And Here's the Image My Friend Picked from My New Orleans Trip

My friend James did me the amazing favor of lending me his house in New Orleans. This enabled me to spend a long weekend without any responsibilities, to explore the city. When I returned, I shared my favorite images with James, and asked him to pick one to have framed for his place, if he wanted. He chose several, and told me to surprise him with the final selection.

 

Because James felt a little funny about having his neighbors in any of the images, he selected only those without people in them.

 

Here's the one I chose to frame for him:

 

Trompe O'eil, by Reed A. George

Leica M6 Titan, Leica Summicron 35mm f2 v.3 Lens

 

The subject is a Trompe O'eil (Fooling the Eye) mural, accompanied by a bronze statue of a girl. For fun, someone gave her a paper hat from Cafe Du Monde.

 

I think it's a fitting print for James' French Quarter home away from home.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5, Macro, and Damselflies

 

 

 

Damselflies - American Rubyspot (Hetaerina americana)

by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5

 

Last weekend, I took a little float trip down the Shenandoah River. Part of the River and Roots music festival, held at Watermelon Park in Berryville, Virginia, this educational event was led by musician and teacher Josh Bearman of The Hot Seats.

 

Anyway, back to the subject at hand - damselflies. This potential couple of American Rubyspots was perched very near the water surface. I say potential couple, because at this stage, the female (to the right) is being held by the male, and allowed to evaluate him for suitability. If she approves, her abdomen and terminal genitalia will connect to his body, forming a sort of circular orientation between their bodies.

 

These guys spend 1-3 years as aquatic larvae, with only a couple of weeks as adults, during which they mate and then die.

 

The tiny sensor on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5 has all of the drawbacks of a small sensor, of course, which includes digital noise at high ISO settings. However, a big advantage of the small sensor is the closeup capability, as demonstrated here. This would have been exceedingly difficult to capture with a DSLR, even forgetting about the risk of getting it wet. In this case, I simply left the camera in iAuto mode, and slid it down into the grass next to the damselflies. I shot several images in a few seconds, but found this one to be the best.

 

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Music Festival Photography

I really like shooting at music festivals. I love live music, creative people, and nature. The festivals give me all of that.

 

 

 

 

I especially like the smaller local festivals here in Northern Virginia. In fact, I'm headed out to one this weekend at Watermelon Park, in Berryville. This one's called "River and Roots," and I'll get to see many of my friends there.

 

By shooting at festivals, I've met a few of the best live music photographers there are. One of those is Milo Farineau. Another, his mentor, is Chester Simpson. Both are fabulous photographers and people.

 

Chester recently posted a link to his friend's thoughts on modern festivals, including Glastonbury in the UK.

 

(Click Here) to read Barry Wolman's thoughts, which include comparing Glastonbury to a "prison yard."

 

While the festivals I attend do focus as much on camping and spending time with friends, they also clearly celebrate the music, something that seems to be lost at some of the larger festivals. The music is what really brings us all together around here. If I felt as Wolman does, it would be time for me to stop attending festivals. As it is, I can't wait for this weekend!

 

Oh, and Happy Fourth of July!

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

Hey, Maybe Micro 4/3 is a Sweet Spot After All?

Image Source: http://www.the.me/nikon-lost-in-hall-of-mirrors/

While I'm not happy to hear that Nikon's camera business is struggling, I found the graph above most interesting. And, while I understand that not all mirrorless cameras are Micro 4/3, the text in this post on THEME makes special mention of that format and how well it's doing.

(Click Here) to read more about how DSLRs are losing ground to mirrorless, and how Nikon and Canon, while offering what some consider to be weak options in mirrorless, are looking to new business areas for revenues.

While the post on THEME says that Nikon has no experience in Medical Imaging (the major market they've announced they'll pursue), I know firsthand that they do have expertise in imaging for medical research. Their research microscopes are excellent, and they are clearly working hard to bring new products to market that compete with the other best-in-class companies.

The theory in this article about why Nikon and Canon have offered "compromise" mirrorless cameras is that they are afraid of cannibalizing their DSLR market. That may be true. However, I've always marvelled at how Nikon will come out with a $5,000 super DSLR, then follow it up 9-12 months later with a $2,000 camera that has 95% of the features of the former. It's great for us users. But, I don't see fear of cannibalization going on there (within their own DSLR lineup), at least.

I agree that mirrorless cameras are certainly now encroaching on the specific market for DSLRs. I loved carrying two Micro 4/3 bodies and more lenses than necessary in a single bag on my most recent vacation. However, I'll be grabbing my Nikon DSLR this weekend for a music event. So, my hope, as a selfish user, is that both formats have a long future, with lots of improvements still to come. And no, I don't mean video capability that allows you to pick the perfect frame out of 10,000 captured!

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Washington DC - World War II (WWII) Leica at the WWII Memorial

My friends and I went to the WWII memorial on the mall in Washington, DC on Memorial Day. Expecting the normal events held here every year, we were more than a little let down to learn that they'd taken place the day before.

 

I had loaded up two of my wartime Leica IIIC cameras, one with TMax 100 black and white film and matching Elmar 5cm f3.5 lens, the other with TMax 400 and a 1937 Elmar 3.5cm f3.5 lens. These results are from the 5cm Elmar and TMax 100; the other camera is still loaded, as I didn't finish the roll.

 

Military School Students, by Reed A. George

Wartime Leica IIIC, Leica Elmar 5cm f3.5 Lens, Kodak TMax 100

 

True WWII Veteran, by Reed A. George

Wartime Leica IIIC, Leica Elmar 5cm f3.5 Lens, Kodak TMax 100

 

These old Barnack cameras are a lot of fun to shoot. I always enjoy seeing the images they can produce. I also think it was fitting to use two cameras that were most likely sold to Allied soldiers during the occupation of Europe at the end of the war for this event.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Lightroom Bogging Down My Computer - THE FIX!!!

Wow. I just have to share this.

 

I've been having a lot of problems with my computer as it relates to using Lightroom. It seems that every time I make even a minor change to an image, or switch from Library to Develop modules, etc., the computer takes off on a disk-writing spree. I mean, it writes non-stop for minutes at a time.

 

Looking for anything that could help, short of buying a new computer (literally), I decided to try a naive google search. Here's what I found. There's a process on Windows computers called wmpnetwk.exe

which enables network sharing for Windows Media Player. Every time I made a change in Lightroom, this process would go crazy, accessing my hard disk.

 

Now, I'm no computer expert. Far from it. But, the link I found was able to guide me through actually seeing this happen with the Windows Resource Monitor. Then, it showed me how to disable the process.

 

(Click Here) to see the original post I found. Be aware that it's from 2008, so I had to sort of find my way around in my later version of Windows.

 

Basically, after confirming that it was the wmpnetwk.exe process that was accessing my disk excessively, I was able to start up a Windows function by pressing the Window Key + r (which gives you a command prompt), then entering Services.msc and hitting go. Within the windwo that came up, I right-clicked the offending process (wmpnetwk.exe) and disabled it.

 

The problem is GONE. Not just minimized, GONE. I'm so impressed. The author of that link deserves a beer.

 

Disclaimer: I can't guarantee that I (or you) won't need that process back sometime in the future. I rarely use Windows Media Player, so I doubt it. But, do this at your own risk.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Mike Selsky - Leica Photographer, Winner of LA X-Vario Challenge

Image Source: http://blog.leica-camera.com/photographers/interviews/mike-selsky-hunting-for-the-strange-and-obscure-in-los-angeles/

I like to read the Leica camera blog, where they regularly feature interviews with other Leica photographers. I like to see what I have in common with others, as well as our differences. The latest is an interview with Mike Selsky, fine art photographer in Los Angeles. Mike recently won the Leica X-Vario City Challenge there, which earned him a free X-Vario.

(Click Here) to read about Mike's approach to photography and his interests.

Mike's regular camera choices are a Leica M6 TTL film rangefinder, and Monochrom, Leica's black and white-only digital rangefinder. His lens of choice is the 50mm Summilux Aspheric (f1.4). This is similar to my favorite rangefinders, the M6 TTL (titanium version, in my case) with matching Summilux 50mm, and the Leica M9 (which allows me to shoot both black and white and color).

Mike seems to be a wanderer, saying:

"I enjoy exploring California with a friend, planning road trips with vague photographic goals in mind."

We also have that in common.

Mike makes images that ask more questions than providing answers. Mystery is important in his style of photography. I find it a challenge to make the questions engaging enough to draw the viewer in. You don't want a response that just says "I don't know what that is." or "Why did you take a picture of that?" Sometimes, it's better to elicit "What am I looking at here?" or "How did you make X look like that?"

One final thing Mike and I have in common: we both value the effort that goes into making a great image. For me, an image is much more valuable to me personally if I know that it was a difficult one to capture. Mike says:

"My favorite images are the ones that took the most effort to make."

Mike seems to be enjoying the new X-Vario that he won in the challenge. Congratulations to Mike. I look forward to seeing more of his work.

(Click Here) to visit Mike's blog, 2WK.

One additional note. Mike mentions that with the Monochrom, he exposes for the highlights, and brings lots of detail out of the shadows in post-processing. A quick look at his blog indicates that he underexposes a lot with that camera. A little too much for my taste. I think he needs to bring up the shadows quite a bit more in many cases. Just a little critical thought on his work.

DMC-365.blogspot.com