Bilbao in the rain

On a rainy day, more than twenty years ago, I took some shots of Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao. I didn’t like the photos and filed them away. Recently, I decided to go back and reprocess those images with the most recent Lightroom tools and I liked the results much better. Moral of the story: don’t delete photos.

Duxbury Camera Club November Field trip

This month we headed up to the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum near Cleveland Circle and then to the Lars Anderson Auto Museum. Interesting locations and a good day out with the group. Both places were good spots for detail and object study photos. Here are a bunch that I took.

Moonrise Sunset

Over a decade ago, while in Istanbul at the end of a day of walking and taking photos, I sat down on the docks to rest and pack up my gear. The sun was going down and I noticed across the water that the moon was also rising over Selamsiz, on the Asia side. I grabbed my camera and reached for a long lens.

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(August 2010, Nikon D300s, 400mm )

I usually don’t chase moonrises so it’s rare that I happen to see one in an interesting setting — and rarer still when it’s before sunset and there’s enough light for a handheld shot (did I mention that I hate using a tripod.) In this case luck prevailed. I was in the right place at the right time to get the above shot.

Jump fourteen years forward. I happened to read that the October Hunter’s Moon, a super moon, was set to rise at around sunset the following day. So I thought maybe I’d give another moonrise a go. At the designated time I headed off to nearby Situate Light, a local favorite for moonrise photos.

When I arrived there were already a dozen of so photographers set up and waiting. One guy had even travelled from Vermont. They were all using tripods but there was plenty of light so I opted to shoot handheld. Eventually the moon appeared and the shutters started to click. I saw a figure off to the right and framed them in for a little added interest.

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(October 2024, Leica SL3, Sigma 150-600)

I’m happy with the result. Not a world-beater but worth the fifteen minute drive over to Situate. Hopefully I’ll still be around to stumble across another one in ten years or so.

Into the west…

Just returned from a family trip to the west of Ireland. It was a chance to see old friends and newly discovered relatives. And to take some photos. We had good weather. The light and landscapes never disappoint. I also took the opportunity, on a clear night, to shoot the Milky Way, something barely seen in the light-polluted skies of eastern Massachusetts.

I carried only one camera this time, the Leica SL3. I didn’t want to get too weighed down with lenses so I limited myself to the 24-90, 21 Summicron APO and a Sigma 35 f1.2. I would have liked something longer but I don’t think my back could have taken the strain.

Provincetown Afternoon

Another day-trip with the folks from the Duxbury Camera Club; this time to Provincetown. Even in the off-season, the streets were teeming. I took a few shots around town and some out on the beach, but focused mainly on individual street portraits downtown. Everyone I ran into was friendly and cooperative, including Shane, a local fisherman, and the ladies at the Lobster Pot. I hope I did them justice.

Camera was the Leica SL3 and I mostly used the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art Lens.

Small Trades

Irving Penn had a love of making portraits in natural light. He was one of the first street portrait photographers! (This portrait of a priest in Crete is a favorite.) Penn was a fashion photographer who changed and modernized photography. In this exhibit, he left the models behind and focused his camera on tradesmen and women. Remarkable images.

Nantasket Car Show

Friends from the Duxbury Camera Club tipped me off to a car show being held at Nantasket Beach this weekend. I drove up and walked around for an hour or so and took a few shots. It was a nice, warm, late-summer morning and despite the direct sun, perfect for shooting. Lots of color. I used the Lecia SL3 with the 21mm APO and a polarizer for reflections. A sampling above and a link to more here.

Fashion Models

At a small photography conference on Cape Cod last weekend, the organizers set up a fashion shoot with some local aspiring models. I’ve never been very interested in fashion photography but I do like taking photos of people. So I gave it a try.

I tried to stay out of the way of the other photographers who seemed to know what they were doing. I was completely unprepared — with a manual-focus rangefinder and a 35mm lens — so I worked off to the side. Here’s a link to a set of the individual images shown above.

A Place and Time for Street Photography

To me, the most compelling environment for street photography would have to be New York in the 70s and 80’s.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t there then. But I can enjoy the work of others who were.

One of those people is Ryan Weideman, who drove a taxi in New York for 35 years. He shot from his cab. Some incredible work shown at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery.

Cliff Diving in Boston Harbor

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The Red Bull cliff diving championship took place recently in Boston, outside the ICA.

The event drew huge crowds on a beautiful spring day. I got there a little early and set up under the board.

I brought the Leica SL3 and old faithful, the 24-90 ASPH. I set everything to manual, including focus, mostly so I didn’t have to deal with tracking and auto-adjustment issues in the moment.

The SL3 isn’t known as a great sports camera but 6 FPS worked well enough for this situation.

I saw one woman shooting nearby with an old Hasselblad with a film back and winder. Props to her! Hope she got something good.

This is my favorite shot from the day. More photos here. Some were flipped for a no gravity effect.