The Mermaid Parade and the 50 Summicron

Unknown Mermaid, Coney Island, Summer, 2013

Last June we attended the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, as I've done many years before.  Shortly afterward, I posted on how the cops had ruined a perfectly good parade by cordoning off most access points and herding the spectators into pens like cattle.  It was really overblown.  In all fairness, though, this came right on the heals of the Boston Marathon bombing so I imagine New York's Finest were on high alert.  Still, I felt it was overdone.

Anyway, we did manage to make it onto the boardwalk, which is IMHO way better than the actual parade anyway.  While wandering along, eventually we stumbled into a party.  Nice, I thought.  I pulled out my ME, framed an image and immediately felt constrained by my 50mm Summicron. It just felt too narrow.

Prior to my Leica years, used to shoot a Canon 1D Mark 2 mounted with a 28mm Canon f/1.8.  Given the 1.3 crop, the 28mm effectively became a 35mm (28 x 1.3  = 36.4).  I bought it when I felt the need for a good, everyday prime lens.  I had wanted a 50mm field of view because so many famous photographers have used that lens.  It's even said that you can shoot the world with a 50mm lens. So shooting a cropped sensor camera at the time, I thought to get a 35mm to give me a near-50mm field of view (35 x 1.3 = 45.5). At the time Canon's 35mm lineup was either not enough or way too much. It was a choice between one that was really light and cheaply built or a second that was astronomically expensive and as heavy as a zoom lens.  So, I went with the 28 for an effective 35mm field of view.

I quickly learned two things.  First, this field of view is perfect for shooting scenes in your immediate surroundings.  In other words, scenes where you are a participant. You can be part of a conversation, at a normal conversational length, and still photograph the other person; very useful indeed. Because of this quality, scenes photographed with a 35mm contain a sense of context that enables a viewer to fully understand the image.

Second, it is virtually impossible to use as a portrait lens in vertical orientation, unless you shoot a 3/4 body portrait.  But for tight headshots it was too wide.  Still, I shot New York, Denver, Barcelona, Chicago and Miami with that lens and really grew to love the 35mm field of view. For years, that was my go-to combination. I still have that camera and the lens and have recently used both.

When I got my Leica ME, I had now re-entered the "full-frame" world and thought to get a true 50mm.  I bought a used Leica 50mm Summicron, a lens that is generally regarded as the gold-standard of 50s. The lens is very sharp wide open at f/2, with beautiful and smooth bokeh.  Also, because of its narrower field of view, it lends itself to impromptu portrait as well.  You can shoot a scene, like a 35, but will have to take two or three steps back, just enough to be next to the action but far away to be just outside of it. Because of this remove, it's a lens that make you more of a spectator than participant. Still, the 50 lends itself to both scenes and portraits and is in this sense a much more versatile lens than a 35.

So, on this day I ventured into the crowd armed with my 50 'cron and immediately was struck with a sense of claustrophobia.  The 50's field of view was too narrow to shoot in a crowd, at least easily. I felt like I was too close, like the shots would lack the context necessary to enable a viewer to make sense of the image, the very context that a 35 would provide. Still, this is what I had with me and what I needed to shoot.

Afterward, when viewing the photos, I came to a slightly different conclusion.  Yes, the 50 is tighter, but it's photos are not claustrophobic.  The photos that come from a 50 in a crowd are intimate, they draw you into the action and make you feel you're right next the people, invading their personal space. This isn't easy to accomplish, by the way. To adequately shoot a 50 in a crowd requires an understanding of the crowd and a sense of tracking people in the crowd with the lens, something that is easier said than done. When properly done, however, it can yield a sense of true intimacy in the photos.

Without question, for crowds a 35mm field of view is much easier to shoot and will easily give a great result too.  The 50 is narrower and I found much harder to shoot in a crowd but when successful, though, the shots from a 50 are intimate and personal, something the 35 really doesn't accomplish.

You can view images from the mermaid parade here on my Flickr feed.

Urbanism Perceived and Interpreted

Since I was a kid, I've loved city life.  New York, Barcelona, Chicago, Paris, . . . the hustle and bustle of daily urban life energizes me and always leaves me wanting more.  My earliest memories are of Chicago, a city that is pretty much accessible by anyone on foot.  I remember the buildings and the pedestrians wherever I looked.  The city was busy and the people all looked like the had somewhere to go.

Most of all, though, I remember the buildings.  These were mostly midrise, 4 and 5 story brownstones scattered through Lincoln Park and Wrigley Town, where we lived. The downtown, however, was and still is magnificent.

I felt an extreme disappointment when we moved to Miami.  Having been accustomed to the hustle and bustle of America's Second City, Miami in those days was nearly rural.  Slow, hot and virtually inaccessible except by automobile.

In the ensuing years, I've seen Miami grow to the urban center it now is.  I still would not compare it to the major metropolises of the world, but it's certainly head and shoulders above where it used to be in my youth.

The photo above is entitled Terraces.  It was shot in the Brickell area of luxury condo, essentially a large box comprised of may smaller boxes in which individuals store their stuff and live their lives. Here's the thing, though, with enough of those boxes you have a viable city.  That's Miami today.

Terraces is my contribution to Urbanism Perceived and Interpreted, a group show at the Coral Gables Museum.  Along with Terraces, the works of 17 other artists will be on exhibit as well.  The opening reception will be held on February 7, 2014 from 6 to 9PM.

Best of 2013

Drive Thru, POTY, 2013

This is my second Best-Of post, the first being from December, 2012.  This year's set contains 15 images, all but one shot in the first half of the year.  As with last year, the number could have been higher or lower, it just happened to be the number I truly liked.  Unlike last year, I won't post all of them, but will only comment on the POTY and the runner up.  The entire set is viewable in my Flickr feed by clicking here.

The POTY, Drive Thru, was shot in Wynwood on my return from my studio at the Bakehouse.  I was stopped at a light and just raised the camera and snapped off a shot.  Composition and tonality are the two things I like most in photography and the reason I shoot predominantly in black & white. This image has it all.  The sign on the extreme right third of the image tells you exactly where you are and acts as a counterpoint to the subjects on the left.  The left-side is lighted nearer the bottom whereas the right-side is lighted from where the left-side leave off all the way to the top.

The people in the image, though, complete the photo.  They are illuminated by the store and almost organically a part of the image.  Because of the tonality, the interplay between light and shadow and the presence of people engaged in ordinary tasks, this photo has always reminded me of an Edward Hopper painting, albeit in black & white.

The Mermaid Parade, 2013

FDNY truck sprays water on the Mermaid Parade

 So, I went to the Mermaid Parade and a police event broke out.  Sounds like a joke, but seriously, the whole thing was pretty whacked.  I've photographed the parade for years and have always had a great time.  The real point is to by-pass the parade itself and stroll down the boardwalk to meet the mermaids and photograph them.  Great fun, well, until this year.  The photo above was taken from the New York Aquarium's bridge to the boardwalk.  Unlike other years, this was the only way to get across, at least from this end of the parade.  If you look closely at the photo you'll see a row of police cruisers.  Behind that row they had set up a pen to funnel the parade-goers like cattle.  It was unbelievably and unnecessarily crowded.  [more below the fold]

The Definition of Luck

Friday the Thirteenth brings to mind the question: Is it better to be lucky than to be good?  That depends, I guess, on your definition of lucky. 

If you just hope good things will happen to you, if you hope you'll find a winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk for example, well, then that depends on what you actually get.  If the lottery ticket is for $1M, well, then, yeah, in that case luck trumps everything.  But what if the lottery ticket is for another free lottery ticket?  Well, I guess that's better than nothing, but really, what's the point?  Even still, how long will your luck last?  Eventually, every lucky streak comes to an end. [more after the break]

Perfection is Overrated

Lauren in Chicago

There are three types of photography sites: those that concentrate on gear, those that concentrate on technique, and those that concentrate on photos.  The technique and photo sites are generally a wash as they often overlap but the gear sites greatly outnumber the other two, unfortunately.  I say this all somewhat sheepishly as I tend to frequent the gear sites much more than the photo sites even though I think that the photo sites are without question more worthwhile, at least in an artistic sense. 

I think this is partly because photography is almost unique in the arts that it requires both some artistic ability and technical/mechanical ability too.  This attracts lots of people who obsess over measuring results in order to seek technical perfection.   The Canon 5D3 has 23 megapixels but the Nikon D800 has 36 so the Nikon has to be better, at least for now.  Is this lens sharp enough? Don't know if it is?  Well, then get a sturdy tripod and photograph a brick wall.  Yup, do it again at all apertures and focal lengths and then look at them at full magnification in Photoshop.  Keep doing this because it'll make your pictures more technically perfect.  Yup, corner-to-corner, edge-to-edge sharpness in all its 36 megapixel glory, or 23 if you're a fanboy. [continued after the break]

The Leica, One Year Later

Orange Line, Wabash and Adams No.2

About 18 months ago I bought a Leica M8 with a Voigtlander 35 f/1.4 lens. I should say I've spent the last ten years shooting Canon 1d's of various versions. As my street gear, I'd mount a 28mm to my 1D2 for an effective focal length of 35mm. So, unlike most SLR shooters, I was already used to shooting with prime lenses. Still, this was a huge change.  Rangefinders, like the Leica, are just different animals, wholly unlike SLRs.

The viewfinder on the M8 is large and beautiful, but you don't really see the exact image you're shooting because, unlike an SLR, you don't actually see through the lens.  The viewfinder is off to the side and a bit above the lens.  Essentially, you look off at an angle from the lens itself and, of course, you don't see any of the blurring or even see the image snap into focus as you would with an SLR.  Also, framing is done with frame lines which will change depending size and position depending on focal length and focus distance and even then, they're not terribly accurate.  You focus manually with a projection of an image on the viewfinder that essentially triangulates between the rangefinder and your view.  Because of my long history with DSLRs, this was a bit disconcerting, to the point that I'd subconsciously use the entire VF, just like a dslr, just force of habit. [more after the break]

The Battle of Madison

Thirty years after President Reagan broke the back of the PATCO union, the country is again embroiled in a passionate struggle, some say life-and-death struggle, over the future of unionization.  Over 30,000 protesters have taken to the streets in Madison, Wisconsin to protest Governor Scott Walker's proposal to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights.  This has been known in the media as the Battle of Madison, read here and here,

This struggle has seized the imagination of the country as unions across the country demonstrate against the further erosion of their collective bargaining rights.  The demonstrations came to Miami yesterday, well at least what passes for union demonstrations in this very anti-union state and in a city known for its political apathy. 

Approximately 300 people (my very rough estimate) demonstrated at the Torch of Friendship in Bayfront Park, just across from Downtown Miami.  What they lacked in numbers, however, they made up for in earnest passion.  Dismayed and angry at the sense that they are facing a full assault in several different states, the workers and organizers gathered to express their solidarity with workers in Wisconsin. 

The gallery is definitely worth a look.  Click to see the full gallery.

Miami On The Bay

Ho, ho, ho, and a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka,  Good Kwanza, Feliz Navidad, Happy New Year and Feliz Ano Nuevo.  Have I left anyone out?

For all of you in the frozen north, this is Miami in December.  The photo of Biscayne Bay viewed through a park bench was shot in Alice Wainright Park in the middle of a beautiful Miami winter's day with the temperature hovering around the low 70's.  Also, for those of you keeping score, I shot it with my Leica M8. 

This photo is available for purchase in sizes up to 20x30" on my webpage by clicking here.  

Leica M8, redux

As I posted yesterday, I just recently purchased a Leica M8 with a Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton lens.  I'm still deciding whether to keep it or not. I took this photo yesterday and just love it.  I think it's got a real vintage look, almost like a 1970's Rolling Stone article.  I love how the Nokton paints the bokeh in the background.  Some reviews I've read are a bit critical of the Nokton, saying that it doesn't render the bokeh in the same creamy manner that Leica lenses do, describing the bokeh as harsh.  I wouldn't describe it as such.  I think it's more shimmering and it gives the photo character.  My Canon lenses render creamy backgrounds, but none shimmers and adds character like this Nokton.  

Auto focus, though, is still an on-going battle.  After ten years of shooting Canon 1 Series cameras with lightning-quick, razor-sharp auto focus, focusing by hand is a slow and painstaking process.  Henri Cartier-Bresson is famous for stating that photographers needed to anticipate, wait for and seize the "decisive moment."  I doubt he would have felt the same had he carried a state-of-the art Canon 1 Series instead of a manual focus Leica.  Just auto focus and squeeze off four or five shots.  The "decisive moment" will be in there somewhere.  Not so with the Leica.  Each shot is essentially "hand-made".

Still, I like the camera.  It shoots so differently from any other camera I own or have shot in the past few years that I feel it will cause me to stretch my boundaries as a photographer and artist.  In the end, that can only be good.  For now it stays. 

Leica M8

Just recently purchased a Leica M8 with a Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton lens.  I'm still deciding whether to keep it or not.  After a decade shooting top-of-the-line Canon 1 series cameras with razor-sharp auto-focus and primo L lenses, going back to manual focus is a bit disconcerting.  Still, I'm very intrigued by this new addition.

This is one of the first shots, taken of friends while out at dinner.  Love the bokeh background, some say it's a bit jarring and not as creamy or smooth as Leica lenses, but I like it.  The lens renders photos in a really classic way, much like an old model from the 40's or 50's.  I took some shots today that I'd swear look as if they were taken in the early 70's.  I'll post those tomorrow. 

For now, the Leica stays.  Who knows, may be tomorrow I'll vote it off the island, but don't really think so.  Besides, it just looks sooooo cool on my shoulder.