I like this series from a café directly across from the Pantheon in Rome.

 

Keeper. 

I love this image. I shot it many years ago and it's in the entry hall to our main house. I made a print that is much, much better than the above scan because it's on 20 x24 inch, double weight Ilford Gallerie paper and I slaved over the burning and dodging for multiple renditions. It's beautifully framed and matted and has been hangin at the entry to the house for nearly 28 years now. It doesn't get old. 

I show it today to talk about a tendency some photographers have of seeing a scene, getting a quick snap and the rushing off; either out of fear of being discovered by the subjects or because they didn't slow down and think about ways they might have made the shot better either by changing the composition, changing the point of view or just slowing down and waiting for the scene in front of them to change on its own, in a natural way. 

The images below are the ones that came in the moments before the image above. Each has a different look and a different energy. I was waiting and sampling to see if I could get exactly what the fast part of my brain would identify as "the one." The slow and plodding part of my brain wanted to think about it some more and maybe go for some gelato. In all I shot eight frames. Not being very surreptitious because I was using a big, loud, medium format film Hasselblad camera with the volume turned up to full. And I was maybe five or six feet behind the couple. I assumed that they assumed I was actually photographing the 2,000+ year old landmark in front of us (behind them) so why should they care? But to me the secret trick of this set of images is the thought/intention of not retreating after getting "a" frame. But waiting to get "the" frame. Maybe the waist level finder of the camera was an aid to the whole exercise. After all, who can work quickly looking at a screen that shows you everything backwards and dark? That sure slows one down. On the other hand I was using a 6x6cm camera so after 8 frames I was getting near the end of my 12 exposure roll and, well, film wasn't free. Usually. 

Printing an image quite large (for the times) and living with it in your home for nearly three decades goes a long way toward confirming how you feel about the work. We took all the art work down last year so the housepainters could work without endangering the frames and the glass on the prints. When the walls were bare B. and I both felt the house seemed empty and unsettled. Not finished. Once the prints went back up the equilibrium in the space returned. We have more wall space to fill but we haven't decided on more images just yet. Give us another 30 years. ...

I woke up with a start. I thought perhaps my camera and lens package was too small. Too light. And that carrying around more stuff would make my photographs better...

 

Tech notes about this photo (above): 

It was lit with a Nanlite RGB FS-300C LED light

through a 36x48 inch softbox.

The camera used to take the image was the Sigma fp

The ISO used was 32 and the image started life 

as a Jpeg file. In Monochrome.

The lens was the Sigma 45mm f2.8 i set to f16

I decided to reward myself in advance for my extreme bravery in approaching my recent medical shenanigans. I am usually quite skittish, cowardly, anxious and unhappy to undergo any treatment but in this instance I thought I'd at least try to tough it out and appear less wimpy to my spouse, who has had years of experiences such as watching me faint at a routine blood test...

Since I thought in advance that I might finally pull off a courageous event with doctors and nurses and scary medical equipment I thought it only fair to reward myself for the effort. And since I didn't know how I'd be feeling afterwards I decided to pre-gift myself since shopping in advance might mean having a clearer head. More reliable decision making and what not. 

Knowing that I'd be out of the swimming pool and away from athletic pursuits of all kinds for about a week I was concerned about developing sarcopenia. Or muscle wasting. In order to stave that off I thought I should add a bit of weight and girth to one of my favorite cameras (the SL2-S) by adding a battery grip and by carrying the camera, the grip and a beefy lens around with me throughout the coming week. Post op.  I figured the added weight would help create a good workout scenario and at the same time would extend the run time of the camera package by way of the addition of a second battery!

So far it's working out mostly as planned. I say "mostly" because I don't think I was much more brave or resigned than usual but I have been using the camera package to do curls for my biceps and I've done quite a number so far. A big bonus is that I have not dropped the camera, lens and battery grip even once!!

The added battery grip makes the camera look as big as one of the giant Nikon or Canon sports oriented DSLRs from the first decade of the digital awakening. In retrospect, while the whole assemblage looks pretty cool as a still life subject, sitting on a tripod, it was probably one of my less well thought through purchases of late. Especially since I'm now rarely running through even one battery in a casual day of shooting and have never done jobs that require me to trudge on and on without the chance to stop and quickly change out a battery. But again, it all looks pretty sweet just sitting there. 

I rarely give out advice but if I did I might gently shoo you away from spending $400 on a used battery grip that you will most probably use once and then recant. But there it is.

The medical procedure went well. I no longer have the deed and title to a big, nasty kidney stone. Now...what to do with a heavy, ponderous battery grip? 

Just sayin. 

On the other hand the Sigma fp pretty much nails it as a studio camera. I'm loving playing around with ISOs as low as 6. That's right, SIX. Not much grain in the files but more detail than you can imagine. Perfect match for powerful LED lights....

New note: The battery grip for the SL2 is still available at some Leica dealers.

Current pricing for new?  $1,088.  USD

A guest post by Henry White. Progress report on my boss at VSL...

 

As you might know my boss, Kirk, is usually as healthy as a ghost shark. Yesterday he went in to surgery to get a huge, recalcitrant kidney stone demolished by a high tech laser. He begged the doctors not to anesthetize him but rather to let him bring a camera into the O.R. to record every exciting minute. The request was denied. As was the request for the pre-op extra large latté with three extra shots of espresso. 

He was a bit groggy from the anesthesia when he got back home but wanted to "take a few laps around the neighborhood" and he was already tying his running shoes when the VSL chairwoman of the board stepped in and put a stop to it. Chagrined and multiple times denied he comforted himself with a large carton of Trader Joe's (amazing) Chocolate Mint Ice Cream. And then watched educational television from England old episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" intermixed with old James Bond movies...

It's less than 24 hours since the procedure but he already seems overwhelmed by having to "take it easy for a few days.." When I descended into the cavernous underground offices of VSL this morning at 7 a.m. he was already at his desk re-writing some Anthropic LLM code to make it quicker, neater and more proficient for his personal projects. And he had already sent a few suggestions about neutrino communications to a friend at Space-X who ..... quite frankly was stunned by the elegance of K's solutions. 

He seems to have made an effective and spirited overall recovery but every once in a while I hear a howl of agony from his bathroom as he attempts to pee. Screaming, "This too shall pass!!!" 

Argh. 

He should be well enough to write his own stuff tomorrow....   Best, H.W.