The Online Photographer

Best Cameras of 2019

Best Camera Introduced in 2019: The Leica Q2

Comment: 2019 was a year of market contraction and a light year for new camera introductions. Yes, Nikon and Canon announced the latest updates to their pro flagship cameras that are of interest to some pros. However, the beautiful Q2's only real competition for this honor came from Panasonic's high-tech (and high-priced) Johnny-come-last FFM's (full-frame mirrorless), the S1 and S1R; Fuji's completely over-the-top 100-megapixel medium-format GFX 100; Olympus's odd small-sensor mimicry of the EOS 1D X Mark III and the D6 (both coming soon), the OM-D E-M1X; and Sony's two top refreshes, the A9 II and the 61-MP A7R IV. I think the Leica wins this race. It's pretty, petite, and useful, with a superb fixed lens and enough pixels that cropping can legitimately become part of your workflow. It is "to the manor born" as a small(ish) carry-around camera like Oskar intended, spiritual descendant of the great workhorse Leica rangefinders. Leicas are for the so-called carriage trade now, i.e., aimed at the too-well-heeled, but that's okay. The Q was a good camera. As the Q2 it became great.

Best Camera Available in 2019: The Fuji X-T3

Comment: It doesn't have IBIS, and there are legitimate reasons for choosing competitors and alternatives of course, but, all things considered, the X-T3 is "the best of most worlds" right now. It's beautifully styled, it has a superb range of enthusiast-centric lenses, it's been thoughtfully refined over three generations (and the X-T1 was a very good camera to start with—I should know, I've had one since it came out). It's easy to use and learn, and it offers a superlative balance of almost all things: speed, size and weight, image quality, video capability, on and on. And it's satisfying to use, and imparts real pride of ownership. It's tough to make a better choice in an all-around serious enthusiast camera as we turn the corner into 2020.

Best for the Least in 2019: The Canon EOS Rebel T6 with normal zoom and telephoto zoom lenses.

Comment: Tough to claim this for the whole of 2019, because these deals change all the time, but right at this minute it's tough to buy more value in a camera brand new. For only $399 (!) you get not one but two basic zooms...and a card and a case. This 2016 T6 currently on closeout is the direct descendant of the groundbreaking Digital Rebel, the first-ever DSLR to cost less than $1,000, Summer 2003. As you might expect it's not a luxury camera, but its technology is mature at this point and the T6 is highly capable. And, you get to carry around and show off a camera emblazoned with the name of the world's leading camera company. No one will fault your taste.

Best Pocket Camera of 2019: The iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Comment: I dunno. I'm just talkin'. What do I know from Androids or Zombies or whatever they're called? I bought my first Apple computer in 1985, when the old IBM and the old Soviet Union were the evil empires, and if you're in the ecosystem you stay in the ecosystem. The iPhone 11 Pro Max has three cameras of different focal lengths (plus a selfie module), and it has improved the already formidable software tricks of recent iPhones: I have a friend who has one and the "Night mode" is great. And the big Super Retina OLED screen of the Max model is marvelous for looking at pictures on. Not at all bad for reading books on, either. Also works as, you know, a phone. There were great unknown photographers out there in 2019; their work is just locked away on their phones, and their friends' phones.

Editor's Choice: The Nikon Z6 with Nikkor Z 35mmƒ/1.8 S

Comment: An expensive pair, but not out of reach for many. Mavens buy high-spec models, but normal folks choose normal cameras. The Z6 brings tech specs and intangibles to the table that Sony didn't already have (examples: 55mm diameter lens mount, and Nikon's expertise with ergonomics and hand feel, respectively), and it has that special Nikon sauce in its image quality, yet it's still a reasonable, sensible, moderate camera by the standards of the moment. The Z6 feels small, has a beautiful viewfinder with copious eye relief and a large range of diopter correction, and 24 MP is plenty. Add the new 35mm Z lens with its outstanding bokeh characteristics and you have the kind of camera we like at TOP: a medium-weight cruiser as opposed to a battleship, a Boxster rather than a Hellcat.

Honorable Mention: Sigma SD Quattro H

Comment: It's still out there! Way below the waves. This is the camera everyone tends to forget. Hobbyists forget it, buyers dismiss it, photo writers every now and then awaken from their torpor and go "oh, yeah." Three years old now. I can't imagine this as anyone's only camera—but then, I can't imagine an iPhone as any photographer's only camera, either. The SD Quattro H might best be thought of as a digital view camera, meant for use on tripod, as you work at a leisurely, deliberate pace. Its Foveon sensor is unique, however, and an argument can be made that it yields the very best image quality possible in digital—we really do need to have a Foveon-camera print sale just to put examples in the hands of people who have never seen one up close and personal. Lovely. Distinctive. Different. It is really the camera for landscape and still life photographers.

Reader Favorite: ...You tell us! What impressed or tempted you most during the last year?

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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Jeff: "Not to forget the Leica SL2, with higher resolution, improved EVF, ergonomics and weather sealing (IP54), and Leica’s first IBIS, which operates with native and adapted lenses (L mount alliance, M, R, S, and more). And, while certainly not cheap, the Hasselblad X1DII came to market for roughly $3k less than the first iteration, despite better performance."

[Thanks. An earlier draft of this post started off talking about the SL2, but I changed approaches midstream, and then neglected to work the SL2 in. I hesitate to admit it but I wasn't even aware of the Hasselblad X1DII. —Ed.]

Alan Ostling: "The Olympus Tough TG-6. On my annual visit to the SF Bay Area for Christmas, I surprised my friends and relatives by tossing it to them from across the room. If, instead of catching this flying ball of fun, they dropped it, so much the better. It does 1:1 actual macro—5X if you count the crop factor. The 25–100mm ƒ/2 lens does all its zooming laterally inside the waterproof camera body, thanks to a prism which bends the light path 90°. It has built-in geo-tagging, and shoots RAW. Steal one now (the price has dropped $50 since I bought mine)."

James Moule: "Over the last 68 years I have used Leica systems, Canon systems, Nikon Systems, and Olympus systems. By system, I mean multiple bodies and a large collection of lenses. Today, I carry a Sony A9 II and the Sony 24–105mm ƒ/4 lens. I set it on auto ISO. I shoot handheld. All I have to do is press the shutter release and it will instantly focus on the right thing and deliver a super sharp image, perfectly exposed, with a high dynamic range. Twenty-four MP is all I need."

[Ed. note: I always like opposing viewpoints about the same post (and both said "never mind"):]

Michael Hill (partial comment): "I'm not sure it would be possible for me to disagree more than I do with your choices...but...never mind."

Al C.: (partial comment): "Agree with every one of your nominations, except the Fuji (never mind.)"

[Here are Michael's and Al's comments in full:]

Michael Hill: "I'm not sure it would be possible for me to disagree more than I do with your choices...but...never mind. To each their own, live and let live. All the best to you and yours in the new year/decade! I'm not any brand's fanboy but I would be hard pressed not pick the Sony A7R IV as the best camera by measure of versatility, quality, features and value. If I could afford it (I can't) I would buy one (along with a new computer with lots of RAM and hard drive space to process and store the images from my new camera).  :-)  "

Al C.: "Agree with every one of your nominations, except the Fuji (never mind.) Problem with the Q2 is that you really need a grip. On the other hand, a grip completely ruins the purpose, aesthetic, and experience of the thing. A Q is not a tool. Hit by a bit of GAS attack over the holidays, I almost clicked on a Z6 plus 35mm S combo. The Quattro is not technically a (Bill Merrill) Foveon, and lacks the inimitable pixel quality of a true X3 Foveon. Worse, irrecoverable highlights closes the case, in my opinion. Overall, not a bad decade—for photography, that is. Let's hope the '20s will be better."

Robert Roaldi: "The Olympus E-M1X just cannot get any love, the main complaint being that it's too large. It is the same size as my E-M1 with battery grip, which is a very good size to accompany the longer lenses normally used in sports photography. The other important sports-oriented bodies from Nikon and Canon came first so the E-M1X will not be an alternative to anyone already invested in those brands but it's not clear why a new sports shooter wouldn't choose a much smaller and lighter option."

Mike replies: They really should prefer a smaller-sensor option. It makes more sense. But their opinion matters, not mine.

Sharon: "What about the Fuji GFX 100? I have the 50 and it cured any GAS I might have had but still the 100 is a pretty cool camera."

Mike replies: I did mention it, saying it was "completely over the top," which might not be fair. I think I might have said the same about the 2007 Sony A900 when it was new and had the mostest megapickles. I guess it's just hard for me to get too excited about a $10,000 camera that will lose most of its value over the next 13 years (my ~$2,700 A900 is now worth about $700). That's mainly because it's beyond my own means and I don't need it for any reason, probably. Again, might not be fair.

Howard: "I had the Sigma 'bug' with the DP Merrill fixed lens cameras. I had all three at one time. I am technically advanced in working with raw converters, and read a lot and experimented a lot with the Sigma software and another third party converter available at the time. After a year or two of using them sometimes alongside an Oly OM-D E-M1, I sold all three of the DP Merrills...the issue was that the color was more often than not funky and it wasn't very predictable and not at all easy (or not possible) to fix. For black-and-white they were great. But this may be the one regret I've had with photography equipment purchases I've made over the last 20 years or so. Not that I spent or lost a lot of money on the cameras. I didn't. But my regret is that if I'd had whatever the Sony A7R model was at the time, I would have had much better photos overall and more consistency and less frustration with the very funky color. They were very portable and there was a 'fun' factor involved; they reminded me in some ways of using a view camera. But I would not go near another Merrill made by Sigma again."

Stephen Scharf (partial comment): "Many, many pro and commercial photographers have needs for a full professional-level medium-format camera system for their commercial work, but have not been able to make the entry cost of a $35,000-$50,000 Phase One (body alone) system profitable from a business perspective. And pros, well successful ones, at least, only buy a piece of equipment if it will return a profit on their business.

"The GFX100 completely changes all that, and this is why I think its one of the top three most significant camera releases of the last decade.

"Now, pros can buy into a literally state-of-the art MF digital camera body that has unmatched set of functions and features: Fast AF, IBIS, 4K full-sensor video, 100% coverage of the sensor with AF and..and this is big deal: full Capture One Pro support including film and lens profiles built in (good luck with that for your MF Hassys).... I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, the GFX100 came in and in one fell swoop, now owns the pro MF camera market-segment.

"There is a reason this camera has been on a consistent approximately two-month backorder since it was launched...because Fujifilm cannot make the camera fast enough to fill the pent-up demand from professional and commercial photographers."

Rodolfo Canet Castelló: "My wife insisted and I bought a Fujifilm GFX50R on 28th December. I don’t care what 2020 can bring now. What a camera! All the best in 2020 for you all!"

Mike replies: Whoa! It's going to be a good year for you.

Sharon: "Mike, have you had a chance to shoot with the Fuji GF 32–64mm? Oh my, what a lens! I think it is this lens I love more than the cameras. I'm sorry I missed your comment on the GFX 100. It is too expensive. The 50s is enough for me."

Mike replies: Here's the link to Sharon's camera and lens (25–51mm-e). And here's the link to Rodolfo's camera with Sharon's lens. Lovely....

2020 OCOLOY: The Joy of Looking and the Satisfaction of Seeing

"OC/OL/OY" is a term we coined a few years ago that means "one camera, one lens, one year." After I posted the idea, apparently hundreds of people carried it out—one group in Sicily had an exhibit, and there was a Facebook page, and so on. 

An OCOLOY isn't an ideology. It's an exercise. I had done it in the past en passant, most notably with an unmetered Exakta 66 medium format camera for which I only owned one lens and with which I taught myself to guess my exposures. Later I did it with an unmetered Leica M4 and a classic 50mm Summicron. But I didn't do it again when we started the OCOLOY thing here at TOP. Now, though, I'm seriously thinking about it again. There's absolutely no reason why such a thing has to be started at the beginning of 2020 or of any year; you can start whenever you want. But really, it's 20/20, you know? How can you resist? It's like the whole year is a pun on good eyesight and seeing well!

Visual Acuity: What is 20/20 Vision?

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet.

Having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. 20/20 vision only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance. Other important vision skills, including peripheral awareness or side vision, eye coordination, depth perception, focusing ability and color vision, contribute to your overall visual ability.

(American Optometric Association)

It's an exercise in re-engagement. A way to revitalize your interest in photographing (note: photographing, not photography, not cameras, not techniques). A way to rejuvenate your spiritual attachment to the joy of looking and the satisfaction of seeing.

It's a restoration process. A way to simplify, re-engage and reconnect. And stop thinking about all that admittedly fun stuff that nevertheless matters less.

At my age (I'm in my sixties), one year isn't all that long anyway. But I have one more day to figure out if I'm actually going to do it. It's worth considering, don't you think? I mean, it's 2020.

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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Bill MvFadden*: "The standard of 20/20 vision is a little closer to photography than the 'layman's' version you quoted. The best scientific knowledge at the time vision began to be measured was that the eye can discern a visual angle of one minute of arc. The letters were designed with each line width and each space as one minute with a total of five minutes at the distance stated so the 'Big E' at 20/200 measures 5 minutes of arc at 200 feet. With time, experience and careful records it was learned that many people have 20/15 and few (one of whom was Chuck Yeager, I believe) have 20/10."

*[Ed. note: Pretty sure Bill McFadden made a typo here, but TOP's standard practice is to reproduce commenters' names according to the way the comment was submitted, without changes. I don't allow commenter names to be URLs, and I don't allow profane or raunchy names ("Mike Rochburns"), but otherwise, what you call yourself is what you call yourself and I don't judge.]

Peter: "Used my Canon 5D with the 35mm for 10 years. Now M3 with the 22mm. No equipment headache."

Mike replies: That's cool. You're lucky. The EOS M3 and M5 must give some people headaches of a sort, though, because the clip-on electronic viewfinder for them is a big seller.

Peter adds: "I forgot to mention that I use my Canon M3/22mm setup with the DC1 viewfinder. I like looking 'down' into the camera. Happy New Year."

David Gleason: "Count me in. I simplified my gear a lot in 2019, driven by two things. First was 'guilt' over the systems that I wasn’t using enough and the angst of having to make choices (which system to use, what lenses to carry, etc.). Second, I had to acknowledge that as I approach my mid-50s, my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. So that means no more M10, and a reliance on EVF magnification to help with manual focus. But at the same time it’s freeing—back when I first got a Leica M9, I could only afford one lens. And since that 50mm 'cron was the only lens I had, it was always the 'right' lens to carry. I made it work for a lot of situations, too. So for now, I’m going to try to use my Q2 as my only camera in 2020. (One exception: I’m going to allow myself to use my A7RIII for some very specific landscape shoots where I want to use filters, etc.). It will be interesting to see if I can resist gear for a whole year! Thanks for the inspiration, Mike. And happy captures!"

Merry Christmas! &c.

TOP World Headquarters, seen from the South, in the beautiful
Finger Lakes region of rural Upstate New York

Alas, Christmas is just another day for me this year. Nothing doing, no family. Thus it is to grow older alone.

At the same time I think I'm happier than I've ever been, thanks to the work I've been doing in the spiritual fellowship I'm part of. I love the area where I live and have more friends here than I've ever had anywhere since boyhood; my son Xander has grown into a fine man, and is doing well, and his girlfriend Alyssa is a lovely young woman (I miss them!); and 2019 was an eventful and good year. TOP successfully transitioned to yet another model of subsistence, namely, Patreon; my eyesight in my failing right eye was restored, greatly renewing the joy I have always taken in seeing ("Sight is the soul's perfect delight," a quote I can't track down...I just this minute sent it to Quote Investigator!), and we are still thriving as an online community of the like-minded. All may not be well with the World, but for me there is a great deal to be grateful for, and I am mindful of my gratitude every day.

Wishing you a Happy Hanukkah, contentment for the secular solstice, a Merry Christmas, the fellowship of K'wanzaa—whatever holiday(s) you and your dear ones celebrate at year's end. We TOPpers are multitudinous, having come together in our affection for photography. And thus, in our common interest, we reach across our differences, and walk awhile together.

Happy holiday, friends. I'll be back next week, to launch what will be, if God wills it, our 15th year—

—Michael C. Johnston
Editor and Writer, The Online Photographer

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Be Ready

Word to the wise—in the Ctein Archive sale that starts in two hours, we're offering 270 different images (count 'em—I did!), but most images only exist in a 1–4 copies or so. Popular images will sell out—single images will sell out if just one person wants it. So if you want to actually be able to buy the image you want, it would be wise to stake your claim early. You can always change your mind later.

Most importantly, you'll need to know what your choice is, so go to the selection page and look through the pictures to see if there's something you particularly would like to have.

In my personal opinion, Ctein's portfolio is strong in...

Sunset under Columbia

...The Space Program...

Lava under Forest Fire Smoke

...atmospheric effects...

Total Eclipse Coronal Streamers

...and astronomy, and I think those prints will go fast. You might recall our sale in 2013 when Ctein stopped taking print orders. He had enough materials left to make 160 new full-sized dye transfer prints to order, and those 160 prints sold out in 6 hours and 2 minutes!

Whatever you want, don't wait till Day 7 of the sale to make your decision. In fact, don't wait till Day 2. We are going to be publicizing this sale at other websites and through other channels, so (jealously?) I want to make sure that as a loyal regular TOP reader you get first crack at what you want.

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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Bruce Bodine: "Order link please?"

Mike replies: The sale hasn't started yet and the order link isn't live. It starts at noon San Francisco time today, Friday, which is 3 p.m. Eastern US Time, 8 p.m. in London, and 7:00 a.m. in Sydney.

Happy Thanksgiving

N.C. Wyeth, Thanksgiving with the Indians, one of the
Met Life Murals restored in the 1980s

Wishing all of you who celebrate the holiday peace and gratitude. May you prosper and your families thrive.

Mike

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Happy 100th Birthday Pentax!

November 27th, 1919, marked the founding of Asahi Optical Joint Stock Company, the original parent company of what later became known as Pentax.

Asahi had humble beginnings—it was founded by Kumao Kajiwara, a younger son of an old Japanese Samurai family, in the Tokyo suburb of Toshima, for the manufacture of lenses for eyeglasses. After many years of manufacturing lenses, including camera lenses for Konica and Minolta, Asahi Optical Co. Ltd. (as it was by then known) introduced its first camera, the Asahiflex, in 1952. It was the first Japanese SLR-type camera to use 35mm film. Asahi acquired the name "Pentax" (a portmanteau of "pentaprism" and "Contax," a Zeiss brand name at the time) from East German VEB Zeiss in 1957, and from then on all its cameras were called Asahi Pentax. Honeywell was an early importer of Asahi cameras into the United States, where they were labeled Honeywell Pentax.

The beautiful, high-value K-1 II

Recent years saw the company name officially change to Pentax Corporation in 2002. In a complicated and somewhat contentious merger, Pentax became a consolidated subsidiary of Hoya Corporation, a precision instruments company with its roots in glass and optics, in the Summer of 2007. Hoya split off the camera-making imaging division (its chairman calling its acquisition a "mistake") and sold it to Ricoh, a copier manufacturer with a spirited devotion to cameras and photography, only four years later, in 2011. The company was at first called Pentax Ricoh Imaging Co. Ltd., but in 2013 was simplified to Ricoh Imaging Co. Ltd. The old word Pentax, which is now used by no fewer than four separate companies for a variety of products, returned once again to being a model and brand name where cameras are concerned. Thus far, the greatest production of the Pentax-Ricoh partnership is the very highly regarded K-1 Mark II full-frame DSLR. [UPDATE: Yr. Hmbl. Ed. may have misspoken. See the Featured Comments below.]

Happy 100th Birthday and congratulations Pentax, and thank you Ricoh!

Mike
(Thanks to Ned B.)

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Greg Heins: "It’s crazy, I know, but I tend to judge cameras by how they feel to use and by what the final prints look like. On both counts, my K-1 and 645Z consistently bring me joy. Not that I’ve tried everything else, but still...."

Tex Andrews: "Re 'Thus far, the greatest production of the Pentax-Ricoh partnership is the very highly regarded K-1 Mark II full-frame DSLR.' Oh, but I beg to differ! And I own this camera (upgraded version), and it is splendid. But I would say that thus far the greatest production remains 2014's 645Z. At its introductory retail price, it was at the time by far the least expensive digital medium format camera made, and it came with stellar DR and ISO range specs, plus video and more, all in a very robust, weatherproof body. I also own this camera.

"The K-1 Mark II is a very fine camera, but broke little new ground in the market's overall context, except perhaps in price. The 645Z was quite the bombshell, on the other hand, even more so than the 645D of 2010. So much so that both DPReview and DxO Mark both chose to bury their testing results for years (DPR has a somewhat lame excuse...DxO has none), as those results at the time made it the best camera out there in terms of IQ. Fuji has since caught up and with one camera exceeded Pentax's great achievement, but it's notable that the 645Z remains thoroughly competitive five whole years later, going on six. That is a whole lot of time in the camera world! Happy Thanksgiving, Mike!"

Mike replies: I must have had a synapse-lapse—as I was writing this post somewhat hurriedly yesterday afternoon (our last training session for pool league was yesterday evening), the medium-format Ricoh-Pentaxes completely slipped my mind.

At this moment, for Thanksgiving, you can save $3,199.95 on this camera and 55mm lens kit. That's not the price, that's the discount. Over the years since 2014 I've never heard a bad thing from a 645Z owner about the camera, and I've encountered a number of owners who, like Tex and Greg, are quite content with theirs. If I had to guess, I would say that's probably partly due to the satisfactory nature of the camera itself, and partly due to the calm, easygoing, phlegmatic disposition that seems to be characteristic of Pentaxians.

In any event, yes, I stand corrected, the greatest production of Ricoh's stewardship of Pentax thus far would be the 645Z.

Gaspar Heurtley: "I’ve been a Pentax film shooter since I was a kid,. My first camera was a Spotmatic my father gave to me when I was about ten years old. Still have it and use it from time to time. In digital I’m an Olympus shooter (I use a good old trusty E-M5 Mark I), but the lens I use the most, by far, is the Super Takumar 50mm ƒ/1.4 from that Spotmatic. I find the 100mm equivalent to be just perfect for my style of shooting, and after using that lens for more than 25 years (I’m 37 now) I know exactly how it’s gonna work in any scenario at any given aperture. As much as I like my E-M5, I really don’t care which body I use, just as long as I can keep taking pictures with that Super Takumar. I don’t think I’ve ever been that committed to anything."

Mike replies: You and Henri. He used the latest M bodies as they were introduced, but always stuck by his faithful fifty, a seven-element collapsible 50mm Summicron (1953–1960). It's not a bad thing to remain committed to a lens. Cartier-Bresson also sometimes carried a 35mm and an 85mm, but the then-President of Magnum Photos, when I visited in New York City, told me that you could page through book after book of his contact sheets (some of which I got to look through) and see only an occasional single picture that wasn't taken with the 50mm.

Dillan: "The first camera that I ever used was my parent's Pentax Program Plus, an SLR camera from the early 1980s. I enjoyed it so much that I have been shooting ever since."

Tom: "What Greg said. The ergonomics of Pentax cameras feels natural to me. The 645Z may have a few too many buttons, but at least it's nearly impossible to push one by accident, like say the GFX 50R. I've had more Pentax cameras than I care to list (see above photo) and along with some superb lenses using them is second nature. Photo is of my printer room with a display of old film cameras. Top shelf bodies are all Pentaxes (pun intended), except the Yashica 124G and a squirt gun camera."

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989

This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the most prominent symbol of the aftermath of World War Two and of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. In 1989, photojournalists David and Peter Turnley spent a great deal of time inside East Germany and all over Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Both subsequently covered the fall of the wall and the aftermath leading to the reunification of Germany.

That year, 1989, David won The Overseas Press Club Robert Capa Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and Peter won the Overseas Press Club Olivier Rebbot Award for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad.

Here is a moving selection of the brothers' work that will transport you back to that time and that momentous event. It's best if you compose yourself for a few moments beforehand, and view full screen.

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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hugh crawford: "I have a little plastic bag of wall somewhere. My mother, my sister, my wife, and I spent the day in Berlin in April of 1990. There was nowhere to stay in the city hence the one day visit. Kids were all over loaning out hammers and chisels, and I thought why not? In the Eastern sector there were big lines of westerners buying cameras. No one seemed to know who was in charge but everything was like cross between a natural disaster where everyone helps out and a very orderly party.

"A few days later we drove to Prague and the whole city was literally singing in the streets and very drunk. You still had to exchange a set amount of hard currency to enter Czechoslovakia and on our way back we realized that we had not spent much at all so we stopped at a bookstore and bought every interesting looking book they had. I have a wonderful three volume history of Czechoslovakian racing cars an illustrated history of Tatra, amazing atlasses, and some of the most beautiful books about insects I have ever seen. Sadly there were no art or photography books or Czech cinema books. The staff of the bookstore thought we were hilarious when I told them that I collected obsolete maps but were eager to unload all their newly unsellable stock."

Jim Arthur: "Wonderful work. The power of great still photography never ceases to amaze me. To have a fleeting moment of clarity captured and communicated across space and time to touch me as if I were there is magical. A big thanks to Peter and David for sharing."

Herman Krieger: "Photo made on Nov. 11, 1989 of the Berlin wall."

Mani Sitaraman: "That panoramic picture by Bill Bongiorno (linked to by Herman Krieger) really captures the moment and the mood very well. Belated birthday wishes to Mr. Krieger, who turned 93 three days ago, according to biographical details he has posted on his webpage. He served in the USAAC during WWII, among many other accomplishments over the years. Happy birthday and many happy returns of the day! (An interview with Herman.)"

Erwin Puts Says Farewell to Leica (?)

Is this real? It appears to be legitimate, although there's little talk about it on the Web so far. Makes me nervous when there isn't corroboration. We need to approach the Internet with a high degree of everyday skepticism...anyway, here goes.

Erwin Puts, who for several decades has been the world's leading independent expert on Leica products present and past, has announced his farewell to what he calls Leica World. Declaring that "the soul of Leica products has been eradicated," he says the company is going down a path he is no longer willing to follow.

It appears from his short announcement, however, that his interest in legacy Leica and Leitz products will continue.

Erwin is the author of the well-respected privately-printed books Leica Compendium, Leica Lens Compendium, Leica Lens Saga, and Leica Chronicle. He has been writing at length and in detail about Leica cameras and lenses, and the company, for well over 30 years.

Great recantations
If this is true, it reminds of when Peter Henry Emerson declared the "Death of Naturalistic Photography":

Emerson soon became convinced that photography was a medium of artistic expression superior to all other black-and-white graphic media because it reproduces the light, tones, and textures of nature with unrivaled fidelity. He was repelled by the contemporary fashion for composite photographs, which imitated sentimental genre paintings. In his handbook Naturalistic Photography (1889), he outlined a system of aesthetics. He decreed that a photograph should be direct and simple and show real people in their own environment, not costumed models posed before fake backdrops or other such predetermined formulas. Emerson’s book was very persuasive, but in 1891 he published a black-bordered pamphlet 'The Death of Naturalistic Photography,' in which he recanted his opinion that the accurate reproduction of nature was synonymous with art. Despite his change of mind, his initial views remained influential and formed the rationale of much 20th-century photography. (Encyclopaedia Britannica online).

I'm amazed that I can't seem to find a JPEG of the "black-bordered pamphlet" online! I can see it in my mind's eye.

Emerson was one of the first and still one of the best—well, most thorough—thinkers and writers to grapple with the nature of the medium, although there is a schoolteacherish cast to his polemics that doesn't wear particularly well. His work looks Pictorialist to us today, but Encyclopaedia Britannica is right that his thinking matched very closely what came to be valued across much of 20th century photography.

Naturalistic Photography is available as a Kindle book for 99¢. I haven't examined the file.

I've sometimes felt that "found photography" almost better illustrates Emerson's principles than his own work...

A circa 1920s documentary photograph from the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection, Sydney Living Museums, Historic Houses Trust of NSW. From the archives of the New South Wales Police Dept. Alec Soth wrote about this archive 12 years ago: "Searching on the topic of 'new south wales police dept,' I once again wonder why I bother with photography. It seems unfair that an anonymous police photographer can be as good as Avedon and Arbus...."

Sorry if this segue constitutes too great a step away from the subject, but, under the rubric of remarkable recantations, they seem related to me.

Anyway, if you enjoy Erwin's longtime impassioned thrall to Leica, as a great many do, I encourage you to carry on enjoying his existing writings.

Mike
(Thanks to Jeff S.)

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Andrew Molitor: "I remember seeing a show, um, somewhere (Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia?) of photographs from the relevant era, and some wag on the curatorial staff had hung an Emerson and a Robinson one above the other, and I'll be damned if they didn't look pretty much the same. (For those of you not obsessed with the minutiae of Victorian era photography, Emerson and Robinson spent a few merry years thundering angrily away at one another in the photographic press.)"

Mike replies: ...With the essential difference that the Robinson might have been a pastiche of something that never existed in nature and the Emerson was probably faithful to reality as translated by the lens. (You know this, Andrew, but others might not.) In many ways the present-day tension between photojournalistic ethics and flagrant Photoshoppery is the inheritor of that disputation.

Could the show you saw have been Alison Nordström's TruthBeauty? I can't find a list online of where that show traveled, but a glimmer in the back of my brain-pan says one venue might have been Norfolk. I hope readers listened to me when I recommended (several times) buying that book. Probably the high point of Dr. Nordström's career and fine and valuable summation of Pictorialism and the issues it raises. And a lovely book to look at and enjoy.

Moose: "My online friend, Tina Manley, who will be familiar to many red dot folks, has been using a Leica SL and whatever the latest monochrome model is. [The Type 246. —Ed.]

"Having viewed many of her photos, I am of the opinion that both cameras have a certain something, soul, whatever, that is largely missing in other contemporary cameras.

"With proper exposure, not too high key, and straightforward processing, there is a magical subtlety to the tones and their graduations that one doesn't see elsewhere, outside, perhaps, some LF film work.

"I have never been a Leicaphile, so an unaware of any meta photographic qualities in old Leica gear. But, if soul is in the camera, the SL, and perhaps the 24–90mm lens, have it."

Mike replies: That's nice, but I think it's optimistic.  

The first proof against it I would mention is that I've been hearing versions of such thoughts about Leica throughout the entire time I've been involved in photography—through different substrates, through different company ownership, different heads of the optical department, many different lenses and films and sensors, etc.

A long time ago Leica answered the fact that some of its lenses didn't test as well as some of its competitors' lenses with the contention that its lenses showed a "pleasing roundness" in images. The phrase "pleasing roundness" then showed up regularly in the claims of the brand's fans.

But if people like their SL's and are pleased with the results that's great, of course. I thought it was a beautiful camera, and we should all like the results our cameras give us.

(As an aside, when I first read your comment I thought you meant she had been shooting with a Pentax SL, because of Ned's Instagram posts about that camera. And the thing about that is, Tina could undoubtedly do great work with a Pentax SL!)

Eamon Hickey adds: "On the SL and 24–90mm: I reviewed that camera and shot with it and that lens for two or three months. I liked many things about the camera, and Leica does indeed have a distinct minimalist design sensibility that makes shooting with the SL a somewhat different experience than shooting with other FF mirrorless cameras (of which I've also used and reviewed a few). But I found the 24–90mm anything but magical, and I noticed nothing mysteriously different about the 1,000+ images I shot with the combination. Don't get me wrong: the 24–90mm is a superb zoom lens. But its images look to my eye completely similar to other extremely highly corrected modern aspherical-out-the-wazoo mid-range zooms from a half dozen top-notch manufacturers (think 24–70mm ƒ/2.8's) that I've also used fairly extensively.

"I very strongly suspect that the magic in Tina Manley's pictures comes from Tina, and her sense of how to polish and finish an image in whatever way she does it."

'The Era of Imaging Resource is Coming to an End'

Shades of Rob Galbraith and DPI.

Dave Etchells, the founder, publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of Imaging Resource—for the last two decades one of the largest and most conscientious of the traditional written-word photographic equipment testing and news websites—said yesterday in a long Facebook post that "the era of Imaging Resource is coming to an end."

The short summary of the reasons:

"The current market just can’t support the kind of deep testing IR has always done, nor anything close to the staff of employees and freelancers that we’ve carried";

"After 21+ years of 6.5 day workweeks, I have to step back and stop pedaling the bicycle."

...And what will become of the people?

"The IR writers and editors are available on the market. I’ve talked with DPR about taking on some of them as freelancers; I hope it works out."

"I’m seeing this as a chance to pursue intellectual property consulting (expert witness work for patent litigation). I’ve done a little bit of that in the past, and absolutely love it." (He adds that it pays well too.)

Is this decision final?

"There’s a slight chance that the brand itself could continue into the future, with just the two HQ guys William and Dave [I presume he means William Brawley and Dave Pardue —Ed.] doing all the review work themselves." But he adds, "I don’t know what probability to assign to that option."

Dave also mentions that he really wants to have a reason to continue traveling to Japan, and that he will probably continue his work on weather-resistance testing of cameras—which he says no one else is doing. He thinks it could end up making a nice retirement job.

Guerrilla marketing
A background reason for this is that traditional media, a category IR falls into, just isn't as important as it used to be for advertisers to sell stuff. The old model of conscientious experts conducting objective independent tests, whether in print or online, isn't considered as necessary as it once was assumed to be. Companies are supporting more of the short-lived, opinion-based, or tribal-affinity-based content that people like to consume these days. They've shifted more of their marketing budgets to social media influencers such as "brand ambassadors," who tend to be openly partisan, and who sometimes shade heavily into the sort of boosterism that used to be the province of hired PR corporations.

I certainly understand Dave not wanting to work "6.5 day workweeks." I didn't stop pedaling the bicycle, but I started coasting it a lot more about five years ago, after realizing that I had been putting in 70+ hour weeks for a number of years. I'd start working in my bathrobe at 6:00 a.m., and not get dressed until just before the UPS guy came at 3:00 or 4:00 so he wouldn't think I was some kind of bum! Often I'd find myself up and working at 11:00 p.m. or even 2:00 a.m. (If you work at home, it's true that you're always at home, but it's also true that you're always at work. Insomnia? Might as well work.) Saturday and Sunday had become just two more working days; I think one year I took a grand total of something like 17 days off—and on those days, mostly just worried about what might be happening to my traffic. It gets old after a while. I work no harder than most people now. I try to take Saturdays completely off, and that sort of works (not today). As you might have noticed, I ended up taking two weekdays off in each of the past two weeks, and it got a little too quiet around here. That never would have happened in 2013.

Ironically, though, TOP, which started in 2005, might survive because it's so small. I'd be gone by now but for the 746 lovely people who are keeping me afloat. (Bless you!) That wouldn't be nearly enough to support an enterprise as involved as Imaging Resource, but, along with the shrinking income from other sources, it's been enough of a leg up for one dude and two cool dogs in a little house in rural Upstate New York.

Thank goodness for small blessings...like being small.

Best wishes to Dave and Marti and the entire staff of IR. We will miss you.

I'll keep you posted.

Mike

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A Chance Encounter

Walker Evans, A Graveyard and Steel Mill in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, November, 1935

Words and portrait by James Sherwood

Six years ago, my wife Shirley True and I were photographing in Eastern Pennsylvania. Upon deciding to check out Bethlehem, I suggested we look for the cemetery where Walker Evans made his iconic 1930s image [above]. Found it, but the large white cross was gone. After we surveyed the place for about an hour, we came upon this older couple sitting on a low stone wall up high on the hill.

As I approached them, perhaps fifteen feet away, I said, "are you Robert Frank?" He nodded and said, "yes" in a soft voice. His wife, artist June Leaf, was sitting beside him. They were on a road trip to North Carolina and decided to stop for a picnic lunch in this special place. We chatted briefly and snapped some pictures.

James Sherwood, Robert Frank and June Leaf, Bethlehem Cemetery

As lifelong photographers, neither Shirley nor I had ever experienced such a powerful, miraculous event. As our colleague Mark Power put it, "Searching for one great photographer and finding another." Needless to say, the relationship between Evans and Frank was significant in the course of history. They are certainly two of the most influential photographers in our lives.

Still gives me chills.

Jim

Old friend Jim Sherwood was once my boss at a photo studio, and his wife Shirley was one of my teachers at the Corcoran School of Art. Here's Jim's Facebook page. —Ed.

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Open Mike: What Danielle Jackson's Artnet Review Tells Us About What the Whitney Biennial Tells Us About the Future of Photography—and the Reviewers and Curators and Academicians Who Will Shape the Artists Who Will Shape It*

"Can we all just get along? Can we get along?"

—Rodney King

I've always thought that "political correctness" (PC) was for the most part a shibboleth, a cudgel fashioned by the political right for its own ends. The first four paragraphs of the Wikipedia article about it have it about right; the pull-quote might be, "in public discourse and the media, [PC] is generally used as a pejorative, implying that these policies are excessive or unwarranted," a sentence girded by no fewer than seven footnotes. An article I read in Harper's when I was visiting my liberal mother and Harvard-professor stepfather in 2016 makes the point that examples of political correctness on the left are catalogued and prized by conservatives and conservative media because it's an issue that plays so reliably to their base.

However, one problem with that contention, a thorn in its side you might say, is that there's no question political correctness exists. Excessive and unwarranted political correctness, I mean, not just people trying to be fair and considerate to others.

If you want a fascinating example, peruse Danielle Jackson's article "What the Whitney Biennial Tells Us About the Future of Photography—and the Artists Who Will Shape It" on Artnet. It struck me as a review written from the perspective of political correctness about a show that appears to be mainly about political correctness.

Both the artists and the curators of this year's Biennial come from a carefully calibrated mix of "historically marginalized group[s]," and much of the art is accepted by the reviewer to comment on "identity politics," "codes in multiple layers," "the Museum's project of historicization," and so forth. The actual photographs in the show seem to be secondary to the positions they take on various political implications. Disappointment is registered that the work is not more overtly angry, among other things, and that the artists aren't "announcing identity so loudly." The reason, the review proposes, is that they're the new majority and are no longer outsiders. (Can anyone really be an outsider and be included in the Whitney Biennial? That's what I'd like to know.) "Though the photographs are made by artists who are queer, gender nonconforming, Asian, Latinx, or black, almost none of them discuss these cultures directly in their work," writes Jackson, with disapproval. "Looking back, I’ve also wondered if, in some ways, this is actually a post-identity show that has managed to be framed around identity politics simply based on who was included." Whew. That makes me need to go lie down.

I didn't even recognize some of the language in the review as traditional artspeak, which, oddly, is annoying and refreshing at the same time. The work is definitely "framed in relation to recent trends and jargon." Although I've seen it before I had to look up "Latinx," for example. It's a gender-neutral coinage for a person of Latin American origin that obviates the need for the gendered "Latino" and "Latina." (Has someone alerted the Filipinx?)

Does the art world, I wonder, really want to stake itself out as the home venue, ground zero, for the ever more fastidious expression of political correctness issues and themes? Because those are bound to be neverending, never mind also being a very limited and not very natural subject for art. Art is about personal expression, among other things, and it seems counterproductive on its face to dictate in advance what art must express. At any rate, what this review seems to tell us is that if you aren't up on your Yale-inculcated political identity and sexual identity semiotics then there are some art shows that you're not going to "get." In the case of the Whitney Biennial, that's apparently the subject, on every level.

Of course, I'm an older white male, so whatever I think about identity politics is irrelevant by definition anyway**.

Protest like it's 1989
The review made me think about another series of articles I read this past year, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Mapplethorpe debacle at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington in June of 1989—which arguably ended up torpedoing that grand old institution (my alma mater) and sinking it with all the agonizing slowness of an aircraft carrier going down.

If you're not familiar with the Mapplethorpe flap, basically the Corcoran had scheduled a show by the homoerotic classicist photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who at the time had just died of AIDS. Because the show was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), various figures from the neoconservative movement, led by the reactionary archconservative Southern congressman Jesse Helms, seized on the exhibit as proof that the government was funding immorality and that, by extension, the NEA should therefore be abolished (along with, by further extension, every other nonessential government program).

The Flagg Building, appropriately beflagged. It was not known
by that name in 1989. Photo by Daderot [CC0].

The Corcoran bowed to the pressure and cancelled the show. The stated reason was that the institution wanted to remain above politics; instead, the Corcoran's cave-in resulted in a much bigger and even more intense storm of criticism from the other direction. A public protest organized by freelance curator Andrea Pollan and gallerist William Wooby featured Mapplethorpe's self-portrait projected on the side of the beaux arts Corcoran Gallery building (now known as the Flagg building***).

At the time, I was a recent graduate of the Corcoran School of Art (as it was called when I was there), and I once worked for Bill Wooby—I was his exhibition printer for the jazz photographs by Charles Peterson that Bill exhibited in his restaurant gallery and arranged to have shown at the Monterey Jazz Festival. I remember these events and many of the names involved. Pretty much everyone from every side was mad at the Corcoran for a while. "The gallery stood at the center of a firestorm of protest and controversy," writes Ruth Steinhardt in GWToday. "Fellow artists canceled D.C. shows in solidarity, gallery members withdrew their support and hundreds of protestors gathered in front of the Flagg Building, across from Ronald Reagan’s White House, to register their disapproval." The Director of the Corcoran who had cancelled the Mapplethorpe show, Christina Orr-Cahall, eventually resigned.

The whole imbroglio is as good a marker as any for the beginning of the end for the old Corcoran Gallery and School of Art, which, while it was still independent, was the largest independent art museum in Washington. But the Corcoran had became uncool. It slipped and slid downhill from then on and was dissolved, riddled with debt, in 2014. Its treasures now belong to the National Gallery of Art and the rest of its collections are flung to the wind, and the School, although it continues to exist under its own name, has been absorbed into George Washington University. As an alumninx, I've become a wanderer.

The Corcoran as it exists now is having a show about that show that never was. Called "6.13.89: The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition," it's an archival exhibit that documents the unfortunate events of the Summer of '89. It will be on view until October 6th in the atrium of the Flagg Building. The outgoing Director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (as it is now called), Sanjit Sethi, is quoted in the GWToday article saying "The Corcoran suffered a significant fracture to its philosophical foundation." "As a museum dedicated to 'American genius,'" continues the article, "the Corcoran had in some ways betrayed itself by adopting a definition of genius that excluded marginalized communities."

This isn't going to stop us
You would think that one party, at least, would have been pleased by the cancellation of the show: Jesse Helms, the Senate crusader against government-funded obscenity. Not so. Kriston Capps, in the Washington Post, writes, "One of the very first outraged phone calls that [Director Christina] Orr-Cahall received was from Helms’s office. The senator was displeased that he would not have the opportunity to stump on a show that he considered to be liberal obscenity.

"'This isn't going to stop us. Your cancellation isn’t going to stop us,' Orr-Cahall says now, recalling what a Helms aide told her. 'Looking back, the Helms call, it was clearly the start of the culture wars.'"

There's political correctness in a nutshell from both sides, if you ask me. You'd think we could all just get along.

Mike

"6.13.89" is on view until Oct. 6th. Exhibition hours are Tuesday to Friday, 10 to 6, and weekends from 1 to 6, at the Flagg Building, 500 17th St. NW, Washington, D.C.

*This is TOP's longest-ever post title.

**Maybe I should start a movement for "individualist-identifiers"—those who are aggrieved that they're not being considered as individuals who might have non-identity-group-conforming thoughts, opinions, or values. We stage protests against people who insist on lumping us in with all the other idiots and boneheads who happen to look like us. I'm joking, that would never work.

***After its architect, Ernest Flagg, not Colonel Flagg from M.A.S.H. Frank Lloyd Wright considered it the most beautiful building in Washington...which was in part a poke against the neoclassical Greco-Roman public architecture for which Washington DC is far better known, but never mind.

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Gordon Lewis: "Re: '"Though the photographs are made by artists who are queer, gender nonconforming, Asian, Latinx, or black, almost none of them discuss these cultures directly in their work," writes Jackson, with disapproval.' This is nothing new about this line of thought. I explored much the same idea in a Shutterfinger blog post years ago, under the title 'Am I Still a Black Photographer?' The question is/was, does being black and a photographer make me a 'black photographer,' or does it mean that my photographs center on visual expressions of the black experience? Personally, as long as white photographers can enjoy the luxury of not having to be labeled as such, I would prefer to enjoy the same luxury of not having arbitrary labels and expectations attached to me or my work."

Mike replies: Well said. You sound like another individualist-identifier.  :-) 

Robert Roaldi: "The Rebel Sell by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter has a lot to say about 'nonconformity' and 'outsiders.' The culture we live in absorbs all of this and packages it back to us as products to buy. It's easy to look at suburban streets and come to the superficial conclusion that all those people are leading 'Leave it to Beaver' lives, but it isn't actually true, is it? Many of them are wife swappers, they take various drugs, they watch a lot of porn, etc. We draw these imaginary lines between progressive and not, but even the most right-wing person in our culture probably thinks it's OK to marry for love, or that we should be able to work at whatever job we like, or that women should vote. Those ideas were rebellious not that long ago. PC culture can get silly, but lots of ideas at the fringe are silly. They get modified a lot before they migrate throughout society. It makes for interesting argumentation but it's not worth freaking out over, in my opinion."

Sanjeev Arora: "I went to the Whitney Biennial with visiting relatives from India, who are a.) not young b.) not well-versed in modern art (i.e., wouldn't be able to tell even a Picasso from a Mondrian) c.) definitely unaware of US identity politics. They enjoyed the show, so I guess the art has some innate appeal. So please do not fret too much."

John Krumm: "Well, I just listened to a podcast interview of the English professor who wrote the book Keywords: The New Language of Capitalism and it was pretty good.

"He talks about how critics have always viewed language as in part a political struggle for power. So corporations obscure bosses and what they do in new language, for instance. For the young, there is a struggle for power too. Asserting new gender neutral pronouns and other words can seem very off-putting to some people, but if you are involved with politically active young people, or have a kid around the right age, you get used to it. That's how it works. After a while, if they succeed, it's the new normal.

"Here's some information on the term Filipinx."

Mike replies: Damn, and I thought I thought of that.

Amin Abdollahzadeh: "Re: 'Does the art world, I wonder, really want to stake itself out as the home venue, ground zero, for the ever more fastidious expression of political correctness issues and themes?' Good Lord Michael! The adage about the ship having sailed does’t begin to cover it. It sailed, circumnavigated the world, its crew was ravaged by scurvy and succumbed to cannibalism, and finally limped back to port, a very long time ago."

Richard Parkin: "I thought the gender neutral term for Latinos/Latinas in English was 'Latins'  ;-).  "

Robert Roaldi: "In the intro to one of recent podcasts, Joe Rogan said (I am paraphrasing) 'Ladies and gentlemen and other people, including people who don't identify as people....' I thought that was pretty funny. Is it still OK to poke fun at things?"

Mark Roberts (and the PDML)

TOP reader and old photo-friend Mark Roberts stopped by Penn Yan for lunch today. He was en route to Rochester on a very red and swoopy motorcycle. I first met Mark in person years ago at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. Actually I "e-met" him long before that on the PDML, the Pentax-Discuss Mailing List, where he was one of the most measured, friendly and knowledgeable voices among that chorus of measured, friendly and knowledgeable voices.

I spoke at Grandfather Mountain, at the Camera Clinic, one of two summer PDML group gatherings at the landmark park. I always figured I didn't do a very good job—my talk, about "reification and redacting," was a little dry and short on entertainment—but Mark told me at lunch that some of my comments were part of the inspiration for the PDML Photo Annuals, printed collections of participants' pictures that the mailing group produces every year. That make me feel better. I got to look through three of the recent annuals, and it was both nice looking at so many fine pictures and also seeing names still familiar from my years on the PDML. Back issues are available, and sales benefit the Global Health Initiative of Boston Children's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The PDML is the nicest forum you'll ever hang out on, and I mean it. And I'll give you a little secret tip—don't tell anyone there I told you—you don't actually need to be shooting Pentax currently to participate. Some PDML denizens are people who just appreciate the low-key, accepting and courteous online community and are only Pentax sympathizers or former Pentax shooters. (You do have to use either a Pentax body or lens to get a picture into the Annual, however. Seems fair.)

As you can see from the picture of Mark, "former Pentax shooter" doesn't describe him. First time I've seen a real K-1 in person so to speak. There's a nice new 35mm lens for that camera, too, I learned just recently.

Anyway, if you'd like to join yourself or just test the waters, the address is PDML.net. It's a nice community.

Mark teaches Photoshop, among other arty and design-y subjects, at Lasell University in Newton, Massachussetts, and he's doing some fascinating and impressive work right now with blended and merged non-HDR HDR images. Good to see you again Mark!

Mike

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Ned Bunnell: "For those who don’t know Mark, he has some wonderful photographs on his Instagram account."

Stay Cool

An extensive heat wave is forecast over the Eastern US for the coming weekend. If for any reason you or a friend or relative gets overheated, remember that the bathtub is a good way to cool down when there aren't other options—a long soak in lukewarm or coolish water can give one's body a break in coping with overheating.

Drink lots of water and remember that only "mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun"!

That's Noel Coward, who also wrote a song called "Why Do the Wrong People Travel," some of the lyrics to which go like this:

Travel they say improves the mind,
An irritating platitude, which frankly, entrenous,
Is very far from true.

Personally I've yet to find that longitude and latitude
Can educate those scores of monumental bores
Who travel in groups and herds and troupes
Of varying breeds and sexes
Till the whole world reels...

To shouts and squeals...
And the clicking of Rolleiflexes.

And you were wondering how this post was going to circle back 'round to photography, weren't you? Stay cool.

Mike

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Today's the Day

It's Prime Day—a day of blowout deals from Amazon for people who have Amazon Prime, obviously intended to get more people to sign up for Prime. There are many pages of deals and many hundreds of items on sale.

A few things I can personally recommend:

Dyson Animal Vacuum Cleaner: I've written about this awesome thing in the past, and after a number of years I'm still very satisfied with mine. It's a good buy at $600 in my opinion, but why not pay $350 instead?

A Vitamix: I wish all products were like the Vitamix, a throwback to the days when things were well made and had simple controls and worked superbly. Especially if you eat plants a lot, this is indispensable—I use mine every day and love it. Mine was a refurb too, like this one.

An Apple iPad: I've said this before, but of all my Apple devices, the iPad is the least crucial and the one I'm the most attached to. My favorite Apple thingy. Except that I'm always misplacing the danged thing. Another item I use every day and love.

A kneeling chair: I don't own one of these now (although I should), but they're useful if you have any problems with your spine. Also great for meditation if you're not limber enough to contort yourself into traditional postures. (This deal is upcoming—a number of the deals haven't started yet.)

DNA test: I thought this was absolutely fascinating and well worth the cost. Turns out I have loads of Scandinavian ancestry, but through Vikings who settled in Northeastern England a thousand years ago—which we've always counted as English. (How long do you have to live somewhere before you're no longer a newcomer, anyway?!) And I had no idea how or why I am 12% Spanish, but that's what my DNA says.

An Instant Pot: Makes pressure cooking super simple, and it's a breeze to clean up. I love mine and use it all the time. Many foods taste better cooked in the Instant Pot—it makes soups super easy, and makes melt-in-your-mouth potatoes and sweet potatoes. You can use it as a slow cooker and you can even sauté in it. It's another appliance I use constantly and appreciate. I'm an Instant Pot evangelist—I've sold about seven friends on them so far, and all of them love it too. Mine was a birthday gift from my dear departed ex-girlfriend S. of ambivalent memory, just to give credit where credit is due.

The Starch Solution: The best, most practical all-around diet and nutrition book of the 120+ I've browsed or perused in the past six years or so (yes, I've been a bit obsessed). It's the easiest to follow and most sensible of the "health first" programs. Highly recommended for people who are humans. (Oh, okay, I admit it, this actually isn't a Prime Day deal. I'm just sneaking it in. It's plenty cheap as a paperback or ebook in any event.)

And finally, Prime itself: I've been a Prime member for years and have been nothing but happy with it. You get free shipping on most Amazon purchases free books, music, videos, and lots more. A no-brainer if you shop at Amazon more than a handful of times in a year.

Disclaimer: I'm an Amazon Affiliate and when you click through these links you are putting some pennies in my pocket. Just so you are aware.

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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Jim: "I'd love to hear more about how you use your Instant Pot in one of your OT posts. I got one a while back thinking it would be great for meaty winter stews and the like, but I've been eating a lot less meat, so not really getting much use out of it. If there are plant things it does well, it'd be great to hear about them!"

Mike replies: I'm not the guy to tell anyone about cooking, except perhaps talking to other clueless bachelors for purposes of commiseration.  :-)  So bear that in mind please! However, a staple of my diet are bean, lentil, chickpea, and split pea soups, which I normally make on Sundays and then eat throughout the week—I get six to eight meals out of each batch. The Instant Pot makes cooking these simple and fast, and cleanup is quick. I often use "heirloom" beans from Rancho Gordo.

I recommend having 4–6 recipes you like so you don't get tired of any one of them by fixing it too often. Here's one nice recipe that I like and that Xander liked as well:

Split-Pea Carrot Garlic Soup
6–8 cups of organic vegetable stock
2 cups dried yellow split peas
1 medium white onion, diced
1 bunch (6 medium) carrots, sliced (carrots bought with the tops on taste better. If you don't have organic carrots, cut to top 1/2 to 1 inch off the top end of the carrot as that's where pesticides tend to concentrate. Carrots are healthiest if they're scrubbed but not peeled.)
5 cloves garlic, minced
3–4 grinds of pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry basil or 1 tbsp. minced fresh basil
1/2 tsp. dry marjoram

Instructions: Mix together in Instant Pot. Cook on manual for 17 minutes, with 10 minutes of cool-down before venting. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. When serving, salt it at the table just until it doesn't taste bland.

Options:

Take a few cups of the finished soup and blend it in the Vitamix then pour it back into the soup for texture; this will also bring out the spices a little more. For a nice touch, blend some unsalted pecans with the portion of the soup you're blending.

Add 1/2 to 1 cup separately cooked brown rice to the finished soup (but see halfway down this post about the safest, healthiest way to cook rice)

Add a couple of cloves of minced uncooked garlic to the finished soup if you like garlic.

Hope you like!

Merle: "Regarding the DNA Test, I think you'd enjoy A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes by Adam Rutherford. Lots of interesting tidbits, including information about DNA test results from a geneticist's perspective. Regarding 'How long do you have to live somewhere before you're no longer a newcomer, anyway?!,' I have some friends who moved to eastern Kentucky in the mid-'80s. Not long after they moved there, they saw an obituary in the local paper which described a man in his 90s and all the wonderful things he'd done. The last sentences read something like: 'He moved here when he was six months old. He was not a native of this county.'"

Mike replies: That does look like the kind of book I'd love.

In the 1990s I almost moved to a town called Battle Ground, Indiana, near where Tecumseh and The Prophet were defeated by William Henry Harrison, until I heard a native describe someone who had lived there for 20 years as a "mover-inner." One of the great things about the rural area where I live now is that there are a lot of lakeshore and Summer people, so newcomers get to blend in instead of standing out like sore thumbs.

Paul Amyes: "Lots of Scots and Irish have Spanish genes due to Armada survivors being shipwrecked on the Northeastern coast of Scotland and Ireland’s West coast."

Mike replies: That could be it. In Ireland, when I was young, I befriended a local girl for a few weeks who was "Black Irish," so called—a descendant of those Spaniards. She was very striking-looking, with light blue eyes and very pale, perfect skin, but beautiful black hair. She cast rather a spell over me, as I still muse over her in my thoughts from time to time.

Don't Forget Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day. Just a friendly reminder from your eternally clueless, chronically forgetful, and at best only partially organized host and M.C.

A brief history of Mother's Day
As with many things we take for granted, the backstory of Mother's Day is stranger than you might think. The day as we know it in the U.S. was founded 111 years ago by an activist who was the daughter of another activist, with the backing of a pioneering department store. The store was Wanamaker's, which was, among other innovations, the first retailer to use price tags. Anna Jarvis was the daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis, both tireless reformers and advocates for various women's causes.

As a way of honoring her mother, who had recently died, the younger Jarvis organized the first Mother's Day at a Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, in May of 1908. Concurrently, there was a big Mother's Day event at Wanamaker's in Philadelphia.

The Grand Court of Wanamaker's flagship Philadelphia store with its
famous pipe organ. The place is now known as Macy's Center City.

Arguing that most holidays were male-centric, Jarvis then mounted a vigorous crusade to formally establish Mother's Day. That it was envisioned as a private family affair is reflected in the spelling of mother's: "a singular possessive," Jarvis noted, "for each family to honor its own mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world." After a long and increasingly successful public campaign, she was rewarded in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as the official U.S. holiday. President Wilson used Anna's preferred singular possessive spelling.

Anna Jarvis in 1910

Anna Jarvis then quickly became disapproving of the commercialization of her holiday, and spent the rest of her life and most of her and her brother's fortunes fighting first to defend Mother's Day and then to get it abolished, even going so far as to file endless lawsuits against various parties for using the name "Mother's Day" (over which she claimed copyright) and urging boycotts of candies, cards, and flowers. (I'm not making this up.) By the time of her death in 1948 she had disowned the holiday altogether and even petitioned the government to have it removed from the official calendar.

Anna Jarvis never married or had children, so the founder of Mother's Day wasn't one herself. Wanamaker's, after years of decline and various insults to its once-glorious past, fizzled to an end in 1995. Mother's Day, no longer proprietary to any one person, endures as the token day when we formally appreciate everything our own mothers did and do for us.

(I dedicate this post to Mom, who has suffered from Alzheimer's since 2011.)

Mike
(Thanks to Ned Bunnell. Photo of Anna Jarvis courtesy of
West Virginia & Regional History Center.)

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A Few Links the Morning After

Hybrid laser-scan/panorama photographs may be used to help rebuild Notre-Dame: Vassar Professor Andrew Tallon uses laser scanners to make incredibly detailed 3-D maps of ancient structures such as Notre-Dame cathedral, accurate to half a centimeter, originally to try to understand the methods of ancient builders. But his scanning maps (which he merges with panoramic photographs) of Notre-Dame could well become invaluable in the rebuilding and reconstruction process.

Because Andrew clambers around on ledges far above the stone floors of cathedrals, he refers to himself as a "tacklehead" rather than a gearhead. But you'll recognize a kindred spirit, albeit one with a honed sense of specific mission in life. Fascinating stuff!

Notre-Dame from the air. A photograph from the National Geographic
archives taken by the U.S. Army Air Service (cropped).

Notre-Dame from the archives of National Geographic: In the same article is a link to a selection of archive photographs of Notre-Dame over the years. Not exhaustive, but nicely inclusive. A portfolio worth seeing.

Bad coverage and good: Foraging for information, I happened across an almost absurdly hackneyed "news" clip from CBS News that managed to make even yesterday's epic conflagration seem rote and dull. They interviewed a fire chief from Philly talking about the difficulties of battling church blazes. Original. Forgive the sarcasm; actually it was straight out of the "When You Can't Think of Anything Else to Do" playbook. You almost knew what the chief was going to say before he said it, and the interview could do double duty for any little church fire in any little town anywhere. Really? Can't even work up a little juice when it's looking like we're losing one of the great wonders of the world's heritage?

By contrast, Frida Ghitis on CNN, employing the recently outmoded written word, got closer to the core of the event in her article "Watching Notre Dame burn, the entire world was in pain." Describes how I felt. "The conflagration brought a feeling of helplessness and foreboding—reminiscent of the devastation on 9/11, in some ways, and perhaps that was part of the effect for some people: the sense—real or imagined—that we were watching a metaphor, a prelude, a warning." The feelings she's describing are essentially religious/superstitious, so it was good she didn't add to her litany, "...a judgement." 

Soaring buttresses: I'm not normally a fan of Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist at a liberal paper, but he was inspired to write a beautiful essay this morning (speaking of judgements). He had been in the middle of writing a column about the troubles of the Catholic Church and was forced to incorporate the news of the fire into his thoughts, and—whether out of necessity or out of courage—he let the bones of both influences show through. The result embodied the sense of interruption that public catastrophes impose on us. He was focusing on the schism inherent in Benedict vs. Francis, the conservative and liberal strains within Catholicism, but returned to the idealism of rebirth, apropos Easter: "The church has always depended on synthesis and integration. That has been part of its genius, a reason for all its unexpected resurrections and regenerations. Faith and reason, Athens and Jerusalem, the aesthetic and the ascetic, the mystical and the philosophical—even the crucifix itself, two infinite lines converging and combining."

David Aschkenas: Finally, TOP reader David Aschkenas has put together a small portfolio of his pictures from the interior of Notre-Dame, taken over the years.

Mike

[CORRECTION: According to The Washington Post, Andrew Tallon died last year, and should have been referred to in the past tense. It brings up another wrinkle, however—the Post also references the fact that no one knows exactly where the late Prof. Tallon's laser scans of Notre-Dame are. Thanks to Ken Berke for this. —Ed.]

P.S. Most of this comes via the New York Times, by the way, my morning read; I'm cribbing from David Leonhardt. (Other still-functioning, not-yet-compromised newspapers are The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and I routinely read The Atlantic and The New Yorker [on paper, which you must admit is quaint] and visit the BBC.) The Times, which I sometimes refer to as "the world's best photography magazine," has plentiful and robust photographic content, although it can sometimes be a challenge to corral it all. I officially recommend a subscription to the Times for the excellent photography articles. You can access ten articles per month for free. But subscribe. It's worth it.

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(Not) everything must fade away

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Kenneth Tanaka: "Thanks to David Aschkenas for sharing his Notre-Dame images. Also, you have a delightful collection of very well-seen international street images, David. I plan to take a deeper your of your work later this week."

Moose: "Re '"the entire world was in pain." Describes how I felt. "The conflagration brought a feeling of helplessness and
foreboding—reminiscent of the devastation on 9/11, in some ways, and perhaps that was part of the effect for some people: the sense—real or imagined—that we were watching a metaphor, a prelude, a warning." The feelings she's describing are essentially religious/superstitious.'

"I don't get it. This hyperbole and these feelings are highly personal; she and you are treating them as universal. It's an old church, Catholic, in France. Churches have been burning since the first one was built. Old iconic structures have burned or been otherwise destroyed, intentionally or by accident forever. Yes, I've seen this one. No, I have no emotional attachment to it.

"We are in Bhutan at the moment, where the central temple of the iconic symbol of the country was was destroyed by fire in 1998 <i>". . . leaving the country in mourning for their holiest of spiritual places. But religious leaders and the King . . . Today, the magnificent temple is completely rebuilt to its original glory. Another monastery destroyed by fire has been rebuilt, all but the altar in a new style. It's glorious, literally awe inspiring, at least to us and our travel friends! Every old fortress, temple, monastery, etc. that one visits has a history of fire and rebuilding, it's only a question of how many times. Getting so worked up about this one, seems a bit like getting hysterical when the sun goes down. It's something that happens regularly, and won't stop. The sun will rise again, as will Notre-Dame."

Chris Fuller: "I was surprised by my response to the news about this tragic event: I mourned and I wept. I mourned for a building, a collection of stones and glass. But it is a collection of stones and glass arranged in patterns of inestimable and moving beauty. It is one of those special places where history, culture, religion, and personal aspiration intersect with one another in a way that is rare anywhere in the world. It's a place that feels still even as thousands of people traverse through it. It's the place that gave birth to the University of Paris, and, thus, it stands as a monument what is good about the Western tradition (without denying this same tradition's many problems). I'm Catholic, so maybe that's part of it. But my Protestant and atheist friends also mourned and wept. So, maybe there is also more to it."

Notre-Dame is in Flames

One of the great landmarks of Western civilization, 800-year-old Notre-Dame Cathedral on the Île de la Cité in Paris, is burning. The roof has collapsed and the spire has fallen. The fire is still raging and the cause is not yet known. There have been no deaths reported.

The Cathedral, built over the course of one hundred years, was begun in AD 1163. It has been modified many times and had been undergoing reconstruction recently. One of the glories of French Gothic architecture and intertwined with French history, in modern times it has been the most-visited site in the most-visited city in the World, drawing more than 12 million visitors annually.

The structure was attacked by rioting Huguenots (French protestants) in 1548, and many of its treasures were destroyed or carried off during the French Revolution. Napoleon I restored it to the church and crowned himself Emperor in it. It had fallen into partial ruin and decrepitude when Victor Hugo's 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris (published in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) revived interest in it, with the result that King Louis Philippe ordered its reconstruction in 1844. It was then that the original 13th-century spire was replaced with the one which fell today.

The building is owned by the government of France and the Catholic Church is is perpetual beneficiary. More than 400 firefighters have been mobilized. It is a cultural and artistic catastrophe rather than a human one, but the fire appears serious enough to cause irreparable harm to the iconic building and many of its priceless contents; the cultural loss is grievous.

Mike

UPDATE the morning after: the fire has been declared extinguished, and there is guarded optimism that much of the cathedral interior was spared—it appears the roof burned on top of the stone vault, but the vault is holding. Damage is extensive, but French President Macron has declared that France will restore the cathedral and already, hundreds of millions of euros have been pledged for the restoration.

Photo taken by a tourist, Brooke Windsor, as the cathedral was closing, just before the fire broke out. She's asking for help in finding the man and little girl in the photo so she can give it to them.

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(Not) everything must fade away

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Manuel: "This is a massive tragedy for humanity, Mike. One of incalculable proportions. The Nôtre-Dame is a symbol of Paris and of France, mostly for the reasons you've mentioned, but there is a cruel element of irony here too. France is a proud nation: they have pride in their past. France conserves its monuments in absolutely pristine condition. If you see, say, the cathedral of Chartres, an imposing Gothic building halfway between Paris and Normandy, only the style betrays its age. The French really excel at preserving their heritage. No wonder, then, that this tragedy, although one not measurable in human lives, causes the French people such grief. And not only the French, of course. Just about everyone with a modicum of knowledge of history is in a state of shock today."

Thomas Paris: "I was standing amongst the crowd of people on the banks of Seine river yesterday evening, all of us stunned by what we were witnessing. I was standing there and yet still can't believe it. Couldn't bring myself to look at the photos I made. I was looking all morning at one I made in December 2017, when it was still intact. Let's just hope the structure is still sound. Last I heard, it was anything but sure."

David Lee: "Was Peter in Paris? I know one of his favorite restaurants is just behind Notre Dame."

Mike replies: He was en route from Paris to New York when the fire broke out, and arrived in New York to the news—so he got right back on a plane and headed back to Paris. Here's a photo he took this morning with his comments:

Peter Turnley, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, April 16, 2019

"Notre Dame lives! She is injured, but alive. Mme. Martine Hercouet is one of thousands of people from Paris and the entire world that are lining the streets around the Notre Dame Cathedral that has suffered a major fire, but saved from total destruction by very brave French fireman who succeeded in putting out a blaze that has seriously injured the rooftop of this church that has touched the hearts of so many millions of people worldwide. I flew all night from NY to Paris and landed early this morning and made my way immediately to the cathedral. Like many, Martine told me her first vision of the cathedral today brought tears to her eyes."

The International Digital Photography Museum

Not that I mean to downplay this news at all, but, first of all, I'm getting married!

She's a TOP reader, and has been for the past eight years. She said she has watched my personal peregrinations with interest over the years, and 16 months ago now she decided to introduce herself. Her name is Magda, and she has residences in Budapest, Hungary, and New York City as well as a vacation home in a location she prefers not to disclose. After we get married we'll have two vacation homes, the second one being this little house I've been living in for three and a half years here in the Finger Lakes! I won't be giving this place up.

Now for the relevant part. Magda happens to be the widow of very accomplished and urbane man who was famously successful in business in Hungary. She married him when he was 54 and she was 32; he died five years ago now. She's one year older than I am. We both consider ourselves relatively young, and we're both in good health, so there is still time to do the things we want to do. And neither one of us is terribly interested in merely collecting the conventional trappings of wealth...we want to do something; something useful to society and, specifically, for photography.

Same shows, different audiences
Of course, I have spun my idealistic notions at her gleefully for some time now—a few of them, admittedly, pretty crackpot. (She would say "most," possibly with an exclamation point appended to that. I do get carried away with ideas sometimes.) But because her wealth is essentially limitless and her interest is in public architecture, we've decided on the following plan, which we're pretty well along with already at least in concept.

We've decided to create a series of "mirror" museums—so far, we have plans for three in the United States, one in Canada, and two in Europe—one each in Prague and Budapest. Each building will be proximate to existing museums that already draw crowds—for instance, the one in Corning (local to where I am now) will be a hop, skip, and a jump from the wonderful Corning Museum of Glass, and the one in Chadds Ford will be within an easy drive of the Brandywine River Museum of Art.

Each Museum will have its own architecture, designed to complement its setting and its culture, but all of them will have very similar facilities—three beautiful large galleries and two small ones, an entry atrium and book shop, a number of small offices, several workrooms, and so forth.

Celebrate the new
Here's where it gets interesting. We won't be showing existing art, at least in terms of the actual objects—we'll be making our own. The halo Museum organization, IDPM, will employ master digital printmakers as well as curators. The printmakers and curators will work with living digital photographers to create exhibitions that will then be mirrored in all six locations worldwide. This might be one large exhibit in all five galleries, or several concurrent exhibits split between the various gallery rooms. Since every venue will have its own conservator and framer and presentation specialist, all that's required for coordination between locations will be the shipment of the newly made unframed prints, whether they're made in Europe or America. Pretty simple. Each show will be up for three months, for a total of four "changeovers" per year.

Not only will every print be newly custom-made for each exhibits, but small limited editions of each photograph shown in every show will be available for sale to the public—with all of the proceeds going to the photographers. In that sense our strategy is something of a hybrid between a traditional museum and a gallery, as well as a hybrid of a business and a type of charity called a "grant maker." Oh, and by the way, photographers themselves will not have to bear any expense for their shows.

Here's a big difference from a traditional museum: the IDPM will not maintain a collection. We will keep a record of what we show, but we will not collect and archive work—rather, we will help create it and release it into the world at large, where it may fly on its own wings.

The Mission statement
That's because our overarching mission will be to support active, working photographers of all kinds with these shows. Not only will they receive the intangible honor of having their work shown in six premium venues in North America and Europe, with printed catalogues, but they get to keep all the proceeds from any print sales. (Unsold prints will become their property when the shows are over, too.)

As you can see, this is sort of like TOP's print sales writ large! Very large.  :-)

You would think all this would be a lot of work, but, it turns out, not so much. Magda is used to having "people" doing things for her. And boy, do we have people. We are in the process of hiring directors for every museum, curators, printmakers, architects, builders, you name it. And we already have a core staff of administrators and helpers. After working alone for a decade and more, it's heavenly, let me tell you.

Launch is scheduled for 2023. The initial locations are: Toronto, Canada; Corning, New York; Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Prague, Czech Republic; and Budapest, Hungary.

Magda has plans for more museums—three more in Western U.S. cities, and one each in the UK, France, and Germany.

To say this is all exciting is a vast understatement! Oh, and by the way, my title is Director of Exhibitions. Our curators will work under me and although they will work largely independently, with lots of freedom, I'll have the final word on who, and what, gets shown. I'm chomping at the bit.

I'll keep you posted.  :-)

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.

Everything must fade away

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Featured Comments from:

Dave: "Mike, Congratulations, and congratulations! Wow, that's a lot of news to digest. I'll bet you'll be inundated with requests from photographers who never thought such a museum (with such fair treatment of the artist) would ever exist. From your description, Magda seems fascinating. Best of luck!"

Zack Schindler: "Does this mean that the with your newfound riches that the first ten posters here will be sent one of the new Leica Safari Edition M10-P's with matching lens?"

Mike replies: Since you suggested it, yes!! Unfortunately, you are commenter number 13. Chance is cruel.

Robert Harshman: "What day is it?"

Mike replies: It's Monday.

Jnny: "Magda sounds lovely. Has she asked you to forward expense fees yet?"

Mike replies: Made me laugh....  :-)

Bahi: "Why am I reminded of buried Leicas? That one still hurts. :-) "

Happy New Year!

As I type this it's the very last little remnant of of 2018—in a few minutes it will be 2019. Just a moment to thank all my readers who came by the site in 2018 or read some of my articles on feeds. I'm especially grateful for "regulars," who come by every day or most days, and of course the often brilliant, always interesting Commentariat—you're a big part of my own enjoyment of my site. I'm extremely grateful for the generosity of contributors, including people who send checks in the mail, people who donate cameras or send other gifts, and of course all my Patreon subscribers. And if you ever ordered anything through one of my links, whether it's a D850 or a $13 pair of socks, bless you.

I'll be back in 2019 with the camera of last year! Happy New Year to you and all your friends, family, and pets. God bless you and keep you safe. May you have a most wonderful 2019.

—Mike Johnston
Penn Yan, New York

Earthrise and Merry Christmas!

Fifty years ago today—50 years ago this morning, at a few minutes after 10:30 Central U.S. time—a former USAF fighter pilot named William A. (Bill) Anders, who is now 85 years old and lives in Anacortes, in the State of Washington on the West coast, took one of the indisputably great photographs of the 20th century.

Even if you've seen this before, watch and listen as it happens—

Bill Anders was later the Chairman and CEO of General Dynamics, and started a Foundation to support educational and environmental issues. Oh, and do you happen to remember that scene in the movie Top Gun where the pilot played by Tom Cruise encounters a Russian plane and gives the pilot the finger? The pilot who did that in real life was none other than the guy who took "Earthrise," Bill Anders.

I've seen this clip before but it's inherently moving. Each time I see it I enjoy it. And if that's not just the quintessential "hurry up and get the shot" moment, I don't know what is, unless it was Ansel frantically setting up by the roadside near Hernandez. (First, get the shot.)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you! From here in the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York to wherever in the world you are.

I'll be back after Christmas. We have a backlog of topics to cover. May great blessings be yours.

Mike
(Thanks to Gary Morris via Jack McD., and PDLanum)

Original contents copyright 2018 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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Tim S: "Thanks! Great background info on one of my favorite images. It has been a background on my phone and computers for years. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to TOP!"

Yoram Nevo: "And he said: 'Oh my God, look at that picture over there.' A photographer state of mind. Merry Christmas Mike, from the sunny winter of Israel. Best wishes for 2019, your regular—Yoram Nevo."

Rod S.: "Thank you for the link. The reconstruction is beautiful and adds significantly to our collective understanding and appreciation of the Earthrise photograph. I recall vividly watching as a 12-year-old the reading of Genesis 1 during the live television broadcast by the crew of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968. During the reading, the television image was of the cratered lunar surface passing beneath. The clear implication to me was that we were, at that moment, re-living how God might once have gazed down upon the early Earth. It was electrifying."

Mike replies: It was the most-watch TV program ever, at the time. Here's the address from the crew:

William Anders: "We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

James Lovell:

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Frank Borman:

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.

"And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas—and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."