I don’t always steal my post titles from Tom Waits songs, but when I do, it’s because these pictures all came from taking the long way home. I’ve been experimenting with my commute, seeing what route is the most enjoyable. So far, MUNI to the transbay bus is the best, but the perambulations help. Actually, I think these are from just before thanksgiving, when Sophia’s mom was in town. I was wandering a bit, but I was also trying to get to a restaurant in north beach. Some semi-touristy place, staffed by rude old men. Good food though.
Posted on 2015-01-30T05:39:44Z GMT
Bunch of grey mornings, scattered through the last month or so. It occurs to me that you could do a really interesting piece centered around this BART station. And by you I mean me, but you could too. Nothing stopping either of us really, except everything else we’ve got to do with our lives. Going to work, building things, coming home, building other things, sleep, blogging, eating. But I’m there almost every day, for at least 5-10 minutes. The light changes enough day to day that it’s never definitely any time; start shooting now, wrap up in 6 months, and you’ve got a little feature. That is, if you can sneak it in between pizzas and lines of code and sewing and soldering. And by you I mean me.
Posted on 2015-01-27T04:16:53Z GMT
With these pictures, and a lot of the work I’ve been doing recently, the serious pictures, as opposed to the stuff that I see type work, I was looking for a certain kind of light, a mood, a suggestion of possibilities. It looks, to me, like some of the Crewdson I remember liking in the early oughts. Only, I’m not using the production budget of a middling music video, with a small army of crew to make it happen. I’m just taking advantage of the fact that both Oakland and SF have changed their lighting to LEDs, which are a nice white light, and exploring that space. It’s dark and mostly empty, but that’s bound to change.
Posted on 2015-01-26T07:40:46Z GMT
I expected this weekend to be sort of hard and boring. I rented a camera, to see if I liked it. Instead, I fell in love with the camera, and found a part of myself that I dind’t realize was missing. This is my review of the Nikon D750. It goes like this: I’ve spent over half my life at this point looking through a camera of one kind or another. The camera has always been my way of understanding the world. So, when I said on instagram that “It’s like I’d lost half my vocabulary and now I’ve got it back,” I meant exactly that. It’s that feeling of walking into a room and turning a light on, or putting on glasses and suddenly remembering that trees have leaves again. Except, of course, all of the cognitive processes are thing that don’t have words, so it’s hard to even know that they’re gone. Anyway, definitely getting one of these as soon as possible. I’m suddenly bullish on SLRs again. I shot all of these photos on the way home. Every time I see a picture, I can get it with this camera. The weak link in the equation is once again me. Am I too slow? Is the camera set weird? Otherwise, it’s bang on. So, where before I would see a picture and not be able to get to the camera in time, with this, I can get the shot. Realizing this, I see a lot more. The world moves, and I move with it, dancing. The camera isn’t perfect. The shutter button is a hair trigger, so a half press doesn’t feel much different than a full press, but that is probably a matter of getting used to it. The focus modes aren’t super clear, but again, that’s probably a learning experience. There’s noting else to complain about. ISOs up to 8000 are really quite good. The photos here have been pushed another three stops in post. I’d use 12800 without hesitation. The AF is AMAZING. That picture with the birds? I could barely see them, but it nailed it. That’s all, except to say that I’m super stoked to buy one of these, so much so that I’m not going to bother renting the D810 to try. It’s heavier and a touch slower. Not that I’d notice the difference in real shooting, but I’ve found the right machine. Why fuck around?
Posted on 2015-01-12T04:25:41Z GMT
I am again two months behind. Oh well. This was a fine evening in very dim lighting. As someone who sometimes shoots under just starlight, I shouldn’t have been deterred, but I kept stumbling with the autofocus, and it’s very frustrating. The first two photos were all I could manage. The third is from a walk the night before, to get to some restaurant (of which I can only remember the good company of our friend Otto and amazing fried chicken).
Posted on 2015-01-05T05:57:18Z GMT
