The Online Photographer

There's Mo to Life

I mentioned yesterday that I was feeling out of sorts and intended to go out for some fresh air and exercise. I headed for the hill, where I sometimes walk; the theory is that the uphill trudge is good for my heart, although who knows. When I left the house I actually looked right at the camera, my old X-T1 and the fast 35mm lens for it, and thought, should I take that?

I swear I had just this exact thought: I always see something good up on the hill.

But I only took the phone, the real purpose of which is so I can call somebody if I keel over with the apoplexy from hill-climbing, at my age. It was a beautiful evening, high 40s (about 8 degrees for those of you in civilization) and clear as can be. A nearly full moon risen against the still-blue sky, and gorgeous, delicate clouds. A dissipating contrail rose like a plume from where the road met the horizon.

As I was passing my friend Honeybee Dave's western pasture, I noticed a young cow who's solid brown—how now, brown cow? All the rest are black and white. Further up the hill I spied Dave himself, up by his barn on a higher knoll, turning hay in a bale feeder, so I headed off the road along his fencerow toward him. I hailed him and waved. 

When I got closer I said, "I see you've got a youngster in the lower pasture who's brown."

"A youngster," he answered. "You want to see some real youngsters?"

"You've got a new one?"

"Two new ones," he answered, "Three days old. I'll show you."

His Daisy had thrown twins, turned out. Her third time as a mother. "I didn't see it coming," he said. His first clue should have been when she "blew two bubbles," as he put it, meaning her water broke twice. The second birth was a near-run thing. The two youngsters are Hope and Moses, and Moses, the male, spent too much time in the birth canal, and came out not breathing. Dave himself gave the newborn calf his first breath, and then he and his friend Pam, who was helping, had to keep Moses "roughed up and agitated"—up and moving—for the first two hours of his life while his lungs cleared.

Moses and Hope. At three days old they're about the size
of St. Bernard dogs, and soft to the touch.

Daisy trusts Dave so much that she didn't even have to be haltered and tied during the whole birthing procedure. She just stood for him.

The calves, too, are laid-back as can be, not skittish at all. Hope came right over to me and stood while I patted her head and skritched behind her ears. They played un-selfconsciously in their pen, relaxed as can be.

Hope at age 30 seconds. Taken by Dave right before
all the commotion with Moses began.

Was I ever feeling sheepish, though. I just got accused by a reader of not being a photographer, and there I was taking pictures in the shady barn with a phone. Dang. We need to talk about this thing where you leave your camera behind because you kinda have a camera on you. But more about that at a later time.

Seeing the calves restored my spirits—"made my day," as the saying goes. As Dave and I were talking outdoors, while he worked at the bale feeder, a magnificent sleek raptor came by, flying low and steady. Dave didn't have his glasses on but he thought it was bird called a harrier. A moment later its mate followed across the tops of the trees, against the clouds and the lowering sun. Dave has a thing about raptors, and he lives in the right place, because there are a lot of them around here.

As I started back down the hill, having taken my leave of Dave and his cows, the sun setting behind the high ridge of the bluff across the lake, I saw three deer running stiff-legged along the tree line at the back of a fallow pasture, the smallest one kicking its heels up. It was that kind of evening, when you feel glad to be alive.

Moses, who is fine now, is a handsome young fellow, with a
distinctive white face. The tip of his tail is white too.

"Want to know why I named him 'Moses'?" Honeybee Dave asked. "I'm going to call him 'Mo.'" He paused and then with a peal of a laugh said, "There was one Mo!" 

Mike

P.S. Did you notice the lens flare in the first shot? A faint echo diametrically opposite the bright sunlight coming through the slats, on Moses' leg and below it.

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

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hugh crawford: "Holstein with maybe some Jersey?

"Cows are pretty stoic about calving. Goats, on the other hand, go completely bonkers. My grandmother used to bring her Sunday school class out to the farm to watch cows calving, because it made sense to her I guess.

The first time one of our goats had a kid, she had her Sunday school girls out to watch, and it was a huge hullabaloo. She called the large animal vet, who said, '...so is she acting like she’s having a seizure or is it more of a possessed-by-demons kind of thing?' and without pausing added, 'they’re like that.'

"That evening my mother asked my grandmother how things went, and she said, 'I don't think they'll even have boyfriends.'"

James: "Re 'I always see something good up on the hill.' OK, so from now on why don't you make a regular point of... a.) going up the hill for your health and b.) taking a camera with you for TOP's health?"

Kenneth Wajda: "Speaking for myself, I am unable to go anywhere without bringing a camera, I can’t leave the house or step out the door for a walk without one. I guess it's just years of repetition. I'm a firm believer that inspiration exists but it has to find you working.

"A year ago I was in a small town at sunset and thought, there is nobody out; it's not going to be good for anything; I should just go home. But then I decided to walk the alleys between the houses and I ended up with photographs that I love that I never would’ve gotten except that I showed up. Taking the camera brings the photo opportunity for you."

James: "Re 'Was I ever feeling sheepish, though.' In a post about cows. Thanks for that, Mike.  ;-)  "

Mike replies:  :-)

RubyT: "This reminded me of last summer. My family had arrived at our motel in Wisconsin, where we would meet with my stepdaughter and grandkids to see Cave of the Mounds. My daughters and I decided to walk next door to Walgreens for the heating pad I'd forgotten to pack. I thought to myself 'there is no chance I will need a camera for Walgreens.' We ran into a herpetologist who was exercising his snakes, many of which we got to hold, and there I was with only my phone."

Mike replies: Oh, ouch. That's certainly something you can't go back for another time.

Sometimes I get the 'umbrella effect' too, when I think that taking my camera causes all the picture opportunities to disappear. (Like, when you take your umbrella, it doesn't rain.) I guess having a camera with you all the time irons out both effects.

Keith Mitchell: "I'm still haunted by the time I left my camera behind when living in Vancouver Canada in 2008. A mother Skunk and her half dozen very young offspring trailed along a wall In front of me when I was out walking. In my family I famously always have a camera with me. Here I am in my home town of Perth Australia, in isolation, still pondering a lost opportunity 12 years later."

Sara Piazza: "The best thing I've done for myself in a long while is picking up a little Lumix LX100 Mark II. It is with me at all times. It is very handy and has all of the professional bells and whistles. It took me awhile to learn all of the settings and knobs and dials and at first it seemed quite a bit like flying a jet plane or maybe flying a jet plane would have been easier, but I love the little thing. For the first time in a long time I feel as though I have a camera that is a true extension of myself, and so much better than the phone (and I have great phone/camera). Yes, I still get the big cameras and lenses out every now and then but the Lumix is always on my hip. Sara on the Vineyard."

Mike replies: I was just looking at that very thing last night! What was the tiny Panasonic that they made a while back? Couldn't find that one.

We Are Trooper Strong! (OT)

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

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

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

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

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

Mike
(Thanks to Bob)

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

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

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

Useful Pandemic Links

A few useful pandemic links:

• Here's the Johns Hopkins map of the Worldwide progress of the illness (number of confirmed cases, number of deaths, number of people who have recovered). (Start on the FAQ page at the link and then click the link at the top—that seems to be the most reliable way to get to the most recent update of the map.) New York City (!? They're breaking it out from the USA) has jumped onto the deaths list just in the past couple of days.
• For U.S. citizens, Kaiser Health News has a page with a county-by-county tally of the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, total countywide population, population over 60 by number and percentage, and number of citizens over 60 per ICU bed. The search bar is kinda tough to find (well, I didn't see it at first): it's at the top of the table, under where it says "ICU Beds, by County." For example, my county has 25,083 people, 6,750 of whom are over 60 (incl. Yr. Hmbl. Ed.), and 0 ICU beds.
• Mayo Clinic page that explains Donald Trump's personality disorder type.
• Fox Business page listing restrictions state-by-state (updated regularly).
• What kind of organism is this virus? Viruses are incredibly primitive lifeforms. It is "little more than a packet of genetic material surrounded by a spiky protein shell one-thousandth the width of an eyelash, and it leads such a zombielike existence that it’s barely considered a living organism." It's somewhere "between chemistry and biology," said Gary Whittaker, a Cornell University professor of virology, in the article. "It's switching between alive and not alive."
• Regarding the stock market crash, Julia is sick and is awaiting the results of her COVID-19 test, so she is quarantined away from husband Philip and their baby, who are also sheltering in place. But Philip goes lo-fi this week to explain the implications to ordinary investors of the bear market, on PBS's personal finance vlog "Two Cents."
• Simplified basic model of how viral epidemics come to an end. A development most devoutly to be wished and anticipated!

Know of another useful informational link from a page that's likely to be trustworthy? Send it to me personally by email, with the title "Possible CV19 Link," and please include some identifying verbiage in the body of the email so it doesn't get routed to spam. Please don't send more than one link URL in your email. Please don't add links in the comments, but you can provide enough identifying information (source, title) so other readers can Google for themselves if they want to.

Really, please don't put links in the comments right now*. Thanks.

Mike

*I do my best to vet links in comments so as not to unwittingly publish something objectionable. But it takes a lot of time. I worked on catching up with comments all day yesterday until 10:30 last night, a process that was slowed greatly by checking all the links. I'd rather spend less time doing that and more time writing!

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

Please help TOP keep on keeping on

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

Jim Arthur: "If you have never worked remotely before you may want to check out the 'SANS Security Awareness Work-from-Home Deployment Kit' for data security awareness info on how to stay secure at home. Their 'Securely Working From Home Factsheet' on the above mentioned page is worth a read. The cyber-criminals of the world are always lurking and waiting for a new opportunity. SANS stands for SysAdmin, Audit, Network and Security. Wikipedia says, 'The SANS Institute sponsors the Internet Storm Center, an internet monitoring system staffed by a global community of security practitioners, and the SANS Reading Room, a research archive of information security policy and research documents. SANS is one of the founding organizations of the Center for Internet Security.'"

V.I. Voltz: "The characteristics of life are growth, metabolism and reproduction. Viruses do not have metabolism, they need a host cell's metabolism to power and organise their reproduction. Technically they are self reproducing but not alive. Confusing."

This Too Shall Pass

These are certainly interesting times. (The old Chinese curse, they say.) My recovery fellowship is in turmoil. One of our major activities is to hold regular meetings open to the public, worldwide. The ones in my area have anywhere from two to 52 attendees, with five to 20 or so being the most common range—most in the middle somewhere. There are many older people, and health problems aren't uncommon. On the other hand, meetings can be vital to survival for many who are trying to stay sober. Many of our venues have been closing or closing their doors to us, and opinions vary as to what the best way forward might be. We are governed by "group conscience" decisions, so each group is negotiating its own solution. That's fair enough. But also kind of exhausting.

Which I guess is a microcosm of the whole world situation right now. I've never lived through anything like this. Of course it's not unprecedented in history—there have been many contagions before, some more dangerous than this.

The way I look at it is that it's an opportunity to work together, think of others, and keep in mind what's really important.

And also to try to figure out a way to use our burgeoning interconnectedness to good advantage. You don't have to make every connection in person. As we should know, here.

Moods
...I could stand some sunshine, though. The older I get, the more my outlook seems to walk in step with the weather. "Overcast" and "sunny" might as well be descriptors of my moods.

It's overcast today. But, in the words of the medieval mystic Persian Sufi poets, "this too shall pass."

It's been a full day here. I haven't been able to spend much time on TOP today. I hope I'll be getting back to some semblance of normal tomorrow. Or soon, anyway.

Mike

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

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

Lynn: "I have a photographer friend living not far from Milan, at the epicentre of the unfolding Italian COVID-19 tragedy. He describes the virus as a sniper, picking people off at random. Personal mobility is severely restricted (you need an 'essential purpose' to leave the house, plus a permit to be produced on demand) so online connections have become much more important. Supplies of basics are becoming more difficult to procure. Home deliveries can be weeks away.

"So he and some mutual photographer friends from around the world are chatting more via email, sharing pictures and anecdotes of our youth and families. It's wonderful—we are getting to know our online friends much better than before, bringing sunlight into our increasingly restricted worlds. Now is a good opportunity to share our experiences and help others overcome the loneliness of isolation."

Open Mike: One for All and All for One

Sign on front door: "Until further notice, this residence is closed to visitors. We're not sick, and we don't think you are. We're just not sure we trust you around our toilet paper."

(A joke making the rounds lately)

We're in the middle of what I hope will be remembered as a "scare." When such things concern financial behavior they might be called "panics."

And all the toilet paper is gone.

The toilet paper shelves at the grocery store in Penn Yan

This seems very strange at first glance, because what does a vaguely flu-like virus that only rarely causes diarrhea have to do with going to the bathroom?

It's logical, though, because we're being asked to potentially "self-quarantine"—isolate ourselves at home—if we get the illness known as COVID-19. Of course there's no way to know if we have the virus, because we can't get tested. On Friday, an ER nurse I know described the entire protocol for being tested at the local hospital where she works, and it's very involved. The bottom line is, where I live, unless you're really sick, you're not going to know whether you have the coronavirus or not. Basically, to know you have it, you'd have to be on a ventilator in the Emergency Room.

And while we're on that subject, special blessings for our health workers—like Erica, my friend the nurse. They're on the front lines and in harm's way, and deserve the same gratitude we grant those who serve in the military.

But back to the point. Prospectively—hypothetically—we're facing the prospect of voluntarily isolating ourselves at home for two weeks. So do you have two weeks' worth of supplies at home?

I don't. I shop for food almost every day. So it makes sense that you'd head to the grocery store and stock up on things you might need. Dog food, for example.

...And toilet paper. Be prepared!

Then, the behavior stimulates the behavior. Because if everyone's buying up toilet paper in a panic and you know it's getting scarce, well, you'd better get some yourself, because, you know, it's one of those household staples you normally need. So then more people buy some. But the stores are used to stocking only enough for ordinary everyday buying habits, and the sudden surge in demand makes the pipeline run dry.

So it's almost like you're forced to participate in this behavior even if you're not worried about getting the virus and have decided not to prep for self-quarantine. Even if you don't want to be another lemming.

I didn't have to face this. I have enough TP.

You never know about fires
So are we all being stupid? The B&H Superstore has closed down. The Sheriff of my county has declared a state of emergency and the bars and restaurants are closed. They're not playing NBA games. You know the litany.

What are they doing? Why is this happening?

Long ago I lived in Georgetown, DC, in a third-floor walk-up apartment. The street life was, shall we say, eventful. One night in the wee hours I was woken up by multiple sirens, so naturally I looked out my window. Across the street, also on the third floor, I could see a window that was lit up by flames from within.

Many firefighting vehicles descended on the scene and screeched to a halt between our buildings. Firefighters leapt out and energetically set to work. The street was quickly closed off. Residents of the apartment building filed out onto the street in their nightclothes. Hoses were connected to hydrants. A ladder truck arrived and a fireman scrambled up a ladder and broke the window where the fire was with an axe. Almost as soon as they arrived, there were firemen scurrying about on the roof.

Soon the excitement seemed to die down, but the noise didn't, so getting back to sleep seemed to be out. So I wandered down to the street and stuck my nose in it. (I am a nosey fellow, I will admit it.) I spoke to a fireman who seemed to be just standing around. I asked him how bad the fire was. He said, "Oh, it was nothing. We got it out in no time." It was a mattress fire—a woman had fallen asleep smoking and set her mattress aflame. She got out all right, but the fire scorched the whole inside of her apartment, and there was some water damage in the apartment below.

I expressed ignorant surprise that they threw so many resources at such a small fire. "You guys were on the roof!"

So he schooled me. He explained that they move as fast as possible and treat every fire as if it's highly dangerous because it's so important to get in and get it put out before it runs away from them. "Any fire can get out of control," he said, "and you never know how fast it's going to move. So we move as fast as we can, every single time."

Seem like a good analogy?

Exponential
A friend who works in medical policy emailed to say, among other things, "people don't understand the implications of exponential growth."

If they don't, it was nicely explained by Megan McArdle recently in a column in The Washington Post called "When a danger is growing exponentially, everything looks fine until it doesn't." She began:

"There's an old brain teaser that goes like this: You have a pond of a certain size, and upon that pond, a single lilypad. This particular species of lily pad reproduces once a day, so that on day two, you have two lily pads. On day three, you have four, and so on.

Now the teaser. 'If it takes the lily pads 48 days to cover the pond completely, how long will it take for the pond to be covered halfway?'

"The answer is 47 days. Moreover, at day 40, you’ll barely know the lily pads are there."

It's the old trick question: I'll give you either one million dollars in cash, or one single red cent doubled every day for a month. Quick, which one do you want? You'd better have picked the penny.

The high potential for exponential growth is the reason some people are deeply worried about the spread of the virus and other people think it's much ado about nothing.

'Epidemiology' is the study of disease transmission
It may seem hysterical that so many things are closing, but our epidemiologists know what they are doing. They have switched strategies now. They're moving away from quarantining. What they're trying to do now is flatten the curve, and the method they're using to do it is called social distancing. Social distancing is where each citizen voluntarily limits his or her contact with other people and, especially, with large groups.

But let's back up to "flattening the curve" and what that means. Let's say 150 people in the area of Smallsville Hospital will have heart attacks in a given year's time. But they're distributed randomly—that is, more or less evenly—throughout the year. That means an average of less than one heart attack admission every two days. Since Smallsville Hospital has the capacity to handle ten heart attack admissions on one day, they can easily handle the load, continuously. Some people do die, but all receive appropriate care. That's a flat curve.

Now imagine all 150 heart attack patients arrive on the same day.

That's a steep curve.

If that happens, most of the patients will die—there aren't enough ambulances, there aren't enough EMTs, there aren't enough ER berths, there aren't enough doctors, etc., etc. The system is overwhelmed and many individuals won't be cared for, but will be ignored and left neglected and suffering.

The United States is blessed to have a high number of ER beds, and many hospitals have a good supply of respirators. But for any given number of people who will get COVID-19, the more we can spread those cases out over time, the fewer of us will die. So every effort to flatten the curve will help the medical system save more of us...instead of dying, many of us will have a respiratory illness, get better, and go on with our lives.

So how does social distancing help? There's a great, short, simple interactive graphic article at The Washington Post that makes the concept clear and shows you how it works. It's by Harry Stevens and it's called "Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to 'flatten the curve.'" It simulates an imaginary disease and shows you graphically how it spreads. Suits us photographers, who like to see things and are so comfortable with the visual. The WaPo, which is now owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, is normally behind a paywall, but it's making the essential parts of its coronavirus coverage free for all visitors as a public service. So you should be able to see it.

If the article doesn't work on your tablet or phone (it didn't work on my phone), be sure to look it up from your computer.

It's worth it. Even if you already understand.

Given the importance of the idea and the inherent difficulty of the concept, it's one of the best examples we've seen yet of interactive graphic news articles, in my humble opinion—the kind of thing that can be presented on the Internet but not on the printed page.

You're going to bring Alexandre Dumas in to this?
It makes it clear why closing the NBA and the bars helps. Officials can't enforce "sheltering in place," but they can eliminate the attractions that get people out and intermingling. You don't have to decide not to attend a crowded restaurant if the restaurant isn't open. You don't have to deny yourself the pleasure of churning in amongst thousands of other souls at an NBA game if there's no game being played out on the floor.

Every individual who "shelters in place" and stays at home as much as they can is helping flatten the curve.

That is, they are sacrificing their own convenience and entertainment for the good of all of us—for the good of society.

This is an important concept right now. The twelve-step program I participate in issued an official statement about the pandemic, which makes good sense because our primary activity is gathering for regular meetings which anyone can attend, and which conventionally end with everyone holding hands! But they declined to make any recommendations. I was disappointed by this. Leadership in a crisis never hurts, even when it consists of sympathetic suggestions.

They said something that I think highlights one of the greatest weaknesses of the United States as a nation of people. It's also been one of our greatest strengths—but right now it's a weakness. They sternly conclude one paragraph by deferring to the cult of individuality and self-will: "Regardless of group decisions, each individual is responsible for their own health."

It would be pretty to think so (to allude to Hemingway). But...no. Not now. We're all in this one together whether we like it or not. (I won't go into the fact that the present crisis highlights why society needs to provide basic medical care to all of its members, not just some of them. In a pandemic—and this is not going to be the last of them—taking care of only the rich just doesn't work.)

The fact is, by protecting yourself, you are protecting others; and by protecting others, you are protecting yourself. "Un pour tous, tous pour un (One for all, and all for one; also inverted to All for one, and one for all) is a motto traditionally associated with the titular heroes of the novel The Three Musketeers written by Alexandre Dumas père, first published in 1844. In the novel, it was the motto of a group of French musketeers named Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan who stayed loyal to each other through thick and thin." (Wikipedia.)

Individualism, self-interest, and self-reliance might be admirable traits in some circumstances. But they are not what is needed in the present moment. It is time for cooperation, not competition. In this crisis, the more we can be mindful of what is best for others, the better off we will be.

Honey, can you bring me some toilet paper? We're out!
And finally, if you're staying home and have time on your hands—and to end this where we began—here's a link to an odd and awkward subject that offends modesty somewhat—the history of toilet paper. And why we no longer use the Sears catalog. As Popeye says, faskinatin'.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the TP should be back on the store shelves in a week or two. Ninety percent of the toilet paper used in the United States is made here, and most of the rest comes from Canada or Mexico. TOP will be open for business during the contagion, assuming the portal continues to function.

Stay safe, friends, and God bless you and yours. 

Mike
(Thanks to Dan W., Oren, and Erica)

P.S. Oh, and here's something funny. The grocery stores in the area are half cleaned out, but I eat mostly vegetarian—and the produce sections are still all but full. Sure, the bananas and potatoes (most popular fruit and vegetable, respectively) are gone, but for the most part that section of the store looks like any other day. The rest of the store might be depleted. But even fear-driven panic buying can't get people to eat their vegetables like their mothers told them to! It's like, yeah, sure, we're desperate, but we're not that desperate.  :-D

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

Please help support The Online Photographer through Patreon

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Featured Comments from:

Glenn Allenspach: "A couple days ago, we my wife and I were discussing the TP shortage. As she held up a 12-pack of the stuff, double rolls mind you, I snapped a pic. She immediately said, 'Don’t post that, we don't want to attract any burglars!'"

John Krumm: "Great post. Both my brother and my wife are physicians. My brother is at a clinic in Seattle, where he said they are going day by day, wondering what fresh hell will arrive. Patient visits are down, but confusion, anxiety and dread is up. One visiting doctor just quit to go back to her home country, and they are down to three proper masks. Yesterday they set up an outside tent for testing and the wind blew it over. The cost of the test they have is around $1,000.

"Here in Duluth we have yet to see a single confirmed case, so we have more time to prepare, and are taking all the steps. I volunteer with a couple of groups, one working on housing issues. Helping the homeless is a serious problem. Having 100 people sleeping in close quarters was never the best solution, but now it's a recipe for disaster. We probably should rent out a couple hotels for that purpose, and will be pushing officials to offer that.

"To me what is really striking is the slowing of time, like you always hear about during accidents. Everything is in flux, so two weeks ago feels like an eternity.

"I have my fingers crossed that the best thing coming out of this is that we fundamentally change our national priorities."

Kristine Hinrichs: "Interesting. Here in Milwaukee we’ve been on increasing lockdown since last Thursday or Friday. As of 5 p.m. today everything is closed except grocery stores, pharmacies, and other essential stuff. Bars are closed (and it’s St. Patrick’s Day) and restaurants can only have take-out. You can’t gather in groups of ten or more. The one thing that you can do is go outside. The parks are packed with people walking, all maintaining their six foot social distance. It looks like a physical fitness epidemic. Yes, TP and hand sanitizer are in short supply. The good thing is that some grocery stores have special hours only for people 60+ like me or at another kind of risk."

Hélcio J. Tagliolatto: "Excellent post, Mike! Same situation is occurring in Brasil. I read this on a website in Portugal yesterday: 'Your grandparents were asked to go to war; you are only asked to stay on the couch. For God sake!'"

schralp: "Here is another way to think of the situation:

Blog Note: Gratitude is the Attitude (OT)

Tom Lovell (1909–1997), Surrender at Appomattox.
Painting commissioned by National Geographic in 1965.

It's my birthday. (George Harrison's too, so go listen to "It's All Too Much." One of the greatest of all psychedelic-era songs, if you ask me, not just of the Beatles' efforts in that genre).

Birthdays, to me, are like Halloween trick-or-treating...great and memorable fun when you're little, and then you try to hang on to the magic until you're maybe fifteen, when you're past the right age for it and it's starting to get a little, let's say, awkward. You're too cool for a costume and your voice is breaking, if you're a guy, and if you're a girl you don't even want to be a ballerina or a princess any more, and you're almost as tall as an adult and...well, all right, kid, here's your candy. But grow up. You don't get to go backwards.

After that, birthdays make nice excuses for family get-togethers and a good reason to connect with friends you like and don't see much, but it's not really necessary that they be all about the person who's turning whatever double-digit age. For many of us, many birthdays go by as just another day, and that's okay. They're just mileposts on the stretch of highway we get to travel, whether it's fifty or seventy or ninety miles long.

That's one of the best things about birthdays now. I know my stretch of highway gets to be at least this long! Increasingly, every year that passes is a little tiny...victory. At 63, it's worthwhile for me to remember that this age was the average life expectancy for American males in 1944, which was just a few blinks ago in galactic time. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, who both survived the Civil War, each died at 63. And, save one eye-drop every morning, I don't even have to take any medications. Almost no matter what event you're considering, you can look at it with gratitude if you try. (Isn't it weird that no one thought to have a photographer present at the surrender at Appomattox?)

I don't think time is linear anyway. Scientists rationally space years as if they're all equidistant regular points on a graph line, but I look at it this way: years feel like whatever percentage of your life they are. They're 1/10th of your life when you're ten, then eventually 1/30th, then 1/60th and so on. So this past year was 1/63rd of my life and it cracked past pretty quick. Months feel almost like weeks used to. I don't worry any more about having to wait for things, for instance—time passes fast, and whatever you're waiting for will be along. Going to a concert next month? That day will arrive before you know it. Waiting for a lens from Japan? No worries, just keep living your life and voilà, it'll be at the door.

And some periods of your life are full of intense living, and others are place-holders, like the filler around the hits on a great old vinyl album. In 1976–78 I lived as much life as I have in other periods of my life that lasted a decade, by the clock. 1993, when my son was born, packed in many years' worth of drama.

Every day
This isn't a bad time of my life. I wake up every morning and pray, which is an odd thing for a former rationalist materialist atheist to be doing, but it makes me feel better. The longer I do it, the more of my morning prayer is taken up with thoughts of, and blessings for, others—I also pray every day to be relieved of the bondage of self, so what better way than to be praying for other people? I had a salad for breakfast today, and I won't eat after three, just like every other day. I have a standing date to play pool at the bowling alley this evening, before my meeting.

And gifts? well, I'm blessed—I get gifts intermittently throughout the year. I don't just get to talk to my son on my birthday, but all through the year. I wrote about my new glasses and my repaired eye the other day. What's a great picture but a gift, for that matter? It's like we're fishing and we catch one. I had two runouts in one day the other day (in the game of 8-ball, a runout is when you sink all seven balls of one set, stripes or solids, plus the eight ball, in one turn). I've never done that twice in one day before; that was a nice gift. A reader named Fred Morrison, out of the blue, sent me a wonderful care package of old equipment he doesn't need any more. He thought I might like some of it. And I do. It's wonderful, and it might even change my life. This past year a reader named Jay Burleson gave me one of the nicest presents I've ever gotten. And I have 815 Patreon supporters! How awesome is that? (Thanks to every one of you.) I have readers, who care enough to read what I write. That's a gift right there, for someone who calls himself (somewhat egotistically) "a writer." It's more than Emily Dickinson or Franz Kafka had.

No, I'm grateful every day. Gratitude is the attitude that helps you be happy.

Anyway, I'm going to take the day off. My brother's family and I used to have what we called "sushi blowouts" for my son's and my February birthdays, so, in honor of them, I'm going to drive to Corning and ceremonially indulge in a little animal protein in the form of bits of raw fish and other ingredients cunningly crafted into delicacies. Sybaritic and self-indulgent, God knows, but hey, today's a milepost on my stretch of highway, so I'm going to rationalize and indulge.

Back tomorrow, same as always.

Mike
(Thanks to Fred, Jay, the 815, and all my supporters, commenters, and readers)

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

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Henning Wulff: "Have a great day, and even more so, a happy, healthy and satisfying next year. And remember: You're now too old to die young. When you think about the things you can/might/should be grateful for, you find that there are an increasing number of things to be grateful for as you go on. An additional reward for being grateful. It also tends to keep you from being that guy who yells 'Keep off my lawn!' at kids."

Robert Stahl: "Wonderful article, Mike! One of my favorite quotes on gratitude is by the 13th Century German mystic Meister Eckhart: 'If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.'"

Marten Collins: "A happy birthday old fruit, there is something rather pleasant about getting older! Seen it before, eaten it before, heard the promises before and got over it before. Enjoy."

The December Car Magazine Massacre

Motor Trend Group and TEN Publishing (formerly The Enthusiast Network), publishers of many car and truck magazines including Motor Trend and Automobile, announced in December that 19 of its automotive newsstand titles would be transitioned to digital-only, ending the paper versions of all 19. The most prestigious of the magazines affected was Automobile, founded by David E. Davis in 1986. 

Folio reports that MotorTrend Group president and GM Alex Wellen announced the move in a memo to staffers on December 6th. "We need to be where our audience is," Wellen wrote in explanation. "Tens of millions of fans visit MotorTrend’s digital properties every month, with the vast majority of our consumption on mobile, and 3 out of every 4 of our visitors favoring digital content over print."

Still up in the air in December was whether all of these magazines would continue to be published in electronic format. Well, I just received a notice that Automobile will be "combining" with Motor Trend and that my remaining subscription will be fulfilled with issues of Motor Trend. What does "combining" mean? I dunno, but probably that Automobile is being killed but that a few of its staffers will be picked up by Motor Trend. So obviously not all of the 19 magazines being downgraded will continue to be published digitally.

Indicative of the general climate is that in January, Road & Track closed its offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and put its digital editor in charge of the publication. Car & Driver recently laid off 13 staffers.

Kim Wolfkill, editor of Road & Track from 2016 to 2019, told MediaVillage that ad agencies have become entranced with digital/social media, influencers, and TV. "Wolfkill also pointed out," MediaVillage said, "the willingness of many young writers on digital platforms to work for very little money—with free test cars and trips to exotic locations as the payoff. [...] The writing quality may not be high, but the information is there instantly when a new model is announced."

He didn't include "photo quality," but you can check YouTube for yourself....

Only three of Motor Trend Group / TEN Publishing's 22 titles will survive in paper format: Motor Trend, Hot Rod, and Four Wheeler.

Statista reports that in 2017, 27% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they never read a print magazine.

Mike

ADDENDUM: In a blip that seems somehow related, one of the last stories I read in Automobile pointed out that EV (electric vehicle) sales surpassed sales of cars with manual transmissions for the first time in 2019, with 1.6 and 1.1% of U.S. car sales respectively.

But hey, you can still buy a Leica MP new and you can still buy a Mazda Miata convertible, approximately three-quarters of which are bought with stick shifts (the RF version has a lower but still substantial take-rate for manuals). And Road & Track still has 600,000 subscribers and Motor Trend and Car & Driver have 1.2 million each, and all three continue to be available in print versions. So there! Go, survivors.

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

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BW Jones: "I remember the very first issue of Automobile where they had the temerity to compare a Ferrari 308 with the Toyota MR2 on the cover! Automobile had gorgeous paper, ink, fonts, and the photography! Oh, the photography. Under David E. Davis, then Jean Lindamood Jennings, it was in my mailbox every month and I savored every issue. I got the same announcement as you, and sorta expected this when they were acquired. A sad day for me to be honest."

William Cook: "As a onetime subscriber to many magazines, I’ve now gone to the dark side—electronic mags. More specifically, Apple News + Magazines app. Not that I get a penny hyping this service, but it is particularly good. For $10 a month, there are hundreds of magazines available. I just counted 17 auto magazines alone. All the most popular photography mags are there too. Other top shelf magazines are available as well, such as Architectural Digest and Fine Woodworking. I just checked out of curiosity and I ‘subscribe’ to 57 magazines that I read monthly through this Apple app, all for the one monthly price. As much as I hate the demise of printed mags, it’s hard to knock having them all available on my iPad to read anytime and anywhere I desire."

Weekes James: "OK I am 73, so fall out of any relevant demographic, but here are the thoughts of a lifelong car freak who is tired of most of the magazines. Automobile was very good for the time Davis and then Lindamood ran it. It slowly lost its way, for me, about ten years ago. Car & Driver faded a bit during the last staff turnover. Also the snarky, snotty 'Ed.' remarks in the Letters column are tiresome, at best. Road & Track seems to have descended into only talking about cars that are on posters in teenage boys' bedrooms. Their daily online mag is all about 700HP and up supercars and sound bites of these cars peeling out. Oddly, Motor Trend has evolved into a pretty good informative magazine that tests cars that people actually buy. I still get the print editions of MT and C&D, but will let the latter go this year. Don’t get me started on television car shows."

Matt Kallio: "Turning the stats around, I find it remarkable that 73% of 18-to-29-year-olds say they read a magazine occasionally!"

paul in AZ: "Re '27% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they never read a print magazine': This quote is only partially accurate. Delete the words 'a print magazine' and you have a more complete assessment. Kids just don't read. Everything has to be in YouTube or some other video format."

bryan willman: "I'm 60 and never read physical print magazines anymore, either."

Jon Porter: "Very sad news. I enjoyed reading their JP magazine (Jeep content) each month, along with other magazines. It was so nice to read an article away from a monitor without the intrusive clutter of ads and click bait mixed in with the text."

Mike replies: It's funny in a way that you say that, because when periodicals were newer, they were the ones criticized for having intrusive ads and distractions, and "Continued on page [x]" breaks.

Benjamin Wilkes (partial comment): "Automobile's forte was in long-form, descriptive pieces that gave the reader the experience of both the vehicle and the journey, rather than just engineering details and performance numbers."

Bill Pearce (partial comment): "Another step in the decline of our society. Combining Automobile with Motor Trend? This would be like combining The New Yorker with The National Inquirer."

Jim K.: "I'll just be curmudgeonly and comment accordingly:

1. I drive what I believe is the last manual transmission Volvo (a C30, affectionately known as my Fjord Focus). 287K miles and counting.

2. I shoot Sigma cameras because I like making prints and love taking my time both shooting and 'developing the film' (Sigma Photo Pro on my 2010 iMac is quicker than a darkroom. But not by much).

3. I love drinking craft beers and whiskeys...but I've become enamored with Mike's daily 'Vin and Tonic' recipe....

4. I've taken to baking my own sourdough bread, which I do at least three times a week (both for me and for friends and family).

"What do these things have in common? None of them are digital! I suppose you could argue that the Sigmas are digital...but that'd be a stretch.

"And as a further aside, I will disclose that I write really great software for internal uses at my company. So I can do digital. I just choose not to all the time...

"Wrapping this comment up, I will say that I miss print. I'd subscribe to the paper versions of our local papers (Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel...but they don't deliver out by me."

Steve Biro: "Mike, remember when Popular Photography folded and many of us felt kind of sad about it—but admitted we hadn't found much to read in it for perhaps a decade or more? That's pretty much the case with car magazines.

"I ended my print subscriptions of Automobile, Road & Track and Car and Driver a few years ago. I picked up the last two titles again this past year because they literally begged me—offering both for $7.99.

"But the truth is, I don't find much in them to interest me these days. There's a bit of racing content in Road & Track that's nice. But I don't know that it's enough. I suspect that I won't be renewing.

"It doesn't help that cars aren't very interesting these days—certainly not for those who truly enjoy driving. It's all about technology and connectivity these days. I knew C/D was in trouble when it made an editorial switch from recommending that 'driver assistance' technology be turned off and that drivers—you know—watched were they were going, to listing such technology as pluses. I mean, you have to be able to answer your phone and look at the big eight-inch screen in your car, right?

"As for Motor Trend and the rest of the former Peterson publications, I haven't looked at them in over 25 years. Okay, once in a while I check them to see if there's anything interesting. There hasn't been.

"The cars we are being offered today—at least the ones most of us can afford—are certainly competent. But they are as joyless as the society that's buying them. And that society can't wait until it gets full autonomous driving. No wonder the enthusiast publications are going down. It's not just the advertising industry's fascination with digital—although that's part of it. It's that there are fewer and fewer auto enthusiasts with each passing year.

"It's hard to take for this ex-Formula Ford racer. But I suppose, as with photography, I should be thankful that I was able to enjoy the hobby during its golden years."

The Big Game the Morning After (OT)

Turns out my assumptions were out of date. I watched the big game online in perfect quality at the broadcaster's website with no issues.

Pretty exciting game.

I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with either team, though. Kansas City lost the battle of the line on both sides of the ball, and I'm not sure the much-ballyhooed Patrick Mahomes made a very convincing MVP. For a lot of the game (although it was probably because the pocket kept getting very small very fast), I thought he performed a skillful impression of an inexperienced QB having an off day. Several times, as Joe Buck mentioned, he appeared to not even have a clear idea of what he was trying to do. The KC offense took on a faintly slapstick aura now and then—several times a player with the ball had an easy first down right in front of him and failed to simply keep running or keep running in the right direction. And you know that play KC kept calling where the QB hesitated, then handed the ball to the running back standing next to him, who then ran straight down the middle? Anthony Anderson's real-life mom from the T-Mobile commercial could have told you that wasn't going to work. I don't know what it's called, but I'll bet that play was old when Andy Reid coached his first game.

But the Chiefs came through in dramatic fashion when it mattered, storming back from a double-digit deficit in the final eight minutes, and that is what counts. Exciting to watch. It's very satisfying when a smaller-market team wins a big championship—it's a triumph of grit, gumption, and "everything coming together" over the big-market money that usually manages to dominate these contests. (Just as an aside, that's another remarkable thing about what is historically the best NFL team, the Green Bay Packers*, who lost this year in the NFC Championship Game—the semifinals, for those of you not from here. They're located in the smallest media market of any NFL, NBA or MLB team, yet they have so many more NFL championships (13) over the longest span of time—81 years—that no other team comes close.)

Through the looking-glass
I watch so little TV that my occasional visits tend to be startling...even a bit shocking. While I enjoyed the game, the viewing experience as a whole once again made me glad of my decision to cut TV culture out of my life. What a wretched mess it is artistically, morally, and stylistically. Full of stylized violence and empty eroticism, ominous music, bathos, fantasy, threat-posturing, posing, greed, and histrionics. (Should I tell you how I really feel?) How do people get inured to it? You get the feeling that if it could possibly be contrived to be any more mannered, frenetic, bombastic, slick, and shallow, it would be. Particularly poignant and regrettable to me were all the shiny expensive ads for wretched junk food and horrible junk drinks—the kind of stuff that is slowly killing a lot of us.

...But step slowly away from that soapbox, Bub (I said to myself).  :-)

Anyway, congratulations to Chiefs fans, and all Missourians. It must be fun to be in Missouri (yeah, Kansas too**) today!

Mike

*Or is my fan loyalty showing? Nah, I'm completely objective about the Packers!  ;-) 

**Again, for those of you not from this country or who know nothing about (American) football, the Kansas City Chiefs hail from Kansas City, Missouri.

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

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Andre Moreau: "Most of Québec was watching that Superbowl game, as local boy, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, number 76 for the Chiefs, was playing. By the way, he's the first ever medical doctor to play at the Superbowl."

Jack: "Mike, I’m sorry the Packers didn’t make the big party. Had they won, you could have gotten to wear another ring even bigger than the one you wore in this photo."

Mike replies: That was a fun day! Good memory.

Lindsay Bach: "It probably comes as little surprise that, depending on the source, the average American watches between three to five hours of television per day. As a person who has largely shunned TV for nearly 50 years, on the rare occasions I do watch television I am always stunned at the incessant wash of crass culture and consumerism viewers willingly submit to. Twenty-five years ago when I taught high school English, I used to sometimes tell my students that I didn't watch TV, just for their reaction. I remember one kid said incredulously, 'you don't watch TV?—you must be really bored all the time.' I responded that I was really never bored (the truth) given all there was to do in the absence of TV."

Speed: "On my very occasional visits to televised sports I am amazed at the technology that is now applied for our benefit—especially the Skycam...Skycam is a computer-controlled, stabilized, cable-suspended camera system. The system is maneuvered through three dimensions in the open space over a playing area of a stadium or arena by computer-controlled cable-drive system. It is responsible for bringing video-game-like camera angles to television sports coverage. The camera package weighs less than 14 kilograms (31 lbs.) and can travel at 13 meters a second (29 mph). Invented by Garrett Brown (also the inventor of the Steadicam). Following kickoff returns up (down?) the field is a thing of sports and technological beauty."

Jon Porter: "I believe Missouri's team was named for the Kansas City Chief, Santa Fe's posh Chicago-Kansas City train. So it might be more appropriate for fans to dress as engineers and conductors instead of Indians. The Green Bay Packers took their name from original sponsor the Indian Packing Company, a meat-canning firm. So while the Packers name has sometimes been the butt of jokes, it's not as bad as an early cross-state rival, the Beloit Fairies."

Mike replies: Not too sure about the train connection. Where'd you hear that? The team was originally called the Dallas Texans, and the Chiefs website says the name was changed to "Chiefs" when it moved to Kansas City in 1963 "partly" in honor of H. Roe Bartle, the mayor of Kansas City, who was instrumental in convincing the Texans to move to Kansas City. Bartle's nickname, which he got in connection with his role in local Boy Scouts organizations, was "Chief." That's all the website says about the name as far as I can find.

Lamar Hunt, owner of the Texans/Chiefs, is acknowledged to be the founder of the American Football League. He was later instrumental in the merger of the two leagues, and he was the one who named the Super Bowl—getting the idea from the Super Ball, a popular toy in the 1960s.

Greg Heins adds: "Speaking of Lamar Hunt, there's a photo connection (of course!). He was one of three brothers who took their family oil billions and cornered the market in silver in late 1979, driving the price through the roof. Guess what? Lots of silver in film and paper (what photographers used at that time). The price of those went up substantially. The scheme ultimately failed, silver came back down, and the brothers finally declared bankruptcy, which as you can see didn't cramp their lives a bit. Although silver came down, film and paper did not; funny how that happens."

Photo District News Has Closed at 40

Emerald Expositions, the operator of business-to-business trade shows that runs PhotoPlus (formerly Photo East, and before that Photo Expo) in New York City at the Javits Center, and is the most recent owner of PDN, has announced that PDN will close down and stop providing content.

PDN was founded by a photo assistant named Carl S. Pugh as New York Photo District News, a newsletter for the commercial and studio professionals along lower Fifth Avenue in New York city—the photo district. It was first published in May of 1980 and made a profit from the start. (1979 is generally agreed to have been the peak of photography as a home hobby as well—both home darkroom magazines were founded within a year or two of that date.) As the only publication directly targeting commercial and studio advertising professionals, with content relevant to business as well as photography, PDN soon became national. Pugh founded Photo Expo in 1983 and sold the show and the magazine to AdWeek in 1984. In the 1990s, as President of the Trade Show Division of Mecklermedia, he went on to run the then-fast-growing Internet World Conference.

In its heyday, Photo District News was a thick, glossy, professionally-produced publication that studio pros all across the country felt they had to subscribe to even if they didn't have time to read it. It was the voice and the brightly-lit shop window of the industry. It was neither well known nor widely read among amateurs and hobbyists. PDN also published the PDN Annual, a showcase for talent where photographers could become known. The Annual awarded a number of prizes; the Photographer of the Year award was $5,000 along with a profile in PDN. Naturally, advertising agencies and art directors also kept an eye on the publications, always on the lookout for that year's hot talents.

PhotoPlus, which has been shrinking, will go on this year, but its future beyond that is not known. Emerald Expositions will continue to publish its other publication, Rangefinder, in digital-only format, along with support for the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photography International) show, which is growing.

Mike
(Thanks to Jeff Schimberg, and others)

ADDENDUM: Here's the email letter PDN sent to subscribers. Thanks to Terry Morrissey for sharing this.

Note that they are repaying their subscription debt (the monies already paid for subscriptions that haven't yet been, and now won't be, fulfilled). Typically, magazines that are folding will sell their subscription debt to another magazine, and you'll get that other magazine for the remainder of your subscription. Sometimes, you're just out of luck, as if you had played a game with a "futures" investment that didn't pan out. It's relatively unusual for a publication to refund unused subscription payments in cash. So kudos to Emerald Expositions for that.

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

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Featured Comments from:

kirk tuck: "And professional photography has now left the room...."

vince garofalo: "When I worked with Eric Meola I remember PDN was issued on newsprint, also for many years Rolling Stone magazine."

John Shriver: "That's pure class to refund the remaining subscriptions! I've had two subscriptions to magazines that ceased publication (The Perfect Vision and Mainline Modeler), and no funds were returned to me, nor any other compensation."

Jim: "I attended PhotoPlus last October for the first time. It was a terrific event. Most camera makers were there (Sony was around the corner). Each provided free CLAs for their brand. Not only was my digital camera cleaned and checked, they replaced the eyepiece and one of the accessory doors, neither of which I thought was a problem. They also provided models to photograph, well known photographers as guest speakers, and the opportunity to try the latest and greatest equipment, e.g., I got to shoot with the GFX 100. I also shoot film. The number of analogue vendors was very impressive. All aspects from LF camera makers to film manufacturers and darkroom equipment suppliers were represented. All in all, a lot of fun."

jim: "Sad news. I have not only been a long term subscriber (since sometime in the late '80s) but freelanced for them after journalism school and owe them my start as an agency photographer. I got my first contract through connections I made while writing for PDN. Their closing says a lot about the state of the photography industry and its continuing viability as a profession."

Public Deaths

Photo courtesy Slam News

Gianna and Kobe Bryant. Photo by Atiba Jefferson.

"O untimely death!" cries Oswald, slain by Edgar in Act 4 of Shakespeare's King Lear. The disembodied cry recurs at the end of "I Am the Walrus," the masterpiece by John Lennon, himself the victim of just such an end forty years ago.

The United States as a nation was shocked yesterday at the news of the death of nine individuals in a helicopter crash in California that included basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, known as Gigi. They were reportedly traveling with another player and parent to an away basketball game for the girls.

Every NBA-level basketball player is a superlative athlete. The ones who stand out in that world transcend their sport; theirs is a special glory, yet one in which we feel we can all take part. Say "Kobe" to virtually any American, even those who don't follow basketball and aren't fans, and they'll know who you mean. Athletes are particularly easy for all of us to celebrate. They belong to us, in a way. They live our daydreams.

Kobe was retired as a basketball player but in his prime as a man, a mere 41 years old. His loss is bad enough, but seeing the photographs of a happy Kobe as a proud father with his adored daughter by his side is truly heartbreaking. One can only pray that neither of them fully realized what was about to happen to the other when the end came.

Similar tragedies happen every day across this country and the world, but we hear about them, and feel them, when they happen to larger-than-life, high-profile people. Those deaths stand for all the others that happen in silence and that pass by without public notice. Our sympathies and condolences go out to the Bryant family, and the families and loved ones of the other seven people aboard that ill-fated helicopter yesterday, and indeed for all those loved ones who are lost with shocking suddenness before their time.

For those reading this, may your death be timely, and may the deaths of those you love be likewise.

Mike

Coverage of Kobe's death is being offered to visitors for free today at the Los Angeles Times.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

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William Lewis: "Good piece, sir. Your last line reminded of an old zen story. A wealthy samurai goes to a well known monk and calligrapher. At the end of his visit, he asks for a scroll to hang in his house. The monk thinks for a moment and the writes in his most exquisite hand 'Grandfather dies. Father dies. Son dies.' The samauri is deeply offended and reaches for his wakizashi (his shorter sword, worn indoors). The monk calmly says, 'If your lives are like this, you will be greatly blessed. For everyone will have lived out their time and passed away in the proper order. This is something all families should hope for.'"

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

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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

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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

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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

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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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