Understandable, but I’d choose to shoot the State Fair.
Tim, fabulous stuff.
LeicaphilaPost author
Thanks Keith. All the street stuff I shoot with the GXR, M module, 21mm VC, ISO 1600, f8 scale focus. Just point and shoot and see what you get. Super easy.
But, but but, that GXR still requires the eye of the right person to make it point the right way…
Funny factoid: today, I received an e-mail from both my daughter and my brother-in-law advising the arrival, today, of my Christmas cards to them, dated 9th December. I try to post early to avoid delay.
There’s a lot to be said for scale focus and preset. I used to do this with my Leica M system.
I’m thinking of buying a Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron ASPH lens for my Nikon Z7. Both camera and lens are compact, in short a fairly discrete pairing for those street grabs. Particularly useful in countries such as Morocco where cameras are best neither seen nor heard.
That’s always been a problem with Nikkors: the attempt at proper DOF scales confused me time after time with those tiny colours and several missing aperture numbers. I seem to remember the scales on the 500 Series ‘blads were fine – but that, too was almost thirty-five years ago. Do you remember how they were? Zone focussing has helped a lot of people; I used to use it and made a mental note to decrease the indicated DOF by a stop, just to cover my ass.
I had an anniversary on the 15th of this month: forty years since Ann and I, with our son in tow, left the UK to live here in Spain. He went back – couldn’t hack it. His sister, after getting her degree, left Scotland and worked abroad a lot before taking up teaching back there. Guess we are bunch of nomads. I kinda enjoy that thought.
Oh go on, Keith; those mad Scot Nats are not that fierce! Braveheart is like Hollywood winning WW2 all by itself! And most folks in Edinburgh don’t pack guns. No problem using your camera there, same as all the other tourists and selfie addicts do. However, it might get stolen, just as anywhere else.
Funny how life turns out: we hate the Ruskies (in theory), but without their participation in that conflict, brought about mainly because of Adolph’s madness in attacking them, especially in winter, we might be receiving our collective wisdom not from Hollywood or Elstree, Pinewood or whatever remains, but from Berlin. Would Magnum have been created if Berlin had been stronger – would all those travelling Jewish photographers have managed to get out of those dangerous parts of Europe, avoided Paris in time, and tried to create Magnum in the US instead?
The utter unpredictability of life is fascinating; perhaps that’s why I only ever had the most vague of business plans, and the only one I tried to strengthen as I got into mid-life crisis time was stock. And we know where that led to as well. Should have ignored the X1/9 and spent some real money whilst I still could. As everything else has turned into memories, why not really exotic hot wheels too?
You see where street photography leads you, especially when it’s not your own?
Yeah, many moons back; but they were all junkies – sorry, actors. Just don’t snap ’em unless you flip them a couple of bob first!
You can just tell how much I love the place!
🙂
Dan Newell
Glad to see that 3-Eyed Bill is still working. We went to different high school’s together and we were worried about him. Hell of a shooter though, he could see through the EVF and the viewfinder at the same time.
Got a little weird being 20/50/20 though…..
This reminds me of many things. How I wish I had the same back catalogue as PL and the skills to use it this way
Also, that damned Blair Witch thing comes back here to haunt me and my xylophobia state.
Dan Newell
Couldn’t watch it.
There was some period of time in film school where every bloody individual decided to zoom every shot not unlike Ken Burns. I can’t get the composition because Harold Kurosawa from Islip decides it’s better to get that freckle.
That’s why god made books so I wouldn’t be at the mercy of vidiots.
That’s a point. However, being quite familiar with a lot of the Lindbergh published oeuvre, the zooming is moderated by knowing something about much of the missing context. There’s also an element of self-congratulation that comes from recognizing the whole from the part.
In fact, you have more than a point. I have also been turned right off on a few photography channels by the constant zooming into images, without ever showing them in their entirety. It’s quite often seen in those shows where someone tries to lecture you on the work of a well-known photographer. You know, the earnest talking head with that fixed background from which he never departs but to zoom into his subject matter.
That aside, there is a lot of magic that stills can give if you know how to operate a rostrum camera and have the basic images from which to construct a story. After all, isn’t that really all that the little video is doing? It isn’t meant to be an exhibition of Lindbergh’s back catalogue, just a tale of its own invention based upon available material. I’m no film expert, though I wish that I knew a lot more about it than I do, although today, such knowledge would be somewhat too late at best!
Dan Newell
I would agree that a rostrum presentation is a powerful medium for stills but that involves a level of context that video does not include very often.
I would say one of the only video productions that includes a lot of stills that works is The Loft. That it includes Gene Smiths work was a godsend for the editor but he must have been over the moon when they discovered all of Smith’s audio recordings. It’s one of the few times when you can be transported to a time when the pictures were taken and promotes the significance of the photos themselves.
You’re familiar with Lindbergh’s work and I am not so it’s really separate takes on it. If the producer was aiming it at the followers then I see your point. For the unfamiliar folks having Jeanne Moreau voiceover was clever but the music was burdensome if not annoying at some points….too much stuff. As a selling and PR tool I’m sure it helped him and that is what I would classify it as. I have no problem with that at all, whatever pays the bills.
Hank
I love the 2nd shot in this sequence. His look of steely determination (“I’m going to have FUN, dammit!”) is great.
LeicaphilaPost author
Agreed. “I didn’t come all the way from Bumfuck NC for nothing. Where’s the corn dogs and deep-fried Mars bars?”
Daniel Castelli
Man, those giant turkey legs are good! Gnawing on one at the Big E while trying to shoot with my M2. Sends the ‘message:’ Hey, I’m one of you guys, but I’m gonna shoot you silly with my Summarit!
Good news: the Big E (New England’s Great State Fair!) will reopen this fall!
On balance, Tim, I think I’d rather live in Edinburgh!
🙂
Understandable, but I’d choose to shoot the State Fair.
Tim, fabulous stuff.
Thanks Keith. All the street stuff I shoot with the GXR, M module, 21mm VC, ISO 1600, f8 scale focus. Just point and shoot and see what you get. Super easy.
But, but but, that GXR still requires the eye of the right person to make it point the right way…
Funny factoid: today, I received an e-mail from both my daughter and my brother-in-law advising the arrival, today, of my Christmas cards to them, dated 9th December. I try to post early to avoid delay.
There’s a lot to be said for scale focus and preset. I used to do this with my Leica M system.
I’m thinking of buying a Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Ultron ASPH lens for my Nikon Z7. Both camera and lens are compact, in short a fairly discrete pairing for those street grabs. Particularly useful in countries such as Morocco where cameras are best neither seen nor heard.
That’s always been a problem with Nikkors: the attempt at proper DOF scales confused me time after time with those tiny colours and several missing aperture numbers. I seem to remember the scales on the 500 Series ‘blads were fine – but that, too was almost thirty-five years ago. Do you remember how they were? Zone focussing has helped a lot of people; I used to use it and made a mental note to decrease the indicated DOF by a stop, just to cover my ass.
I had an anniversary on the 15th of this month: forty years since Ann and I, with our son in tow, left the UK to live here in Spain. He went back – couldn’t hack it. His sister, after getting her degree, left Scotland and worked abroad a lot before taking up teaching back there. Guess we are bunch of nomads. I kinda enjoy that thought.
Oh go on, Keith; those mad Scot Nats are not that fierce! Braveheart is like Hollywood winning WW2 all by itself! And most folks in Edinburgh don’t pack guns. No problem using your camera there, same as all the other tourists and selfie addicts do. However, it might get stolen, just as anywhere else.
Funny how life turns out: we hate the Ruskies (in theory), but without their participation in that conflict, brought about mainly because of Adolph’s madness in attacking them, especially in winter, we might be receiving our collective wisdom not from Hollywood or Elstree, Pinewood or whatever remains, but from Berlin. Would Magnum have been created if Berlin had been stronger – would all those travelling Jewish photographers have managed to get out of those dangerous parts of Europe, avoided Paris in time, and tried to create Magnum in the US instead?
The utter unpredictability of life is fascinating; perhaps that’s why I only ever had the most vague of business plans, and the only one I tried to strengthen as I got into mid-life crisis time was stock. And we know where that led to as well. Should have ignored the X1/9 and spent some real money whilst I still could. As everything else has turned into memories, why not really exotic hot wheels too?
You see where street photography leads you, especially when it’s not your own?
🙂
Rob, have you seen Trainspotting?
:-0
Yeah, many moons back; but they were all junkies – sorry, actors. Just don’t snap ’em unless you flip them a couple of bob first!
You can just tell how much I love the place!
🙂
Glad to see that 3-Eyed Bill is still working. We went to different high school’s together and we were worried about him. Hell of a shooter though, he could see through the EVF and the viewfinder at the same time.
Got a little weird being 20/50/20 though…..
http://hollyfisherfilm.com/projects/film-video/everywhere-at-once-2/
This reminds me of many things. How I wish I had the same back catalogue as PL and the skills to use it this way
Also, that damned Blair Witch thing comes back here to haunt me and my xylophobia state.
Couldn’t watch it.
There was some period of time in film school where every bloody individual decided to zoom every shot not unlike Ken Burns. I can’t get the composition because Harold Kurosawa from Islip decides it’s better to get that freckle.
That’s why god made books so I wouldn’t be at the mercy of vidiots.
That’s a point. However, being quite familiar with a lot of the Lindbergh published oeuvre, the zooming is moderated by knowing something about much of the missing context. There’s also an element of self-congratulation that comes from recognizing the whole from the part.
In fact, you have more than a point. I have also been turned right off on a few photography channels by the constant zooming into images, without ever showing them in their entirety. It’s quite often seen in those shows where someone tries to lecture you on the work of a well-known photographer. You know, the earnest talking head with that fixed background from which he never departs but to zoom into his subject matter.
That aside, there is a lot of magic that stills can give if you know how to operate a rostrum camera and have the basic images from which to construct a story. After all, isn’t that really all that the little video is doing? It isn’t meant to be an exhibition of Lindbergh’s back catalogue, just a tale of its own invention based upon available material. I’m no film expert, though I wish that I knew a lot more about it than I do, although today, such knowledge would be somewhat too late at best!
I would agree that a rostrum presentation is a powerful medium for stills but that involves a level of context that video does not include very often.
I would say one of the only video productions that includes a lot of stills that works is The Loft. That it includes Gene Smiths work was a godsend for the editor but he must have been over the moon when they discovered all of Smith’s audio recordings. It’s one of the few times when you can be transported to a time when the pictures were taken and promotes the significance of the photos themselves.
You’re familiar with Lindbergh’s work and I am not so it’s really separate takes on it. If the producer was aiming it at the followers then I see your point. For the unfamiliar folks having Jeanne Moreau voiceover was clever but the music was burdensome if not annoying at some points….too much stuff. As a selling and PR tool I’m sure it helped him and that is what I would classify it as. I have no problem with that at all, whatever pays the bills.
I love the 2nd shot in this sequence. His look of steely determination (“I’m going to have FUN, dammit!”) is great.
Agreed. “I didn’t come all the way from Bumfuck NC for nothing. Where’s the corn dogs and deep-fried Mars bars?”
Man, those giant turkey legs are good! Gnawing on one at the Big E while trying to shoot with my M2. Sends the ‘message:’ Hey, I’m one of you guys, but I’m gonna shoot you silly with my Summarit!
Good news: the Big E (New England’s Great State Fair!) will reopen this fall!