New York January NYC Meet-Up

[Calzone]

Next month is coming soon.

February is the Eighth Annual Camera Beauty Contest. Save the date.

Cal

 

[jsrockit]

Any day after the 7th of Jan works for me....though the 8th would be rough (arriving back from Chile that day).

 

[Calzone]

Any day after the 7th of Jan works for me....though the 8th would be rough (arriving back from Chile that day).

John,

After the 5th I'll be 59.

Perhaps the third week of January. The first two weeks of January tend to be the coldest (Farmer's All-Man-ack).

Cal

 

[dshfoto]

Try being in Duluth, MN in the 1st week of Jan for a cold experience, record low for Jan 8th, -31 °F (1974),

Are you guys thinking the 15th or the 22nd of Jan?

 

[jsrockit]

Maybe the 15th is best in order to put time between it and the Feb meeting of February 5th.

 

[Calzone]

Maybe the 15th is best in order to put time between it and the Feb meeting of February 5th.

John,

15th is a good date.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Try being in Duluth, MN in the 1st week of Jan for a cold experience, record low for Jan 8th, -31 °F (1974),

Are you guys thinking the 15th or the 22nd of Jan?

Steve,

I remember my first experience with a polar vortex in the late 1980's. I actually overheated my Jeep 84 Scrambler during record breaking cold because the 50-50 mix of antifreeze in my radiator was not enough and my cooling system was frozen.

The engine caught on fire, but I stalled right in front of a car dealership, and they ran out with a fire extinguisher to save my truck from total ruin. It was about a year and a half later when I replaced the engine with a 350 HP, 400 foot pound Chevy Corvette engine.

Cal

 

[thambar]

Any chance for later February? IIRC we used to have the beauty contest meetings after the 15th of Feb., and the weather was more promising. One year it was positively balmy!

 

[Calzone]

Any chance for later February? IIRC we used to have the beauty contest meetings after the 15th of Feb., and the weather was more promising. One year it was positively balmy!

Jim,

John has been very busy lately, so we made the date easy for him. Know in warmer weather more Mega-Bus rides to Philly will be in order.

We both await warmer weather.

Cal

 

[finguanzo]

I say now is the perfect time for a Miami trip.. 🙂

 

[Calzone]

I say now is the perfect time for a Miami trip.. 🙂

Fidel,

Now Maggie thinks Miami could be our retirement destination because it is a fashion city.

I don't mind the heat as long as I don't have to wear a suit. I'm a big time fisherman, and I would love to fly fish. Already have the rod and reel, but I still don't know how to cast.

Pretty much about 30% less cost of living, and reduced taxes. "No one ever got rich paying taxes."

I can see trying to sell my ghetto prints of NYC at Art Basel. Anyways I'll be scoping it out, but know the heat for my gal will be oppressive. The summers are brutal for her here in New York.

Cal

 

[dave lackey]

Fidel,

Now Maggie thinks Miami could be our retirement destination because it is a fashion city.

I don't mind the heat as long as I don't have to wear a suit. I'm a big time fisherman, and I would love to fly fish. Already have the rod and reel, but I still don't know how to cast.

Pretty much about 30% less cost of living, and reduced taxes. "No one ever got rich paying taxes."

I can see trying to sell my ghetto prints of NYC at Art Basel. Anyways I'll be scoping it out, but know the heat for my gal will be oppressive. The summers are brutal for her here in New York.

Cal

Cal,

Come on down to Atlanta anytime year-round! I have an Orvis rod/reel just waiting on you for casting lessons at our lake.😀😀😀

 

[finguanzo]

January NYC meetup at Dave's house!!

 

[dave lackey]

January NYC meetup at Dave's house!!

All the beer is on me!😀😀😀

 

[Calzone]

Cal,

Come on down to Atlanta anytime year-round! I have an Orvis rod/reel just waiting on you for casting lessons at our lake.😀😀😀

Dave,

I'm sure we will meet-up again. I have fond memories of Savanna. I have an Orvis reel, and my rod is a 5 weight.

As far as fishermen go, I am annoying.

A friend from work invited me to go shark fishing out of Shin-A-cock. Basically it was a shark tournament. LOL. The boat was a 30 foot Blackwatch that has a 15 foot beam (width) and was powered by two Volvo 750 HP turbo diesels. About 100 boats gathered around in the ocean side of the inlet. When they shot off a flare all the boats gunned their engines and headed out, but the wake from the Blackwatch kinda made rough seas for all the other boats. Now I understood why a tournement boat has big engines.

80 miles off shore we set up. My job was the chum, a disgusting job. Rich set up four rods and then the owner of the boat and Rich took a nap. It didn't take long before the rod with the most line out started clicking, then it ran off some line. I tried to wake up Rich, but he said it is only probably a bluefish, but I kicked him awake.

The big German got up and put the reel in freespool letting out some line, then he locked the reel, and waited to the slack to leave the line. When the line became taunt he violently set the hook and all hell broke loose. Rich yelled out for a belt. "This fish is hurting me," he said. and the owner grabed a belt with a gimble to hold the rod butt. "Clear the deck, bring in those other rods before I get tangled."

Eventually Rich asked for a harness that clipped to the reel allowing Rich to lean back to punish the fish, and suddenly the shark jumped clear out of the water. "Its a Mako," Rich yelled. "If I loose this fish I'm going to be pissed. Get the gaff."

So not only is this my first shark tournament, it is my first time off shore, and also the first time gaffing a shark which requires three people: one guy is on the rod; I was the wireman; and the owner was the guy with the flying gaff.

A flying gaff has a large barbed hook that has a rope tied off to a cleat that will separate from the pole after the hook is driven through the shark's head. My job was to wear a pair of leather gloves and direct the shark's head into position by grabbing the line by pressing it inbetween my open gloved palms when Rich put the reel into free spool.

A lot of bad things can happen, especially at this point. Makos are jumpers and there are stories of Mako's jumping into boats, and even worse jumping through a hull and sinking boats, but somehow we gaffed him on our first attempt. The rope made a long sustained note like a piano as the shark dove. and it took three of us to pull the shark to the surface.

My next job was to tail rope the shark. The other two guys held the shark near the surface while I had a second rope with a clasp that I wrapped around the gaff rope and clasped the tailrope to form a circle that I had to work past the head and fins of the Mako. While I was doing this the shark lunged for my head, and Rich shoved me onto the deck to save my face.

On the second attempt I got the tailrope in place. We radioed in that we had a Mako. Perhaps it was around 10:00 AM, and the seas started to swell. The forecast was for nasty chop as the day proceeded.

We headed in early with our trophy and were looking good for first place and also the "Calcutta" which is the pool for the largest Mako. Kaa-Ching.

Our hearts sank when someone brought to the dock a 1000 pound Thresher, so we got bumped to second place, but still had the Calcutta. It was getting close to 5:00 PM and the cutoff where you had to get your fish to the dock by 5:00 PM when we heard that someone was comming in with a big Mako. Our hearts sank again. Our fish was only around 300 pounds.

Three drunk 20 year olds came to the dock with a 500 pound Mako. It featured a gaff scar in its stomach. I wondered how they didn't get killed. Their boat was a 20 foot Sea Ox with single outboard, so these fools got the snot beat out of them by the rough seas. Because of the deadline one of the guys got in the cabin to be ballast to charge threw the rough seas. These guys were fools.

We ended up getting 3rd place, but we won the Calcutta because the fools did not partake. $10K was split 4 ways: a share went to the boat; and the other three shares were divided into the crew. After that trip I became always invited because I was considered good luck.

On another trip we were going out to overnight tuna fishing. We got off shore and Rich saw a school of Dolphin (the fish not the mammal) He took a spinning rod and with a piece of squid caught one. Rich tied it alive off the stern swimming in the water.

It was true that a school of Dolphin won't abandone a fish, and we were surrounded by a cloud of fish, but while the first fish was easy to catch, the second was difficult. The three of us were getting skunked, so I tried something different. I cast away from the cloud of fish into barren waters. I could see one fish turn to investigate, but then another second fish charged for my bait. When the white strip of squid disapeared I raised my rod tip, and the fish jumped tail dancing on the water.

So to be annoying when I lifted my trophy over the side of the boat I made sure I bounced my catch off of Riche's leg. By the time I bounced 5 or 6 fish off Rich no one else was catching fish, and then Rich lost it

"If you don't tell me what you are doing I'm going to toss you overboard," Rich yelled. LOL.

Anyways we had intended to stay out all weekend fishing, but we literally had a boatload of fish, so we headed back in. BTW Rich was a big German and he was a natural born hunter. Monday mornings at work one knew that if he was in a good mood that you knew that he killed something over the weekend. One time he showed me a ten point deer he had bow hunted. He stood alongside his trophy dressed in cammo. When I said that he looked like Elmer Fud, boy did he get pissed, but everone else laughed really hard.

In my past I was a "pinhooker." Every Saturday and Sunday morning me and two other guys caught enough fish to support the gas, insurance and upkeep for a 18 foot center console by supplying the Kismet Inn on Fire Island a supply of fish.

It has been two decades since I left this life behind...

Cal

 

[Calzone]

BTW there are some nice prints hanging at the Leica Store Soho.

Peter Turnley, Cuba: A Grace of Spirit runs December 6th-January 27th, 2017. There will be a book signing and lecture on Wednesday December 21st 6-8 PM.

I was told image capture was via M and SL.

http://www.peterturnley.com

Cal

 

[Calzone]

The Peter Turnley booksigning and lecture was like a mini-Meet-Up. I saw a lot of people I knew, and the event was very worth while.

Anyways Peter is an interesting person and photographer. The Leica Store Soho was a bit overcrowded, and the NYFD likely would of objected to the size of the crowd in the space. I even ran into Louis Mendez.

I saw John Kreider, the Leica Product Specialist for the SL and "S," and I asked him about the new AF 50 Lux adapting to the most recent release of firmware. I also saw that the Leica Store Soho has a AF 50 Lux on the shelf, confirming that the lens has been shipped to dealers.

I definitely will be testing that AF 50 that I await. I already have the updated firmware installed. This will be my first opportunity to try a production AF 50, having only tried the pre-production version with old firmware back at PhotoPlusExpo.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

So I loaded my 3880 with the new Piezography Pro. As an early adopter I got the opportunity to take advantage of some discounts, so I loaded up the truck and bought $3.1K worth of ink and two sets of carts.

I'm kinda low on paper, and I will have to restock my warehouse, especially since my stockpile comprises mostly 50 foot rolls of paper.

Anyways I should have some new prints for the meet-up. The ink is loaded, and I spent a good part of the day getting organized and making drying space.

The new Piezography Pro is much more advanced than two years ago, and it seems with new curves, an automatic archiving of old curves, frequent updates, and for an additional $150.00 for software and a purchase of an I1 photometer not only will I be able to calibrate my system, but I will be able to create my own paper profiles and curves.

It seems like when they use the word "Pro" they really mean it. BTW all these new developments are backward compatible to my K7, so it as if my old K7 just got updated with new advances.

My first prints will be tonight.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

GEAR UPDATE: My Monochrom has been at Leica N.J. for sensor replacement for the past three weeks. In July I was on a waiting list, and in December I called to get the free shipping label. I expect the turnaround to be 8-10 weeks. Know that there is a year end break.

In February my Monochrom will be 4 years old, and it has recieved heavy usage where the edges and corners are silvery. I expect new covering will replace the original covering that has been worn smooth in parts from my fingertips. I was told by Bill, the service manager, that basically I will get a camera back that will have been overhauled.

I expect another 4 years of trouble free service. Anything beyond that goes into "free camera" territory.

My wish for the new year is for Leica to release a SL Monochrom (SLM). I would still keep my MM and the SL. Call me a greedy *******. LOL.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I will have some new prints that will show off the new Piezography Pro system. I am very-very pleased. Know that it is evident how easy it has become to print digital negatives. I'll be buying some overhead projection film, and download some DN curves.

Really awesome that I can print digital proofs on the very same printer without any ink changes, and also with a $150.00 software and purchase of an I1 I can print targets and calibrate my system.

One-pass glossy printing is wonderful. More control than ever. I have Neutral, cool and warm all in one inkset, and I can do all inbetween with splitone by setting up the tones for the highlights, mids and shadows all separately.

Cal