For the time being...

Sharing photos from the past during California’s shelter in place…

A few years ago, I made a real effort to work on improving my street photography skills. I am, for the most part, an introvert. Confronting strangers with a camera is something I am not comfortable with, but I was determined to work through my fears. This photo, taken on Market Street in San Francisco, was one of my early efforts.

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San Francisco recently banned most vehicular traffic from Market Street to make it more pedestrian friendly. It will be nice when it’s safe for people to return.

For the time being...

I have film in several cameras right now but I am not overly inspired to shoot much. This too shall pass. For the time being, I am sharing some of my favorite photos from the past decade.

This is a terrible iPhone photo taken January 22, 2012 at the now demolished Candlestick Park. The San Francisco 49ers were playing the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game. San Francisco lost.

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It was a miserable night; cold and rainy. I had just finished a beer and a rain soaked hot dog. I sent this photo to my parents who were watching the game back in New York in front of a warm fire. 50,000 or so people together in one place seems unimaginable right now.

For the time being...

With our current shelter in place (SIP) rules in Northern California, my photo adventures are limited to my house (some macro-photography) and the back yard (I have flowers blooming).

That being said, I thought it might be appropriate, given current circumstances, to share some of the photos I have taken in the past that make me feel good in the present.

This one was taken from a San Francisco ferry on the way in from Sausalito. The sea gulls hang around the boats because people feed them. It’s pretty easy to get awesome photos of these birds as they seem to just float above the deck.

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I love taking the ferry into San Francisco. The slow approach to the City’s awesome skyline is always spectacular. I can’t wait until I can do it again.

Shooting The Leica R7

The older I get, the more careful I get. When I lift something heavy, I think twice and bend at the knees. A few months back, I wasn’t paying attention while walking to my car after work and tripped over a curb. I went ass over tea kettle and almost face-planted on a concrete sidewalk. I was ok after the fall, but I pay more attention to where my feet are now. These days, I think twice about dipping into the hot salsa when I eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant, because three in the morning heartburn is no fun. In my disc jockey days, I could drink pot after pot of bad radio station coffee and it never bothered my sleep. Now, I never have a cup after ten in the morning for fear I’ll be up all night.

My photography is a different story. I take chances. Recently, I bought a Leica R7 and for my test drive of this nearly 30 year old SLR, I decided to switch the camera into its fully automatic “P” or program mode and use a roll of expired Ektar 100 film. How’s that for a walk on the wild side?

Shifting the R7 into “P” mode selects the camera’s integral full frame metering and full auto exposure. All of the image area is metered with no selective weighting and the camera decides appropriate shutter speed and aperture. This is the most carefree way of shooting the camera…you just frame, focus and click, but it does mean that the 1992 electronics must still work correctly, including the DX film speed reader. Couple that with a roll of expired film that was just sitting in a drawer during two household moves and you never know what you’re going to get.

Ergonomically, the R7 handles much like the R4, R5 and R6 cameras I own. The R7 body is a bit larger and heavier than its predecessors to make room for additional electronics, but in the field it felt the same. I love the little thumb grip built into the back of the camera and with a 50mm Summicron mounted out front, the camera is extremely well balanced in the hand.

Fit and finish of all of the Leica SLRs are very nice. The R3-R7 bodies are not quite up to the Leicaflex SL and SL2 cameras that began the line. Those were elegantly over designed and over built beauties that nearly bankrupted Leica. But my R7 feels solid and substantial. The built-in diopter adjustment makes the legendary Leica R viewfinder crisp and clear. Overall, this is a very pleasant camera for a weekend of shooting. I began with some snaps in the neighborhood.

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I think the metering system did a pretty decent job on this next shot with full shade and sun.

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The next afternoon, I took a walk around downtown.

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I have photographed this sign several times now. It’s on a walkway along the Napa River and you can only back up so far or you’ll fall into the water. Someday I will shoot it with a 35mm or wider lens to get the whole sign in the shot, but I love the colors.

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And my R7 selfie.

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After having shot with most of the Leica R cameras, the R4s MOD-P and R6 tie for first place. The R5 and R7 tie for second place only because of their various levels of automation. But that is really splitting hairs. All of the Leica SLRs are quite nice and the most affordable way to shoot Leica lenses. I have skipped the R3 but only because many of them had electronic gremlins, or at least that is what I have read. I have not had any issues with any of the other Leica R models and CLAs are very reasonable.

Even though I relied on the R7’s aging electronics and shot with expired film, my weekend photo walk on the wild side produced nice results!

Manual Cameras Slow You Down. And That's a Very Good Thing.

On a Sunday afternoon, a week or so after the holidays, I grabbed my Olympus OM-1n and headed out for a five mile hike on the Skyline Trail in the hills above Napa. It was just that perfect kind of day with warm sun on my face and a cool breeze blowing. I loaded up the Olympus with some Kodak ColorPlus film, stashed some cheese and salami into my backpack and headed out for a day of exercise and picture taking.

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I am not an aggressive hiker, but my long legs carry me at a pretty decent pace. A pace that I am sure sometimes makes me miss some things along the way. That’s why when I stopped at this foot bridge to take a shot with the Olympus, it occurred to me how perfectly this old manual mechanical camera slows me down.

First, turn it on. (The OM-1n’s meter does not go to sleep between shots, so for a long hike it’s best to keep the meter switch in the off position to conserve battery until you are ready to use it). Then focus, compose, adjust shutter speed or f/stop or both to center the needle in the viewfinder. Finally, take the photograph.

During this whole process, I became aware of the sound of the water trickling down the little creek under this bridge, some happy birds overhead and a bit of wind rustling the leaves in the trees. I can’t be certain that I would have paused along the trail here if not to take a picture.

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I stopped to make this next shot and found some large flat rocks suitable for sitting a bit and good space for spreading out my feast of Pt. Reyes cheese and dry Italian salami. From my resting spot, I could see the Napa River finding its way to San Pablo Bay. Just around the tree to the left is the skyline of San Francisco. I fiddled with different combinations of shutter speed and aperture, but this is the photograph that came out the best. And it was time well spent. It was quiet up there. And nice.

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I didn’t make any remarkable images during this hike, but gosh was it good for my soul! And as I made my way back down to the trailhead and in the days that followed, I got to thinking about all of my manual-everything cameras. About how I’ve made some of my most personally satisfying shots with them. And how so many times they’ve slowed me down just enough to appreciate the moment.

Like standing under the Golden Gate Bridge with my Leica M6 waiting for just the right light…

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Enjoying some solitude at lands end, Pierce Point Ranch on Pt. Reyes with the Pentax Spotmatic as the sun began to sink into the Pacific…

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Or getting up close and personal with some grapes near Dry Creek. I was shooting the Spotmatic that day as well…

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Immortalizing a favorite chair I’d sit in near Salmon Creek when I lived in Freestone, taken with my Hasselblad 500C/M. You don’t do anything fast with a Hasselblad…

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Exploring Bodega Bay with my Nikon F2…

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That same grand old Nikon in San Francisco…

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A foggy day with the Leica M6 at Sonoma Coast State Park…

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An interesting old fence out at the Marin seashore captured with a 50mm Super Takumar on the Spotmatic…

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That same camera and lens on a dry June day at Yosemite…

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The Pt. Reyes lighthouse with the Leica M2…manual and meter-less…living dangerously!

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The Leica M6 at Bodega Dunes…

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An Autumn walk with my Nikon FM2n…

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One of my favorite spots out on the Kortum Trail north of Bodega Bay with the Spotmatic and 50mm Macro-Takumar…

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Even a rainy Sunday shooting still life with my Nikon F2 and 55mm Micro-Nikkor…

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I love aperture priority automation and there are times when I’ll happily let the auto-focus automatic everything Nikon F100 do the driving. But looking back on the past eleven years of film shooting, it is apparent that some of my best shots and best times have been spent looking through the viewfinder of a manual everything camera.









With a little help from our friends

In 2009, when I began my return to film photography, I spent a lot of time online looking for information about film and equipment. I wanted technical information for sure, but more than that, I was craving personal accounts from real people. The pickings were mighty slim.

Today, there are so many good websites, personal blogs and online resources available for anyone who wants to know more about the process and equipment.

It’s fascinating really. All of these websites and blogs have created a place for a digital community that has nurtured film photography into a healthy place again.

Here’s a nice piece done by NBC Left Field. I found it interesting. I hope you do too.