Urban – Page 102 – Woody Campbell

Wednesday November 20, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A clear beautiful day. My kind of day to get out and find some light and shadows, but I’m house-bound because of professional commitments. I took an hour’s break with a telephoto lens out my window. I don’t often shoot with long lenses. This is a 280mm Leica lens made for the Leica R but used on my Leica M with an adapter. The M lets you focus through the lens with an electronic viewfinder but this lens is very demanding in terms of focus accuracy and good tipod technique. Here’s a sample.

On this day one year ago: Mustique rocks.

Tuesday November 19, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – On foot on Park Avenue today with my Leica Monochrom and Luxocron lens. Pretty typical stuff, but not bad.

On this day one year ago: At Basil’s bar.

Monday November 18, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – One characteristic of Leica shooters is that we are likely to have multiple versions of the 50mm standard focal length lens. In my case I’ve lost count – six or seven – with the oldest dating to the mid-1930s and the newest being the f2.0 Summicron Asph. which is backordered and difficult to find. Today I’m shooting with a 1958 dual range Summicron which I have had modified for use on digital Leica M cameras. This is the classic Leica lens. Here’s what it’s images looks like:

On this day last year: Mustique.

Saturday November 16, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – More with the 18mm lens. I’ve decided to shoot straight up for a week. I mean really straight up – using a spirit level in the camera’s accessory shoe to orient it. Here’s one in our courtyard, again with the Leica Monochrom and 18mm Super-Elmar Asph.

On this day last year: James Beard Gala.

Friday November 15, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’ve been a bit dull in the past few days. The baby Sony is convenient but it lacks charisma and just doesn’t move me. In a project like this (one photograph a day for the rest of my life) a switch in approach can help break out of the doldrums, so I switched back to my Leica Monochrom, this time with a very wide lens, the marvelous Leica 18mm Super-Elmar Asph. I’m using it with a level in the accessory shoe (to help avoid weird wide-angle distortions) instead of a viewfinder. Shooting with the lens I can point in a general direction and just assume that it gets everything. I like shooting wide. Sometimes I worry that it’s a gimmick but this really has helped me to get out of a rut and back into my groove.

On this day last year: An abstraction in our offices. I took this last year with my Monochrom and a Dual Range Summichron lens from 1958. Of course I’m reminded of what a charming lens this is. I may turn to it next.

Thursday November 7, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Busy day of meeting. I need a compact camera kit so I’ve strapped my 35mm Summicron v.IV onto my Leica Monochrom. This lens is called the “Bokeh king” because of its attractive out of focus images. Here you go with some roses in the garden in front of St Barts on Park Avenue. By the way I’ve gotten a day or two behind my usual schedule for posting because of a quirky internet connection here. I’m working on it. By the way in editing this post I decided to toss in a few more images from around St. Barts (the church, not the island) – what the hell, let’s live it up.

St Barts[/caption

On this day last year: Blizzard. A reminder that things can get nasty around here this time of year. When I searched this site for “Blizzard” I found more than a dozen images.

[caption id="attachment_9726" align="alignnone" width="450"] Blizzard

Wednesday November 6, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Kind of a cool abstract visual, obviously on Lexington Avenue, taken with my little Sony. It took six or seven tries to get it to line up correctly.

On this day one year ago: Election day 2012. So last year’s images was a shot of the TV with the news that Obama had won a second term. Who admits now to voting for him? The truth is that I did. The symbolism of his Presidency is important, but in fact this has turned out to be a seriously crappy administration, the worst in my lifetime. My sources deeply inside the beltway tell me that the President has become totally isolated, no one actually knows who is in his inner circle at this point, and he is effectively a lame duck. This has been a very long year, and there are three more to go. What a disaster. Here you go: