May 2011 – Woody Campbell

Wednesday May 25, 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I had a productive day walking from my office to our apartment via Central Park, so I’m posting multiple images; all taken with my Leica M9. Here is a sunbather on Sherman’s statue in the Plaza taken with my Leica and a 90mm lens.

General Sherman's statue in the Grand Army Plaza — General Sharman's statue in the Grand Army Plaza

The Metropolitan Club. Founded by JP Morgan for his steel baron clients who couldn’t get into the Union Club. Captures with my Leica and a 90mm lens.

A lazy summer afternoon shot in Central Park with my Leica and a 90mm lens.

Finally, the Metropolitan Museum. Three frames stitched shot with my Leica and a 35mm Summilux lens.

On this day last year: Party at Gus’s.

Tuesday May 24. 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I’m in a quandry about my medium format camera gear. I like the Hasselblad very well as a camera, but the digital back part of it has some shortcomings when used on a technical camera. The way my shooting style has evolved most of my medium format shooting is being done on a tech camera. So I spent this morning with a demo Phase One IQ 180 back at Digital Transitions. This is out their window looking accross 35th Street. Alpa Max camera with a 36mm Schneider APO lens and a Phase One IQ 180 back:

On this day one year ago: Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Monday May 23, 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – A lazy day, photographically. We’re gearing up to a have a large party tomorrow; I brought flowers back from Connecticut last night; Here’s an arrangement. Taken with my Hasselblad H4D-60 camera and an HC 100 mm lens.

On this day one year ago: Parking Garage.

Sunday May 22, 2011

WARREN, CONNECTICUT – Here we are, back outside in the rain with my Alpa in hand. Actually on a tripod. Rain intensifies the browns and greens in the landscape so this is a nice opportunity to get close. Here are two samples from a series. These were taken with my Alpa TC, a 48mm Schneider APO lens and a Hasselblad digital back. Both images were made with focus stacks. I made seven exposures in each case, with each exposure focusing on a different point, and combined them with a software package called Helicon Focus. This results in much greater depth of field than could be obtained otherwise.

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On this day last year: Brunch at CT.

Saturday May 21, 2011

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Most of the bushes and shrubs around our Warren house flower at some point between April and July, and everything turns invitingly green during this period. From a photographic standpoint it’s a little bit of a distraction because I doubt that MOMA or Pace will be showing any dynamic new photographers specializing in flowering shrubs any time soon. But nonetheless this pretty conventional landscape is hard to resist, so I spent the weekend wandering around with my Alpa and Hasselblad digital back.

On this day one year ago: Walking back from lunch. The restaurant that I mentioned in this post last year closed with no notice under mysterious circumstances. They just put a sign out saying they were closed. They had received excellent reviews and were always packed. The rumor mill suggests that it was something to do with the owner’s divorce or a litigation involving employee tips. Too bad.

Friday May 20, 2011

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Have I mentioned the weather lately? I’m sort of a puffy clouds in a blue sky kind of guy. There hasn’t been much of that around here lately. We’ve had a storm system settle down on top of us, like a mother-in-law coming to visit for a couple of days but staying for a month. This was taken on Third Avenue with my Leica M9 and a 135mm APO Telyt.

On this day last year: View from poker game venue.

Thursday May 19, 2011

NEW YORK NEW YORK – We attended a dinner sponsored by the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of New York, which named my friend of long standing, Tom Barry, as “Business Statesman of the Year”. Past recipients of this award include David Rockefeller, Felix Rohatyn, Paul Volker, Louis Gerstner, Henry Paulson and Michael Bloomberg. Tom spoke on the role that luck (the “ovarian lottery”) has played in the fortunes of the attendees – one of Tom’s recurring themes. Here’s Tom at the dinner, at the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum, taken with my Panasonic GS2 and a 20mm pancake lens.

On this date one year ago: Jim and Kelly. May 19 seems to be National Portrait Day.