Oh, and I didn’t go to the 38th Annual Philadelphia “not just” Rock Record and CD Show either. And what does this have to do with photography? Not fully sure, but let’s keep going here.

Photography is my true avocation, but my true hobby is stereo and listening to music. I own a lot of records … at least 6,000 or so … many of which were bought during Covid. And I’ve kept buying them, but am trying to slow down a little, be more selective if you will. In fact during the past two weeks I have weeded out about 500 or so records that I hope to unload at my local used record store, and I have listed a bunch online that are worth more money.

As with film, there’s been a vinyl renaissance going on with tons of new and reissued audiophile music coming out all the time. Yes, I just ordered the new Beatles US 1964 Capitol Records mono box set, but I’m on a multi-step recovery program!  So it took a lot of willpower to not get up early and stand in line on Friday just so I could get another previously unreleased Bill Evans concert album, and even more not to go to the Philly show that would have “dealers from all over the country”!!

Stay with me here.

The point is, that while I don’t play an instrument … I did when I was young … and hope to do so again in the not too distant future … music has always been incredibly important to me … ever since I could listen to it on my first tiny battery transistor radio. Then I listened to it on my parent’s stereo and on my older cousin’s even better stereo. Finally I was able to cobble together my first stereo when I fourteen. Season tickets to the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra followed during college when Michael Tilson Thomas was conductor. It’s never stopped.

So, instead of buying more records this week I read more about Caponigro and even watched a couple of interviews on YouTube. I was struck about just how important music was in his life. He talked about spending the daytime doing photography, then at night he would play the piano. Just like Ansel Adams, he was a classically trained musician. It got me wondering about how many photographers are musicians or are involved with music, or are just obsessed with it like me. While I have no idea I’ll bet you there are a lot!! But here’s something … I do know that beyond Caponigro and Adams, Wynn Bullock was a trained vocalist and Eugene Smith hung out with and photographed jazz musicians. I even know several photographers that are serious musicians and a few that insist on listening to music when they are printing in the darkroom.

So is there a connection between photography and music? Does one inspire the other? Are they complimentary? Do both cause you to explore the world, albeit in different ways? Does one reinforce the creative process embodied in the other? Does listening to or playing music make you think about photographs you’ve made or could make? Does being out there making photographs or printing them in the darkroom put music into your head … music you have heard or that you could make?

All I know is that I love photography and music, and anything related to either. When I’m not engaged in some part of it, chances are I’m thinking about it.

What about you?

Stay well,

Michael

This past week I received John Sexton’s always informative and entertaining newsletter. Perusing it, I was saddened to read the sad news of Paul Caponigro’s passing on November 10^th in a very touching remembrance John wrote. Caponigro was truly a photographic giant and he will be sorely missed! If you are not familiar with his incredible work, your photographic life is incomplete!

I have seen Paul’s work many times, own several of his books and was fortunate enough to meet him once by chance while traveling abroad.  One of my life’s sorrows was having the chance to buy one of his famous images, Reflecting Stream, Redding, Connecticut when I was young, but not having the funds to do it. I still think about that missed opportunity! On the other hand, I do own a copy of Fred Picker’s The Iceland Portfolio that Paul once owned himself … a small consolation I suppose.

If you search this site you will see that Paul’s name comes up a number of times, but notably in discussing one of the most important books I own, The Wise Silence: Photographs by Paul Caponigro. Here is what I wrote about it and my unexpected and surprising encounter with him:

“Paul Caponigro, The Wise Silence: Photographs by Paul Caponigro

 Whenever I traveled overseas I always tried to find some time to visit museums … and of course photograph if possible. I think it was about 1984 or so. I was in London on business with the State Department and had some time to kill during an evening. As usual I would ask around or look at local artsy publications usually found in hotel lobbies. So I was skimming through one of them in my room and what do you know … Paul Caponigro was going to be giving a lecture that night at the Barbican Centre, not far from where I was staying!  So much for dinner, I had an hour to get there!  As I recall, Caponigro was speaking courtesy of a US Government sponsored tour. Perfect … I worked for the US Government!

You can imagine how excited I was as I scurried to get there and then get seated before the lecture began. Let’s face it Caponigro is one of the great 20^th century masters. Black and white, large format, iconic landscapes, architecture, flowers, still life.  I had seen his pictures in magazines but had never seen them in the flesh. And of course I never had met the master himself! He finally emerged and the slide projector began projecting images on the screen. Oh no!  Caponigro was showing color photographs made with a Leica M6!  Not what I hoped to see and not what I hoped to hear about!  Nevertheless, I still got a chance to hear Caponigro discuss his work and it was an unexpected opportunity to meet a truly inspirational photographer. No matter … it bothered me for a long time that I didn’t get to hear Caponigro talk about his incredible black and white large format pictures made at Stonehenge, Ireland, Maine, Yuma, Arizona or in Redding, Connecticut. And the list goes on.

Somehow though, I found the will to go on.

Then about twenty years later a very good friend of mine, who also happens to be a fine photographer, gave me a most wonderful gift for my fiftieth birthday … a beautiful first edition copy of The Wise Silence: Photographs by Paul Caponigro! Now we were talking! The incredible retrospective of Caponigro’s work up until the early Eighties was published to go along with the 1983 exhibition, The Wise Silence: Photographs by Paul Caponigro shown at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.

Suffice to say, all the classics are in this incredibly beautiful book! The great images we know about, but many others as well. A beautiful leaf suspended in space, the white dear, churches, sunflowers, beautiful streams, ancient stone monuments, ice and snow, the American Southwest, architectural details, doorways and more! Over a hundred and forty stunning photographs in a large exquisite book you will want to look at again and again … serene, quiet and beautiful.

No disrespect to Caponigro’s 35mm color work, but what is contained in this book is truly special!  The book is not cheap, but would make a worthy addition to anyone’s photographic library.”

My chance to meet Paul Caponigro and hear him speak will always remain a fond memory for me. And I will always have The Wise Silence to gaze at and remind me about just how much is possible in this wonderful artform known as photography.

Stay well,

Michael

We all have been through a lot this year and there’s more to come. We need to get back to our living our lives with some sense of normalcy. So, what can we do photographically? Well, there’s a lot actually, but what might be best as a start is to think about, plan and execute a new project!  Or, how about this … if you have one that has been gathering some dust and remains to be finished, start working to get it done! Now how about setting some real goals for yourself? What will you do with the project? Try to get it exhibited, maybe produce a self-published book? Or perhaps putting up a website with your work so it can be seen by the whole world! It doesn’t really matter. What matters is getting out there and doing the work that means something to you!

I’ve spent the last two and a half years working on a project for Monalog called Visions of America. The focus is on images made between 2016 and the end of 2024, a time of real turbulence in our country. The project involves previously completed work if appropriate and new work we would complete beginning towards the end of 2022.   During the next two years each Collective member had to put forward four groups of ten self-curated images with a specific schedule that had to be maintained. Each delivery came with a presentation to the group.  In short, you were forced to produce! It was a great idea, and in my own case it really helped focus me on putting together a coherent body of work based on a specific theme.

This weekend, I printed what is probably my last picture and will file my final group of ten as promised in December. The project truly motivated me and it helped me to focus on completing a substantial body of work. And even if the group project doesn’t result in an acquisition and show like we hope, I have created something of value to me and perhaps other that could find its way into a self-published book for example.

Thinking about this while agitating prints made me remember previous postings on projects. One included a great quote from an old Fred Picker newsletter, one of the most instructive pieces I’ve seen on the subject. Here it is again from Newsletter #17, April 1978:

“At workshops we stress the importance of working towards a goal at all times… Design a project for yourself. You might assume that you have a show coming up. Choose a theme. Set a definite date. Decide that the show requires a specific number of prints (all to be new work) that you can realistically expect to complete in that period of time. Ten to twenty-five, I’d say but pick an achievable number and write and the date of the show on your darkroom wall.

Go to work. If, on the projected date, you have the prints well made, toned, spotted, mounted, and sequenced, you will have accomplished and learned a great deal.

Edit ruthlessly. If a picture is weak, pull it. If a print can be improved in the slightest degree, remake it.

Now you have a representative portfolio.  Put it in a solon case with slip sheets between the prints, make an appointment, and visit a gallery. You just might get a date for a real show. If not, you at least have a nice portfolio and that’s a lot better than a Polycontrast box stuffed with wrinkled prints and surrounded by explanations. More importantly, you have created a coordinated body of work against the background of a deadline. You will have learned much in the process.

Don’t be upset by rejection. Considering some of the stuff accepted today, rejection could be a compliment. And it doesn’t matter; doing it is what matters.  Alexander Calder said, ‘I have developed an attitude of indifference to the reception of my work which allows me to go about my business.’

Follow through anyway. Hang the show in your living room, at the local High School, the ‘Y’, anywhere. My first one-man show was in a movie lobby and that was not a bad thing. Thousands of people saw it and I learned a lot and felt good about it.  Seeing a body of your work together is a very worthwhile learning experience. Patterns can appear with embarrassing clarity or with indications of direction to explore. Single photographs can be turning points; three or four I’ve made have influenced all the work that followed. Your pictures, if made with direction and seriousness of purpose, can teach you if you will assemble them and spend time with them.”

Just reading Fred’s thoughts again is revving me up to get back to work on my other projects, and starting a few new ones!

I’m starting to feel a little better already!

Stay well,

Michael

Enough said.

Next week, back to photography.

Stay well,

Michael

Recently I wrote about my experiences with my Focomat 2C. As mentioned before I’ve been using both the Focomat 1C and 2C exclusively for the past year, and doing all my 35mm work with the IC and it wonderful 50mm Focotar 2 f4.5 lens. Much of what I said in the previous posting about my last generation grey 2C could be said for my 1C of the same vintage so I won’t repeat it here, except to say, like the 2C the 1C’s build quality is incredible and with its autofocus it’s simply a dream to use.  Instead I will discuss a couple of issues that have come up and what I’m thinking of doing about them.

The first issue has to do with its glassless negative carrier. Simply put, I like the 2C carrier better. It uses both anti-newton and clear glass plates to hold the negative completely flat and is a breeze to use. The 1C metal carrier is a beautifully made thin metal plate with a rectangular opening that the negative strip is placed on top of. The negative is held in place by the bottom face of the glass condenser that becomes a pressure plate like that of the glass top piece in the Focomat V35’s negative carrier. Note: I am currently using the Leitz accessory anti-newton ring glass attachment that fits over the bottom face of the of condenser glass.  

I have a problem when I print a negative at the end of a filmstrip. Trying to get it to line up properly on the negative carrier prior to lowering the anti-newton ring pressure plate has turned out to be a major pain in the rear. One solution is to use a tiny piece of tape to hold the edge in place. A friend who has the same enlarger says that filing out the rectangular opening solves the problem.

I’ve decided to try a more complicated approach which also has to do with my second issue … the appearance of pesky newton rings. When I first tried the enlarger I was making prints without the use of the accessory anti-newton ring glass. No problem, the prints came out great. However, over the summer I noticed the little buggers and had to install the anti-newton glass. Perhaps it was the increase in humidity in my darkroom. Even though I run a dehumidifier near the darkroom I noticed the humidity going up while working with the door closed.  In comparing two prints made with and without the anti-newton accessory glass I could see a difference in tonality and preferred the print made without the anti-newton glass.

I’ve decided to improve my negative carrier’s ease of use and provide even better negative flatness by having a small piece of high quality 1mm thick clear glass cut that will either be glued into the rectangular opening, flush with the top.  If that doesn’t work, a longer piece can be glued to fit over the entire length of the carrier. Doing this will probably require a tiny adjustment in the autofocus, buy that’s no big deal at all. My hope is this might allow me to do away with the anti-newton glass.

I think the modified carrier will be a big improvement even if it doesn’t cure my newton ring problem. In this case my hope would be that any issues I might have with using the anti-newton ring glass would be resolved as I use the enlarger more.

One final item. I am looking into the possibility of purchasing color heads from Kienzle for both enlargers if I am able to convince myself I could use them with my Zone VI digital compensating enlarging timers with their sensors. Somehow I would have to be able to secure the color heads while placing the sensor inside the enlarger in the filtered light path as I had done with my Devere. Stay tuned!

I am convinced that having both the 2C and 1C, especially with color heads and fully functioning Zone VI compensating timers would be the ULTIMATE. But even without these adaptations, these babies rule!

Stay well,

Michael

Let the drums roll and the kazoos blow!!! Yes, despite my boyish good looks I am in fact now officially 70 years old today. That’s right baby, the big Seven O! And why not celebrate it here! Ok, I know this isn’t world peace, but why not!  I tell you this because let’s face it, it’s an age that many might consider a little vintage and I’ll admit as I got closer to the big day I felt somewhat age ambivalent, but now I’ve decided that’s just nonsense. Afterall, earlier this year my grandchildren agreed I was only 53 and I feel better than that! In any case I don’t intend to coast along and eat bon bons, or slow down one bit!  I have too much I want to do! In fact I feel like I have hit a real creative phase that has been going on for some time but now it seems to be intensifying.  And I’m having more fun!

I know that many involved with the arts and music seem to have their most productive period in their younger years but don’t understand why that has to be the case at all. Perhaps it comes down to how one looks at their life.  You can say “this is what I’m supposed to be doing now” or “I’ve done this before and don’t have anything else to say”.

Well, surprise … I’m more excited about the photographic life I am living now than I have ever been before!

And why do I say that?  Here’s what I think. Mostly because I’ve given up caring about what others think about my pictures. I also don’t care all that much about the need to exhibit my work. I have done a lot of it over the last few years with Monalog, but I’m not driven by it. Another contributor has been to stay near nearby … my so called “2 Hour Rule”. It really helps focus my work and keeps me from unnecessary travel for something “new and different”. But if something important comes up that’s not around the corner I’ll make time for it. I just don’t have a need to travel far distances to do my work. Another thing that helps with focus and continues to excite me is working on projects, and I have a number I continue to work on.

Unencumbered by what others think or what I don’t care about I’m making photographs of what I want, when I want and how I want to. I post them on my galleries here, and if people want to see them that’s fine; if not, no harm no foul. What I really want to explore at some point in the not too the distant future is creating photographic books … but more for me than for anyone else. I still love gear and the gear is so much of what our photography is all about, I don’t lust for it anymore. I’ve tried out a bunch of interchangeable lens medium format cameras in the past several years because of a project requirement (nothing finalized so nothing to write about), but I’m not obsessed about it like I would have been in the past. No lying awake at night with a brochure ready to read on my night table.

I also love writing about what I love and haven’t missed a week in the almost nine years since I first published this thing. That’s a lot of entries! But you know what, I’ve communicated and made friends with a lot of great people as a result, and I have no intention of slacking off on this either!

Yes, I am 70 today and I’m doing everything I can to stay physically and mentally in shape because this photography thing is the bomb!

I have a lot to do and say and intend on doing it all for a long time!

Som happy birthday to me!

Stay well,

Michael