WASHINGTON CONNECTICUT – We visited some friends for lunch today and snapped an aeal view of their place with my drone. This is four frames stitched.
Day 2,705 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day last year (day 2,340): Museum
WARREN CONNECTICUT – This was a working inside kind of day – hanging pictures and cleaning out closets. I took a break from household drudgery to do a series of test images to assess the quality of the out of focus portions of the image (the quality of so-caled “bokeh”) for every 50mm lens that I own: a 1945 f1.5 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar, a 1962 Leica f2.0 “rigid” Summicron, a modern Leica Summicron, a Summicron Asp. and an f.95 Leica Noctilux.
There was no clear winner but the rigid Summicron, Summicton Asp and Zeiss Sonnar excel, and the Noctilux has a very special character. In this context what I mean by “excel” is smooth transitions from the in focus and out of focus portions of the image, and a creamy quality in the latter. Images below are from the modern Summicron Asp. at f2.0 and the Noctilux at f.95.
Day 2,704 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day three years ago (day 1,608): Chambers Street
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Shooting with my DJI Mavic Pro drone again – today in brilliant late afternoon winter sunlight after a few inches of snow freshened up the landscape. this is three frames stitched, which helps overcome the drone’s limited 12 meg file size. The third image is from earlier in the day during the snowfall.
Day 2,703 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day three years ago (day 1,607): WTC II One of my favorite images from 2014. Despite the March 10 date it was bitter cold – 2 or degrees F. I wanted for half an hour for a pedestrian walking toward me – i don’t like to shoot people’s backs – but gave up after a half hour and shot the pedestrian walking the wrong way because the cold was driving me off of the street.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I spent the morning in Central Park shooting with my Leica Monochrom and 50mm Summicron Asp. lens.
Arriving back home I found a FedEx box with a new lens: Leica has reissued a compact 28mm lens that began life in 1955. The new version is mechanically identical to the original – fit and finish are lovely and it’s remarkably compact. Optically it’s almost identical to the original: a symmetrical double gaussian design with slight adjustments to account for the fact that some of the 1955 glass formulas are no longer available. And of course modern coatings.
I shot out my window with it – my usual optical torture test which I won’t bore you with. There is some slight softness in the corners at maximum aperture (f5.6) but it’s smooth with no funkiness so corners actually look sharp given the lens’s high contrast. It has lovely rendering. I’ll be shooting with it extensively over the next few weeks. I’ve included a mundane image that illustrates its rendering.
This little lens has rekindled by interest in the 28mm focal length – I used to shoot extensively at 28mm but the focal length has fallen out of favor with me because the iPhone has the equivalent point of view which means that it has become too common. More to follow.
By the way I’ve finally updated my copyright notice from 2015 to 2017!
Day 2,702 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day four years ago (day 1,241): Warren Congregational Meeting House. Shot in infrared.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I had meetings in Boston today, and then took the Acela back down here. I prefer the train to flying, but there is a downside: on the New York end you end up at Penn Station. I got my images of the day outside of Penn Station as the light was failing. I generally travel with my Leica Monochrom and a single lens.
By the way there was some confusion about my post for March 6. I’m writing this in Connecticut (on March 14 – remember that I post with a week’s delay from the date of the image) and my image for March 6 is on my computer in New York. I’ll sort it out when I get back to New York later this week.
Day 2,701 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day two years ago (day 1,971): Blizzard aftermath
BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS – I got out on the street for an hour today with my Leica Monochrom and 50mm Summicron Asp. lens. The light was only ok so I settled for an abstraction. This really is an abstraction – it’s a “look up” turned on its side. It’s a commentary on the architecture that you literally can’t tell which way is up.
Day 2,700 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
CORRECTED:
On this day two years ago (DAY 1,989): Snow
NEW YORK NEW YORK – The corrected entry for March 6.
Day 2,699 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day seven years ago (day 142): Joshua Tree. A lot has changed in seven years – climate change has actually killed off a substantial number of the Joshua Trees.
