NEW YORK NEW YORK – On the street with my Monochrom and 5cm Nikkor from the mid-1950s. Later at a dinner at the Union League Club for Robin Dresser who received the Maxwell Perkins Award with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summicron lens.
On this day last year: Subway steps.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I went out today in midtown with my Leica M (which unlike my Monochrom actually takes color pictures) and the 1937 vintage 8.5cm Carl Zeiss Jena lens that I wrote about yesterday. It produces muscular results. Very nice. Here is a typical (for me) shot around Citicorp Center and a wreath that Maria is using as her office Christmas card image this year.
Then for the evening I moved back to my Monochrom and Luxochron lens for a visit to my friend Bill Beekman’s place for a tour of his Virginia Woolf first editions, letters and so on.
On this day one year ago: Lipstick.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – More old lenses. Today I’m experimenting with a 5cm Nikkor-S (Contax mount) f1.4 with a Contax to Leica adapter that I found on ebay (the focusing helicoid for the Contax was on the body, not the lens, so this is a complex adapter). This lens, which is from the mid-1950s, does much better at close focus than infinity, where there is all kinds of junk going on in the corners. Here are two samples on taken with my Monochrom. This lens has a lovely signature in an intimate setting.
A second old lens: an 8.5 cm f2.0 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar from 1937, also in Contax mount with a modern copy of the adapter referred to above. The mount had a slight ding which caused serious hassles fitting it to the adapter. After fussing with it on and off for a couple of months I finally got it working this week. The focus cam is not correct for Leica so the rangefinder is only accurate at close focus (1.15 m) but is extremely accurate there. This with an M so I could use the EVF to focus and converted to black and white. This is a sensational, charismatic lens, especially given that it is 75 years old. I’ll be doing more work with it.
The Nikkor from the Mad Men era:
The Sonnar from pre-War Germany – not a great image – I’m trying to figure out what this lens can do.
On this day one year ago: White House.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Reflection captured with my Leica Monochrom.
On this day one year ago: Fog.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – This is Pearl Harbor Day. I wasted a few hours refreshing my knowledge of the Pacific war. In Marine officers Basic School in Quantico the Pacific campaign was (and is) taught island by island but my knowledge has gotten rusty so I did a self-guided refresher. Here’s a remarkable YouTube video of the landing on Tarawa, the Marines’ first opposed landing in the Pacific with terrible losses and important lessons learned for the rest of the campaign. Names like Tarawa, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima resonate deeply with me.
Anyway here’s a picture of our house here. Six frames stitched taken with my Leica Monochrom and a 35mm Summicron Asph. lens.
On this day one year ago: FAO Schwartz.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Another rainy day. I spent some time this morning at Thornwillow Press’s shop at the St. Regis ordering Christmas presents for various family members, an experience captured with my Leica Monochrom and 50mm Luxochron lens. Later I took in the crowds at Rockefeller Center in the rain, again with the Monochrom but with my 24mm Summilux lens.
On this day last year: glassware.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Today is a tale of a 75 year old lens, a 1937 85mm f2.0 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar. After some significant effort I have finally gotten it to work on my Leica M bodies. Here it is with the statue of Sherman on the Plaza. I’m struggling slightly trying to master this lens (everything is backward on it) so I also shot fog our our window with a conventional Leica 21mm lens to make sure that I got a shot for the day.
On this day last year: 919 Third Avenue.
