Wednesday October 30, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK – First an image with my Leica Monochrom and Luxochron lens, looking up in Manhattan in the early evening. This is a great setup for shooting Manhattan at night handheld. This can result in some nice images particularly after the end of daylight savings time next week because it is dark at 6:00 when buildings are still full illuminated by lights in offices.

I joined some friends in going out to South Williamsburg for dinner at a restaurant called XiXa. Pronounced “shiksa” by the owner. No kidding. It was supposed to be a Southwestern dive but it turned out to be serious Asian-Mexican fusion at a very high level. A major upside surprise.

Lexington Avenue
Lexington Avenue
Xixa
Xixa
Xixa
Xixa

On this day one year ago: Sandy.

FDR Drive
FDR Drive

Monday October 28, 2013

tNEW YORK NEW YORK – A day of experiments. There’s a scanner app for the iPhone called Turbo Scan. It’s a document scanner that I use to scan documents (often after I’ve annotated them) and send them to people. Very high contrast. So using it as a camera is like photographing with a copying machine. Sometimes it works and sometimes it’s weird. Here’s a selfie done with Turbo Scan.

I’m putting a second image up today. I walked around all day with my Leica M with my f.95 Noctilux attached. For those of you who don’t know about it the Nocti is a very, very fast 50mm Leica lens. I had a 3-stop neutral density filter on it so I could shoot at f.95 in daylight. The Nocti is very large and heavy. It’s the devil to focus at f.95; I’m using it on the M with an an attachment that lets me focus through the lens. Just seeing if this combination works. It was just ok. The look of this lens, which I’ve always had an ambiguous relationship with, isn’t really me. As you will see below it is quite distinctive, rendering from the 1950s. For now I’m going to stick to Luxochron (the Leica 50mm Summichron Asph.) as my main normal lens. Of course I’ll continue to hold the Nocti as an investment (one of the best that I’ve ever made). The second image below is with the Nocti.

Selfie
Selfie
The Nocti steps out
The Nocti steps out

On this day last year: Bride of Franenstein lighting.

Poor light
Poor light

Friday October 25, 2013

NEW YORK NEW YORK and NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT – I went by train up to New Haven today to visit the Yale Art Gallery photo collection. We spent a delightful hour or two reviewing the work of Robert Adams.

This with my Leica Monchrom and Luxochron lens in Grand Central Terminal. A very common view but uncommon light – my best to date in GCT. Later in the day on New Haven Green.

Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
New Haven Green
New Haven Green

On this day last year: Nespresso Store. One my favorites from last year.

Coffee
Coffee