PAGET BERMUDA – I’ve done something weird. Here we are on this island paradise and the only camera in my bag is my Leica Monochrom. That’s the one the shoots only in black and white. Here in pastel mecca. But for better or worse I’m here with the Monochrome and four lenses, a terrific light travel kit.
I’ll start with a sunset and then move on to a mini gallery of images from today without comment.
On this day last year: Morgan Library.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Fuji has furnished a firmware update for the XPro-1 which I installed last night so I took the Fuji out for a spin today. The autofocusing is improved as promised. The problem with this camera, though, is that there are not a lot of lenses for it – the 50mm equivalent is terrific but that’s about it. Later in the day I met up with Maria and some friends for dinner and carried my Leica Monochrom and an f.95 Noctilux lens. The Monochrom fits my shooting style much better than the Fuji – I suppose that I’ll be putting the Fuji up for sale soon.
First with the Leica Monochrom:
Now with the Fuji:
On this day last year: Pudong at sunrise.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – More trees at our place in Connecticut – at least they aren’t birches. In the warm light at sunrise there’s a hint of fall color – a trailer for coming attractions. I’ve been shooting with my Leica Monochrom recently but went out this morning with my Leica M9 and 90mm Elmarit lens. I struggled with this lens yesterday but got better results today. Maybe it just takes practice. I focused my attention on a park-like area to the West of our house – an area that we created by mowing the underbrush in a stand of major maples and oaks. This is what they looked like in black and white and color:
On this day last year: One child policy.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Not a very productive day on the photo front. I’m not sure why this happens, but it seems to be hard to sustain interesting work with complete consistency on a day in and day out basis. Today I put my 90mm Elmarit on my Leica Monochrom and carried it through my day.
It may be that I just don’t resonate with this focal length. I tend to do best shooting wide. Anyway, I settled for some birches:
On this day one year ago: Spin.
BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS – Another solitary figure, taken with my Leica Monochrom and Dual Range Summicron. Not much going on here – I’m a bit rushed today.
On this day one year ago: Hong Kong.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Another beautiful day in rural Northwestern Connecticut. We’ve turned the two or three acres nearest the house into a parklike setting, mowing around the mature oaks and maples. Three angles captured with my Leica Monochrom and my 1957 lens, a 50mm dual range Summicron.
On this day last year: Self, on the way to
Hong Kong.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Out with the Leica Monochrom. Since this is my site I can probably get away with saying that this thing delivers medium format quality without being flamed. It’s a real sensation. It doesn’t see in color so there is no bayer array in front of the sensor, roughly doubling the sensor’s resolution from 18 megapixels to the equivalent of 30 or so. Here are some more experiments with film looks all taken with the Monochrom and 50mm Dual Range Summicron lens.
Three frames stitched in Photoshop.
On this day one year ago: Feet.
