we spoke about lots of things that afternoon. a lot of what we spoke about didn't make it on video. funny because when i write about gear my pageviews go through the roof. seems like he experiences the same thing. i guess that's why wank is so popular, no? (hope you click that last wank-link)
gear-bators make me laugh so hard. just so you know ... because you own a fancy d-slr, slr, holga, rangefinder ... doesn't mean you can do anything good with it. yes, of course, if you own any of the aforementioned that means that you know everything about photography. it means instead of using the gear to make photos you sit in forums with other gear-bators and discuss everything photography ad naseum.
yes, i've seen the galleries attached to your profiles and they're total shit.
just so you know.
you're laughable.
what else? um ... my first street photograph was made with an slr. it was a big-ass slr as well. the nikon f4 was not a small camera by any means. it was a great camera. don't really think the subjects -- they were dogs (go figure) -- minded too much. i saw the limitations of doing this type of photography with an slr. i then went to the contax g system. it was a good system. it's just that the autofocus system was more of a limiting factor rather than something good.
that's when i bit the bullet. i sold some gear i didn't use.
i bought a leica.
yes, i said it ... a leica. it changed the way i saw things. it was different than the contax in so many good ways. yes, the contax g system had great glass if not a bit slow for my taste.
i wouldn't think of shooting street with anything else now. yes, i've used the zeiss zm body and their lenses. they are excellent. in fact, the voigtlander stuff is excellent as well. the lenses i've tried coming from voigtlander are pretty damn good as well. wait ... i own the cv 15/4.5. nice glass for sure. cheap, too. sorry ... inexpensive.
i also like certain wines over other wines.
it's taste.
is taste bias?
perhaps.
i just know that i prefer leica products over just about everything else.
and why the fuck does that NOT matter? i'm not doing some lame gear-bator pay-for-review-site punctuated by equally as lame photographs. then again, i'm sure the audience -- who makes the same lame-ass photos -- probably loves the work. misery is great company as they say.
so, yeah, i love shooting leica.
don't be a jealous-ass hater rubbing up on your gear. get a girl for that, mates. ;)
but .. i'll bet that would be a bigger challenge than buying a new piece of gear, right?
okay .. i gotta get outta here.
hope you're all well and enjoy damon's interview about ... gear. ;)
cheers from a way-to-friggin'-hot-to-be-driving-to-the-friggin-valley-to-look-at-curtains!
So after a lot of speculation and online forum nonsense, the Leica M9 was announced last Wednesday. It could not have arrived at a better time and ever since that day I've been putting it through the paces all over New York, L.A. and Miami.
As I am not a gear reviewer, I'll just tell you that the latest incarnation of the legendary M line will not disappoint and will be a great addition to those of us still burning film through the fantastic MP or those holding out for a digital FF M...
Of course, the expert wall testers and technical fanatics clamoring for live view, AF and other SLR-type features that should never make it into the basic yet perfect M design will continue clogging the various online forums providing their insight into how a company like Leica should be run. :-)
Not much to do on a 5 hour flight but to sleep and make whatever images I can see...
ya' know ... this isn't the entry i ever really wanted to write. back in september of last year ... my friend's plane didn't make it off the runway.
sadly, he didn't make it off that runway either. i mean he lived. four others didn't.
from that point last september ... to this august ... i know things were very different for him. i remember the first time i saw him after the crash last year, "so good to see you my brother."
"no, it's really good to see you. i mean ... it's really good to see you."
and now. well now sucks to be quite honest. i'll never look down at my phone and see his name again.
i'll never go to some fancy party and see my friend on the decks. i'll never look at the decks at a few clubs the same. haven't seen the dj booth at the place we spent so much time together. i've been kind of dreading seeing that booth to be quite honest.
although i was listening to some daft punk, perhaps if you don't know adam's work ... please go here and download one of the sets he was most proud. i would have never shared that in the past but now ... well ... now ... i hope ... whatever. i hope you enjoy it. i know i have.
i could always tell him i was going on a long-haul trip or a roadtrip and he'd send me a link to some new set.
still don't believe he's gone. most ... don't believe it either.
guess i don't want to believe such a kind-hearted sweet person ... had to go through everything he had to go through ...
at his memorial ... some of the people who talked ... talked about how he ... when introducing you to a new person ... would immediately tell the other person something totally embarrassing about you. i remember that vividly when he formally introduced me to travis.
i was like ... um ... okay. cool. happy they all know that about me now.
thanks, bro.
no, i'm not gonna say what that is/was.
as embarrassing as it was ... i still smile when i think about it.
that and thinking that the little short black dude wasn't the guy from gnarls barkley but mr. janet jackson. watching homeboy shoot a sumicron in almost no light with the m8 was ... well ... funny to me.
since that friday ... at the end of august ... sitting with j and my friend flipo in hollywood having lunch ... and getting the barrage of texts ...
a day hasn't gone by without ... well ... suffice it to say ... just a heavy feeling of sadness.
i don't think ... in my adult life ... the real adult life ... as my prior life ... doesn't seem real ... someone i've known this well has passed.
how about some photos?
this night we were both bored. i was making it look like i was working; he was making a mix for the drive home. ringtones were louder than the music as the police almost shut down the party for lack of a permit. he liked this photo.
i can't tell you how many hours i spent in that booth after i was "done with work." that booth will always seem a bit empty to me now.
no idea where this was. i could look at the iptc but ... whatever.
i don't think i've seen steve as somber i saw him at the memorial.
and when i think about the memorial i think about ... people papping the attendees. i know it's closer when it's personal but i was still surprised by which "services" had staffers there.
apropos.
adam loved photography. and his cat, mugsy.
among a lot of other things.
like doing what he does. he said "my mom always said 'find out what you love to do and would do it for free then find someone to pay you."
i couldn't fucking agree more.
there really isn't anything like watching a dj of his caliber whip a crowd into a frenzy.
perhaps there was some vodka/patron shots involved. won't confirm nor deny.
not sure if was just "dragging the shutter" here.
funny motherfucker. for sure.
and so good at that.
so fucking good. honestly, a lot ended with adam.
he sent that to me last summer. no idea who shot it. dunno if it matters now.
he loved performing with travis. i saw countless performances and it never got old for me.
and i wish i could say what happened right before this but ... i won't.
i will say it was fun to give him shit about putting wilson phillips into mixes.
and that he'd text me and say ... listen.
right.
now.
and it was either a certain genre he associated with me.
or wilson-fucking-phillips.
or sometimes metallica.
adam spans several gigabytes over the local and remote 9tb.
how he had no idea i snuck up on him and texted him "your shirt looks fucking fem" ... and ... papped his ass ... dunno.
i know he liked this photo.
that's the first flight out on a saturday morning back to lax. 06:00.
he taught me why one should always get in as late as possible ... work ... don't sleep ... do whatever ... and get on the earliest flight home.
and sleep.
that routine is not for the faint-hearted. i'd be on the freeway and feel ... dunno ... almost like i was starved for food but different.
Live at Elton John's Party - Disc 3
love that part of the set. just fyi.
as bummed i am the world was robbed of such a talented and kind person ... i get to sit here in my little studio and blast his mixes. i have tens of hours of his mixes. for me ... he created the urge to air-scratch.
i miss you so much, homey.
i miss shooting film, too, actually.
not like i miss my friend, though.
there were so many more things we were talking about ... doing.
another reason to just fucking do things now.
besides his friendship ... he gave me another gift ... a gift of pause.
pause to my life.
what that lead to is personal but ... suffice to say ...
well ... that's personal, too.
the set that night was so fucking sick.
so well-timed with his drumming partner.
and then i look at this next set ... and i just remember ... seeing that poor guy sitting by himself up in the corner of the seats above the backstage area at the avalon. i honestly don't wish what i know he was feeling at that moment on anyone.
even forum-posting old men with less photographic talent than my dog.
the welcome home dj a.m. evening last year was so amazing ... and i guarantee everyone in the following photos ... is still in disbelief we all had to say goodbye ...
if you ever get the chance to see mix master mike spin, do it.
seriously, one of the most amazing nights of music i've ever experienced.
and as much as it "should have been" something different that happened this past augus ... i'm a much better person having gotten to know adam. i'm beyond sad.
and what's odd is that i know that if he knew how his loss has affected everyone else ... it would have just killed him.
that's how i remember my friend. i also remember we were both "there for the paycheck" but ... we still got to hang.
fuck i miss you, homey. i'm so sorry you had to experience what you experienced. i can't imagine how dark that spot was.
you were amazing. on so many fucking levels. i hope whatever that noise was isn't there any longer.
but i still want that 20% of my hearing back you took.
actually, no i don't.
it was worth the loss getting to know one of the best people on this planet.
perhaps b's learning sign language is foreshadowing.
perhaps.
-chris
p.s., thanks, niko ... the slideshow and video were amazing. so were your words.
p.p.s., if you are the author of that crowd-surfing video, let me know and i'll credit you.
usually i try and comment back to everyone ... this time ... there was no way. suffice it to say ... i enjoyed reading each and every comment, guys.
besides wanting to redux my '06 thing on dA ... i, like others i'm sure, found almost nothing on the web about street. funny enough ... the most popular video out there was ... well ... something that became my motivation to do something better:
i mean ... yeah ... dress up like a cat burglar. i think the best part is "hi, i'm joel meyerowitz, i'm a serious photographer."
yes, sir, you are.
keep those cape cod landscapes comin' buddy. ;)
"here comes a whole breed of dogs. look at this crowd. look at this crowd!"
not gonna say who watched this with me but we laughed our asses off.
i mean ... he and colin westerbeck published bystander back in 1994. if you can get through the first 100 or so pages ... it's not bad reading. ;)
so, yes, mr. meyerowitz ... thank you for the motivation.
seriously, i cannot believe the comments i've gotten! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
yes, i'm getting a full-on m9 review done. thing is ... i think that what i write is much better suited for those who actually shoot. it never ceases to amaze me that fucking people can review a camera THEY'VE NEVER EVEN FUCKING SHOT.
oh, sorry for the x-rated language. i forgot that dentists and others who post on forums have virgin-fucking-ears. sorry. no, actually i'm not sorry. then again, you know that.
i see someone post about the dynamic range, perhaps the same person who said the m8 could never be full-frame, and this is on their profile:
why don't you stick to school, mate. clearly, you know nothing about photography. not only ... but ... some other dude -- clearly, bitter about having bought an m8.2 and out to influence other gear-bators -- wrote this.
although i've met a few pretty good people through a couple of the message boards, for the most part they are populated and fed content, content being very loosely defined, by gear-bators. i respect wank more than i respect the fat part of the bell curve of the people who post reviews about cameras they've never touched.
seriously, why even spend fucking time on a forum? isn't photography about making photos and not finger-banging your equipment? of course, one may finger-bang one's equipment whilst shooting.
if you want to learn more about photography and even gear for that matter, go to flickr ... go to dA. if you go to a forum, you'll get a bunch of angry old white men who can't shoot yet post 10,000-fucking-posts and are probably friends with the fucking moderator so if you disagree with them they'll lock your post or even delete it ... or ... ban you.
wanna know what i find abso-fucking-lutely funny as shit? the top posters on at least a few of the forums i've seen .. they don't even have public photo galleries? ah ... too embarrassed of your snow-covered lawn furniture and brick walls?
photography is about seeing something.
go to flickr. go to dA. go to wherever people post photos. don't go to places where people pontificate about shit but have NO PHOTOGRAPHIC TALENT TO BACK THAT SHIT UP. i'd rather talk to people who actually use cameras to make beautiful photos. my friend ricci in nyc ... he's been making some nice m9 photos. :)
okay ... enough of the diatribe.
i can't tell you how happy i am ... that one of my heavier dslr canon bodies ... the ambient body as opposed to the flash body ... is now replaced by a leica. the leica m9. well ... mine says leica m8 but it's insides are all m9. my left shoulder thanked me, actually. my right shoulder is still angry. but ... i told the right shoulder to fuck off.
;)
perhaps if the right shoulder is nice i'll switch bodies from one side to the other.
perhaps.
okay ... unlike 99% of the people on the forums ... i actually get paid to make photos by some of the biggest publications and brands on the planet ... and that's what i gotta do.
and ... the m9 will be proudly on my happy left shoulder ...
as the right shoulder is pissed off about having a 1dsm3 weighing it down. ;)
shooting this camera -- the m9 -- is pure joy. was experimenting with off-camera flash -- using a canon ttl cord -- and the m9. interesting.
again, THANK YOU ALL FOR THE TERRIFIC COMMENTS ABOUT THE STREET VIDEO-THING.
feel kinda bad i couldn't tell some of my friends the complete truth about a certain camera that i was shooting the last couple of months ... but ...i signed an nda so ... i had to wait until the rest of the world was told about it.
i'm gonna do a full report on the leica m9 in due time. i made a lot of photos with that camera and couldn't really do anything with them except share them with people who i was able to share them with. sounds cryptic but ... well ... ya' know.
i just noticed that moving a 600mb+ file, streaming another video to check it and ftp'ing really f*ck with one's connection.
let me tell you how funny it's been watching all of the "leica rumors" flying around over the past few months. certain of us were laughing ... wholeheartedly. a canon sensor. a full-frame could not fit in an m8 body. puhlease. ;)
oh, shit i just pissed off the "forum boys."
not that i care.
just so you know ... the photos from the last blog ... at the end ... were all m9 ...at the time the m9 had a codename. very stealthy. i just had to strip the exif info. ;) sneaky. i know.
honestly, without giving away from the m9 mega-post i'll do soon ... this camera ... is beyond exciting. i mean ... unless you're my lab. :( poor lab. sorry, guys.
um ... what else ... well ...
besides doing whatever it is that i did in that project ... with the help of some friends ... i made a little video:
had to break it up into three parts. tell ya' what ... video ... as pretty as it is ... is a bitch.
had fun, though, shooting with this ...
i couldn't have done the video alone. well. i could have ... i guess. but i didn't. although i've already thanked my friends in the video at the end ... couldn't have done this without mario, laith, patrick, hossein, frank, the incomparable sev, richard, j ...
that was human part ... the equipment part ... i have to thank cinevate and smallhd. you guys rock. i guess cavision, too. seriously, the rest of the "players" in that market are so over-hyped it's not even funny. flashy videos don't really mean shit; how shit works means everything.
another thing i just laughed out loud .. i don't like LOL ... was this cough-cough-cough-image-gallery. jesus-h-christ. um, really?
i have no idea what h stands for, though. holy? i tried to look at every photo but got too damn bored.
do you have any idea how happy i am that the docu-project is done?
um ... i'm very happy.
that was way more work ... than i ever thought. the project with transcoded video and original video files ... is 400mb+. i need a render farm. like 2 8-core mac pros! doing this project on the most recent mbp was ... not as daunting as i thought ... but ... wouldn't want to do a 120 minute feature. this was only 42 mins ... and ... well ... rendering ... you just basically set it up and walk away.
or go to sleep.
i wanted to do my dj am tribute blog ... but ... every time i look at his photos i get ...
well ...
um ...
sad is one word but it doesn't even come close to how those events made me feel.
miss you, homie.
he would have loved the m9.
how about some photos?
that's the napoli-biyatch taking a break from "taking complete creative license" during some shooting. when we do the "out takes" and "making of" you'll see and hear me call him "taliban." i know. not politically friendly. i thought it was funny.
and that's all that counts. ;)
was walking 'round with sev in vegas when i made this. i think the exif has a different name for my new full-frame-friend. ;)
i just don't get the fascination with mj. i mean i know his music but ... seeing hollywood turn into a giant mj shrine was a bit much.
i love the looks on all of the people's faces.
pretty little chi-chi. the dog show we went to before ... we were with sev. i think he should have gone to this one as well ... alas he was back in vienna. think he would have enjoyed shooting some more with the 1.4/24.
um ... i just saw that wank posted an m9 review. wtf? i guarantee he's never had it in his hands. ya' know he's like a forum-f*cking-troll that posts opinions never having used anything he's posting about. such a wank. when i saw that it immediately made me think "wtf was canon thinking when the gave the 5dm2 to the luminous landscape guy?" he's sure to be an ace-dp. ace.
the internet is wonderful.
when i was out shooting with frank ... i was doing video with the 5dm2 wondercamera ... we saw many pretty things ... i mean ... photos ...
i love that the colours are so different than the canons. grazie a dio.
i haven't used the b/w mode much as ... i kinda think that shooting colour files is the way to go and process them in either aperture or ps for b/w later.
