WARREN CONNECTICUT – I tried a new iPhone app today called 645 Pro. It offers “raw” files, actually tiffs, that appear to me to have a stop or more of dynamic range that the iPhone jpegs and present fewer digital artifacts. It eats battery life so I’m waiting for a new release before I press it any further. A couple of examples in a “rocks and trees” vein.
On this day last year: 798 Art District Beijing.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – I spent some time today working with my Questar telescope as a close up lens. The Questar is a Maksutov-Cassegrain design – the first of these that was available in the US commercially. It was an object of lust in the 50s and 60s – some number of years ago I found that they were still being made in New Hope PA, so I bought one. These are inherently long focal length, small aperture designs that are good for planetary observations but poor for deep space objects. It’s focal length is 1280mm. My Sony Nex-7 is fairly easily attached to it via a Rube Goldberg combination of adapters. The Sony works well on the Questar because the camera is light and its resolution matches that of the telescope fairly well. Here’s a leaf shot with the Questar. Depth of focus at this focal length is paper thin. Note the funky bokeh (the out of focus portions of the image) – this is a common issue with folded optics which have central mirrors partially blocking the exit pupil.
Here’s the Questar set up to take the above image taken with my iPhone.
Here’s the new boat, re-cropped to exclude Roger. With Roger in it it was a snapshot. Excluding Roger and moving to a square (almost) format leaves a composition of circles and angles and to my eyes makes the picture more important.
On this day last year: Outside the Forbidden City.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – This morning I walked to the office and visited some galleries, accompanied by my Sony Nex-7 and my ever-present Leica 24mm Summilux lens.
On this day last year: watch repair.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Busy day with no time for photography. But as I was cleaning up after making dinner for myself (Maria is in London) I spotted an amazing sunset out the window. I grabbed the nearest camera – my Sony NEX-7 – and clamped a 50mm Summilux onto it. It would have taken too long to set up the big guy. I used a beanbag to steady the camera, and took a lot exposures hoping to get a good one. I got exactly one. Here it is:
On this day one year ago: On the Bund, Shanghai.
NEW YORK NEW YORK = Alexander’s birthday. We made the pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium for a game with the Minnesota Twins. There’s no better experience on a balmy summer evening. It’s not summer but the weather has been unseasonably warm so the evening was in fact balmy. Here’s Yankee Stadium as landscape taken with my iPhone plus a couple taken by Francesca (guest photographer) with the Hipstamatic app.
On this day one year ago: Hongqiao rail station.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’m back to Manhattan, lurking about, and looking up, trying to find odd angles, interesting shadows, surprising reflections and so on. This with my Sony NEX-7 and a 50mm Summilux lens.
On this day last year: Out my hotel window in Shanhgai.
SPRINGTIME IN THE BERSKSHIRES – It’s hard not photographing Spring in Warren, here in the foothills of the Berkshire mountains (actually where I grew up the Berkshire mountains themselves would be considered foothills, and just barely at that). You’re going to have to suffer through flowering trees and shrubs on weekends for a few more weeks. I’ll try to keep it gritty during the week. Taken with my Alpa TC and 32mm Rodenstock lens.
On this day last year: One of Will Ryman’s roses on the Park Avenue Divider. Faux spring. This was taken with a Voigtlander 15mm lens on my Leica – I kind of liked the blue cast on the edge so I didn’t correct it.
