NEW YORK NEW YORK – A busy week with a trip to Boston for meetings, and work preparing for the trip. I did manage to walk our dog, Basil, and caught this dog’s eye view with my Leica M9 and a 24mm Summilux lens.
On this day last year: Airport in Mustique.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – It poured all day. These are actually pretty good conditions for intimate details of the Northeastern landscape. I captured this in our garden with my Alpa TC and a 35mm Schneider Digitar lens. That’s Basil, our Norwich Terrier, putting his nose in the picture.
On this day one year ago: Friends in Mustique.
WEST CORNWALL CONNECTICUT – I spent the morning exploring the Northwest corner of Connecticut with my Alpa TC and a Schneider 35mm Digitar. The light didn’t cooperate – it was one of the cloudy days with a high, bright sky. This from a bridge of of the road in West Cornwall that parallels the Housatonic River. I ended up leaving an empty camera back by the road. Someone picked it up and dropped it off at a local cafe, the Wandering Moose
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I explored midtown today with my Alpa TC, 36mm Schneider Digitar and 60 meg Hasselblad back, stalking the Chrysler building. About the same angle as one year ago. Here you go:
On this day one year ago: Look up!
KENT CONNECTICUT – I felt that yesterday’s photograph of the wooden gothic church in Cornwall Bridge was a success, so I drove to Kent to shoot the gothic Congregational Church there. According to the Church’s website it was founded 1740 with the present building dates to 1849. They’ve fallen onto slightly hard times with 200 members and a bunch of peeling paint. But at least they have some attitude. According to the website the Kent Congregational Church was ” first to ordain an African-American pastor (1785), a woman (1853), an openly gay person (1972) and the first to affirm same-gender marriage equality (2005). ” “First” out of what universe isn’t clear. Anyway, here’s the picture, taken with my Alpa Max, a 60 meg Hasselblad digital back and a Schneider 48mm Digitar lens.
On this day one year ago: Rose.
CORNWALL BRIDGE, CONNECTICUT – The bridge in Cornwall Bridge is actually a highway flyover. A few miles north in Cornwall there is a famous covered bridge. Anyway down under the flyover in Cornwall Bridge, near the Housatonic River, is a lovely wooden gothic church. I’ve photographed it before but never well. Many of the churches that I’ve photographed are in poor condition. St Bridget Church is beautifully maintained. There is a new addition to a long stone wall and an impeccably kept graveyard. I shot the church full frontal with my Alpa Max, Schneider 48mm Digitar and a Hasselblad 60 meg digital back, using the movements on the Max to control perspective.
On this day one year ago:In our dining room.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I’m spending a lot of time trying to get my Hasselblad back to produce acceptable images in my Alpa Max. Hasselblad claims, accurately, that their “closed” system creates a high level of integration between the camera, lenses, the digital back and software. The system produces sensational images but Hasselblad is evidently not committed to doing the work to make their digital back work on a “technical” camera, like the Alpa Max. Most Hasselblad shooters don’t care about this – technical cameras are of primary interest to landscape and architectural shooters, people who want the highest performance wide angle lenses and those want to create immense high resolution images with a technique called “planar stitching”. It turns out that a technical camera like the Alpa Max (and its little brother the Alpa TC) fit my style and interests perfectly.
Putting a digital back on a tech camera general results in undesirable color shifts across the frame, which within limits can be corrected by software. The Hasselblad files also show a line down the center of the image ( a phenomenon called “centerfolding”) when the lens is shifted relative to the back on the tech camera. I spent most of the day shooting out my window trying to find the limits to this issue and looking for a solution. Here’s the view from my dining room window – it’s a two frame planar stitch. I’ve cropped the sky out because that’s where the centerfolding issue is most evident. Not a distinguished photograph but this view out my window is very useful for testing lenses, backs and techniques.
On this day one year ago: Portrait at Martha McPhee’s party.
