New York November NYC Meet-Up

Good thing I'm a lazy-slacker because the work never ends.

Today I'm at work, but sometime after 11:00 AM I'll have to leave the safety of my bunker/lab and meet-up with "Maggie" and Mike the Skinny Hipster for a shoot.

I won't call myself a model, perhaps I'm more of a prop, but I'm needed to create "content" for a "brand" that is a paying gig. This gig is kinda like the daily pop-up surprises that are so numerous I can't keep track of them.

Don't tell Maggie, but if she didn't remind me last night I would have forgotten.

We'll be using the park like dead end cliff at the end of East 72d Street with this sweeping heavy wrought iron railing overlooking the East River, the 59th Street Bridge, and the Tri-Borough and Hellgate bridges.

After 2:00 PM is a Service Awards celebration I will attend. Pretty much for 20 years I have been either "working hard or hardly working." I need 4 more years for full retirement.

Also for clarity this luxury vacation in Europe is something I would never pay for because I'm a CF. Only reason why I'm going is that it is for free. Not so sure I like getting treated like a VIP. Very strange all the privelage and entitlement bestowed on me, when I have the marks of poverty and know I have that ghetto attitude.

It is a confusing identity, kinda like "The Prince And The Pauper" being the same person.

Cal
 
Just did a shoot. Mike the Skinny Hipster was the photographer.

The cliff at the end of East 72d Street did not work out. Instead we went to a pedestrian foot bridge that led to the prominade on 71st Street.

For us models (Maggie and I) we had to shed our coats. Kinda cold outside.

Cal
 
Since smashing up my face and Knee while walking my little dog
I won’t be coming this weekend
not in the mood being all banged up

Love to All!
 
Ford V Ferrari opens this Friday. It is a historical film about ego and rivalry on an epic proportions.

Pretty much the battlefield was 24 Hours At Lemans, the endurance race.

Today there is a nice slide show of 25 slides and what I would call "the background smut" that makes this rivalry epic.

Cal
 
MrFujicaman said:
Cal-check your mailbox.
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MFM,

Many thanks.

I think that too much luxury could be actually making me uncomfortable.

Because I'm a lazy slacker, it seems like cramming in Amsterdam, Cologne, Koblenz, Baden Baden, Strausbourg (France) and Basel in 10 days is a lot, and perhaps is not relaxing.

I'm not the kinda guy that just wants to cross off a line item on a bucket list. How can I really experience six cities in such a short time?

Then because I'm a CF, I know I would never pay for this kind of vacation. Perhaps I would rather use the money to buy a SL2 if someone just handed me the money.

Just know I have reservations, mixed feelings, and I don't like pretense that goes with this luxury lifestyle.

It bothers me that this trip is so organized, curated, and that somehow I feel managed as if I have a handler. I have itenararys and events that I can avoid, but all the scheduling and arrangements is a layer of stress.

Whatever happened to the care free dirtbag that is the true me?

Cal
 
helenhill said:
Oh the hell with it
I’m coming ... just din’t Stare at me

Need to have a drink !
See ya
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Helen,

That's being a trooper. You will be among friends.

Should be fun. I'll be bringing some pack film (Polaroid), so you can make some mug shots of us.

Christian was not clear, but the smut is that somehow he found some stereo lens that he adapted to a Linhof. You know Christian: he's a "wack-job."

You know what they say, "Look out for the quiet ones."

Cal
 
The Internet is a strange place. I just read an article about this man walking his dog discovers a "one in a million" deer and takes some photographs of this deer.

It was later when he downloaded the images he realized the buck had three sets of antlers.

So pretty much I have been told by many dentists over my lifetime that I have a one-in-a-million tooth. Pretty much a genetic rarity that is only among Asians, Polynesians, and Native Americans.

Pretty much I'm living proof that Asians discovered America before Christopher Columbus. Pretty sure in pre-history that the Vikings also beat Columbus.

In prehistoric times Asians crossed the "land bridge" from Asia and migrated through the Americas. I have this rare tooth, that is basically a defect of two teeth that are fused together root and crown.

One of my dentists calls my deformity a "Super Tooth."

Cal
 
Cal,
I have all these ideas for crazy cameras, but my new thing is to first check if they already exist. Thats how I found this Wista double lens. It is a pair of 130mm lenses on a technika board with a single rotary shutter that only fires at 1/60th. It was designed as part of a passport id camera, to put a pair of head shots on a 4x5 polaroid. There are lots of those cameras around, either with fixed polaroid backs, or graflock backs. The cool thing here is that they just stuck it on a technika board, so you can use it with lots of cameras. It can either do two standing 6x9s on a 4x5 sheet, or two 6x6s on a 6x12 120 back which is how I plan to use it.
Of course it was cheap because it was broken, with loose parts rattling inside. It is such a simple mechanism, so I had no problem making it work by soldering a shutter blade in place, and unbending the mount. I still need to get the flash sync working though.
The spacing of the pairs is about 56mm, so it is perfect for stereo viewing.
 
CNNY said:
Cal,
I have all these ideas for crazy cameras, but my new thing is to first check if they already exist. Thats how I found this Wista double lens. It is a pair of 130mm lenses on a technika board with a single rotary shutter that only fires at 1/60th. It was designed as part of a passport id camera, to put a pair of head shots on a 4x5 polaroid. There are lots of those cameras around, either with fixed polaroid backs, or graflock backs. The cool thing here is that they just stuck it on a technika board, so you can use it with lots of cameras. It can either do two standing 6x9s on a 4x5 sheet, or two 6x6s on a 6x12 120 back which is how I plan to use it.
Of course it was cheap because it was broken, with loose parts rattling inside. It is such a simple mechanism, so I had no problem making it work by soldering a shutter blade in place, and unbending the mount. I still need to get the flash sync working though.
The spacing of the pairs is about 56mm, so it is perfect for stereo viewing.
Click to expand...

Christian,

Mucho clever.

Is this system ready for testing? If so the FP3000 that you gifted me in the 4x5 back would give some fast results.

Since I'm a lazy slacker, I say, "Time is the best editor."

I realize that my B&W images of NYC is one body of work that likely was completed about 3-4 years ago. Much of my emphasis has been printing the later part of this work that was shot with my MM using digital, meanwhile all these film negatives remain just negatives.

Bill Cunningham had his muse, which was his neighbor who was an actress. Seems that "Maggie" has been my muse, and for the past 3 years I have all these color shots of her downloaded on my computer and little else.

What happened? Anyways time will tell I guess, or maybe I just took a break. Surely something new will come along. At this point, my thinking is start doing NYC night shooting in color. This will be fresh and new. The new SL2 has IBIS that they say is good for 5 1/2 stops.

My "Monster" 50 Lux renders beautifully wide open. Pretty sure that when I obsess on this project that it will annoy people. This seems to be my greatest talent.

Cal
 
The fp-3000 isn’t wide enough to make a stereo pair unfortunately. I have some 20 year old delta 3200 that my brother gave me. The base comes out kind of dense, but it is usable.
 
I used to play darts there (Mooney's?) in the early part of this century. Bring your lunch.

Uncle Barry's on 5th and Bergen is also potentially a good spot (i Know the owners a little and a couple bartenders much more). They have an L area in front that could sit about 10.
 
Saganich said:
I used to play darts there (Mooney's?) in the early part of this century. Bring your lunch.

Uncle Barry's on 5th and Bergen is also potentially a good spot (i Know the owners a little and a couple bartenders much more). They have an L area in front that could sit about 10.
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Chris,

Back in the 70's one night we met some girls in Breezy Point. They were from Flatbush. Two of my friends and I decided to drive them to Brooklyn, not knowing if we would get ambushed and beat up by their boyfriends.

I forget the name of the place, but almost immediately a fight broke out. This guy smacked this girl named "Pinky" who was plus sized, and Pinky in response made a fist and laid the guy out.

I kinda jumped up from my seat, but this crew of new friends grabbed me, and it seemed like another typical night in Flatbush.

Someone started the jukebox, and the J Guils song "You gotta give it to me" came on. And the girls all got up to sing this song and dance to put on a show for the guys. It was kinda ranchy and funny.

Then it was the guy's turn. Frank Sinatra came up, but the guys sang "I did it sideways" instead of "I did it my way."

Something about Brooklyn bars.

Cal
 
CNNY said:
Cal,
in Amsterdam they are fishing wasted tourists out of the canals daily. You are far from the rudest thing they have ever seen. Also when you are there, don't only look up, because owners don't bother cleaning after their dogs like they do in NY.

I think Joe is up to three Linhofs also by now. I would say I have 2 legit Linhofs, and 2 1/2 'Linhof derived/counterfeit cameras'. Parts keep arriving by mail....and they seem to be getting bigger.

Helen,
I think adjusting the RF on an M6 is fairly simple, but it does involve removing the Leica dot. That one is the main screw that adjusts left/right. I'm not sure where to do the vertical adjustment. LTM cameras are very simple in that respect. I haven't done it before on an M Leica, so I would be hesitant to experiment on someone else's camera.
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I think on the M6 it's spot welded behind the red dot, that's for the
up and down image I believe, behind the lens there's another I
think it's for the vert. image at infinity.
 
I just RSVP'ed for a SL2 Launch Event being held at the Leica Store SoHo held on Thursday December 19th.

Includes a 3 hour photo shoot, an hour long artist talk, and an hour and a half reception.

Anyone interested in attending PM me and I'll forward you the Eventbrite link for registration.

Since I own a SL a SL2 will likely get rigged with the 50 Lux mostly since it will exploit IBIS the most.

The SL will be rigged with the APO 35 Cron mostly.

Pretty cool to have a two camera SL and SL2 kit.

Cal
 
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