New York April Nyc Meet-up

[Calzone]

Weird thing about Japanese Maples is that the genes are such that the seedlings can be very-very different that the parent plant.

The Japanese Maple I have in my front yard is a big mature one that has been severly pruned. The branches are thick and the new growth is in burls.

Looks a bit haunted and monster like without leaves.

I think it would be mighty cool to have a tree garden near the frog ghetto. In the fall I'll gather acorns and start some oak seedlings. Blue Mountain Preserve has mucho oak trees.

The Japanese Maples like the shade and to be under larger trees. Could be rather majestic a tree garden right next to a wetland with a frog pond in sight.

Some fool threw out some logs by my house by the woods of Route 9. I intend on using my garden wagon to retrieve them tomorrow to be gin terracing the beyond the back-backyard.

I don't have a jack hammer, but I will be using a hammer drill to create a stress riser so I can better break up the concrete closer to the house. The other slabs I would lift with a crowbar and put a rock underneath to create a stress point, but this technic is not so easy to implement close to the foundation.

A few holes and I can create a crack with a sledge by connecting to holes.

Anyways in a photographic way this process is very much akin to seeing a photograph emerge in a tray of developer under safelite.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Gear Alert: I found this light with a grip made for home movies that plugs into a 120 volt outlet call "Lotta-Lite." The bulb is shaped like a care headlight, but about motorcycle sized.

650 watts 3200 degrees Kelvin.

Anyways I bought it for $10.00 at the Beacon Flea Market, but it needs a new bulb (GE DWE) that costs $20.00.

The chrome plating is mucho heavy and this thing is old.

It reminds me of back in the day when super eight was used to make loops for porn. Something cool and retro yet raw and ranchy. I'm going to order a new bulb today.

I think Devil Dan would like it.

Augie

 

[Nokton48]

Gear Alert: I found this light with a grip made for home movies that plugs into a 120 volt outlet call "Lotta-Lite." The bulb is shaped like a care headlight, but about motorcycle sized. 650 watts 3200 degrees Kelvin. Anyways I bought it for $10.00 at the Beacon Flea Market, but it needs a new bulb (GE DWE) that costs $20.00. The chrome plating is mucho heavy and this thing is old. It reminds me of back in the day when super eight was used to make loops for porn. Something cool and retro yet raw and ranchy. I'm going to order a new bulb today. I think Devil Dan would like it. Augie

650 watts is useful will get mighty hot just don't brand yourself! Funky lighting and making something useful again is part of the fun. Raw and raunchy retro is good. I've been busy buying Norma parts all over the world to build up the lens bank for the new twin lens. Yesterday stuff from Italy, UK, and Morocco Turkey

Yes last winter two wild turkeys came strutting in for several occasions, surveying the property. If you even look at them they will BOLT they are skittery speedys. It was kinda special.

 

[JeffNYC]

I guess I'm now part of team Cal...
Bought an SL2...
🙂

 

[Calzone]

I guess I'm now part of team Cal...
Bought an SL2...
🙂

Jeff,

It is a crazy camera.

M lovers don't like to hear how technology at Leica starts at the "S" then trickles down to the SL, and finally into the "M."

I get it that the M is small and a rangefinder.

Also the native SL lenses are future proofed to 120 MP.

While not small, the glass is brutal, and so corrected. The weatherproofing has ruined me. I shoot in storms with no worries.

I bought some crazy SD cards that cost $200.00 each, so with the two slots I added $400.00 worth of memory. Everything about the camera is kinda crazy. I love it.

The APO 35 Cron is a savage lens, and the 50 Lux has this smoothness to the OOF.

Augie

 

[Calzone]

650 watts is useful will get mighty hot just don't brand yourself! Funky lighting and making something useful again is part of the fun. Raw and raunchy retro is good. I've been busy buying Norma parts all over the world to build up the lens bank for the new twin lens. Yesterday stuff from Italy, UK, and Morocco Turkey

Yes last winter two wild turkeys came strutting in for several occasions, surveying the property. If you even look at them they will BOLT they are skittery speedys. It was kinda special.

Dan,

The bulb should be delivered Thursday.

The terracing of the beyond the back-backyard is advancing quicker than I thought. I have mucho clean fill with the 400 square foot patio, and that does not include the 9-10 cubic yard of topsoil I have yet to excavate.

The extra muscle will come in handy when I start carrying the Linhofs.

One thing I don't see in my hood are squirrels, I wonder why, possibly an abundance of Red Tail Hawks.

I rescued about 20 Japanese Red Maple seedlings from my front lawn before I mowed the lawn with my push mower. It is not really a walking mower because it works best at higher speeds that require jogging. The slopes had me worried, but they are a non-issue.

Looks like the apple tree is deader than dead from the vine. "Maggie" understands that I had to kill the invasive vine, but also says that the green and that tree's location has a strat-T-gic location and mourned the loss.

Because I'm a lazy slacker though, I intend to plant Clematis, a Lilac vine, or Wisteria and utilize the dead disfigured tree as a grand arbor. Maggie loves the idea. EZ-PZ...

I am a clever MoFo.

My back is sunburned from yesterday. If it was not for my ponytail I also would have a red-neck. LOL.

Calvin-August

 

[Phil_F_NM]

I'm giving two weeks notice that I'm leaving the agency I work for today. I feel like my hand was forced by the powers that be, not willing to take our concerns over potential COVID-19 infection seriously enough, while they just let us know that we're all supposed to be going back to the office on May 3. I care for my health and the health of my loved ones (and my clients) more than this job.

Phil Forrest

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Looks like the apple tree is deader than dead from the vine. "Maggie" understands that I had to kill the invasive vine, but also says that the green and that tree's location has a strat-T-gic location and mourned the loss.

Cal,
Does this apple have any potential for aging and using as hardwood for anything? Considering your near-maniacal attention to detail, access to all sorts of reclaimed wood, and interest in guitars, I'm thinking this could be an opportunity for you to perhaps learn another obsessive hobby.

Phil Forrest

 

[Calzone]

Cal,
Does this apple have any potential for aging and using as hardwood for anything? Considering your near-maniacal attention to detail, access to all sorts of reclaimed wood, and interest in guitars, I'm thinking this could be an opportunity for you to perhaps learn another obsessive hobby.

Phil Forrest

Phil,

You know me.

I have an abundance of wood to reclaim in the garage and basement that is shelving I no longer need that previous owners built.

My friend James is an elite Marathon runner. In the London Marathon he ran a 2:08 time. What make him highly unusual is that he is about 6'6" or 6'7" which is very tall for a front runner.

So in conversation I mention that my exercise has been limited to heavy grunt work, and just 9 1/4 miles of walking every day I commute, but James sees this work as "basing" and I did not consider that. He says that when I advance into full training mode that all this basing will be a great foundation to get mucho fit and strong.

The old apple tree displays it's life of struggle, and what remains is a monument to a life. The knarly branches and the burled bends and foled branches testify a form of beauty all its own that need no further enhancement. As an arbor to support further new life honors the life it once had.

There is something peaceful about repurposing that old tree. Right now I have a vision for the beyond the back-backyard which extends back 36 feet and not the 26 feet I once thought. I want to create an aboreitum of sorts.

Yesterday I moved an 8 foot maple log by myself, which is an impressive feat. I used my garden wagon with the sides removed, but the hard part was dragging it out of the woods by Route 9. My neighbors must have figured out by now that that wire-E neighbor is a little bit crazy.

So I wheel it down my dead end and manaover it into position to stableize all this mix of clean fill and decaying organic matter.

I'm hoping this Milwalkee hammer-drill technic works out. The concrete closer to the house is not so easy to break with a sledge. My idea is to induce a stress riser so that these bigger slabs can be broken into easier sections.

Did you know that out of all species of trees that oaks support the greatest amount of biodiversity? In the fall I will harvest acorns to create seedlings next year. Blue Mountain Preserve is an old oak forest.

The Japanese Maples like to live below a canopy of larger trees. Now imagine a backyard forest of oaks and Japanese Maples. Also remember that my projected life expectancy is now 111 years since I no longer live in a polluted urban area.

I hope to annex some of the dead end by extending my planting of trees. Pretty much I will build out a terraced tree garden that is along a marsh/wetland where I can see the frog pond.

As for guitars, it is like cameras. I have many, and at this point it is time to be practical and use the hell out of them. Every night I go into the basement and plug in a guitar. Amps like large prints magnify any sloppiness or mistakes.

Anyways I am creating a new life, and I wish the same great place for you.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I'm giving two weeks notice that I'm leaving the agency I work for today. I feel like my hand was forced by the powers that be, not willing to take our concerns over potential COVID-19 infection seriously enough, while they just let us know that we're all supposed to be going back to the office on May 3. I care for my health and the health of my loved ones (and my clients) more than this job.

Phil Forrest

Phil,

I learned from my wealthy brother, that if you don't have good health life is really compromised.

There seems to be strong evidence that some damage is permanent and the effects can be enduring.

James and I were talking Monday about this young 23 year old basketball player that he is a fan of that contracted Covid. Only recently did he get his wind back. Some organs like the heart and lungs suffer permanent damage.

Even though we are both inoculated we are still scared of Covid.

Here in my cyclotron bunker I have 20 full air exchanges per hour because of the dangers of suffocating due to cryogenic systems from the many MRI's in the building. If I did not feel safe at work I would have retired already to protect my health.

Cal

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Phil,

I learned from my wealthy brother, that if you don't have good health life is really compromised.

There seems to be strong evidence that some damage is permanent and the effects can be enduring.

James and I were talking Monday about this young 23 year old basketball player that he is a fan of that contracted Covid. Only recently did he get his wind back. Some organs like the heart and lungs suffer permanent damage.

Even though we are both inoculated we are still scared of Covid.

Here in my cyclotron bunker I have 20 full air exchanges per hour because of the dangers of suffocating due to cryogenic systems from the many MRI's in the building. If I did not feel safe at work I would have retired already to protect my health.

Cal

Definitely agree. The clinic is actually a re-purposed Burlington Coat Factory retail location, all the individual offices are sequestered using only false bulkheads (essentially floor to ceiling cubicles) with no positive or negative ventilation in most of the offices. My office has a vent, but it doesn't work, so if I go in to work, I will be exposing myself and whomever comes into the office, to all of the pathogens that everyone else has. The last person in the room, besides me, will be getting a "gorilla fart" shot of everything everyone else has breathed in the office during the day. I'm not having it.

Phil Forrest

 

[Calzone]

Definitely agree. The clinic is actually a re-purposed Burlington Coat Factory retail location, all the individual offices are sequestered using only false bulkheads (essentially floor to ceiling cubicles) with no positive or negative ventilation in most of the offices. My office has a vent, but it doesn't work, so if I go in to work, I will be exposing myself and whomever comes into the office, to all of the pathogens that everyone else has. The last person in the room, besides me, will be getting a "gorilla fart" shot of everything everyone else has breathed in the office during the day. I'm not having it.

Phil Forrest

Phil,

There was a film staring Lilly Tomlin and Steve Martin called "All Of Me" where Lilly Tomlin is this UBER wealthy woman in poor health.

The story is far fetched, but involves migrating the character Lilly Tomlin plays into another woman's body.

The part of the film that is funny is Steve Martin who somehow gets snookered in somehow.

As far out as this film is the major point that is made, that without good health life kinda sucks.

Lilly Tomlin is pretty unhappy, and she makes people hate her, but at the end of the film Steve Martin reluctantly somehow has fallen in love with her. This part of the film actually seemed plausible. LOL.

Steve Martin who plays a Jazz muscian somehow developes an understanding of her bitterness and her defense mechanisms.

As silly as this film was it has relevance.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Jon Cone sent me an e-mail blast about some summer workshops.

It seems the digital negative system has evolved to the point where what you see on your calibrated monitor is what you get in the print, where no compensation or offset is required.

How cool is that?

Then Jon Cone originally a master printmaker has evolved a system for etching.

When I retire, about 9 months from now, I intend of pursuing my printmaking, and will be actively building out my garage as a studio with heat, plumbing and an extension.

"No mercy," I say.

The basement will be for storage.

Cal

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Cal,
You totally need to build a printing press...

Phil Forrest

 

[Calzone]

Cal,
You totally need to build a printing press...

Phil Forrest

Phil,

I went to art school.

I had many mentors who thought I held great promise, but escaping poverty and having a home or safe place made it a wise decision to put off artistic struggle for decades.

I'm sure I'm a source of disappointment for many because I put the arts second, but now I enjoy a position of power that looks to be sustainable, and along the way I didn't sell out or compromise my creative being.

I can see me printing editions, and I know that even since 2007 that I have quite a mess of negatives that I have to sort through and edit.

One thing I stress to "Maggie" who deals with schedules and deadlines is that art takes time and not only that it also takes time and patience to develop.

Most people would not think of planting a tree garden because of the decades it will take to mature, or put off an art career for 4 decades.

Also know that fame is a pretty bad situation, and it is a source of bother rather than an asset. At this point I will make art just for my own pleasure and not for monetary gain or recognition.

How cool is that?

It is like Roy Buchanan being offered a gig with the Rolling Stones and saying you don't want the gig.

There was a story in Rolling Stone Magazine titled, "The Most Famous Unknown Guitar Player" about Roy Buchanan. The story about being offered the gig with the Stones, is possibly legend and might not be true, but it also possibly could be true.

I can understand why Roy might turn down the gig.

Cal

 

[JeffNYC]

Jeff,

It is a crazy camera.

M lovers don't like to hear how technology at Leica starts at the "S" then trickles down to the SL, and finally into the "M."

I get it that the M is small and a rangefinder.

Also the native SL lenses are future proofed to 120 MP.

While not small, the glass is brutal, and so corrected. The weatherproofing has ruined me. I shoot in storms with no worries.

I bought some crazy SD cards that cost $200.00 each, so with the two slots I added $400.00 worth of memory. Everything about the camera is kinda crazy. I love it.

The APO 35 Cron is a savage lens, and the 50 Lux has this smoothness to the OOF.

Augie

So far, I've used M lenses with the Leica M - L adapter.. I know the SL lenses are unparalleled, but the size of the glass is holding me back.

 

[JeffNYC]

Jeff,

It is a crazy camera.

M lovers don't like to hear how technology at Leica starts at the "S" then trickles down to the SL, and finally into the "M."

I get it that the M is small and a rangefinder.

Also the native SL lenses are future proofed to 120 MP.

While not small, the glass is brutal, and so corrected. The weatherproofing has ruined me. I shoot in storms with no worries.

I bought some crazy SD cards that cost $200.00 each, so with the two slots I added $400.00 worth of memory. Everything about the camera is kinda crazy. I love it.

The APO 35 Cron is a savage lens, and the 50 Lux has this smoothness to the OOF.

Augie

So far, I've used M lenses with the Leica M - L adapter.. I know the SL lenses are unparalleled, but the size of the glass is holding me back.

 

[Calzone]

Jeff,

From another thread I got inspired to start a series where I will be using the 1x1 aspect ration and be effectively shooting the square as if a Rollieflex. The loss of data is about a third, but that still translates into 31.53 MP.

The cool thing is that after importing into Lightroom I can unmask the file and get all 47.3 MP back, and if I shoot the square vertically I effectively can crop back to the square in LR and effectively have a "rise" for perspective control.

The menu on the SL2 makes it EZ-PZ to set up and exploit this function.

I also love using the 3x3 grid for rule of thirds.

For my digital Rolliflex I'll be using a 35mm but with the crop it effectively might be like a 43mm FOV.

If I use my 35/1.8 Nikkor in LTM the SL2 is pretty small.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

So far, I've used M lenses with the Leica M - L adapter.. I know the SL lenses are unparalleled, but the size of the glass is holding me back.

Jeff,

The APO 35 Cron is amazing.

The 50 Lux is likely the best lens for shooting people, but the APO 50 Cron is said to be a better lens for landscape.

Don't discount the weatherproofing, pretty much it will ruin and spoil you. I have shot in rain, downpours, and snow storms. Pretty much just a little short/shy of underwater camera.

In practice I never generally carry a second battery.

If you think about the SL system and how it is "future-proofed" to 120 MP sensor you should factor this into any native lens purchase. I expect that perhaps 2-3 generations out and at maybe a 120 MP sensor would max out the performance of these lenses.

If I ever get another native lens it might be the APO 75 Cron.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Wisteria vine to reclaim the knarly dead apple tree because it is a fast grower that can be invasive. I'll have to prune and groom it to keep it in check. I'll allow it to use this chain link fence as a trellis that will lead to the tree that will be its arbor.

This is set into a corner of the property.

In the front backyard by the 400 square foot flagstone patio will be a pergola with Clematis. This vine is less invasive.

Augie