".....and the beat goes on....more 15mm portraits of Al Kaplan by......."

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Hell Al, you'll be juggling the things next . . . (handy hint, don't forget to take the straps off). Have fun (oh you already were) Johnny.

No.4, you look nearly undistorted, steady on!

As usual I'm shooting normaly rated ISO 400 film, some Tri-X, some HP5 Plus, some Delta 400, in the Bessa L with the 15mm Heliar. The night shots were wide open at f/4.5. The one of me driving the truck? The truck wasn't moving and the camera was braced on the dash board at 1/2, maybe even a full second. The night shot at Starbucks was probably at 1/8 second with the camera braced against the window next to where I was sitting. I'm amazed at how flare free that lens can be even with light sources in the picture itself.

 

There's a photo of my trying to shoot a shot with that "extra-long super telephoto" 40mm Summicron on my Leica CL. It's amazing how confining those compositions get to feeling when the brain is otherwise locked in 15mm mode! Do any of you experience that when shooting with just one lens for awhile? A difficulty in seeing what other lenses might be seeing?

 

There are a couple of shots of James Mitchell with his Japanese girlfriend, all three of us squeezed into the two bucket seat cab of my Toyota Tacoma truck for a ride back to the hotel on South Beach. Next truck will have a bench seat like my last one!

 

I frequently eat breakfast at the neighborhood Sunnyside Cafe, good ol' eggs, grits and sausage patties cooked southern style with subtle overtones of Hispanic spices. This place used to be a donut shop years ago where I hung out years ago there with Nathan Benn, former National Geographic photographer and recently retired head of the New York office of Magnum. I wish I had pix of him, Leica M2 (or Nikon F)in hand at some newsworthy event we both covered, but all I have is one of him holding my then infant daughter Elena back when Nathan was still in High school. A missed opportunity! You never know where success will strike!

 

And of course my friend Mary on our weekly trip to the market. Some weeks she lets me take her twice. Oh thrill! James, next time you're in Miami do you want to take Mary to the grocery?

 

Any comments or suggestions about the series is welcome. Thanks -Al

Awful.

 

T.

<I>I frequently eat breakfast at the neighborhood Sunnyside Cafe, good ol' eggs, grits...

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Thanks for the update, but these photos are still not very good.

A while back I hoped to see your photos of rock stars, native americans, etc, but if these

are indicative of the quality of your work, never mind. Some people may like them, but

then millions of people eat at McDonalds every day.

I'm with you on the bench seats, man.

 

Buckets in a truck? No wonder the domestic auto industry is in trouble...

I like the first one very much but not very much most of the rest. Maybe a tougher editing

could improve the whole project. I've the feeling that I have seen most of this photographs

before.

That was a rather short break wasn't it now?

Is that vehicle in motion Al?

The first one is kind of interesting.

Thanks Brad. Good to see that you're back on the forum again after your vacation. You're right, the photos aren't very good. That's why people here mostly seem to like them I suppose. Guess they don't share your sophisticated tastes.

 

On the plus side they were taken on real traditional B&W film with a Leica thread mount lens on an LTM compatible camera. Sometimes I even stick that 15 on one of my M bodies. Isn't that what it's all about? How about posting some of your film based images taken with your Leicas or Leica compatible equipment, unless of course you have the new digital Bessa body, or perhaps maybe your wife let you spring for Leica's new digital back for your extensive R lens collection.

None of the photos taken inside the truck were while the truck was in motion. It was either parked or stopped at a signal light.

I find that in the end a constant beat gives me headache - perhaps a change of tune would alleviate this problem.

<I>That's why people here mostly seem to like them I suppose.</I><P>

 

Based on the greeat positive feedback, above?

...and the beat, beat, beating of the chest and the tooot, tooot, tooting of the horn...you

selling these by the pound al? i'd like to place an order for a "i (heart) al kaplan" coffee mug

and a "i (heart) al kaplan" whoopie cushion, cause this just ain't enough for me.

James has a cute girlfriend and owns one of my prints too. Man

that guy has good taste..