The shot of me with Tung's black paint M6 Milenium pimped out with a Noctilux, Luigi half case, and Leica 1.40X Magnifier looks great with my Panerai and Prada glasses. Call me a poser but Tung's hot camera was my favorite, as I remain Leicaless with my M at Sherry's getting overhauled and upgeaded.
FOR THOSE WHO MISSED OUT ON ANOTHER GREAT MEET-UP: The loud bicycle shirt that I was wearing had rear pockets that got quickly filled with free 120 and 135 film that was thrown at me like con-fet-tee. I love when that happens!
Jeff brought a digital portrait of me taken when a group of us got together to go shooting in Red Hook. Jeff's M9 with a 90 Cron is kinda magical, especially in Jeff's hands. Mucho grey in my beard and poneytail that reveals that I'm not so young, but I kinda look rugged.
Speaking of tough guys, even though Dan lives in the suburbs of Lawn-guy-land don't mess with him. Dan told us some great stories when he went after a client and the Daily News for stealing from him via infringement of copyright. He collected thousands of dollars and bit off an editor's ear like that famous Tyson Hollyfield fight. My kinda hero: a winner. Glad Dan's my friend.
Speaking of fighting: I took a few rib shots and was put on the ropes for being the old traditional B&W only analog guy. I was tag teamed by John and Jeff, and they each asked me, "When are you going digital," to hammer me. Good thing I'm hard headed and stubborn. They worked me over good, and softened me up a bit.
Then Tung brought this Sony digital that cost no money, but using some adapters he was able to spackle Leica and Pentax glass to creat a freaky rig that creates a 14 mega-pixel point and shoot with real high end glass. Kinda crazy and I like it.
Tung tried to represent this rig as a gift to his wife and as his wife's camera, but he flubbed several times, and the truth is that its really his camera, but his wife is allowed to use it, sometimes. LOL. With a 1.5 crop factor, it seemed that a 35/2.0 Bokeh King created a 14 MP point and shoot that would be ideal to shoot on the subway and for high ISO night shooting for no money. Too bad I'm still broke. LOL
BTW the five rolls of outdated Kodachrome 64 will be saved for future night shooting of what I call the A-hole of NYC close to where I live (I'm talking about the industrial area along the Brooklyn/Queens border, where a third of NYC's sewage is processed, where an oil spill bigger than the Exxon Valdez contaminates the groundwater, where no people live that is bounded by the LIE and massive graveyards on the North and extends to Maspeth in Queens and East Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Moral of the story: Its good to be the old film guy, because it seems again and again I get lots of free film all the time. Go analog.
Cristian was Mister Gaget with a lot of odd items and both new and old glass. Got to see a lot of strange accessories. Many of the questions that arose was, "Where did you find that?"
My Nikon F3P rig was the heaviest. Loaded with film the camera was passed around for people to try. Should be an interesting roll. 105/1.8 AIS lens BTW. Also passed around my Rollei 3.5F that had been totaly overhauled and had a new Maxwell screen installed. Although other Rolleis were there, (two 2.8F's) it became clear why Harry Fleenor is considered the best. Another interesting roll from people trying out a renewed Rollei.
My prototype camera bag was well recieved. For me it was an experiment, a test, just the beginning of an evolutioary process, and much more refined bag will result. The multiple layers of black canvas seemed to be just the right amount of padding, extending the flap was good criticism, and everyone liked the texture of the material. By the time the Second Annual M-Body Beauty Contest happens in February 2011, I will be able to creat a perfect custom bag that will be made to order as the prize.
Cal
