Category: Landscape

Saturday December 14, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Saturday December 21, 2013

WASHINGTON CONNECTICUT – So this was my day to put my 135mm APO-Telit on my Monchrom. I’m not great with long lenses, but the compression of perspective actually creates an attractive effect on a snowy day like today. I’m using it handheld, which means shooting at high ISO to get a short enough shutter speed to deliver the sharpness that this lens is capable of. Because of the flat perspective it is very easy and reliable to stitch frames, so in my hands it becomes effectively a 50 to 135mm zoom.

Two frames stitched:

Three frames stitched:

On this day last year: vacant lot.

Tags Connecticut, Winter

Landscape Still Life Urban

Friday December 13, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Friday December 20, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’m keeping up the thread on old lenses. I went out today with my 1959 Leica Dual-Range Summicron. I’ve shot this lens extensively in the past two years, but almost always at f5.6 and higher, a range where this lens behaves like a modern Leica lens (its character is very similar to the current 35mm Summicron). Today I resolved to shoot it at f2.0, where it has a lower contrast, more dreamy quality. Here is one from the street:

I also resolved to try the 1937 Carl Zeiss Sonnar on my Monochrom relying on close focus and guessing at longer focus distances. Here you go.

Here’s another with four frames stitched:

On this day one year ago: 86th Street.

Tags Christmas, Manhattan, New York

Landscape Out my window

Thursday December 12, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Thursday December 19, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – More experimenting with odd lenses. Today I attached a Leica 280mm lens designed for the dearly departed Leica reflex camera to my Leica M via an adapter and used the M’s electronic viewfinder to focus an frame. This lens has a sensational reputation, which based on this brick wall torture test, it deserves. But it’s a handful and the Leica M’s EVF isn’t very good so it is quite hard to work with.

On this day last year: From a rooftop.

Tags Lexington Avenue, New York, Skyline

Family and friends Landscape

Tuesday December 10, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Tuesday December 17, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I went out today in midtown with my Leica M (which unlike my Monochrom actually takes color pictures) and the 1937 vintage 8.5cm Carl Zeiss Jena lens that I wrote about yesterday. It produces muscular results. Very nice. Here is a typical (for me) shot around Citicorp Center and a wreath that Maria is using as her office Christmas card image this year.

Then for the evening I moved back to my Monochrom and Luxochron lens for a visit to my friend Bill Beekman’s place for a tour of his Virginia Woolf first editions, letters and so on.

On this day one year ago: Lipstick.

Tags Christmas, Manhattan, Parties

Landscape

Sunday December 8, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Sunday December 15, 2013

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Reflection captured with my Leica Monochrom.

On this day one year ago: Fog.

Tags Connecticut, Trees, Warren

Landscape

Saturday December 7, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Saturday December 14, 2013

WARREN CONNECTICUT – This is Pearl Harbor Day. I wasted a few hours refreshing my knowledge of the Pacific war. In Marine officers Basic School in Quantico the Pacific campaign was (and is) taught island by island but my knowledge has gotten rusty so I did a self-guided refresher. Here’s a remarkable YouTube video of the landing on Tarawa, the Marines’ first opposed landing in the Pacific with terrible losses and important lessons learned for the rest of the campaign. Names like Tarawa, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima resonate deeply with me.

Anyway here’s a picture of our house here. Six frames stitched taken with my Leica Monochrom and a 35mm Summicron Asph. lens.

On this day one year ago: FAO Schwartz.

Tags Warren, Winter

Landscape Still Life Urban

Friday December 6, 2013

Post author By Woody
Post date Friday December 13, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another rainy day. I spent some time this morning at Thornwillow Press’s shop at the St. Regis ordering Christmas presents for various family members, an experience captured with my Leica Monochrom and 50mm Luxochron lens. Later I took in the crowds at Rockefeller Center in the rain, again with the Monochrom but with my 24mm Summilux lens.

On this day last year: glassware.

Tags Christmas, Manhattan, New York, Shopping