Palette Cleanser; just a regular, old portrait. Ben, circa 2010.

 I think we've thrashed through the Lee Friedlander controversy enough for now. The discussion went off line and over to my friend's house where I had dinner last night (the whole meal was lovely...). My friend is a photographer from my own era who is collected by a number of museums, has had an art book published by University of Texas Press, has traveled the world shooting for far loftier clients than I have and...sadly...is a huge fan of Lee Friedlander. He insists that it's all about showing off the pervasive banality of existence almost as much as he shares the belief I've read here, that there is humor (and if it is there in the collection of L.F. images I have to say that it's very, very, very dry humor...the "Find Waldo" of humor) wedged into many of the black and white images that we generally see in his many, many monographs. 

My friend and I both love to discuss all things photographic but our spouses just chalk it up to us arguing. Since my friend is pretty smart and knows probably more about photography, the history of photography, collecting photography, and getting well paid for photography than any of the rest of us I guess it's fair to call the two conflicting subjective opinions a draw. He is not a fan, however, of Gary  Crewdson either so at least we have a few appraisals in common. I forgot to ask his take on Alec Soth but I'll be sure to dive into it with him at the next dinner. It'll be my turn host but I'll have to be more reserved and quieter, as the host...

As a reprieve from the self-inflicted 1960s art drama (for myself and everyone else) I decided to put up a favorite photograph of Ben from his youth. 

It was somewhere around 2010. I was reviewing medium format digital cameras for an actual, printed magazine and had just gotten in a box full of Leaf Aptus A7i stuff. Batteries, chargers, a short lens and a Schneider 180mm f2.8 lens that weighed a ton but drew photos like Da Vinci. 

I had some lighting set up from an earlier portrait session with Amy so when I saw Ben getting home from school I grabbed him before he got into the house, dragged him into the studio and got about dozen shots before he made his excuses and went to find an afternoon snack.

The digital back was mounted on a Leaf camera which was basically a reconfigured Rollei project (HY6). Its image area was 48x35mm (as compared to the Fuji GFX which is 32.9 by 43.9). The Leaf back shot in 16 bit, and the files were 33 megapixels, so it stands to reason that the pixel geometry/ptich was huge compared to today's sensors. The back had its issues. It sucked down batteries like candy. It was sloooooow to start up. But it was a really nice sensor and very usable up to and past 800 ISO. 

The wonderful thing about Studio Photography magazine and their relationship with camera makers at the time was that we'd get cameras we requested quickly and we also had weeks and weeks to evaluate them before we needed to write the articles. I would have kept the whole package which consisted of the camera, the back, two really nice lenses, three batteries and a charger but I would have had to write a check for something north of forty thousand dollars (2010 dollars!!!!!!!) and that would have put a dent in my wallet that I may never have recovered from. 

The image here is rather small. That's the nature of blogging. But the 20 x24 inch print is absolutely, fucking amazing, even by today's standards. The folks that make medium format cameras already had mountains of stuff figured out....even back then. 

In all I reviewed four medium format digital systems over the course of two years. Those were fun times. I also reviewed a bunch of Leica stuff and still laugh about the time someone at Leica just randomly sent me a new M9 and five lenses to play with and forgot to tell me they were sending the gear. I only found out when I saw a delivered box sitting just in front of our front door. No signature required. I gulped a bit when I added up the gear total. It would have been enough to buy a new car with. Not a spectacular car but a good, reliable automobile. 

I'd like to do some more gear reviews but I'm currently only really interested in Leica gear so I guess that's a pretty tiny and infrequent niche. But you never know. 

on a different note: 

I had lunch with a photographer friend this past Friday at my favorite burger place in Austin, Hopdoddy's. We had lunch together here about a month ago as well. Back then my friend surprised me by pulling a Leica SL out of his bag. It was absolutely mint. Turns out he'd been reading my stuff about Leicas and he made the mistake, at an even earlier lunch, of handling my SL for ten or fifteen minutes not realizing that Leica lust is contagious and can even be transferred by touch. At Friday's lunch, this week, we both brought different cameras to show off. I brought along the Leica M 240 ME coupled with the Voigtlander 50 APO, as well as a CL with the little Sigma zoom --- mostly because my lunch companion let me know earlier that he'd like to see one in person. 

He brought along two other new (to him) Leica cameras as well but I can't really say what they were because he writes a blog and wants to do his own reveals. Hint: eccentric but oh so cool.

We met at noon and we didn't get up from the table until 2:45. Too much Leica lore to share. Too many stories about being out shooting to share. So much fun. The burgers were great too. Full disclosure, when I say, "burger" I'm being generally accurate since the restaurant is a burger place. But I have them make me a kale Caesar salad with a hamburger patty on top. A grilled, grass-fed, perfectly done patty. A great way to cross over the vegetarian/carnivore divide.

My friend is a camera and photography fanatic who once thought there was no difference in camera files, across brands, that couldn't be matched in post...until he got his hands on the SL. Now? No turning back. Save yourselves if it's not too late. Never shoot a Leica unless you are willing to bite the bullet and buy one. You will ultimately be corrupted. Something about the colors and tonality. And the industrial design.  Addictive. Or pure brainwashing at a high degree of proficiency. 

this week, on the used market, good quality original SLs have vanished. There are dozens of SL2s but the SL which my friend and I both consider the "gold standard" of the SL family ----are gone.