Photography

Photo Bag

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I’ve never done a What’s in my camera bag piece before. I’d always thought about it, but lately, my shooting style has changed in such a way that I no longer need to cary a camera bag. I just cary the camera on a leather neck strap. My Leica has a fixed 28mm prime so I have no need to carry any other lenses. So, that’s it (And, sometimes an ND filter in my jacket pocket). I do however prepare, what I call a “Photo bag” which just consists of a complete clean, dry pair of clothes, a towel, my Leica & Macbook Pro. … and my tripod which I basically keep in the car these days. I’m basically packing a complete set of crispy, dry, comfy & clean clothes. Ha!

$20K

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Today’s forecast calls for rain but this morning gave me about forty minutes of golden sunshine so I took advantage of it. I’ve seen this tank car around the corner from my house for the last week but always seem to be passing it in the evening when the “$20,000” is backlit by the setting sun. With this in mind, I popped over to grab some shots in the morning light.

1/400 sec at f/4.5, ISO 400, 28mm, Lecia Q2

1/160 sec at f/3.5, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/160 sec at f/4.0, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

Leica's Instant Camera

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I used to travel to Munich, Germany on a regular basis and spent a lot of time waiting for connecting flights in the Frankfurt International Airport. I always looked forward to ogling the Leica cameras in the electronic boutiques and on a whim, picked up their version of today’s instant camera; the Leica Sofort. Despite it’s hefty price tag, I never regretted the purchase because I’ve enjoyed using this camera for the last 6 years. Below are just a few images that I took while on a trip in Japan. The images below are a few of my favorites, though a complete gallery of snapshots can be found here.

These days I use this camera, primarily, to take photos of my son. I like the idea that he may be one of very few people who will have actual chemical-photography photographs of his childhood. They’re different, unique and special; just like him.

Nagasaki, Japan

Bridge in Kobe, Japan

A Shinkansen train

Randomness

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With gloomy weather in the forecast today, I’d envisioned some dreary, misty, morning photos at Lake Nockamixon. I had a section of tall pines in mind that I’d hoped to catch towering up into the fog. Instead, the weather cleared up, and I had to adjust my sails. Today turned into a random photography day where I just got in the car and drove, pulling over to explore any sites that interested me.

Below are a few images I’m happy with from today’s meanderings. Maybe it’s just the “Leica look” put out by the Q2 but I love the details in these images. Especially with the leading image of the excavator, shot at f/1.7. It has a 3D pop to it, right? I feel the same way about the third image of the shiny corrugated steel sheet against the textured green brick wall. They just seem to pop.

1/3200 sec at f/1.7, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/500 sec at f/5.0, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/250 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/640 sec at f/5.0, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/320 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

Foggy morning

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I’ve made a lot of power line images. I just really like the way these towers are constructed and how proud they seem no matter where I see them. This morning’s fog put a whole different mood over my typical scene.

Shootin' the moon

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Camping on 7th Lake with my family this week, I took advantage of the dark mountain sky. There’s so little light pollution up here in the Adirondacks. It’s funny; I never realized how fast the moon is moving until I tried to capture it. Between adjusting camera settings I found the moon was moving through my frame quite quickly! Using a shutter speed of 1/15 second seemed almost too slow, so I ended up bumping it up to 1/25 second and took a bunch of test shots playing with the aperture until ultimately settling at f/10 on my 500mm lens. Having never really tried to capture the moon before, I am happy with these results.

1/20 sec at f/10, ISO 50, 500mm, Sony A7R IV

Philly architecture

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It has been a long time since I’ve pointed my camera at so many buildings. Today’s on-and-off rain and low cloud cover provided some great naturally diffused light and beautiful soft shadows. I had a great time down in Philly and am happy with the images I made today. So many interesting patterns and textures. I remain amazed at the crisp goodness coming out of the Fujifilm X100V. The fixed 23mm lens (35mm full frame equivalent) is incredible. Tack sharp!

1/60 sec at f/10, ISO 640, 23mm

1/170 sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, 23mm

1/180 sec at f/3.6, ISO 160, 23mm

A case of stairs

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These images were made shooting at 1/80 second and 1/60 second at f/16, ISO 100, 14mm, Sony A7R IV.

Adirondack Landscapes

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Lakes in the Dax seem to dry right up during the winter months. The dead stump, out of which blueberry bushes and a young tree have sprouted, is usually underwater during the summer months. I was able to walk right out to this stump, Moses-style. Similarly, the sand bar from which I shot the bottom image is usually underwater.

1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 100, 14mm Sony A7C

1/60 sec at f/11, ISO 100, 14mm, Sony A7C

Case 220

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I will forever love the combination of orange and blue. I saw this old Case tractor this weekend and just really liked it’s shape and colors. A little web research told me that this Case tractor is actually an old one-cylinder, 10 horse power lawn tractor, produced by Case in their Winneconne, Wisconsin Plant between 1968 and 1988.