Range-rover
Veteran
Thanks Cal, It's a cute little camera. I should be getting it to work.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Dammit. They just keep making me buy stuff....
All jokes aside. I am fortunate to still be working through all this.
Fidel,
I just bought three packs of 50 8 1/2x11 ($277.69) and two large rolls of Linen tape ($72.66). If they had 13x19 I would of loaded up the truck as this size is mucho popular and often sells out.
I am most fortunate in that pretty much I get paid to stay home. How cool is that?
While I am very-very busy at home, I feel like my friend Dave at Grumman who use to says, "I only come to work to rest."
Meanwhile otherwise I'm not really spending money at all, in fact staying home has saved me money.
Somehow the bike tires I ordered last Monday are expected to be delivered this Thursday. Only coming from Seattle. WTF? Anyways two bike tires set me back well over $150.00.
"Maggie" use to make fun of my hoarding. She says "You are no longer poor," but with the pandemic she says, "I'll never make fun of your hoarding ever again." I have been well stocked a prepared. I still have pasta I bought on sale, pre-Pandemic, in my stockpile.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
My recent printing makes evident a NYC that I think is gone. Almost like the Pandemic and economic collapse was like flipping a switch.
I reported that rents in Madhattan in prime luxury areas have gone down to the extent that I could pay the same current rent I pay in SpaHa, yet live in Greenwich Village, Chelsea or Flat Iron downtown.
Suddenly NYC has changed, and I don't believe it will be a Vee recovery. Perhaps a market bottom will take about 18 months. This would be like in 2007-2008. Back then it took a while for the market to bottom. Currently I think the markets have gotten ahead of themselves.
They say the recovery from 2007-2008 created the longest period of job growth ever, but what is not stressed is that it took till 2015 to get to the break even point where all the jobs lost were replaced. Basically it took about 7-8 years to get back to where we were as far as employment goes.
This time some structural change (work from home) likely will maintain a de-urbanization. Also unemployment is at a much higher level now.
The subway use to be an asset, but is now a liability. The MD that lived across the hall just moved out. I suspect she went to live safer in the suburbs, rather than close to work. She was a front-line worker.
It is estimated that "Normal" working conditions might begin by July at my hospital. Meanwhile things are getting phased in.
Be safe everyone.
Cal
I reported that rents in Madhattan in prime luxury areas have gone down to the extent that I could pay the same current rent I pay in SpaHa, yet live in Greenwich Village, Chelsea or Flat Iron downtown.
Suddenly NYC has changed, and I don't believe it will be a Vee recovery. Perhaps a market bottom will take about 18 months. This would be like in 2007-2008. Back then it took a while for the market to bottom. Currently I think the markets have gotten ahead of themselves.
They say the recovery from 2007-2008 created the longest period of job growth ever, but what is not stressed is that it took till 2015 to get to the break even point where all the jobs lost were replaced. Basically it took about 7-8 years to get back to where we were as far as employment goes.
This time some structural change (work from home) likely will maintain a de-urbanization. Also unemployment is at a much higher level now.
The subway use to be an asset, but is now a liability. The MD that lived across the hall just moved out. I suspect she went to live safer in the suburbs, rather than close to work. She was a front-line worker.
It is estimated that "Normal" working conditions might begin by July at my hospital. Meanwhile things are getting phased in.
Be safe everyone.
Cal
robert blu
quiet photographer
Thanks Cal for updating us, it's always interesting to know what happens around.
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
Interesting to see that the Pax M3 has a red dot, long before Leica got a red dot on any of its camera bodies.
Regarding everything else, Philly is still here.
We live about 2 blocks from the subway and Philly's main north-south corridor, yet everything here is quiet. a 15 minute walk north is a different story. There is a 3 block long swath of destroyed businesses up on Walnut and Chestnut streets.
Yesterday, the police were lobbing teargas cans out in west Philly, this only a couple blocks from the MOVE bombing location 35 years ago, where Philly police destroyed an entire block.
We're hoping that everything calms down and that the protests don't reach this far south. I have enough diesel in the car to get us out of the city if we need to bug out. If that isn't an option, we have some fire extinguishers and a few other effective tools for defense.
During all this, the pandemic, worsening economy, completely unstable future, the riots, I'm trying to finish writing a Masters thesis, produce a 15 minute webinar, and do a few other assignments in order to graduate. It's too much.
Stay safe and healthy, y'all.
Phil Forrest
Regarding everything else, Philly is still here.
We live about 2 blocks from the subway and Philly's main north-south corridor, yet everything here is quiet. a 15 minute walk north is a different story. There is a 3 block long swath of destroyed businesses up on Walnut and Chestnut streets.
Yesterday, the police were lobbing teargas cans out in west Philly, this only a couple blocks from the MOVE bombing location 35 years ago, where Philly police destroyed an entire block.
We're hoping that everything calms down and that the protests don't reach this far south. I have enough diesel in the car to get us out of the city if we need to bug out. If that isn't an option, we have some fire extinguishers and a few other effective tools for defense.
During all this, the pandemic, worsening economy, completely unstable future, the riots, I'm trying to finish writing a Masters thesis, produce a 15 minute webinar, and do a few other assignments in order to graduate. It's too much.
Stay safe and healthy, y'all.
Phil Forrest
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Phil,
It all is so sad.
In the end you were good in calling the lower Hudson Valley a good place to retire to. "Maggie" with the Pandemic, the failing economy, and now protests/riots finally saw wisdom in moving out of urban living, I feel it will take mucho time for any recovery. I'm getting reminded of NYC in the 60's and 70's.
Already many are leaving: rents went down; and I can imagine when all the rent forebearance gets settled I predict mucho homelessness.
I'm so glad that Maggie turned against being an urbanite. I cool with fresher air, less pollution, and a simpler life. Also I just want to ride my bike without or with less danger of getting "pancaked."
Thanks for that advive on 9 speed and 3/16 chains. I bought into 9 speed XTR, but since it indexes the same as Dura-Ace I will rig out a cross country mountain bike as a 42/32/20 compact drive 3x9.
I also loaded up on two 11 speed XTR drivetrains, enough to build out two bikes. Only bought two XTR cassettes, but I bought a half dozen XT cassettes for savings.
I'm kinda over NYC. Maggie will be 67 this month, meanwhile I'm only 62. Looks like next year I'll try to move to Beacon. For work I'll do the commute. It makes sense to get a good mortgage it is best if I'm still working.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Robert,
Seems like Europe is going "Federal" if the European Bank is able to sell the debt.
Not sure if the U.S. is a good model for Europe.
I see many foolish people not wearing masks and being rather casual about social distancing. On the upper Eastside the bars sell drinks and basically along First and Second Avenue people are drinking publically and socializing on the sidewalks creating hot spots for disease transmission.
Did you see that video of "Karen" (slang for entitled privalaged white woman) in Central Park? I hate to be racist, but I see too much entitlement, but generally these are people of the age of a certain generation.
Know that already I see the suffering and the hunger. Know that I kinda adopted some homeless people. They are non smokers, somehow are gentile in nature, have kind faces, and I give them a dollar every time I see them.
The disparity I am seeing is really heartbreaking. Very sad. Meanwhile I live in my bubble of sorts.
Cal
robert blu
quiet photographer
Cal, not sure what will happen in Europe in order to restart the economy, many announcements but not many facts!
In the last years the economical and social divide has increased very much. Being retired at least I did not lose a job but the huge debt our government is making to support the economy will have to be paid and in one way or the other we all are now poorer. But alive, which is already something.
Being in a severe hit area I'm very careful and still do not go in crowded places, I have food delivered at home. My wife and me went out last friday first time after 9 weeks of lockdown I noticed most of people 40 or older all wear a mask and are careful to keep distances, but there always are some exceptions. Like a couple of men we saw walking with no mask and speaking very loud in their phones, spreading droplets all around I think. We have been very careful to stay far from them! And as old sailor windward!
Youbg below 30 do not care, they go out in groups and probably think to be immune.
There are shops here that offer an option of what we call "suspended shopping": you buy what you need and than you can buy some food which will be left for people who lost their jobs, or for any reason cannot afford to buy it. It works quite well but it is probably not enough!
Homeless people are no more visible in the streets , hopefully they found a shelter in any charity association. Before the lockdown my wife and I had a couple of begging people whom we were used to donate something each time we met them, money and in the past some clothes.
As Angela Merkel said in the beginning it is serious, take it seriously.
Stay safe, be careful !
In the last years the economical and social divide has increased very much. Being retired at least I did not lose a job but the huge debt our government is making to support the economy will have to be paid and in one way or the other we all are now poorer. But alive, which is already something.
Being in a severe hit area I'm very careful and still do not go in crowded places, I have food delivered at home. My wife and me went out last friday first time after 9 weeks of lockdown I noticed most of people 40 or older all wear a mask and are careful to keep distances, but there always are some exceptions. Like a couple of men we saw walking with no mask and speaking very loud in their phones, spreading droplets all around I think. We have been very careful to stay far from them! And as old sailor windward!
Youbg below 30 do not care, they go out in groups and probably think to be immune.
There are shops here that offer an option of what we call "suspended shopping": you buy what you need and than you can buy some food which will be left for people who lost their jobs, or for any reason cannot afford to buy it. It works quite well but it is probably not enough!
Homeless people are no more visible in the streets , hopefully they found a shelter in any charity association. Before the lockdown my wife and I had a couple of begging people whom we were used to donate something each time we met them, money and in the past some clothes.
As Angela Merkel said in the beginning it is serious, take it seriously.
Stay safe, be careful !
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Robert,
The social divides have been always great in NYC, but now the divide has become amplified and greater. Here in the U.S. it is becoming another pandemic (homelessness).
"Maggie" will be 67 later this month, and pretty much she has been locked down. Because of risk I stay at home, but IMHO even walking around is not safe. Too many reckless people with little concern for first responders, front line medical workers, and us older people.
It has gotten to the point where the only thing keeping me in NYC is my job. The way things are there is no other reason to live here.
Cal
Prest_400
Multiformat
To all of you in the US, stay safe. I honestly couldn't really absorb information due to all that is going on. It's overwhelming.
Just writing a quick post after doing a fast read of the last posts.
I caught a flu in March and changed opinions, am 25 myself but I have friends who seem to not get it. Just not understand the whole severity. I may blame it in this part of Northern Europe longstanding stability, no WW, they didn't get tremendous impact on 2008, etc. A friend of mine thought his trip to spain in 2 weeks would have been fine! Convinced him to reschedule. I find hard to contain being the one that calls him out (even if softly). Ye, we are young, but people are dying.
I've received the fantastic news of transitioning into a new job, so I feel like a large stressor is gone. But I really felt saddened about the way our Mediterranean countries have been perceived and how this will impact the ("multiple tier) EU.
Just writing a quick post after doing a fast read of the last posts.
Robert I write from one of the non-locked down countries of EU which seems has had an ok way to handle it, but the per capita rate of death seems to be of the highest in the world...
I caught a flu in March and changed opinions, am 25 myself but I have friends who seem to not get it. Just not understand the whole severity. I may blame it in this part of Northern Europe longstanding stability, no WW, they didn't get tremendous impact on 2008, etc. A friend of mine thought his trip to spain in 2 weeks would have been fine! Convinced him to reschedule. I find hard to contain being the one that calls him out (even if softly). Ye, we are young, but people are dying.
I've received the fantastic news of transitioning into a new job, so I feel like a large stressor is gone. But I really felt saddened about the way our Mediterranean countries have been perceived and how this will impact the ("multiple tier) EU.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I learned on the nightly news Monday that the Leica Store in SoHo got looted badly. Pretty much cleaned out. My friends Eli and Craig I saw in the B-roll. Very sad.
I live in a bubble of sorts, but the way I am seeing things too many things are unraveling at the same time where one thing leads to another.
In history we learned from WWII that fighting on two fronts was a mistake for the Germans, and for us Americans starting two wars (Iraq and Afganistan) was also a mistake.
Currently I see an ongoing Pandemic, an economic collapse that amplifies disparity, and now destruction, civil unrest, and violence. To me this is like fighting three wars at the same time.
"Broken Window Theory" tells a hypothetical story of a kid playing with a ball breaks his next door neighbor's window. The window of course needs to get replaced, but the argument is that this expense does nothing to add to the economy. Simply it is a replacement, it can also be viewed as an loss because of the expense, but really everything would be better if it did not happen.
So using broken window theory: we would be better off if we had no pandemic; we would all be better off if we did not have to effectively shut down our economies; and we all would be better off if police violence and institutionalized racism did not exist.
Many tout since 2007-2008 there has been 12 years of job expansion, but that is only half the story. It is true that this is the longest period of job expansion ever, but it took till 2015 to recover the jobs lost in 2007-2008, the break even point. If we use 2015 as the starting point it really only has been 5 years.
I'm afraid that pretty much we might not even get back to the break even point.
In Italy Robert made the point, "We are all poorer."
Even though I am not suffering, every day I feel the tears and I cry a bit every day. I see the suffering all around me, and it hurts. My printing of images makes clear to me that the old New York I recorded is now somehow gone.
The padding is installed in the elevator in my building for the third time in two weeks. Unlikely someone moving in, and more probable someone moving out. The rental listings downtown in the trendy areas rents are discounted and surprisingly low.
Macy's was looted, and they are not in great financial shape even before the pandemic. One of our designer friends had his showroom looted. His business has been destroyed.
The curfews seem to not be able to be enforced. During the day there are peaceful demonstrations, but at night looting.
Meanwhile the FED has been buying Junkbond ETF's keeping the markets up. In December these extended powers will go away that have propped up the markets. Basically the FED inflated companies that otherwise would go bankrupt to avoid a steep economic collapse.
This "backstopping" of course has a price. The money has to come from somewhere...
I can say this, it will take a long time to recover, and pretty much I can't see ever getting back to where we were, and if we do it likely will take decades. Meanwhile things are still unwinding. This summer the forebearance on evictions will end. I expect more horrors, destitution, and worsening hunger.
A reminder, hungry children caused Arab Spring.
Cal
I live in a bubble of sorts, but the way I am seeing things too many things are unraveling at the same time where one thing leads to another.
In history we learned from WWII that fighting on two fronts was a mistake for the Germans, and for us Americans starting two wars (Iraq and Afganistan) was also a mistake.
Currently I see an ongoing Pandemic, an economic collapse that amplifies disparity, and now destruction, civil unrest, and violence. To me this is like fighting three wars at the same time.
"Broken Window Theory" tells a hypothetical story of a kid playing with a ball breaks his next door neighbor's window. The window of course needs to get replaced, but the argument is that this expense does nothing to add to the economy. Simply it is a replacement, it can also be viewed as an loss because of the expense, but really everything would be better if it did not happen.
So using broken window theory: we would be better off if we had no pandemic; we would all be better off if we did not have to effectively shut down our economies; and we all would be better off if police violence and institutionalized racism did not exist.
Many tout since 2007-2008 there has been 12 years of job expansion, but that is only half the story. It is true that this is the longest period of job expansion ever, but it took till 2015 to recover the jobs lost in 2007-2008, the break even point. If we use 2015 as the starting point it really only has been 5 years.
I'm afraid that pretty much we might not even get back to the break even point.
In Italy Robert made the point, "We are all poorer."
Even though I am not suffering, every day I feel the tears and I cry a bit every day. I see the suffering all around me, and it hurts. My printing of images makes clear to me that the old New York I recorded is now somehow gone.
The padding is installed in the elevator in my building for the third time in two weeks. Unlikely someone moving in, and more probable someone moving out. The rental listings downtown in the trendy areas rents are discounted and surprisingly low.
Macy's was looted, and they are not in great financial shape even before the pandemic. One of our designer friends had his showroom looted. His business has been destroyed.
The curfews seem to not be able to be enforced. During the day there are peaceful demonstrations, but at night looting.
Meanwhile the FED has been buying Junkbond ETF's keeping the markets up. In December these extended powers will go away that have propped up the markets. Basically the FED inflated companies that otherwise would go bankrupt to avoid a steep economic collapse.
This "backstopping" of course has a price. The money has to come from somewhere...
I can say this, it will take a long time to recover, and pretty much I can't see ever getting back to where we were, and if we do it likely will take decades. Meanwhile things are still unwinding. This summer the forebearance on evictions will end. I expect more horrors, destitution, and worsening hunger.
A reminder, hungry children caused Arab Spring.
Cal
Range-rover
Veteran
Just received a email that their having photoexpo this fall in the Javis Center.
You don't think they have insurance? or what are you thinking here...
robert blu
quiet photographer
Cal I think one of the problems is that we were already in a critical situation before the pandemic. Like when you build an house of cards, you put one card on the other and it is ok, everythingis in balance. Than you add one more, with all attentions and everything falls down! Why? Because the equilibrium was very unstable, a little thing made everything collapse.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
My thinking is that they have insurance of course.
The thing that strikes me is in 1968 when there were race riots and looting in NYC and Newark. I became aware and did not remember that there was a flu epidemic that year that killed over 100K people.
Back then though the looting and arson was in black communities, this time it went into luxury shopping districts for the most part like SoHo and 5th Avenue, although some stores in the Bronx were looted badly.
Earlier I mentioned how violently the switch was set that reminded me of the 60's and 70's. On my way to work this morning I saw freshly boarded up businesses, meanwhile this is the first day of NYC opening up.
So now it seems that my work is opening up also, and I'll be reporting in as usual.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Over the past week I have done mucho printing. I also took the opportunity to really dig into those difficult files that provided difficulties and challenges.
The result is that I used a lot of different out of the box manners to get mucho good results, and in the development of new processes I really fine tuned Piezography Pro's split-toning that allows me to blend inks via the print head for added detail and increased depth.
On all my new printing is more depth. In the past I got this on some prints, but now I can pump out depth so that my prints are more like sculptures. I also learned that the difference between a good print and a great one is subtle. It is really about understanding the interactions of LR5 Al-go-rythems and exploiting them.
Also kinda crazy how minimalized my post processing has become. Many of my settings stay zero. On some files half the sliders remain zero.
I think John has it right when he said that the best asset to have for printing is a trained eye. Now it seems a profound understanding of Lightroom through extensive practice has become where deadly Kung-Fu moves have become reflexes.
The CF in me learned that old socks with holes in them or an old ratty T-shirt make for good waste tank bedding. The socks don't even have to be clean. LOL.
The advantage of stale old ink and 150 sheets of 8 1/2x11 allowed for lots of controlled experiments and testing. Also I learned how to tease out even more detail, even in small prints.
What has evolved is that my printing took a huge step forward as this paid leave allowed me to put in 12 hour days concentrating on taking everything to the next level.
There is a series of 4 shots that were taken about 7 years ago. John and I were in Harlem, and we were caught out in this black community unaware of the Trayvon Martin verdict that was announced.
This one fierce black man who I would learn is named "Orlando" got in our face and was full of rage, but all the yelling about our status, privilage and entitlement I could not argue against.
Like George Zimmerman, we "stood our ground" though, but I diffused the situation a bit by saying and telling Orlando that I agreed with what he was saying, after asking him his name.
Eventually I took one shot optimized exposure and took three more shots. Somehow I capture a very animated black man expressing himself in these 4 shots that created a powerful sequence. The lighting was ultra high contrast of July, and on top of that the subject was a black man.
Somehow in the second shot John's right hand is pointing from the bottom corner of a vertical shot; meanwhile Orlando has his right hand posed like a gun also but his index finger is pressed to his lips as if to silence John; and on Orlando's T-shirt is a "Phasor" from Star Trek with the words "Don't Phase Me Bro."
Pretty much the tension is captured of a suggested three guns by my 28 Cron stopped down to F5.6 from about 3-4 feet away.
So now I have these 4 shots optimized so I could print them in the order that I shot them as a sequence using roll paper. Currently I have the 4 shots proofed/tested/optimized on 8 1/2x11. I suspect the impact of this sequence to be great.
Interesting to note how the anger, frustration, and rage of continued injustice makes thes 4 shots an "Evergreen." Seems like what happened over 7 years ago persists today.
Cal
The result is that I used a lot of different out of the box manners to get mucho good results, and in the development of new processes I really fine tuned Piezography Pro's split-toning that allows me to blend inks via the print head for added detail and increased depth.
On all my new printing is more depth. In the past I got this on some prints, but now I can pump out depth so that my prints are more like sculptures. I also learned that the difference between a good print and a great one is subtle. It is really about understanding the interactions of LR5 Al-go-rythems and exploiting them.
Also kinda crazy how minimalized my post processing has become. Many of my settings stay zero. On some files half the sliders remain zero.
I think John has it right when he said that the best asset to have for printing is a trained eye. Now it seems a profound understanding of Lightroom through extensive practice has become where deadly Kung-Fu moves have become reflexes.
The CF in me learned that old socks with holes in them or an old ratty T-shirt make for good waste tank bedding. The socks don't even have to be clean. LOL.
The advantage of stale old ink and 150 sheets of 8 1/2x11 allowed for lots of controlled experiments and testing. Also I learned how to tease out even more detail, even in small prints.
What has evolved is that my printing took a huge step forward as this paid leave allowed me to put in 12 hour days concentrating on taking everything to the next level.
There is a series of 4 shots that were taken about 7 years ago. John and I were in Harlem, and we were caught out in this black community unaware of the Trayvon Martin verdict that was announced.
This one fierce black man who I would learn is named "Orlando" got in our face and was full of rage, but all the yelling about our status, privilage and entitlement I could not argue against.
Like George Zimmerman, we "stood our ground" though, but I diffused the situation a bit by saying and telling Orlando that I agreed with what he was saying, after asking him his name.
Eventually I took one shot optimized exposure and took three more shots. Somehow I capture a very animated black man expressing himself in these 4 shots that created a powerful sequence. The lighting was ultra high contrast of July, and on top of that the subject was a black man.
Somehow in the second shot John's right hand is pointing from the bottom corner of a vertical shot; meanwhile Orlando has his right hand posed like a gun also but his index finger is pressed to his lips as if to silence John; and on Orlando's T-shirt is a "Phasor" from Star Trek with the words "Don't Phase Me Bro."
Pretty much the tension is captured of a suggested three guns by my 28 Cron stopped down to F5.6 from about 3-4 feet away.
So now I have these 4 shots optimized so I could print them in the order that I shot them as a sequence using roll paper. Currently I have the 4 shots proofed/tested/optimized on 8 1/2x11. I suspect the impact of this sequence to be great.
Interesting to note how the anger, frustration, and rage of continued injustice makes thes 4 shots an "Evergreen." Seems like what happened over 7 years ago persists today.
Cal
Range-rover
Veteran
**Gear Alert**
Picked up a Canon 35mm F2 LTM (known as the Japanese Summicron). I got a
good deal on it, Cleaned it up a bit tighten all the screws and rear locking ring
and also picked up a Metalbones M to Sony adapter and tried it out and it's really
nice. I think I'll stick with Canon screw mounts for awhile.
Picked up a Canon 35mm F2 LTM (known as the Japanese Summicron). I got a
good deal on it, Cleaned it up a bit tighten all the screws and rear locking ring
and also picked up a Metalbones M to Sony adapter and tried it out and it's really
nice. I think I'll stick with Canon screw mounts for awhile.
jszokoli
Well-known
I miss the NYC meet-ups. COVID has just killed me photography wise. Most of my photography is while I'm at work going from job site to job site.
I hope we can figure out a way to do a socially distanced meet-up soon.
Joe
I hope we can figure out a way to do a socially distanced meet-up soon.
Joe
Range-rover
Veteran
I went out once with my Fuji XPro-1 to try it out, kinda hard with a cane now but I
did it. Your right not seeing family and friends it's been a bit hard and I'm hoping
we could start the meets soon but in my case it will be a bit longer till I get back
in some kind of shape.
did it. Your right not seeing family and friends it's been a bit hard and I'm hoping
we could start the meets soon but in my case it will be a bit longer till I get back
in some kind of shape.
Range-rover
Veteran
Cal you have a 28 cron on your SL or it's on your Film camera, also of interest to you.
I picked up a Nikon F3 it's in great shape everything seems to work even the LCD
screen and blast it a seller on ebay had a 50mm f1.2 or 55mm for $269.00 just
missed it.
I picked up a Nikon F3 it's in great shape everything seems to work even the LCD
screen and blast it a seller on ebay had a 50mm f1.2 or 55mm for $269.00 just
missed it.