Smart move Cal.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Christian,
Yes. I believe that is the name of the store.
Although I don't remember the name I have been there many times, and this is the first time I have seen these frames. I think they are a new item.
At AI Friedman I have not seen these frames that I saw at Muji. I spend a lot of time at AI Friedman loading up on archival boxes, portfolios, and presentation cases. Don't tell Maggie that hidden behind her clothes hanging on the wall is one of those jumbo arc-A-tech portfolios with the three handles. LOL. The instructions are in Japanese and the dimentions are metric. I'm going back there this week with a tape measure.
Seeing prints framed behind plexi makes the photography real. Hellen's objection to uneven borders becomes an issue if you are not using a mat. Also with the print right against the plexi, although not archival, looks great. No glare and secondary reflections, even the glossier Epson Exhibition Fiber.
I was also surprised at the size of the frames. Kinda big, but know the bolts I suspect are stainless steel, and they are rather tiny and kinda miniturized to add an elegance.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
At $17.00 for a stock 18x24 mat with a 13x19 window I'm not a big fan of mats either. LOL. I bought two for the prints I gifted at Christmas.
I had heard on the street that Pearl River will be closing. Not sure if that is true. Pretty much more of the real estate squeeze...
Moo-G is the store. Another cool thing is that the frames don't take up a lot of space. Really slick minimal look. These frames have your style written all over them. No distraction, just show me the visual image.
Also you have to see the industrial/platinum ELFA Island I built. One of the centerpieces is my "camera shelf" that is mounted on this ELFA metal "pegboard." The impact is you can see almost all of my cameras at a glance. On the rear of the display is a platinum metal pegboard panel with small shelves for racks of lenses. Looks kinda savage. Never knew I owned so many cameras because they never were ever gathered into one space where you get the impact of seeing them all at once. Very impressive. Basically "Camera Heaven." LOL.
On one side of my Island work station I have a sitting desk with the EIZO terraced on a shelf with the 3880 on the side. On the backside next to where the single sheet paper feed is for the 3880 is a large shelf that can also serve as a standing desk, but the primary use will be for paper that will be loaded into the 3880. The standing desk can accommodate up to17x22 boxes of paper.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
They look really slick. The detail is there even in the small prints. It invites one to inquire about how big are exhibition prints.
The way it is looking is that I think 24x36 is not the max. I need to do some Christian like experiments and zoom-in and blow up to see where IQ starts to get fuzzy.
The smaller prints make it easier to edit and assemble a show. Kinda like my camera shelf: you don't know what you have until you see it all at once. Now I see the huge dollar sign in all those cameras. It is very impressive.
Cal
I'm sure it's awesome... I've always been a fan of that space of yours (especially after the ELFA re-design) and have seen it grow and mutate into something very clean and inviting. I'll admit, I'm jealous.
I went to the Steve McCurry exhibit at the Rubin yesterday. There were some very large prints, but most of them weren't sharp. They were still great photos though...
http://rubinmuseum.org/events/exhibitions/steve-mccurry-india
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
For guys like us who were trained as studio artists having a real full blown dedicated studio is like regressing way back to when I spent all my time just playing and creating back in art school. Call me antisocial, but this is truely when I'm the most happy where I create my own world.
Funny thing is that I first had to ghettoize and destroy the room before this most recent development. Basically I made it unlivable, and Maggie seldom came into the bedroom, except to retrieve some clothes. At one point I could only make 6 prints because of lacking any drying area. LOL.
This studio space is kinda engineered. Amazing how much stuff is organized. Even more crazy is how much money all this cost, but time and patience has been my friends.
Cal
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
GEAR RAPPORT:
No progress on the redesign of the wide angle 4x5. My Dremel has been waiting patiently. I have been busy testing all my lenses on an A7r. I'm pretty impressed on the whole. I forgot how convenient digital is. I did also get 21mm Skopar for my IIIc to balance things out. I couldn't resist at $225.
I related news, after an almost 10 months of repair saga, I now have a fully working Coolscan LS8000. I need to clean the mirror, and general dust from the interior, but I tested it today with no hiccups. The secret was to send the power supply to CA to be rebuilt. Fingers crossed that it will stay happy. I've got a lot of scanning to do.
No progress on the redesign of the wide angle 4x5. My Dremel has been waiting patiently. I have been busy testing all my lenses on an A7r. I'm pretty impressed on the whole. I forgot how convenient digital is. I did also get 21mm Skopar for my IIIc to balance things out. I couldn't resist at $225.
I related news, after an almost 10 months of repair saga, I now have a fully working Coolscan LS8000. I need to clean the mirror, and general dust from the interior, but I tested it today with no hiccups. The secret was to send the power supply to CA to be rebuilt. Fingers crossed that it will stay happy. I've got a lot of scanning to do.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Christian,
Congrates on the LS8000. Being stubborn pays off.
On a Public Storage note: I was offered an insiders special for $15.00 for a 4'x4'x4' space for the first 3 months. After that it pops up to $29.95. The space requires the use of a mobile staircase, and since I'm a hillbilly from Queens and formally Brooklyn I don't mind because wherever there is cheap rent that's where we/us hillbillie's go.
It seems the catch is a bogus $12.00 manditory fee for renter's insurance that get's tagged onto the $15.00, and suddenly I feel like I got mugged, but to juggle some of Maggie's stuff from my new studio, downsize the larger storage room on a different floor that is literally packed to the roof. I'm hoping my current renter's insurance has me covered so I can mug my public storage facility back and hose them.
Anyways I expect that eventually I'll condense down to the larger storage unit where I am grandfather in where there is no bogus renter's insurance fee to gouge me. Kinda like rent stabilized public storage that would be foolish to move.
Anyways as an artist we are pretty clever and dumb at the same time. I am currently paying three rents and have three leases. Juggling is a good skill.
Cal
Range-rover
Veteran
Range-rover
Veteran
Gear Alert!
I purchased two lenses for the Nikon D3, a 50mm F1.8 afs and a 28mm F2.8 af
(second version) and so far it's real nice stuff. My problem is I purchased a new
bag to use in the city to go back and forth to work but it only holds my smaller 4/3rds
and the Pentax I got my Nikon D3 doesn't fit damn!, it's alway's something.
I purchased two lenses for the Nikon D3, a 50mm F1.8 afs and a 28mm F2.8 af
(second version) and so far it's real nice stuff. My problem is I purchased a new
bag to use in the city to go back and forth to work but it only holds my smaller 4/3rds
and the Pentax I got my Nikon D3 doesn't fit damn!, it's alway's something.
Gear Non-Alert: Still waiting for the Sony RX1R II to be delivered... 
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
GEAR ALERT: I was walking to work, minding my own business, when I see one of those trick bed tables that they use for bed ridden patients at a hospital sitting on the curb on 72d Street just before the Second Avenue Subway construction. Of course I take it and smuggle it into work (A research lab at a hospital).
It seems like my garbage picking is another act of divine intervention because it is perfect as a printing stand for my 3880 with a table that measures 18x30, but I could buy a 24x36 ELFA table top and make it into a wheeled desk that also converts into an easel (The top articulates from the single leg and locks. It even has a folding edge retainer to prevent a poster or print from sliding.) The base of the hospital table can be made into a dolly by simply adding a ELFA shelf, or I could recycle the original table top for this purpose if I go with making a wheeled/trick 24x36 rolling desk.
Last year's divine intervention was getting an Epson 7800 that only made 1802 prints over its 9 year old life for $100.00 that had been used just enough not to have any maintenance issues. Basically I got a fresh printer for no money. Then there was getting my Titanium IBIS Mountain Trials that is likely a one off.
So now I have a standing viewing booth built into the wall that can handle a 24x36 print, a seated desk, a standing desk (a la E. Hemingway), and a wheeled desk. Just don't tell "Maggie" that I'm bringing home more stuff. LOL.
GEAR ALERT NUMBER 2: Yesterday I got my Fuji GM670 and 150/5.6 Sonnar back from Frank Marshman. He really did a great job and the camera looks mucho clean. The lens I had repaired is a shelf queen still with the oval gold inspection sticker from the 70's. It is a very clean monster.
Calvin the "Trunk Gypsy"
It seems like my garbage picking is another act of divine intervention because it is perfect as a printing stand for my 3880 with a table that measures 18x30, but I could buy a 24x36 ELFA table top and make it into a wheeled desk that also converts into an easel (The top articulates from the single leg and locks. It even has a folding edge retainer to prevent a poster or print from sliding.) The base of the hospital table can be made into a dolly by simply adding a ELFA shelf, or I could recycle the original table top for this purpose if I go with making a wheeled/trick 24x36 rolling desk.
Last year's divine intervention was getting an Epson 7800 that only made 1802 prints over its 9 year old life for $100.00 that had been used just enough not to have any maintenance issues. Basically I got a fresh printer for no money. Then there was getting my Titanium IBIS Mountain Trials that is likely a one off.
So now I have a standing viewing booth built into the wall that can handle a 24x36 print, a seated desk, a standing desk (a la E. Hemingway), and a wheeled desk. Just don't tell "Maggie" that I'm bringing home more stuff. LOL.
GEAR ALERT NUMBER 2: Yesterday I got my Fuji GM670 and 150/5.6 Sonnar back from Frank Marshman. He really did a great job and the camera looks mucho clean. The lens I had repaired is a shelf queen still with the oval gold inspection sticker from the 70's. It is a very clean monster.
Calvin the "Trunk Gypsy"
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
The new hospital table gets smuggled into my apartment tonight. Don't tell "Maggie." LOL.
It really cleaned up nice. Also I went to the Container Store to see about a 2'x3' top: they don't carry the size I need so I'll stick with the 18x30 OEM top and not hot rod my hospital table.
Cal
It really cleaned up nice. Also I went to the Container Store to see about a 2'x3' top: they don't carry the size I need so I'll stick with the 18x30 OEM top and not hot rod my hospital table.
Cal
havelenswilltravel
Newbie
Hi Calzone!
I'm new to RFF, been a pro photog (and Leica fanatic) for many years, based in Philly, my friends here are coming for the Jan event, but I have few details but to read about it here..what do I do to attend? I will travel up via Megabus, if time permits, do some shopping! I'm a cyclist hopping to visit Rapha cc, if open! Thanks
paul
JMQ
Well-known
Paul,
Just show up at Puck Fair, 298 Lafayette (just south of Houston st) at 1pm. We are usually in the back or the upstairs balcony. No pre-registration, but you can bribe the judges.
Jean-Marc
Just show up at Puck Fair, 298 Lafayette (just south of Houston st) at 1pm. We are usually in the back or the upstairs balcony. No pre-registration, but you can bribe the judges.
Jean-Marc
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I'm expecting a flash mob this year. One time for a regular Meet-Up we had all these people come in from Jersey where they outnumbered the New Yorkers.
Joe and I use to race back in the day...
We have a few regulars that come from Philly: Phil, Bethanne, Randy, and Ben. We have a guest coming from OZ.
Expect to see a lot of gear. The event is mostly making fun of our cuture like hoarding gear, unusual cameras (the more strange and bizzare the better). We kinda make up the rules as we go along, but know that the mob is the judge.
Last year I gave away a 2x3 press camera that was a shelf queen because I was bragging that I found it for $24.99 at the Housing Works by Puck Fair where we have the Meet-Ups. I kinda created a "Cheap Camera" competion thinking I had a dead ringer, but Sam out gunned me with a Voitlander Bessa II I believe that he also happen to pay $24.99. In the trash talking it basically came down to 6 cents in sales tax that I paid because of a higher NYC sales tax than the suburbs where Sam lives. I really wanted to win my camera as a trophy. LOL.
But Bethanne basically won the grand prize because she was given a Nikon F3HP. Know that the rowdy mob made the final decision.
We also tend to bring unused gear to trade, sell, or recycle.
I have to dig up all the portraits that Luis Mendez took of me to bring to the Olympics. Basically we go way over the top. For security we take over the balconey so there's only one way in and one way out. This years event has some big prizes. The Grand Prize is $100.00 worth of credit from Digital Silver Imaging. Second prize is a 17x22 Piezography print with a 8 1/2x11 proof to be made from the winner's file. Third prize is to pick one of my 13x19 Piezograpghy prints from a folio that I will bring.
Come hang out with us camera nerds.
Cal
pyeh
Member of good standing
I'm planning to bring a can of XXXX Queensland beer, as 'demanded' earlier on in this thread, and perhaps a couple of other Australian beers to add to the prize pool, airline luggage and security restrictions permitting. Perhaps they can be offered as (un)lucky last prizes!
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
James is from PA and will be bringing in a crew. At this point we need to coin the term "Quadstate Area."
Last year's event had a cheap camera element that became the highlighted main event. It is a bare knuckles event with the only rule being "no biting." Unfortunately James brought a very cool historically important Leica that was totally period correct that somehow got discounted.
If the mob allows I say we have a do over where we make this year's main event Leicacentric like our very first "Camera Beauty Contest" but the judging parameters will be for the unusual, the bizzare and the stranger the better. We all love cameras with personality. I strongly recommend that James bring that LTM Leica that was period correct because I think this is a strong contender. This WWII Leica was the version that Leica assembled and gave to their Jewish employees as a way to give them a hard asset to work around the restrictions of traveling with currency. Leica as a company developed a plan to try save and rescue their Jewish employees by finding loopholes to send them abroad.
Of course James went over-the-top with period correct accessories like the right angle spy periscope finder, LTM Leicavit...
I will be camp-paining my Wetzlar M6 that oddly features an engraved titanium "zinc" top plate with chrome knobs. Understand that this camera by serial number pre-dates the titanium limited edition by 5 years and that the Ti limited editions have brass top plates underneath the plating. My camera features a MP upgrade by Sherry, new finder windows (Sherry replaced my worn windows), and has the 75mm frames stripped out. Know that this is a rather heavily used Leica where I personally have worn the Vulcanite smooth with my finger tips from my use of a TA Rapidgrip, and that I also weaponized this camera by adding a TA Rapidwinder. This camera is part blackjack, part brass knuckles, part dagger. I believe my Wetzlar M6 is an early Leica Prototype.
My M6 is a user, and basically I'm carrying a deadly weapon in plain sight when I go shooting, and Christian will tell you that sometimes in animated conversation on crowded NYC streets that I inadvertantly come very close to stabbing bystanders with the spike on the Rapidwinder. Oh-well. LOL.
Also know that my body chemistry has reacted with the supposably inert hypoallergenic titanium finish where it is worn or polished away to what I think is a nickel base layer over the zinc which is pitting.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Part of this event is selling/swapmeet. As everyone knows I use Heliopan 2X yellow filters marked "Digital" to hit the sweet spot on my Monochrom. I have mucho B&W MRC filters that I don't use anymore in 39mm and 46mm (Leica).
Bring stuff to trade. Lets make a deal.
Cal
Bring stuff to trade. Lets make a deal.
Cal