A Wednesday morning

On slow mornings, and Canon cameras

Ruckus, watching “TV” | Canon 6D + Canon 50/1.8

We’re kind of in between seasons at the moment. The weather isn’t quite right for good XC skiing and it’s kind of muddy for wandering around in the woods, so we’ve been having a lot of slow mornings around the house. Lots of reading, watching the light, etc.. I haven’t used the 6D in a long time so this morning I threw the 50 on it and made some photos while going through the motions of the morning around the house, and then a little later on a short walk around the neighborhood.

I’m always struck by just how good the 6D is from a user’s point of view when I pick it up. Everything on it is so well thought out that the whole shooting process just feels so absolutely seamless. This might also have something to do with the fact that when it comes to DSLRs I’ve been shooting Canons for a long time. But, even comparing between the old 5D Mk1 and the 6D, the 6D just feels so snappy and intuitive. As a tool, it’s absolutely the better camera even if the 5D has a more pleasing output that I’m partial to.

For a while now I’ve been shooting images around my neighborhood and beyond, and while it began as a certain project it has now kind of taken on a life of its own and the images have drifted off in a different direction. For the longest time I wasn’t really sure what that direction was but it’s seeming more clear to me now what it’s about and how it could coalesce in to a body of work. I’m not going to share that much about it but it’s been an interesting process and I’m looking forward to following it longer and seeing where it goes.

That’s all for today, kids. Until next time.

Snow, point-and-shoots, and film

Shooting some Kentmere on a snowy walk

Olympus XA2 + Kentmere 400

It’s been an absolutely abysmal winter here in NW Montana, although I guess in comparison the rest of the West we’re doing better than a lot of other states. But in the last few days we’ve had some snowfall so me and the wife took the resident monster to the woods for a romp, but before we left we grabbed the XA2 and a roll of Kentmere 400.

The XA2 is fun, I’ve said this before. And Jess absolutely loves it for the incredible simplicity of the shooting experience. I’ve also said all this before. I will say some things I dislike a little bit is the 35mm fixed focal length and lack of control over the shutter speed and aperture. So, you know, most of the things that make the XA2 the XA2. But if you want a little camera you can slide in your pocket that’s capable of delivering pretty usable results in a pretty easy to use point-and-shoot format, it’s hard to go wrong with. I’ve written some more about the camera itself in a blog post here if you’re interested in reading more about that little camera.

It’s good to see some semblance of winter come back. We actually got a day of skiing in up at the Nordic trails up at Big Mountain. I don’t know how long it’ll stick around, probably a couple days. It’s supposed to get back in to the 40’s here soon. But that’s about it for this short little update.

Rangefinder malaise, or Leicas vs Cheap old DSLRs

Wherein I ramble about shooting rangefinders

Leica M262 + Leica 50/2.8

I’ve been using a rangefinder camera for a long time at this point. The vast majority of files in my Lightroom catalog have been shot with either the Leica M262 or on film with the Leica M4-2. I’ve made thousands of photographs with these tools. For the longest time shooting a rangefinder felt like second nature but I’ve noticed lately that I’ve begun to struggle with it. In both of my most recent outings with the M4-2 (see the last post) and this outing with the M262, using the Leicas has felt a little uncanny or at least mildly frustrating.

Shooting a rangefinder is an interesting experience in that when one looks through the viewfinder what one is seeing is basically the world in front of you with frame lines superimposed on top of it. This makes for a shooting experience that feels very loose, and open, for lack of better language. You see something, you look through the viewfinder and put the box around it and snap a photograph, and you move on. Of course you can put more thought and concern in to the framing process but overall the entire thing is a little loose.

That looseness is something that I used to really enjoy because it facilitated a very fluid kind of shooting that allowed one to shoot quickly and in the moment, so to speak. But I’ve found that as I become more and more intentional about the way I’m framing images and thinking about how to compose images I prefer the “sucked-in” experience of an SLR. I think this is part of why I’ve been shooting my old Canon 5D so much, in addition to just loving the output from that camera.

This all feels a little weird, having had such a long relationship with a specific tool that suddenly starts to feel a little uncanny. It’s like your favorite screwdriver that you’ve been using for decades suddenly has a chip in the handle and what once felt like an invisible implement now intrudes in to your awareness because of some now-perceived defect. Of course I’m aware that this is a stupid problem to have. Does it really matter that I’ve started to enjoy shooting an SLR more than a rangefinder? No, of course not. They’re both cameras, they’re both just tools. Who cares, go make fucking photos and stop worrying about it, you know? But nevertheless, I feel the need to talk through it and sort it out in my brain. And it’s an excuse to fill the space on a blog post and put some photos up, so here we are!

Thanks for listening to my rambling nonsense and looking at some pictures!