Back To Basics, Circa 1970

ISBN-13: 978-0471256922

Great Reads From The 70's: Books have always been a great source of inspiration for my photographic pursuits. Moments Preserved by Irving Penn inspired me to experiment with studio lighting and still life composition. Later, The Viet Nam Photo Book by Mark Jury, along with the work of Life Magazine photographer Larry Burrows, helped me imagine myself as a battle-hardened war photographer. So much for the inspiration. Now all I had to do was develop the technique.

I found Milton Feinberg's  Techniques In Photojournalism in the stacks of the City College of San Francisco Library. If memory serves, I was the first student to check it out, and subjected it to many, many renewals. This was the photojournalist's lifestyle I was looking for, minus the danger.

35mm photography was experiencing its own growing pains. While the choice of the new generation of "concerned young photographers with expensive cameras and their just-so faded blue jeans"* was indeed the Nikon F, commercial photographers hadn't fully adopted the smaller format, relying on 2 1/4" roll film Hasselblads and Rolleiflexes with Norman or Stroboflex flashes for serious color wedding and location portraiture. To carry a 35mm camera on so important an assignment was to be branded a heretic.

From Anatomy Films. Click here.

News photographers were quicker to adopt the 35mm rangefinder, with the German Leica and Contax cameras providing convenient backup for the clumsy  Speed Graphics of the day. A suitably equipped camera bag included the camera itself, a dozen film holders, each the size of a slice of bread and capable of capturing two images each, and a pack of flash bulbs, each the size of an apricot. Needless to say, the reduction in weight and bulk afforded by a 35 mm "kit" was indeed welcomed.

From a post on Film Locations in London. Click here.

I am reminded of the minimalist aspect taken to an extreme. In this photo, a screen capture from the movie "Blowup", a photographer named Thomas (David Hemmings) returns to  his Rolls Royce convertible after completing a photo essay in a gritty men's shelter using only a Nikon F hidden in a paper bag. And if you don't believe me, watch the movie! Minimalism at its least.

Advance To 2019: Nearly 50 years later, I find myself looking for that minimalist approach to equipment when I'm positive I won't need an extreme telephoto or an ultra-wide angle lens. Outdoor location event shooting is a prime example. Lately, I've found that a Fuji X-100 with the wide angle adapter attached has proven adequate for fully 99% of my submitted images. But when on an assignment, I still need to have a backup camera, just in case something goes terribly wrong.

Mr. Feinberg's minimal kit, as echoed by Popular Photography's Bob Schwalberg, included two bodies and only two lenses: a fast 35 mm lens for general work and an 80 mm lens for tight head shots. Since my Fuji combination allowed me the equivalent of a 28 mm lens with, and a 35mm lens without the WCL-X100 adapter, I needed to add the equivalent of that 80mm lens just to stay with program. Until recently,  I had carried a second Fuji X100 with the TCL-X100 telephoto adapter semi-permanently mounted. This converted the camera's existing lens to a 50 mm equivalent, a painfully modest gain in focal length, considering the bulk it added to the otherwise compact X100. When used wide open, the images from this combination were disappointingly soft, so the combination was seldom used.

My solution was to purchase a Fuji X Mount 50mm F 2.0 WR lens. My reasoning was simple: I needed a companion WR (Weather Resistant) lens to accompany my 35mm WR lens should I be called upon to photograph under damp conditions. My choice made sense on many levels. When mounted on a WR body like my X-T2, I shall fear no mist though I walk in the valley of  drizzle. The lens is relatively compact, relatively fast, and certainly less bulky (and less dear) than my 56 mm F 1.2 lens.

Fuji X-E1 with 50mm F 2.0 lens (left) compared to an X100S with the TCL-X100 telephoto adapter.

You can see in this side by side comparison just how bulky the adapted X100, shown on  the right,  is when compared to the 50 mm F 2.0 WR mounted an X-E1 body, shown on the left. Based on size alone, the choice was a clear one, but while I solved the 75mm lens dilemma, another potential problem presented itself. concerning how one properly equips a wedding photographer. The author of a column written for Rangefinder Magazine stressed the importance of a backup camera system, not just a backup camera body or lens. If your primary camera should fail after the first photo is made, you should be able to complete the assignment using your backup camera, a "suitable" lens, a compatible flash, and enough film to complete the assignment if your primary and backup cameras don't share the same film format.

Order yours here.

Because it would be almost impossible to complete an indoor assignment with only a short telephoto lens, I will add my compact 27mm F 2.8 "pancake" lens to the kit in case my short-lensed X100 fails. Mounted on the XT-2 body, I'll have a 42 mm lens equivalent, a usable indoor focal length.  Its compact size should make it easy to tuck away in some unused corner of my camera bag, assuming I can find some way to ensure its safety in transit. I suspect that a small plastic box can be lined with foam and pressed into service, and when one is found, I'll do just that.

Content for the moment, I must now find a matching purse to carry my new ensemble.

*The "Concerned young photographers" quote came from an article in Popular Photography in the 1970's. It poked fun at the emergence of of the 35mm SLR as the trendy fashion accessory of the "hip" generation. Groovy.

The Last Ship

Music And Lyrics By Sting: A  special press event was scheduled by SHN San Francisco to publicize the addition of "The Last Ship", with lyrics and music by Sting, into the February 2020 lineup. We were told there would be a surprise "guest" singing at the event, although there had been some speculation that Sting himself would be present. His starring role in the musical was not made public until the day of the press briefing.

Sting's easy, folksy style was a good match for songs lamenting the decline of the ship building industry in northeast England in the 1980's. During an interview for KGO television, he asserted that this was a story about the fracturing of the social contract, and the proper role of government in the lives of workers. The sincerity of his beliefs was clearly evident in the lyrics of the songs, warning of the social consequences of having the foundations of a working class lifestyle begin to crumble from beneath.

I was asked to submit two variations on the Sting photo. The first was for a future article that might need an appropriate head shot. My first/best choice was the image at the top of the post, with my second, third, and fourth choices in the three-paneled composite beneath it. The second shot, a "Page Two", would be a photo that could stand on its own with a three sentence caption. This shot shows singer Oliver Sevale performing a duet with Sting, which provides more visual context than my preferred head shot.

How Sausage Is Made: Sometimes these theatrical pre-events are much less glamorous than the performers we're sent to photograph. In the case of the Golden Gate Theater, located in the gritty Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco, it can be a little dicey, so I wanted to get my equipment and myself off the street as quickly as possible.

I arrived about 30 minutes before the event was officially scheduled to start. This was an advantage because the security staff immediately allowed me in when I said I was told to "check in" when I arrived, which  is true. This is the stairway leading from the street level Stage Entrance down to the stage level, as dark and drear as any place I've been asked to photograph.

Slowly but surely, additional media teams arrive, and the stairway started to get a little crowded. At the appointed time, the video crews were allowed to set up first in the designated area behind three rows of chairs reserved for print media and SHNSF's VIP guests. We filed in slowly, taking our seats or positions where we thought the viewing would be best.

The performance area was prepared on the stage, with the performers facing the background and the photographers facing the audience. There was barely enough room for the chairs and the video tripods behind them, but somehow we all managed to squeeze into the allotted space.

The allotted space consisted of the stage itself. The media were positioned with in front of the background, facing the audience. The three rows of seats in front of the media riser were soon filled, but I managed to work my way forward in an effort to grab a view of the audience, as my Editor wanted to include some "ambiance" photos in case they were needed. I didn't stay long because I didn't want to lose my spot in the media area.

This videographer makes some final adjustments on his camera. As I mentioned, video crews were allowed to set up before the rest of us were allowed to enter. I positioned myself at the leftmost edge of the video group since videographers invariably pick the best vantage points.

I caught an event photographer talking with audience members just before the show began. She may have been a member of Altizier's Army, judging from the ubiquitous Gary Fong Light Sphere mounted on a Canon DSLR.

The theater's ceiling fixtures could have made in interesting composition if I magically cleared the room, moved closer to the main subject, and adjusted the composition to best advantage. Alas, the tight quarters made that impossible to achieve a composition more creative than this one. Oh well, file this one away for future reference.

The cast consisted of the two major singer/actors, Sting himself, and a keyboardist. A variety of songs were performed, and the audience went away with a clear understanding of the message hiding just beneath the beautifully crafted songs. Normally, I am unaware of what is being said, or sung, choosing instead to concentrate on any facial tells that might warn me of a change of expression or a dramatic gesture. This time I heard and internalized every heart-felt word.