New York Diane Arbus at the Park Avenue Armory

Try to keep the 2026 CBC (Camera Beauty Contest) threads on the new thread I created.

So if you see an odd cheap camera selling for no money, come play with me.

Also know since I am an artist, know that I did not have any intent on annoying people, starting a new thread, or any new trouble or conflict.

“I was just minding my own business,” and then things just happen. Call me a drama-queen, but I can’t help it.

Cal
 
SMUT: I am a self professed smut queen.

On line for a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli I met a former New Yorker who engaged with me because I was wearing a tight T-shirt with a very young Keith Richards on the front.

“Is that Keith Richards,” I was asked. I was just minding my own business, waiting on line…

So in conversation I learn that he had moved to Portland, and I asked how Portland was fairing.

Pretty much I was told unlike NYC that other big cites he knew continue to have empty and abandoned downtowns.

Hmmm…

I mentioned that the Hudson Valley where I now live seems to have leaked out as a great place to live, and he was aware of that and mentioned the Catskills.

Then I met a guy moving from Austin to NYC, he too mentioned people moving out, despite Austin being a tech center.

What duzz this all mean?

Deadened cities?

Cal
 
I'm looking for one! I don't want to take the 4x5 to Spain in August, pia to carry, plus film sheets are a pain at airports. Looking for 6*6 or 6*7.
 
I have an surprise weapon to annoy people.

No surprise is a Rollie 3.5F Whiteface.

I got it Adorama for about $1K, but upon loading film it jammed. Was going to return it, but then I checked on the Internet and discovered it was a rare Whiteface (3.5F) that was worth $2.5K.

Sent the Whiteface off to Harry Fleenor and got back a new camera along with a new screen.

I happen to love the smaller size of the 3.5 over a bigger and heavier 2.0. The Bay 2 filters and hoods are hard to secure, but I have all that I need.

Stories like these annoy people.

BTW I annoyed a store manager at Adorama. I went to return something I bought used because as usual it was broken. The salesperson told me to wait, and the store manager came over to have a word with me.

He began scolding me and read off a computer list the $25K or $30K worth of gear I returned and asked why I bought and returned so much gear.

I responded with one of my fits, and I started to get loud. I kinda told about half the store that the used equipment they sell is not tested, and they don’t have batteries in the cameras top test their function.

Then basically I’m compelled to take it home for testing. I mentioned that half the time I have to be inconvenienced by having to return the junk they sold. I asked him if his computer records show/indicate all the money that I spent and the long list of equipment I kept,

“Is getting a full refund for a return is a problem,” I asked, but really the message was the launch codes are in, both keys are turned, and next he would get nuked by an escalation.

Then I said, I’m loosing my patience and asked are you going to give me mu refund? Then I told him in a moment I’m going to get really angry and start to make a scene.

Pretty much he didn’t want the trouble, and as you know crazy scares people.

So pretty much an Emmy Award winning performance. Call me a terrorist.

BTW I got a lot of cool gear that did work from Adorama, but about half I had to return. Know that my cash is good elsewhere.

I have a stage voice that can fill a 1000 seat theater with no mike. Didn’t have to terrorize the entire store, but I surely terrorized that store manager.

Elsewhere I talked about my Cantonese ethnicity. For almost a thousand years while the rest of China was unified, Canton was considered ungovernable and feudalism persisted. Pretty much I am like a Pit Bull bred for fighting.

Every camera has a story…

Cal
 
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John,

You are a guy who I admire. I miss you.

Had many a death march in NYC. We spent a lot of time together, but now we are thousands of miles apart.
Yes, we had some good times and you showed me the benefit of walking ALOT.
One day I would love to show you one of my books. Pretty much your influence.

The good old days…
Yes, we will figure it out for sure. It might not be this year, but one year. 🙂
BTW I still have and own the complete “Camera Museum.” I did gift my Leica Digital SL to someone we know.
Awesome...
Today I went to visit AJ. I bought some of those business cards that are actually small 2x3 prints of my work to show him what I use to do.
Very cool. I´ve been shooting my non street stuff in square (Fuji medium format digital) and I think I'll be doing something similar but at 4" square.
At the Hudson River Museum with Snarky Joe, I realized my friend Joe’s exhibition was both landscape and people shots. Not very different than my urban landscapes and street photography. Same, but different.
That must have been nice to see.
Somehow I also got a gig at the Peekskill Herald. This is a local digital newspaper, and I kinda was a photo journalist given assignments. Our paper is award winning and gets grants.
Wow, that's cool.
Since I got Cancer that gig got put on hold. No worries, in about 2 years the treatments will end, and it seems I’ll be around many years to annoy people.

Cal
Yes, I hope everything is going as well as it can.
 
Another off topic rant, but I had some good friends also at Adorama. My friend Angel kinda gave me the VIP treatment. It seemed he hid gear in reserve to show me so I would buy it. Then likely not light he would mark down prices so I kinda got insider deals.

One time I walked into Adorama with Promone and John. We were doing a “Death-March” shooting and walking 10-12 miles with cameras in hand.

I come in and Angel brings me over to the high end used showcase to show me something. Pretty much he laid a selection out on the glass countertop and John came over to look, and Angel yelled at him, “Don’t touch.” Mighty rude. Meanwhile I’m getting the VIP treatment, and John and Promone are getting treated like lepers.

I thought is was funny, but John took insult.

My friend Gary somehow got fired. He was good enough of a friend that he called me and pretty much was in a depression and funk. All he seemed to know how to do was sell cameras at Adorama.

It took a few of his calls, and pretty much I yelled at him and then gave him the talk. Basically he was a nice guy who was very personable, but Gary forgot that he was a great salesman, and being a great salesman means he could sell anything. It didn’t take long before Gary called to thank me. He ended up getting a good job and was doing well.

“Adorama’s loss,” I said.

I wonder if the manager that fired Gary was the same jerk I had problems with.

Anyways you can’t make this stuff up.

Now I remember I had asked Angel about the price on a used Tan Leica bag that held two rigged Leica’s vertically.

“The price was $100.00, but for you $65.00, Angel said.”

Then my friend Chris at B&H told me to take home this mispriced Nikon Noct-Nikkor home over the holiday weekend. I told him Adorama somehow also had a Noct-Nikkor available. Then Chris advised me buy both and return one, costs you nothing.

I still have that Noct-Nikkor, and mounted on my SL2 it is a great manual focus rig. I happen to love the wide open rendering of the Noct-Nikkor over a Noctilux. While the Noct-Nikkor is not as sharp in the corners as a Noctilux, it does not have the dark corners and light fall-off of the Noctilux when shot wide open.

My SL2 has image stabilization. WOW.

So another rant… At least photography related.

Cal
 
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John,

It looks like I will be fine. The prognosis looks really good, and luckily the side effects that can be severe are not so bad with me.

“Maggie” was afraid I would get those crazy mood swings. LOL.

Above I mentioned the time you and Promone got ignored and insulted while I got the VIP treatment. I remember my friend Angel scolding you now to touch anything. It was almost like in that scene in “This Is Spinal Tap” the Mock-U-me try: “Don’t even look at that guitar,” said Nigel.

My friend Joe’s show I thought would be much more extensive, I was expecting more of a retrospective, and the actual show was just a moderate sized gallery. Joe has been doing this Hudson River photography for 50 years. They only did a tiny sampling of his work.

This is the largest museum in Westchester. They should of done better. Also Joe did not talk about himself well. I guess he is not annoying like me on this forum. He read from a list details about each photo and lost the audience. Joe does not have a Masters in TV Broadcast Journalism, nor was he a NYC performance artist for over a decade.

I felt bad or Joe.

Right now I have a disrupted life because of the Cancer. Worst side effect is anemia. I walked about 12 miles I figure to see the show at ICP. The walks were not continuous but I am in a weakened state.

I assume your work has progressed and likely your voice. Many artists don’t ever develop a voice, meaning something that visually identifiable as to the identity of the shooter. Very clearly your sensibility is recognizable.

From what I know, and what I heard, pretty much you have been able to translate your sensibility from English to Spanish, and also through the two different cultures. Not easy to do.

I moved to northern Westchester and I lost my sensibility. I’m a lost artist. Then again I’m mucho happy and into many projects. While I’m not growing as a photographer I’m growing in other ways.

Together we visited the armpits of NYC. The dirty and forsaken. I’m not up to going into those rough and tumble areas anymore. Life is funny, I have too much to loose now. I still seem to be drawn to decaying areas, and perhaps I will find that beauty in my more rural surrounds, those abandoned and neglected spaces that resonate for me.

I would welcome if you posted some images. You are an interesting complex person and your art clearly resonates. I kinda feel you leapfrogged me.

Cal
 
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John,

For the ICP exhibit I pulled out my Louie Vutton book bag. Remember that bag?

There is a small hole in the leather from wear now. When I picked up the bag I though of you and the walks we did.

BTW I think some of this sentimentality is due to ADT (hormone therapy). Pretty much I get another chemical castration injection Tuesday. I call this my Fem-Out.

Anyways an experience…

Perhaps the Fem-Out adds to my confusion.

Cal
 
John kinda ruined my surprise secret weapon.

The SL2 can change format and in the VF’er you only see the square. Basically the 48 MP camera becomes 32 MP and you loose about 1/3rd of the pixels.

So if you shoot verticals you can effectively move the crop in Lightroom and have a degree of perspective control with no real digital manipulation that could create artifact or noise. Basically reframing the 24x36 mm in a square higher or lower.

On my Monochom it is only 18 MP but without a Bayer Filter Array. So people would argue that it has about double the resolution or is like a 36 MP camera. I can believe that.

I had wondered if Leica would design a camera that shot the square and exploited the L-mount glass. The image circle would be wide enough… Perhaps even a 36mmX36mm sensor.

Anyways I kinda have that capability in the SL2 by cropping the 24x36.

Could be the inspiration I’m looking for.

Also know that the sensor still does record the entire sensor so all the data is there as if the shot was shot full frame. An interesting tool and the vertical perspective control prevents or limits converging vertices.

Mighty cool.

I also figured that my 35 Cron APO, a perfect lens with mucho smooth rather outrageous sharpness to OOF becomes about a 50mm or a normal lens when shooting the square. The APO 35 Cron in L-glass is a brutal lens. I have to say I mostly shoot wide open to exploit the blend of crazy sharpness with the smooth transition to OOF. Stunning,

I can brag about this camera because I was part of a Leica focus group who helped design the camera. We wanted image stabilization in camera and we got it. One thing Leica didn’t do that we wanted was make a Monochrom version. I still want one.

My first generation SL I gave to a friend. The IS is a big deal to me and the user interface on the SL2 is mucho better, kinda ideal.

When I was in Maryland I walked into the Leica Store there. They had one of the first SL3’s in the U.S. and I got to handle it. Hard to justify 60 MP, although the Leica L-glass is kinda future proofed to about a 120 MP sensor. Now I can see if shooting the square and having a vertical perspective control that 40 MP square is a kinda sweet spot with a 35 APO Cron.

Also know the SL2 and SL3 are weather proofed and also the lens. No problem in downpours and storms. Yes they are big, heavy and expensive.

Cal
 
So I figure I can brag that I was a paid consultant by Leica. Not really conflating the fact. I was paid a handsome fee.

Mighty cool to own a camera I helped design. The image stabilization is a big deal to me, and the L-glass, although hyper expensive is crazy-great. APO glass has profound sharpness and then they designed the lens to have the smoothest transition to OOF. I won’t overuse the word bokeh…

Or friend John has a kinda recognizable signature to his photography. Kinda hard to copy.

Sometimes photographers are known for their gear. Richard Avedon at one time shot Rolliflexes, but then went into 8x10. Bruce Davidson Leicas, and Diane Arbus Rolliflexes.

I own many cameras, perhaps too many. I am known for my overuse of accessories, and our friend John calls my cameras “Monsters.” I love Tom Abramson’s Rapidwinders, and then I’ll add a grip so a small compact Leica kinda resembles a Nikon F3 P with motor drive.

I own a Nikon F3P BTW that actually was a real Press Camera that was owned by Newsday and saw duty during operation Desert Storm. It had gotten overhauled by Nikon, and then sold off as a matter of policy.

Anyways, for me my cameras have become an extension of my body. With my Baby Linhof’s that of course sport that ergonomic grip to carry a mucho heavy camera, I say ownership of a Linhof comes with a free gym membership because they are so heavy.

A thought is to be the skinny bitch that sports a large camera like a Baby Linhof. A mighty cool thing is I own a Linhof prototype that has no S/N. It is a Baby Tech 5 that has no movements. Did you know that Linhof made a folding camera? Well I own the prototype.

Point I am making is that a camera can be part of your signature. Then again a man/legend like Eugene Smith shot all kinds of cameras…

For me my favorite or best camera is the one I have in my hand.

My Leica Monochrom I would argue is the most demanding digital camera to shoot. It requires perfect exposure. There is no Bayer Filter Array to help recover highlights. It demands perfection in perhaps a German manner, and I say that as a grand compliment. I think somewhat a cult camera, and in the right hands large format like results. I love that CCD sensor…

So you can see the bond and how a camera can be just an extension of your body, mind and personality.

Cal
 
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I think I have somewhere some photocopy of a simple pinhole camera, but it utilized a cartridge as the film advance and back. Likely obsolete today.

Pinhole photography is a great experience, and with limitations comes art. Perhaps we could somehow do a pinhole camera event to share a social and group event.

I’ll look into this. As I say, “Crazy is good…”

Hmmm Gordon has a shutterless camera, I wonder what he has? Anyways call me a smut-queen I’m kinda hooked and I want to know more.

Could it be a glass plate camera that uses a lens cap as a shutter? Hmmm… I wonder…

Something to obsess about…

Kinda odd in one way I am kinda OCD, but only with bicycles, cameras and cars and trucks. I forgot fishing… Anyways obsessive behavior. “Crazy is good,” I say. In our world there is too much mediocrity, too much “extra-medium.”

Oh another rant…

Cal
 
Snarky Joe,

July 19th at 1:00 PM.

The question mark possibility of 2:00 PM is not the best for me, and you know how I like to annoy people, kinda my trade mark and my style.

Why do people love me? LOL.

Been playing with my Leica digitals and conditioning my batteries. Thanks to our friend Jean-Marc I have a third M-9 battery that he gifted me. So despite annoying people I get all the love. LOL.

So now I can see getting a SL3. My SL2 would utilize the gigantic 50 Lux in “L” glass or my 58/1.2 Noct-Nikkor as dedicated lenses.

The Noct-Nikkor has a hand ground ASPH lens, and features low coma glass to avoid “lava lamps” like burnout of the highlights. A great night-stalking lens.

Having image stabilization is kinda like shooting with a tripod: sharper focus. I figure this is part of my style. Also part of my signature is shooting crazy Leica glass wide open.

I kinda have a loud personality, although I am a loner at heart. My images are kinda in your face, and I kinda like to showboat by printing mucho big to be loud. I really am a quiet loner. Remember “Calzone” is really a persona.

Anyways, “Crazy is good.”

Off to look at “Pop-Flash.” Don’t tell anyone or especially Leica, but Alex often sells new in box/unused Leicas as used to discount the price. Don’t tell anyone this secret…

Cal
 
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