Isabella on the Swing
I captured this image of my friend's daughter, Isabella, last week. I was sitting up on a deck overlooking the backyard where Isabella was just starting to pump herself higher and higher on the swing. For once, I actually had a camera at hand, and I scurried down in front of her. It was twilight, and I purposely avoided using a flash while I made this capture. I mean, how great is the blue rope, her blue dress, and of course, her blurred red hair?
Guest Hand Towels
May and June light are amazing on the East End of Long Island; that is, when the sun comes out. Actually, the fog light has been pretty amazing as well, and it seems we've had a lot more of that than sunlight. Anyway, afternoon sunlight was pouring into my downstairs bathroom yesterday, and it splashed all over the guest towels. I was walking past the doorway with my little four-thirds panasonic in my hand when I saw this.
Alex in the Morning Sunlight
My 16 year old son, Alex, is home from school for winter break. I was about to step down into the kitchen this morning when I saw him sitting at the kitchen island about ready to have breakfast. The sunlight pouring all over his back from the glass wall was just too stunning to ignore. My little four-thirds cameras was lying on a table close by and I made this capture before he moved or I had to ask him to pose which he usually hates.
Snow Trees
After the blizzard two weeks ago, everyone was a little edgy about the last night's weather prediction for 2-7 inches of snow. Before I went to bed, I stuck my head out my kitchen door and I quickly realized that this was going to be a mere dusting. When I awoke this morning, everything outside had a dusty white coating. I had a cup of tea as I looked out my kitchen slider. I watched the cat that we're cat-sitting checking out the new snow. So I picked up my little four thirds camera and screwed the tiny cine 25mm f1.5 onto it, and I went for a walk around my property. The bush and undergrowth is normally so thick that it is impossible to walk in many places. This is the only time of the year that I can easily access many of the nooks and crannies of my immediate environment. I made a bunch of captures this morning. I like this one because it's a good visual ambassador for what my immediate surroundings look like.
Okay, I took another look at the captures I made this morning, and I have to add this one. It's kind of like nature's way to saying, "don't give up hope in January, spring's just around the corner."
All Saint's Day on 23rd Street
Not only was it All Saint's Day, but it was the first cold, blustery day in NYC this fall. Everyone was bundled up against the northwest wind, I heard a lot of grumbling about the weather. Actually, it was a crisp afternoon with a cloudless blue sky. The light was just perfect as the sun was arcing over New Jersey in the late afternoon. I never was all that interested in taking quick, little images of New York buildings until recently. I had just come out of Eataly on 23rd at 5th, looked up and saw the Fuller Building also known as the Flat Iron Building. I couldn't resist. I've looked at that building for years, both in person as well as in photographs, like Alfred Stiegltiz's 1903 image of it. I've always envied those who have offices right there on the "bow" of the building. The view has to be spectacular looking across Madison Square Park, up 5th Avenue to the left and Madison Avenue to the right. And I'd really like to take a close look at the statuary sitting on the roof.
More From My Little Friend
October light is amazing on the Eastern End of Long Island, especially on cloudless afternoons. The day before yesterday, around four o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight was bouncing and jumping on the water outside. I walked around and captured a red spike plant against the shimmering reflection with my four thirds Panasonic Lumix and the funky little "c" mount Cooke cine lens opened wide up. I love the little green"dust" stuff on the spike leaf to the left, the squiggly light thingie at the top of the leaf,and the big white bokeh "bubbles" center top. It's almost as though you're looking up at the sun from under water.
Say Hello To My Little Friend
I'm just getting into four/thirds. So what's a four third? It's a digital camera format developed by Panasonic and also embraced by Olympus. I recently bought a used Panasonic G-1 with a 14mm-40mm lens on Ebay for next to nothing.It's a small interchangeable lens digital camera producing a 12 mp file. It's tiny compared to my Nikon D700. The image quality is fantastic. Four/thirds refers to the size of the sensor. Without sounding like a spokes person for Panasonic, let me say the really cool thing about this camera is its ability to use almost any existing 35mm format lens; i.e. Leica M's, Nikons AI, Canons, through the use of adapters. The thing to consider is that because the G-1 sensor is small, a regular 35mm focal length lens is twice the focal length value for the G-1. In other words a normal 35mm camera lens would be a 50mm; that lens on a G-1 becomes a telephoto 100mm. Having said that, I found a Taylor Hobson Cooke 25mm f 1.5 cine lens and mounting it on my G-1 with a "C" mount adapter, I started shaking hands with a potentially great little system.
Consider this image. The swirling bokeh effect is the Cooke lens opened all the way up. I made three different exposures, hand held, each with a 2 stop different EV. (The G-1 does this effortlessly with a quick settings adjustment.) The files were RAW file format, and after downloading them into my computer, I opened them up in PhotoMatrix and let that application work its digital magic. While I was still in PhotoMatrix, I performed some tonemapping, processed the file as a High Definition Range (HDR). Sounds like a long way to go. It's really not. (I resisted HDR for a long time as being too gimmicky: but I must admit I've fallen under its spell.)
I was in Manhattan for several days this past week, and I used my G-1 for some street shooting. The first image is a reflection in a Jim Polshek building, The Cornell Weill Medical Research building on the corner of 70th Street and York Avenue. It's a straight capture using the 14mm-40mm lens that came with the camera.
The second image is an unmanipulated capture of a standpipe. You have to love the reds against the black. I think the resolution is great. i can't wait to see where my little friend and I go.
