Categories
Still Life

Thursday December 20, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’ve got another new old lens to fuss with. The Zeiss Jena all time favorite from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s is the 5.0 cm f1.5 Sonnar (5 cm equals 50mm). It’s a classic design with a classic look that had a very long run (primarily on Contax rangefinder cameras). I found one at a reasonable price on e-bay in a Leica screw mount which can be easily adapted to a modern Leica (and many other contemporary digital cameras). The Contax mount is much less useful because it doesn’t include a focusing capability – the focus control was part of the camera body on Contax rangefinder cameras.

When the lens arrived I noted a couple of odd things about it: it has no depth of field scale and the distance scale is denominated in feet, not meters, an oddity given that its serial number suggested a wartime provenance (the Germans weren’t making lenses to send to the UK and US at that point in history). In the course of some research I learned a lot more about the lens, which I’ll describe in a future post.

So here is an example shot with my Leica Monochrom. Note the beautiful character of the out-of-focus portion of the images – one of the real charms of this lens.

Orchid
Orchid

On this day last year: iPhone riot.

Sculpture
Sculpture
Categories
Landscape Street Urban

Wednesday December 19, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Out and about with my Leica Monochrom and 18mm Super Elmar lens. An intense winter day. We left for Connecticut without having uploaded this images from my New Desktop, so we skipped December 19 until we got back to New York – I’m actually writing this on January 1 and posting it retroactively. Here it is – the sidewalk in front of Bloomingdales.

Bloomingdales
Bloomingdales

On this day one year ago: Christmas grunge.

Have yourself a grungy Christmas
Have yourself a grungy Christmas
Categories
Landscape Urban

Tuesday December 18, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A Christmas shopping day on Fifth Avenue. I spent an hour at the Fendi shop – when I told the salesman about my photo a day project we took me to the second floor fur salon where there is a wonderful view of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Taken with my Leica Monochrom and 28mm Elmarit lens. Three frames stitched.

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church

On this day last year: Winter.

Winter
Winter
Categories
Street

Monday December 17, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – On the subway platform with my Leica Monochrom and vintage 40mm Summicron-C lens.

Grumpy Santa
Grumpy Santa

Interesting. Here’s a compass rose on a Park Avenue island that I hadn’t noticed before. It makes the point the the Manhattan grid is tilted 29 degrees West, more or less.

Compass Rose
Compass Rose

On this day last year: Self in steam shower.

Steam Shower
Steam Shower
Categories
Events and holidays Family and friends

Sunday December 16, 2012

SOUTH KENT CONNECTICUT – A holiday party with some friends in a neighboring town. Taken with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summilux Asph. lens.

Robert
Robert
Aggie and Maria
Aggie and Maria

Yesterday’s photo (demonstrating that I actually managed to take a picture on December 15, 2012, keeping my record alive):

butterflies
butterflies

On this day last year: Barking Dog.

Barking Dog
Barking Dog
Categories
Abstract

Saturday December 15, 2012

WARREN CONNECTICUT – What a terrible day. I spent my time dodging my computer and the television because the news on the slaughter in the elementary school in Newtown Connecticut was everywhere. This is one too many of these. We don’t know anyone who was directly affected but the landscape, the accents and the faces are all familiar – Newtown is about a 25 minute drive from here. It’s really time for some fundamental change here – perhaps an amendment of the Second Amendment. This will take wide-scale grass roots political action – our “political leaders” aren’t capable of taking us where we need to go. Perhaps a Million Mother March on Washington for starters – this is a family issue.

I took a few picturds today but decided not to post them (I’ll post one tomorrow for the completeness of my one-photo-every-day record). For now I’m posting this:

In memory
In memory

On this day last year: Meeting.

Meeting
Meeting
Categories
Landscape Urban

Friday December 14, 2012

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A modest day photo-wise that yielded this image of a vacant lot for my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summicron Asph. lens. Some days it may just be better to stay home.

20121214-L1005614

On this day last year: Alley. So December 14 was a dull day last year.

Alley
Alley
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