation in which being a photographer could open doors, and he photographed a long list of celebrated subjects over many years. Shhh, don't tell, but he was also a photo geek not unlike some of us. He was fastidious about his technique and picky about his lenses. Mostly he used a Micro-Nikkor 55mm, and he often used closeups to bring out a telling detail about a subject, like when he photographed Louis Armstrong's lips, scarred from years of his forceful trumpet playing. I treasure his book Pictures Under Discussion, which I have looked at more times than I can count. One of my favorites. John was 85.

Mike

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kevin willoughby: "I was wandering around Cambridge one day. I dropped into a building next to a classic movie theater. I met a lady hanging wonderful portraits of people and pets. Yes, it was Elsa Dorfman. We spent a few minutes talking. She's a lovely lady. The evening of her death, we watched a lovely, almost autobiographical, documentary of her work: The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography. It can be streamed from Netflix, Amazon, VUDU and other sources and is strongly recommended."

Mike adds: The filmmaker is Errol Morris.

Joe Holmes: "Thanks for the hat tip, Mike! I remember what fun it was to chat at the Javits back then with you and...could it have been Ken Tanaka? I forget. [Gordon Lewis —MJ] My wife Sara and I also tried to visit you in your upstate home a couple years ago when we were passing by on our way to Rochester, but our timing was off—you were out of town. (Sara is also a photographer.) We'll try again one day."

Steve C: "Joe, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not, but, 15 years ago, when I used to work on Lonely Planet's design team, I would start every day at my desk loading up your website to see if you'd made a new post. Your pictures were a real factor in me becoming more interested in photography, and especially street photography." 

Mike adds: Joe, I looked and read all the way through Sara's project "Women Serving Life Sentences." Thought-provoking and eloquent.

Dan Khong: "Saying the four-letter word 'LIFE' is like bringing back all manner of fond memories from when I was in my growing up years. For some reason, my father brought home a copy regularly. Many B&W photos still stick in my mind. Moon landing '69. 'Nam war pictures. John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline. Muhammmad Ali in and out of the ring. I think those pictures have inspired the way I photograph and put into place my passion for street photography. Maybe even B&W darkroom printing. Be very mindful that saying four-letter words can get your readers excited. Just sayin'."

Gordon R. Brown: "Please tell your readers about the viewfinder on Mr. Loengard’s camera."

Mike replies: I'm not an expert on all things Nikon, now or then—the best person to ask might be Stephen Gandy—but I believe it's a DW-4, without the rubber eyepiece, on a Nikon F3. The DW-4 was a 6X, whole-image magnifier with a high-range (–5 to +3) diopter adjustment, excellent for exact focusing. Its disadvantage was that it reversed the image laterally.

Rene Theberge: "I was living in Cambridge when Elsa was a prominent character in the cast of characters that lived/worked/hung out in Harvard Square in those days. A very different scene then as opposed to now. I passed by her so many times, stopped to look occasionally, never bought anything (stupid me!) because I had so little money at that time.

"Funny how these casual encounters in one part of your life reverberate back so many years later."

Harold GLIT: "To be thorough I called the P/L 50–200mm the finest zoom lens I have ever used in my career. For fixed lenses I have other great lenses in mind. I also want to say that, like Ctein, I did change from my Olympus 45mm ƒ/1.8, which is a fine lens, especially considering the price and weight, to the Panasonic 42.5mm ƒ/1.7 which is better. First it is better in the corners at the two widest apertures. It has also a great minimum focusing distance, so, while we are all stuck at home, it became my macro lens when combined with an extension tube."

Mike replies: I made the change in the post. Sorry for my error.

Around the Web on a Tuesday

Still the gold standard for creamy bokeh: a comparison of the modern soft-focus Cooke Portrait PS945 and the ancient Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality IV Series II it was designed to emulate. Is it wrong to be a little alarmed by the Black Queen? Yikes!  :-)

Our friend Peter was featured on ABC-7 News New York.

On this day in history, April 28th, 1945, Hitler's poodle, Benito Mussolini, the narcissistic fascist dictator of Italy during WWII, was executed by Italian partisans while attempting to flee to a neutral country. The reason Hitler gave orders for his corpse to be burned after his suicide was because of the gruesome photographs of Mussolini's desecrated corpse being displayed in public. Don't Google that if you're squeamish.

Last year of war: The latest by S.C. Gwynne is out. He's the author of my favorite book about the Old West, Empire of the Summer Moon, a vivid history of this continent's most powerful Indian tribe, the Comanche. His new book is Hymns of the Republic, about the final year of the American Civil War.

Sam Gwynne

Interviewed by Benjamin Thomas on The Writing Train, Sam said, "A few years ago I wrote a biography of Stonewall Jackson, entitled Rebel Yell, that ended with his death in May 1863 and thus covered roughly the first two years of the war. When I was researching the last year of the conflict, I was struck by how much more violent, desperate, brutal, and vengeful the war had become. This was the product of many things, including the progressive destruction of southern property, southern industry, and southern wealth; the staggering body counts from the Grant-Lee fight in Virginia; the anti-civilian warfare of William T. Sherman and Phil Sheridan; the rise of the prisoner of war camps; the rise of a bitter guerrilla war; and the presence of 180,000 black soldiers in the northern army, which drove Confederate soldiers to unprecedented acts of violence. I wanted to try to convey how deeply the war had changed, and the final year gave me a mechanism by which to do that."

A lesson in visual literacy: I don't read Danish, but these pictures are worth several thousand words. The title auto-translates to "How close are people to each other? These pictures are taken at the same time, but show two very different things." (I was once hired to photograph a demonstration at which exactly six demonstrators showed up. My photographs cleverly implied that there were many more people protesting than there actually were. Although they amounted to propaganda—lies—they scrupulously followed all the standard rules of conventional photojournalism. The camera doesn't lie, but sometimes photographers do.)

This is how: How did NASA get those great film shots of Apollo and the Shuttle? A YouTube video.

Deaths in the family:

• Eric Renner died on April 9th at age 78. Eric was one of the world's leading experts and practitioners of pinhole photography. Sadly, he missed this year's Pinhole Photography Day, which is the last Sunday in April, two days ago.
• Ted Grant died on April 19th at the age of 90. Ted was a leading light of Canadian photojournalism, and had long been liked, admired, and appreciated as a member of the Leica community online and in person. 
• Peter Beard has died. He disappeared from his home a month ago (he suffered from dementia) and his body was found on April 19th. He was a larger-than-life wildlife photographer in love with the myth of Africa and fascinated by human destruction of the nature he loved. His obituary is certainly a riveting read; one of his three wives was supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, and he once narrowly escaped death after being gored by an elephant. He was 82.
• John Pfahl succumbed to COVID-19 on April 15th at the age of 81. He was an inventive, distinctive landscape photographer who played with perspective, references, and humor in his artwork.

John Pfahl. Photo by Sharon Cantillon, Buffalo News.

Is it Ned, or is it Lee? Our friend Ned Bunnell channels Lee Friedlander.

Serif's Affinity Photo for Mac isn't free, but close enough. It's currently on sale for only $24.99.

Fantastic book on color: I'm currently halfway through one of the best books I've ever encountered on color photography. It's called Lifelike by Pavel Kosenko, and, unless you read Russian, it's available only on Apple Books. Totally engrossing. Really good read.

MaxMax's most recent monochrome conversion camera is the Sony RX100 Mark III. They're selling deluxe masks now, too.

Nicholas Hartmann, Vase (no number). November 2019; 3-1/2" high. Wheel-thrown from Special Buff clay; grooves cut on the wheel at the rim, shoulder, and base; foot trimmed. Brush-glazed with Raku Copper Sand (body) and Raku White Crackle (neck) glazes and raku fired.

Got time on your hands at home? Catch up with Joni Mitchell's "Shadows and Light." All the performers are excellent in this and play beautifully together, but it's most poignant for showcasing Jaco Pastorius at his amazing best. Jaco was the Pete Maravich of the bass guitar, an astonishing, flawed, and ultimately tragic virtuoso—his was a sad, sad story, as you can read in this excellent, moving biography. One commenter said, "Jaco...forces you to listen to what he is doing to the bass line of the song...but never gets in the way. Impossible...how does one do that?" This was one of the great jazz records of the '70s (recorded '79, released '80), but got no respect as such because Joni came from folk and pop.

From the World's Best Photography magazine, two features about photography in these awkward times: "Still Lives: In this unnatural state of isolation, photographers show us the things that bind," and "Bored Russians Posted Silly Art Parodies. The World Has Joined In." You have to go look up the originals to appreciate the latter article, but both of these are wonderful.

Finally, the Shelter In Place Gallery. Don't give up on this one too soon—I suspect you'll be delighted when its secret is revealed! Shades of Michael Paul Smith. "…In my opinion," says the gallery's creator, "it's an extremely silly project. It’s the kind of idea that nobody would really care about except for now when we have no choice." Love this.

Mike
(Thanks to Richard Man, Oren Grad, MM, Ned Bunnell, Steve Caddy, Carl Weese, Rich Beaubien, Hugh Crawford and others)

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Many thanks to all for your support

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Jack: "That Peter Beard made it to 82 is amazing. I met him once at a gallery opening showing his African work. The gallery was lit as if we were in Africa including jungle music and a remarkably realistic campfire. It was a fantastic setting with Peter sitting on the floor next to the fire. Alcohol was served and I had my share, enough that I decided I needed to buy one of his works. I decided bigger was better and purchased a huge 5x3-foot shot of an elephant herd from the air that is featured in his book End Of The Game.

"I forgot to consider what I was going to do with it. It was huge and our house had no African theme. My wife, who had gone along with the purchase since she had been served alcohol, the next day stated there was no way I could put it in our house. It remained in our garage for twenty-five years until donated to the Milwaukee Art Museum. At that moment, Peter had been gored and the value shot up in anticipation of his death. So I had accidentally waited for the correct time to make a donation. The value was ten times the purchase price. One lesson for me was don’t drink at photo gallery openings."

Mike replies: Speaking of the value shooting up, hang on to that book. You need some luck to buy a decent copy for less than $300 these days. Abebooks lists copies all the way up to $7,500 for a signed copy with a lock of Beard's hair pasted into it!

DavidB: "I really enjoyed the 'Bored Russians Posted Silly Art Parodies. The World Has Joined In' and the 'Shelter In Place Gallery.' Now that people have been forced to slow down, their creativity is being given a chance to blossom. This might be the 'silver lining' to the current pandemic."

Richard Man: "Uncle Ted Grant was an incredibly kind gentleman who loved to share his love of photography and Leica. Even though he was a 'big name,' he would mingle with amateurs without any airs. He will be missed. (And thanks for the link.)"

David Comdico: "Great post! Lifelike is a good book and covers a popular topic for which, when you get right down to it, there is very little useful information. Interestingly, after publication the author seems to have moved to film and a Hasselblad."

Jim Arthur: "Shadows and Light: In high school I was a member of an 'elite' three-member basement salon. One of our members played bass and built his own speakers. Another had a brother who played bass and built his own guitars. I was the artist and so I painted the instruments. As a result, I have Jaco’s solo debut album (Chris Squire’s too) in my collection. I’m sorry to admit it has not seen the light of day in many years but it is now front and center, clean, and on the turntable. If I’m to be true to the tenets of my 'elite' 1970s high school salon I will now need some sweet weed from South of the border, cheap beer (Olympia as I recall, smuggled in through the basement window), and a bean bag chair.  :-)  "

Awful Tones for Awful Times?

Every time I talk about what digital B&W "looks like," I get a cascade of blowback—people saying things like you can make it look any way you want it to look.

Right, and a lot of people these days seem to want it to look bad.

And anyway, I'm just looking around me at what's typically being done—I'm not talking about best cases, or exceptions—I'm talking about what are emerging as shared cultural defaults, the styles and fashions that are emerging as prevalent.

As a brief case in point, take a look at Todd Heisler's portfolio entitled "What New York Looks Like Now: A Photo Journey" in the New York Times, especially the lead picture and the picture titled "Brooklyn Hospital."

The photographer is very accomplished, and the Times shows some of the best photojournalism being done these days, so this isn't meant as a general disparagement of either. But the tonality in this particular portfolio is too far over the top. A number of these pictures are obviously taken in daytime sunlight and yet much of the tonal range is rendered as...well, black. Not sunlit, unlit. And I get it—the topic is hospital tents and other makeshift temporary emergency shelters at New York hospitals, so the mood is meant to be grim and threatened. Hence the use of the extremely dark, depressed tones. Awful times, awful tones.

But this goes too far. It's as bad in its way as extreme HDR or "slider slamming" with color and saturation, or any other species of digital extremism. You can call it "expressive interpretation" if you like, and doubtless that's how it is meant. In my opinion, though, it's not expressive, just excessive. The question about whether manipulation (of the pictures, and of the viewers) to this degree goes too far for photojournalistic objectivity is one I won't raise. To me it's a question of taste rather than appropriateness. Exaggeration like this gives black and white a bad name.

Mike

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Omer (partial comment): "My guess is that there is a photo editorial processing concoction in place across the board meant to dramatize or infer seriousness for the sole purpose of attention. Not unlike the designs of supermarket tabloid cover pages. It probably works, unfortunately, meaning the public at large is acclimatized to that look and then won't consider a more subtle finish as worthy."

Eliott James: "While I think this was a creative choice reflecting the horror of what's going on in NYC right now, I agree with you. Being objective (FWIW,) I think it's overdone. I think it might have had even a greater impact if it weren't so dark. I favor creative choice over set traditions but in the end it's a matter of opinion."

Rob de Loe: "OK, so it's not just me. I saw that series before reading this article and had the same reaction."

Alan: "Personally, I like it! It's deep, dark, and moody. Basically, the way I feel today! Perhaps the lack of shadow detail is a metaphor; can't see into them...can't see the light at the end of the tunnel either."

Kye Wood: "I saw these too. And thought the exact same thing. A bit like music. It should be broadcast 'flat.' Then if you want, adjust the treble or mids or whatever, to taste. Season as required. But showing the images as they have, you're not free to interpret them using your own mind—which is like a movie that has overbearing music to push the emotions the scene is aiming for. Hey people! If you do it right, you don't need crunch the tones in the image, or deafen us with violin swells at the movies."

Mike replies: One of the great demonstrations of that I saw was during a lecture by the great photographer Ralph Steiner. He presented four short films consisting of various views of agricultural sprinklers in action, set to four very different pieces of music. He then asked the audience which film was the longest and which the shortest. Great argument ensued. I myself was certain that the piece with the slow music was about twice as long as the one with the bombastic Wagnerian music. Well, you probably can guess the upshot—in the great reveal, Steiner admitted that all four segments of film had been exactly the same. The only thing that was different at all was the music. I was amazed. Even knowing what he had done, it was clear that the music seemed to bring out, or emphasize, very different aspects of the visual presentation. Thinking of the slow music, I felt the slow-motion cascades of water were prominent; whereas the fast music seemed to emphasize the cuts from one camera angle to another.  

Easter in New York

Our friend Peter Turnley and some of his photographs of New York City under lockdown will be featured on CBS Sunday Morning this Easter Sunday. Here's his announcement on Instagram if you'd like to try to catch it. I don't have a TV or I would!

UPDATE: Peter sends this—

"I have been a documentary photographer for the past now almost 40 years. As it happens, I have covered most of the wars of the world of these past four decades. This time, I have found myself in the middle of a war against an invisible enemy, at home.  As I live much of the year in New York, since the beginning of this coronavirus shutdown, I have been going out and photographing and have been keeping a daily diary of my walks and a record of what the many heroes I have encountered tell me. I go out most days—always with mask and gloves and always keeping a safe social distance from everyone, and return to where I stay alone. I think it is essential that the human face of this crisis be documented for now and for all time. Every person has a story—and there are so many heroes, and victims, and too often, some people are both. I feel that it is essential for me that I contribute in giving voice visually to the people of New York during this extraordinary and unique crisis.

"I sincerely hope that anyone viewing this, aside from watching the short piece that ran on the CBS Sunday Morning Show this morning, will take a few minutes to scroll through my A New York Lock-down Visual Diary. This the human face and words of so many heroes and people living through this crisis at this time. This is their story. This is also our story. With love, Peter."

Mike
(Thanks to Ned, Neil, and Peter)

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Ray Wallace: "A few years ago I was fortunate to travel with Peter on one of his impressive Cuba photo workshops, and then later was able to bring him to my university for a well-attended presentation as part of the Louisville Photo Biennial. Besides his stunning body of work captured from all over the world, he is a fine public speaker and can relate well to a variety of audience levels. I have followed his work for years and he has been a great influence on my own photographic journey. Simply stated, Turnley is both a true genius behind the camera and an important humanitarian voice in front of it. We all, photographers and lovers of the artistic endeavor alike, can learn a great deal from Peter Turnley’s work. This is some of his very best! Enjoy. Ray Wallace, Chancellor, Indiana University Southeast."

Gary: "Thank you, Mike, for pointing me to Peter Turnley's photo essay of life in NYC during the pandemic. It's long but rewarding."

Luke: "My god, Peter's diary is intense. He is a treasure."

The Weight Around the World

Need a pick-me up? This is wonderful. Always loved this song.

This was posted in September of last year in honor of the 50th anniversary, in 2018, of the song's release in August of 1968.

This is a great version. Let's dedicate this to John Prine, who died of COVID-19 yesterday.

Mike
(Thanks to Steve Rosenblum and KeithB)

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Thomas Walsh: "This is a fabulous video. Playing for Change has long been a favorite of mine. This concept of promoting the universality of music is, in my very humble opinion, the essence of humanity. One of my favorites, that can be found on YouTube, is the rendition that Playing for Change does of 'Everyday People'—definitely worth a listen. When I taught, I would play this song for my classes. Thank you, Mike, for this post. Stay well."

Robert Fogt: "I crossed paths with John Prine just briefly, in freshman algebra class at Proviso East High School. The teacher was something of a hard-ass, and would seat the miscreants at the very back of the class, or 'Ghost Row.' He would then not call on you in class, or collect your homework, until your parents came to the next PTA meeting to 'redeem your lost souls.' (After which all that homework was immediately due.)

"I spent some time in that back row, placed a few seats away from John, but would notice him scribbling (presumably verse?) in the margins of his textbook pages, until he would eventually write himself to sleep. I can still hear the teacher yelling at him, 'Prine, you idiot...wake up!' So I guess, with even just a tiny bit of hindsight, it should have been obvious that he was destined for greatness. (And I still like to think that his 'Sweet Revenge' album cover grew, at least in part, out of that semester.)"

Duncan: "Steven Colbert showed this after he heard that John had been hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. It was recorded in 2016 but never aired. It is eerie how Colbert introduces the song."

Mike replies: That got a few tears from me. Simple and beautiful. He sure has a distinctive picking style. Colbert did a good job too. Thanks.

SteveW: "That was terrific, thank you for posting it. So positive and refreshing, just what the doctor ordered."

The Photographer's Chair

The entirely surprising story of a photographic "meme," or leitmotif, through its history—"the Photographer's Chair."

Mike

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Paul Duncan: "Fascinating, but dang: yet another of my totally original ideas exposed as the subconscious purloining from the vast cultural meme-yard!"

Robert Newcomb: "Using a chair in a portrait is hard even when they're soft. The more conventional medium high backed sitting or dinning chair will often 'cut through' the subject in an odd place creating an extra appendage as the back extends from the sitter. In a soft plush chair the sitter will often be swallowed as he/she sinks down into it creating an unflattering bad posture slouching look. The very high backed wicker chair pictured serves as a way to seat the subject and act as a portrait background for their body and head without extra appendages. I spent the last 20 years of my photography life doing portraits. In the studio I usually had about a dozen chairs of different sizes, styles, and hues to match the size and style of the person. I hoarded old and odd chairs for these reasons."

We Are Trooper Strong! (OT)

Dang, I missed the launch time. Sorry. Mea culpa. I woke up unusually late today.

Doesn't really matter...11:00 a.m. was just the time that the link went live for the first time.

Anyway, if you want a nice spirit-lifter, take 21 minutes and 12 seconds out of your day and let yourself get carried along with a small band of kids and their supportive hometown in "The City Behind Us: The Story of the Elmora Troopers," the brand-new short film by my friend the filmmaker Bob Burnett and his friends that had its premier this morning. (Longtime readers will remember Bob's short film about the house in the Edward Hopper painting, among other sundry appearances here.)

Just a great, great short. Yeah, there's more than a bit of the rosey glow on this, but heck, don't we need it right now? This is part of what we want to get back to, after the current crisis is over. It's real America, if you ask me. We're a people who come together. We need reminding right now. We are Trooper Strong!

Enjoy, enjoy. Sorry I was late posting this. I've been behind myself for days. More on it later today or later in the week when I get myself combobulated and catch up with myself.

Mike
(Thanks to Bob)

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Harry B Houchins: "Yah, that hit the spot! As an ex-pat Jersey boy (Passaic 1944, Clifton 1962) it moved me. Thanks very much! Made my day...."

Terry: "As a Williamsport resident I always try to explain what the Little League World Series is like and this explains that very well. Thanks for sharing."

Three Things That Are Good to Look At

'What you lookin' at?'
Inge Morath, A Llama in Times Square, New York, 1957 ($2,000)

1. Llamas. Magnum is having a sale of New York prints by its members that includes Inge Morath's "A Llama in Times Square." The prints are signed and editioned, signed, or estate stamped, and prices range from $1,250 to $15,000. Included are some very famous pictures indeed: Dennis Stock's iconic (I use the word advisedly!) portrait of James Dean in the rain, Elliott Erwitt's fabulous picture of the man/bulldog (a personal fave), Leonard Freed's wonderful photo of the black kids playing near the fire hydrant, Elliott Landy's photos of Jimi Hendrix, Thomas Hoepker's portraits of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, Eve Arnold's photo of Marilyn Monroe reading James Joyce's Ulysses. And more.

A lot of the lesser-known ones are good to look at too—car buffs will love Erich Hartmann's George Washington Bridge picture. You could hardly put that together for a big-budget movie today! (Disclosure: Erich's son Nick is a good friend of mine, although we live too far apart now to meet regularly for lunch like we used to.)

Really fun to look at. I already knew many of these pictures, of course, but re-acquaintance is fun and I had a blast immersing myself in these for a couple of hours.

2. Cheap old lenses on expensive new cameras. Jonas Rask had a loopy idea. Well, what would you do if you had a medium-format Fuji GFX50s to hand? Probably not what Jonas did. He discovered that you can put many normal and longer 35mm film camera lenses on the mirrorless digital camera with the larger sensor and the image circles will still cover (sometimes with some correction, but still). So he got the bug for adapting old Minolta Rokkor-X film lenses to his big Fuji.

I'd wager not many photographers are looking to put things like $55 lenses on $5,500 cameras, but the results are wonderful and speak for themselves.

It helps that Jonas is one of the few "testers" whose "test shots" I genuinely enjoy. Even if they're only family 'n' friends portraits, he has a style and a point of view and I like it. Good to look at. I love the silhouette one. That is a heck of a fun post.

3. Two mice having a street fight. Wildlife—or West Side Story? "Sam Rowley's 'Station Squabble' has been picked from more than 48,000 images to claim a wildlife photography award from London's Natural History Museum, voted for by the public," writes Rob Picheta at CNN Travel. I like the public's taste! Nice to interpret "wildlife" so broadly, with a soupçon of double entendre thrown in for spice. You can see the nifty winning picture at the link. Wild life indeed. Musta been Saturday night.

A mice....er, nice idea, and good to look at, too. And that never hurts!

Mike
(Thanks to Nico Maijer and Charles Heuer)

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Globules: "A few days ago the CBC radio show 'As It Happens' interviewed Sam Rowley about his winning picture."

Mike replies: Thanks! Here's the link.

Neil Swanson: "I’m in. XF to Minolta adapter ordered. Cheap eBay lens on the way. I have been wanting to try things like this anyway. Oddly I don’t seem to be terribly interested in trying any of my Nikon lenses on the Fuji but maybe after this experiment I will.

"I’m glad you know about, look at and follow Jonas Rask and his reviews and work. I think I’d really like to meet that guy."

Stan B.: "OK...something I'm really not getting here, so I'm (reluctantly—very) putting myself out there to be the royal grand idiot deluxe who stands to be corrected. That is: Just how much in the 'vicinity' of the GWB was that photo taken where all the cars have their steering wheels on the right hand side? Signed, Already Woefully Embarrassed (and nevertheless thankful for the enlightenment)."

Mike replies: Many readers seconded your comment—the JPEG was reversed laterally (and maybe a print too? This can happen when you put a negative in the carrier upside-down). I contacted my friend Nick, the photographer's son, hoping he would contact Magnum, and you'll notice that the photo is right way 'round this morning! So you fixed it, Stan.

If There Was Ever a Cartoon for TOP Readers...

This is very slightly school/work inappropriate, I guess, so a mild NSFW warning. However, if there was ever a cartoon that TOP readers are more likely to "get" than the average population, this is it.

Let me know if you don't get it! I'd be interested.

Mike
(Thanks to JG)

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Featured Comments from:

Pierre Charbonneau: "Humor on photography, I love this one too."

Mike replies: Ha! That's great. I should buy that and put it up on my wall....

robert e: "OK, I got it and laughed, about which I feel both a bit ashamed and a bit affirmed as a photo nerd (for better and worse). Regarding my relief that the subject wasn't a man in a kilt, I'm not so sure."

Hans Muus: "Assuming TOP readers have film roots. I still find it hard to realise how much of what I regard as basic photographic knowledge is unnecessary in the digital age. As an enthusiast relative of 35 recently asked when we were talking photography: ‘Hans, please tell me—what is a negative?’ (Whereas he helped me out with Photoshop already more than a decade ago.)"

Sharon: "  :-D   Loved this one."

hugh crawford: "Funny, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was this classic Penn and Teller bit—and when I saw that broadcast back in the '80s I thought of my view camera."

Mike replies: I love how connections are made on the Internet. I had never seen that Penn and Teller performance before—really clever. And then, later that night, it led me to this old Bravo Profiles show about Penn and Teller from 2001, which I found fascinating in several ways, from the tours of their weird houses in Vegas (Penn is really quite an odd fellow) to the insight of Penn's that they are just famous enough to be able to interact with their fans—famous but not too famous. I was interested in both the link you suggested and the Bravo Profiles piece too. Theirs is a very unique act with lots of layers—more than meets the eye indeed.

Peggy C.: "I don't know which is more funny...the fact that I 'got it' right away or that I seem to be the first female to comment on it. LOL. Here is the photography comic I love. This strip ran from 2006 to 2016 but I still love them."

Mike replies: You weren't actually the first, but the comment moderator has been sick and dragging his feet...for which, sorry!

Year-End Lists

The best-selling used camera of the decade 2010–'19

Moose wrote, "I just don't get lists like this [speaking of our "Best Cameras of 2019"]. Is there some governing body that requires magazine writers and bloggers to do such lists?"

Forgive me, but his exasperation made me chuckle. I do feel ya on that, Moose.

The answer, though, is...because it's fun. Yeah, I know a few people don't like lists (I have one friend who is allergic to the concept), but most people find them appealing. I do.

They can be informative, too.

I'm working on a longer post (not about cameras) today and this weekend, but to hold you over, here are three year-end lists (about cameras) that I found informative. Thanks to the people who clued me in to them (and sorry for not naming you...I live under a waterfall of incoming information and it's getting exhausting trying to keep track of everything).

1. The SLR Still Rules Them All: Our Best-Selling Cameras of the Decade (2010–2019) from the blog of KEH, the used-equipment clearinghouse. Based in Smyrna, Georgia, USA, the 40-year-old KEH claims to have "the world's largest inventory of previously owned equipment," averaging 55,000 items in stock.
2. These were the most-clicked-on cameras in 2019 from DPReview. I assume it's still the largest digital camera review site, but I don't know that for sure. Founded in London, UK, and now based in Seattle, Washington, USA, DPReview has been owned by Amazon since 2007.
3. Finally, from our friends at LensRentals (disclosure: I have a reciprocal agreement with them—I get camera and lens loaners for free to test, in return for which, they do not [sic] ask for mentions on TOP): Most Popular Photography and Videography Rentals for 2019. They also break it down by brand.

So you see, Moose, those annoying lists can be informational too!

Any year-end list you like? Mention it in the Comments. Fun ones are fair game too, not just the informative kind.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Greg Heins: "You can call me an idiot (won’t be the first time!), but I’m a sucker for year-end best-of lists. Music, books, exhibitions—there is always something there that I’m hearing of for the first time and I have had revelatory experiences from going back to pay new attention."

Iain: "A list of lists? Please stop!"

Mike replies: I was being perfectly serious. I found all three of these links genuinely interesting. I wouldn't have posted them otherwise.

Albano: "I'm still using a 5D Mark II as my main body after buying it from KEH six years ago in BGN [bargain] condition. Still going strong. Great camera."

James: "A list of lists is great! Iowa Public Radio used to do a meta-list for classical music, where they found a bunch of year end lists, and grouped albums by how many other lists mentioned them. It was a good place to find new music to listen to."

R.A. Krajnyak: "Congratulations, Mike! You made my Top 10 List of the Top 10 Camera Bloggers of 2019 Whose Readers Complain About the Top 10 Cameras of 2019 Lists List."

Bruce McL (partial comment): "I always figured that year-end retrospectives were easier to put together than something new."

Mike replies: Quite the opposite, for me anyway. Much more work than normal posts.

Q: "Reading through the previous post and following the links in this post has left me feeling kind of...listless. (Well, someone had to say it.) I'll add a third vote for Jonathan's suggestion of a list of most interesting / satisfying / edifying photo books of the last nine or ten years (depending on whether you think this is the tenth year of the 201x's or the start of a new decade). Maybe not ranked, just a list—to me, these lists are useful as a starting point for exploration, and I'd guess that ranking would vary by reader. Or, alternatively, a list of top 'Random Excellence' photographs or portfolios. Or maybe a list of photographs or portfolios that just missed being 'Random Excellence' posts. There's a wealth of inspiration from TOP!"

Around the Web on a Wednesday

(Cuba)

Paris-Cuba: Our friend Peter Turnley is having a major exhibit, entitled Paris-Cuba, that opened at La Fototeca de Cuba, Cuba's National Center of Photography, on September 21. The show is on view until October 20th. In case you can't get to Cuba easily, there's a video. The exhibit of 104 photographs represents more than forty years of photographing the two places.

(Paris)

Shades of Roger C.: The ladies of IFixit—Kay Kay Clapp, who has the quirky title of "Director of Things," and Sam Goldheart, Lead Teardown Engineer—have taken apart an iPhone 11 Pro Max to see what makes it tick. Just seems full of little bits to me, as maybe the important bits are even smaller bits, but then I confess I haven't watched the whole video yet. I will. I do wish I could get an 11 Pro, but then, I have a perfectly good phone that's already paid for.

Ex Seven what?: Blake Andrews has the scoop on the new X-7000, which has 20% more features than the X-6000. I happened to encounter the X-7000 FAQ right after I scanned this article at DPReview, and the juxtaposition seemed apropos. Also, I think I might start answering questions by saying "the new digital economy offers fantastic opportunities and challenges."

If you don't know Blake's interviews, you should put them on your radar. For a random sample, try his April interview with Charles Traub. I found myself almost alarmed by the idea of getting a portrait of Manual Alvarez Bravo and not even captioning it!

Beautiful book of a horrific subject: Few media reports of any kind—video, written word, multimedia—have captured the dreadful carnage in Syria and Iraq with as much thoughtfulness, compassion, and vividness as 36-year-old Irish photographer Ivor Prickett does in his remarkable new book End of the Caliphate. (The caliphates were political entities based in the Middle East in which the shared Islamic religion was stronger than national or ethnic differences. They were stewarded by caliphs, religious figures who outranked the secular leaders.) Literally the book documents a year in the campaign to retake Mosul from ISIS, but symbolically it gives visual expression to the tragedy of endless strife in the region; and the photographer seems as physically invisible in the pictures as his morality and humanity are pervasive. It strikes me that Ivor Prickett's book, intimate and immediate amid desolation and danger, might well deserve to stand among the great books of war photography from photography's history. It also deserves space on your shelf if you are building a library of outstanding color photography.

The HD Pentax DA 20–40mm ƒ/2.8–4 ED Limited DC WR

Pentax lens: My favorite Pentax lens is on sale for $300 off. Limited-range zooms have always tickled me—Pentax once prototyped a 32–39mm "adjustable 35mm," an idea I liked—and the current 2X 20–40mm APS-C zoom (30–60mm-e) is an adjustable normal lens. Don't mindlessly slam it from one end of its range to the other—think of it as a 40mm, 45mm, or 50mm normal that allows you to tweak your framing a bit. Buy one for the as-yet-unnamed new Pentax reduced-sensor flagship that will be probably be shown in Tokyo on September 21st.

New cameras are coming in October: ...According to an article on Thom's DSLRbodies, there are a surprising number of new cameras slated to arrive soon. Thom says, "It seems that we're in for a spurt of new cameras, and both DSLR and mirrorless will be in that mix. The question is whether the market can handle that much iteration. How many of those models will be 'sticky' and get some traction?" Good question. I have to admit that even I just "forget" some current cameras soon after release...they just seem irrelevant. Even though I'm supposed to pay attention to that stuff.

Venerable names that might be fading:

Cadillac: ...Says one car buddy. Caddy went all-in on German-style luxury sports/muscle car sedans a few handfuls of years ago, and built at least one great car, the ATS-V, which has sold poorly (because if you want a car as good as a BMW, why not buy a BMW?). The direction change created a little too much cognitive dissonance with Caddy's established image as a maker of soft, stately, high-status land yachts. Now, with sedan sales tanking (by one third since 2011!), Cadillac might either prematurely cancel its flagship and most Cadillac-like luxury sedan, the CT6, or—gasp—start importing it to the U.S. from China where it is also built. Cadillac has created some gorgeous concept cars in recent years, such as the Escala and the breathtaking Elmiraj (a modern take on the Eldorado), but those aren't making it to market. For much of 2018, Cadillac recorded its lowest U.S. market share in its entire history.

Pentax: With less than 5% market share and with most of its better cameras in the declining DSLR category—and all sporting aging sensors—it's an open question how long the honorable old Pentax nameplate will be around. It's likely that a new APS-C flagship DSLR will be announced next month—see the news item above—but how many fans will buy it? Relative to his own question quoted above, Thom's educated guess there that it "isn't going to be very sticky" (i.e., get much attention or gain much traction in the market). Ricoh has the means to keep Pentax alive even as a losing venture, but it bought Pentax for a presence in the DSLR business just in time for the big downturn. And businesses aren't charities. On the other hand, it's become sort of a cliché to sound Pentax's death-knell, and everyone's been wrong so far.

The New Yorker: A mere six spins around the sun from its 100th birthday, one of the last and best of the written-word real readers' magazines, The New Yorker, might not be around a lot longer. I haven't encountered any scuttlebutt to that effect. But, the surest sign of the circling vultures is right there under readers' noses. The magazine that has historically resided on the coffee tables of the most gracious upper- and upper-middle-class American homes used to be stuffed to the scuppers with snooty luxury ads, but recent issues sometimes don't even fill their prime ad positions. Page after page passes with no advertising, or just "house ads," an ad from the magazine itself or the parent company, or "comps," which are public-service or traded ads. Where all those luxury ads used to be, it's a desert. That's fine with readers, but not a good sign at all for business. Then again, consider these lines from Joseph Epstein: "The New Yorker, like New York itself, is always better in the past. In the present, it seems always to be slipping, never quite as good as it once was. Did the magazine, founded in 1925, have a true heyday? People differ about when this might be. The New Yorker’s heyday, it frequently turns out, was often their own."

New vs. Old: "Pro Wedding Photographers Compare iPhone 11 Pro to Canon 5D Mark IV" at PetaPixel. The results are surprising, except that, as I've always said, better cameras often show their strengths when pushed to extremes in various ways rather than when things are more optimal. The linked article resembles one I wrote for Black & White Photography magazine in the 2000s comparing a small-sensor digicam to DSLRs of the time. Would you hire a photographer to shoot your wedding with an iPhone 11 Pro?

Rats: No photographers among the 2019 recipients of the "genius grants," AKA the MacArthur Fellowships ($625,000 in five annual installments), which were announced this morning. This year, we are chopped liver.

...On the good side, Mary Halvorson got one.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Around the Web on a Tuesday

Photos by Iain Blake

Iain Blake's 100 Strangers: We were talking a couple of weeks ago about approaching strangers on the street to make their portraits with their knowledge and consent. If that honorable old idea (current paragons include Scott Schuman and Brandon Stanton) appeals to you, you really must not miss Round 3 of Iain Blake's 100 Strangers project. (A comment turned me on to this at the time.) Really not much to add, but I felt joy clicking through this collection on Flickr. I found myself thinking entirely about the people and not about the photography. Fascinating work.

Supernatural Metro: Canadian photographer Christopher Herwig has a new book out called Soviet Metro Stations. From the description: "'For us,' said Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in his memoirs, 'there was something supernatural about the Metro.' Visiting any of the dozen or so Metro networks built across the Soviet Union between the 1930s and 1980s, it is easy to see why. Rather than the straightforward systems of London, Paris or New York, these networks were used as a propaganda artwork―a fusion of sculpture, architecture and art that combined Byzantine, medieval, baroque and constructivist ideas...." News to me. I don't know about you, but I'd look at the book just based on that paragraph. This book isn't on the photographer's website, but you can see plenty of examples of photographs from his weird and wonderful book Soviet Bus Stops Volume II there. Apparently Volume I was a bestseller, and no wonder.

Goodman Lab Axis, as seen on Instagram

Dora Goodman of Goodman Lab is becoming increasingly well known for creating imaginative open-source 3D-printed film cameras which she documents on Instagram and on the Goodman Lab website. Not only can you 3D-print one of her cameras yourself, you can tweak the design to your liking and share it with the community—"create devices we always wished existed" indeed. There's a nice interview at Lomography.com.

You've probably already heard that Jony Ive—love him or not, one of the most influential industrial designers of the present epoch—is leaving Apple. The event is not as epochal as it might seem at first blush; Ive will continue to act as a consultant to Apple, and Apple will be one of the main clients of his new company, to be called LoveFrom. There's a summary of the shift at NBC News and also probably 1,001 other places on the Web.

That mysterious red room: A recent TV show called Stranger Things is described in an article at Business Insider as "a delightful re-creation of 1980s small town America." I don't own a TV, but I bet I'd like it. However, apparently there were some scenes that mystified some of the show's audience. "What is the purpose of this 'red room' in Stranger Things?" a post on the forum StackExchange asked. "We frequently see Jonathan go inside this to 'refine' his photos or something. I don't quite understand what happens here. He puts the photo in water, and somehow this makes it more clear? An example is in the first season when he refines Barbara's photo and sees a little bit of the Demogorgon. Is this an old film technique, and if so what is it called?" Ostensibly it made some people feel "impossibly old" that others no longer recognize a darkroom, but that fact seemed perfectly logical, and the viewer's question seemed perfectly reasonable, to me. Darkrooms are careening toward being historical at a frantic speed, and if you don't know what something is, you ask. Ignorance isn't shameful, necessarily; there are lots of things I don't know—for instance, exactly what a Demogorgon is and what its purpose might be in 1980s small town America.

The in-demand Leica Q2

The Most Desirable Camera on the Planet, Q4 2019, is the Leica Q2. Everyone and his uncle wants one, and really, what else do you need? I don't quite understand why, with the new super-high-res cameras, it hasn't become a "thing" to take small segments of larger captures and print them as pictures in their own right. Unless you're compulsive about "getting every pixel," 8- or 10-MP segments of this 47.3MP sensor would work fine for printing up to respectable sizes. This would go beyond "cropping," because it's not just trimming, it's the extraction of small pictures hidden in much larger ones. I've been doing that just for myself, just for fun, for twenty years now. Hmm, pixel-peeping as art?

There's a book called Instant that you might have heard of—it's gotten glowing reviews since it came out. Chronicling the fabulous and fascinating story of Polaroid, it's pure fun as a mashup of photo history and technological progress, with pictures. If you've never seen the author's sub-five-minute promo video for it, you need to. Edwin Land's predictions of the future in the middle of the video are, in the words of my friend Steve, "prescient beyond belief."

Lino Selvatico (Italian, 1872–1924), Girl with dog
("The two friends"), 1917 (detail)

In case you still think you need yet more resolution, perhaps you haven't been looking at enough paintings. Heck, not only can I not see the individual threads of the headband here, I can't even see the girl's individual hair strands. The fact is, strange as it may seem lately, visual impressions can still be made perfectly effectively in the absence of microdetail. Take that, forums everywhere.

You've no doubt encountered the term "BSI sensor." Wonder what that means? Ever since a fellow geek tried to impress upon me that I needed to know how the accelerators in B&W film developers work on a chemical level, I've been of the opinion that we don't need to know how the magic in our cameras happens. What's crucial is that we understand the practical visual effects that we and our viewers can see, and only in that context do the details make a difference. But in case you're curious about what backside-illuminated sensors are, Patrick McDonough of national digital back specialists CommercialPhoto has written a clear, brief primer called "BSI Sensors Demystified."

Got 'im smilin'! Nice modern-style semi-formal family
portrait by Larry Laszlo of Denver, Colorado.

Sarah Neumann writes a blog called The Charlie Neumann Chronicles "detailing the journey of two new parents, a little boy named Charlie and a Pug named Penny. Pretty simple stuff." She recently asked her friend, photographer Larry Laszlo of CoMedia Studio in Denver, Colorado, an accomplished studio and assignment pro, to take a family portrait. Little Charlie, however, had other plans. He proved remarkably uncooperative, but through no fault of his own—he was teething. Mom's samples of the amusing outtakes are published in a post called "First Family Portrait and the Toothless Old Man." Anybody been there, done that? Pro that he is, Larry got the goods in the face of...well, the face, but you gotta feel for all concerned. Funny in a wry, warm-hearted way.

Mike
(Thanks to numerous readers and friends)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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kirk Tuck: "Re: 'The Most Desirable Camera on the Planet....' I laughed so hard coffee almost came shooting out of my nose. A fixed lens point and shoot with a wide angle lens permanently stuck to the front? Now, if Leica has made this camera with a nice 50mm instead, then you would have sucked me into believing your obvious hyperbole. But a 28mm? That's a focal length for people who just can't make up their minds about what should be in their photographs!"

Peter Wright: "'Soviet Bus Stops Volume II.' With a title like that, how could I possibly resist?? My order was placed immediately! (Through your link of course.) I am looking forward to being able to say to my friends casually, 'What books are you reading? I've just finished Soviet Bus Stops, Volume Two myself.'

"As to the Leica Q2, of course it's a most desirable camera! The concept of using multiple lenses of different focal lengths (or a zoom lens) springs from the ancient limitation of the 35mm film negative. Back in the day, (grandad Tuck's day that is 😉) it was immediately obvious (and still is) whether an 8x10 print had been made using 35mm film or medium format, so those of us who liked the small format had to do everything possible to avoid any additional loss of image quality, if we didn't want to mocked by the MF toting crowd. That meant (among other things) that you always had to use the full negative—no cropping! With the advent of a 47MP full-frame sensor coupled with an excellent prime, 'digital zooming' became entirely reasonable. The Q2 is like having a 28–75mm constant aperture ƒ/1.7 zoom lens on the camera—for all practical purposes. And it has AF! And it can go in a jacket pocket! There is are whole genres of photography that can be done with such a camera. Perhaps having multiple primes or a zoom will go the way of tripods, grad filters, light meters, and much else that, though still having some marginal use today, are basically headed for extinction."

Mike relies: The idea of cropping for zooming has a precedent—a few years ago a smartphone came out that had a huge number of pixels, I think 42MP? It was intended to give users enough pixels to zoom by cropping. No idea what became of that, and I'm having trouble coming up with the details.

Adam Lanigan adds: "The phone you're thinking of was the 2012 Nokia 808 PureView. It had a 41MP sensor on it that allowed you to zoom up to 3X and end up with a 5MP image (at 16:9).

Mike replies: That's it! Thanks Adam.

David Gleason: "Re: Small segments of larger captures...you’ve just given me an idea for a fun photo project. I got my Q2 yesterday, and wanted to find something fun to do as a first project. I’m going to extract small areas from Q2 images and print them on my neglected Fuji instax printer. Then I’ll compose them on or around a print of the full image. Should be fun! PS: I agree with your comment about, 'What else do you need?' I just sold my M10, my Leica (Digital) CL, and some other stuff. For 80% of my needs the Q2 is fit for purpose. And for the other 20% I’m hedging my bets by hanging onto my A7RIII. For now. The lack of choice feels good!"

David Comdico: "The Leica Q2 is a bargain when you consider that the equivalent lens on the M mount system, the 28mm ƒ/1.4 Summilux, is by itself $6,595. [I take your point, but the Summicron at $4,395 is closer to being equivalent. —Ed.] Leica is also using the idea of cropping from such a large sensor by creating framelines for different focal lengths. The '35mm focal length' crop is 30MP. Gimmicky, but with the new sensor may actually be usable.

"As for the focal length, it worked for Winogrand—and not to mention the millions of iPhone users around the world.

"Regarding the images referred to in this post I am reminded of Charles Harbutt: 'Most photographs, whether student, fine art or commercial are made by the traditional art school method: define concept, a pre-visualization, then execute that vision with taste and elegance in some medium. The goal is total control. For over a century now, artists in almost every medium have disputed this approach: John Cage in music, Martha Graham in dance, the Surrealists and Dadaists with automatic writing and chance juxtapositions, William Burroughs notebooks, Jackson Pollock’s dribbles.'

"Lastly, Land's discoveries in human vision, what he called Retinex, was truly remarkable. This essay by Wendy Carlos on the phenomenon brought to mind the experience I had as a child, sitting so close to the TV that if I leaned in just a bit I could see the RGB pixels. It's incredible how 'real' interlaced video (480i, transmitted as an analog signal over the air) seemed then. It looks impossibly archaic to us now."

Geoff Wittig: "Iain Blake's '100 Strangers' caught my eye, but probably not in the way he intended. I'm struck by how his subjects very obviously (at least to me) skew younger, prettier, quirkier than any random assortment of folks. It makes me wonder how many wonderful subjects who happened to be older, plainer, more overweight he skipped over to get his 100. Is this a selection bias based on who might be willing and eager to have a stranger take their portrait? Or due to a photographer who seeks out more attractive folks from the random procession? Either way, I feel just a bit cheated. Sort of the way I feel when checking out the author photos on the jackets of books. I suspect (but obviously can't prove) that readers are short-changed because the pool of authors presented to them are restricted to those who look conventionally attractive in a dust jacket photo."

Kenneth Tanaka: "Re: The Leica Q2 being 'The Most Desirable Camera on the Planet,' well certainly Mike's having fun with hyperbole. Yes, it has been in extremely short supply since it was released earlier this year. And yes, it will almost certainly remain scarce into 2020. But that's partly due to the strange ways in which Leica seems to run their business. I'm certainly not going to promote or defend the Q2 (which I do own) to naysayers. It's costly? Yup. Limited? Sure (although isn't this the World HQ for the Optical Deprivation School for Better Photograhy?).

"But if you ever have a chance to borrow or rent one for a week do it. Even if you're the crappiest photographer on your block you will almost certainly be impressed by one of the most sublime lens/sensor pairings in history. That 28mm may not be your stein of ale but OMG...oooh-la-la!"

I Feel Old

What's so funny about this?

Above all, digital still seems recent to me. I mean, it's only been around for 22 years, in my life at least. I sometimes forget that a whole generation has been born and has grown up without experiencing cameras that don't instantly show what a picture looks like.

I was recently idly flipping through one of those web features that make you click "Next" to see a succession of pictures. The category was "Amusing Prom Photos." In a photo of a couple (above), probably from the '70s or '80s, the boy had his eyes closed. That appeared to be it. Curious, I turned to the caption to try to find out what was supposed to be amusing about the picture.

The caption writer assumed that the boy was "sleepy" and had closed his eyes on purpose. "He doesn’t like to play by anyone else’s rules," the writer opines—imputing motives with abandon—"and if he wants to shut his eyes, he’s going to shut his eyes." More explanation of tech from olden times was felt to be necessary: "This photograph was taken on a camera that didn’t immediately show what it looked like. Instead, they had to wait for the picture to be developed to discover that's the face he pulled on his and his date's very special prom night."

"The face he pulled"? The writeup didn't seem like it was meant to be ironic. The caption writer actually seemed unaware of the possibility that the boy had simply blinked as the exposure occurred and that no one was aware of it when it happened.

I'll fax it to you
Here's a guy making fun of an antique camera...and it's not even a film camera.

(The guy in the video, James Veitch, is the humorist who got famous giving TED Talks about talking back to spammers. Here's another one of his I had never seen before. Very funny.)

Another thing that's mostly of the past now...I ran across a comment recently that noted that redeye was something that "used to happen with old cameras." And come to think of it, I don't encounter much if any mention of redeye any more.

I wonder what other features of "old" photography that we take for granted are actually unfamiliar to the generation born after 1995? There must be more.

Mike
(Thanks to Brian Drinkwater)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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David Evans: "'I see beauty in the world'—pause, looking at scene—'When this guy moves, there'll be beauty in the world.' So true."

Steve Jacob: "I bought my first SLR in 1981. I bought my first digital camera in 1999. It's now 2019. I have officially been a digital photographer for longer than I was a film photographer. It just doesn't seem like it because time passes so much faster when you get older."

Tam: "To this day the sound of a motor drive on an SLR tickles a reflex in my hindbrain that says 'There must be a very serious pro photographer doing serious pro photographer things around here somewhere.'"

Roy Feldman: "I photographed for Ford Motor Co. for a few years and frequently photographed Bill Ford at podium speeches and auto reveals. Nicest man in the world, but he has a eye condition that causes him to rapidly blink and water after a few minutes of bright light. Knowing this I always over-shot everything on film with the knowledge that in three quarters of the pictures he would have closed eyes. Really happy when digital came along. Felt sorry for photojournalists who weren't aware of this 'feature' of Mr. Ford. Papers ended up using a lot of 'provided by Ford' (i.e., me) in their coverage."

Tommy Williams (partial comment): "Having to decide ahead of an outing whether you plan to make photos inside or outside—due to both color balance and film speed."

Dennis: "Running out of film!"

Tom: "Not long ago I was browsing around what was effectively a junk shop of old film cameras where a young woman was intent on purchasing a TLR. She'd narrowed it down to a Lubitel but the guy running the shop was not offering much guidance. I pitched in, pointing out she could probably find a decent light meter app for her phone. She looked puzzled. When I mentioned 12 exposures she looked shocked. I hope it worked out for her.

"Meanwhile, a young guy was asking how to set a film camera to black and white."

Clay Olmstead: "1. Reciprocity failure. 2. Always shooting with the same speed of film so you could judge the exposure based on light conditions without having to use the light meter. 3. Being the only person at a gathering with a camera."

Large Format Online, c. 2019

Who sez you can't do large format photography online? Earlier I stumbled across The Large Format Photographer Society on Facebook, a Public Group where you'll find posts about everything from how to photograph an angel with a 1952 SuperReflex and Fomapan 400, to a picture of the Gran Sasso Little Horn, to the Tri Tran Signature Fine Art Lens.

The description says "This group is more about images than showing others your equipment," and is strictly limited to 4x5 and up.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Richard Man: "I am on at least three LF-only FB groups, and one 'medium format and LF' group. Plenty of good photos (and so-so ones). LF is a small but, dare I say it, vibrant community. Heck, Jason Lane, an optical designer by trade, is now making and selling dry plates of all sizes."

Richard Parkin: "Facebook seems an odd place to show large format. There are lots of Flickr Groups."

John Wilson: "I am not on Facebook—I just think it is a waste of time—but I really enjoyed the link you provided. Participants of that photography style deserve respect and admiration, I can’t imagine taking off to go take pics and lugging that amount of gear. Since I’m in 70s my Leica X’s And Ricoh GR are all the gear I am happy to carry."