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.

Happy Valentine's Day

Mystery Couple

Beverly & Ciro

On this Valentine's Day, two photos of my dear friends, Ciro and Beverly, taken at Flemings in Coral Gables.  At dinner with them I just squeezed off a few shots. It was dark outside and they were illuminated only by the window to the left and a spotlight above, perfect conditions to shoot in available darkness.

Leica ME, Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4, ISO 640, 1/30th sec.

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]

Capture Coral Gables

Dancers Photographed During Carnaval on The Mile
On Exhibit in the Coral Gables Museum July 5, 2013

To the rest of the world, I live and work in Miami.  To residents of "Miami", that actually depends on where you stand.  Like the cities of London, Boston and Atlanta, "Miami" is a conurbation, "a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area."  Wikipedia.  Miami is a conurbation of over 30 cities that have grown to the point that they abut in a nearly continuous manner, almost like a jigsaw puzzle, each with its own feel and vibe and even its own socio-economic demographic.  One of these is Coral Gables.

Known here simply as The Gables, Coral Gables offers a counterpoint to the region's hub, the City of Miami.  While the City of Miami is very urban, with many run-down neighborhoods next to beautiful high-rises, and many neighborhoods that seem to be in a state of perpetual gentrification, The Gables is the city that just seems to make everything work.  It is clean, relatively well-run, and close enough to the urban center that it defies the term "suburb".

Like everything in life, though, it does have its trade-offs.  While the City of Miami can seem at times like part of the developing world, it is a bustle of activity and unexpected experiences.  It is not uncommon to drive past a group of people protesting against the Castro regime, then encounter a group of hipsters strolling down Calle Ocho, bankers and lawyers on Brickell and finally pass some homeless-looking guy, on a bike, carrying his dog strapped across his back like a wounded soldier.  I'm not exaggerating; I've actually seen all this.

The Gables, though, seems to screen out any such unexpected encounters.  It is the embodiment of a mature and solid city, home to many doctors, lawyers and accountants.  An example of the differences is Carnaval.

Both the City of Miami and Coral Gables each has a Carnaval, but the two cannot be any more different.  Miami's is raucous, loud, jittery and crowded -- and I don't mean any of that in a bad way, either.  Carnaval on the Mile, as it's known in Coral Gables, is pleasant and well behaved.  I also don't mean that in a bad way, either.  It's essentially the difference between a Daddy Yankee concert and one by Gloria Estefan.  You can enjoy both or either, but just not the same way.

The photo above was taken during Carnaval on the Mile, on the last day actually, a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  The dancers look young, wholesome, and vibrant.  The street is clean, even after three days of Carnaval, and the event appears well-attended but not overcrowded.  That's The Gables.

The photo also will be on exhibit in the Coral Gables Museum this summer in their Capture Coral Gables show.  The opening is July 5, 2013 at 6PM.

Leica M-E

Leica M-E, getting some love.  Couldn't resist.  Can't tell if the lens is a 50 Summicron, but sure looks just like mine.

Two Silhouettes and a Smile

Much of what passes for black & white photography nowadays actually looks like color photography that has been amped in Photoshop and converted to B&W.  I suppose this stems from most B&W originating in digital cameras, almost all of which are equipped with color sensors.  Most users have come to photography by converting to color and have never really developed a B&W aesthetic.  In their minds, I suppose, B&W is nothing other than color images without the color.  When I can see everything in a B&W image in a heightened, super-realistic sort of way, it just creeps me out because it simply doesn't look right.  Real B&W is as much about the shadows as it is about the lights, as much about what you can't see as what you can.

A few weeks ago I attended an outdoor party with friends.  The lighting was atrocious and, even more importantly, it illuminated the scene from the wrong direction.  Anyway, I managed to capture this image of a couple at the party and got just enough illumination on the woman's face to make the image useful.  I don't like that the highlight on her chin is clipped, but considering this was shot at ISO2500 and pushed two stops in Lightroom, I think it's the best that can be hoped for.

I really like the image anyway, though.  You can see in it a couple that appears genuinely happy with each other even though you can't actually make out much else in the image except two silhouettes and a smile.  IMHO, this is what B&W is all about.

San Sebastian

Dancer in front of Brickell Irish Pub, Festival de San Sebastian

La Fiesta de la Calle San Sebastian (The Festival of San Sebastian Street) in Puerto Rico made its way to the Brickell area of Miami.  Click here for the rest on Flickr.