Clone trouble
(some of you might not be versed in the definition of webcock, which is a bit crucial to the punchline.)
(some of you might not be versed in the definition of webcock, which is a bit crucial to the punchline.)
Carl Sagan.
Jim Henson.
Douglas Adams.
Arthur Schlesinger.
Kurt Vonnegut.
Today, George Carlin. Sad. Very sad.
It’s a strange time in a man’s life when his contemporary heroes and objects of inspiration and admiration begin to die out en masse. Reflection is not my strong suit.
I have half a mind to call Bill Moyers and James Burke just to say, “Hey, are you guys feeling alright today? Take care of yourselves, please. I can’t afford to lose another one of you just yet.”
I’m no pro photographer. At best, I’d consider myself an “advanced amateur”. Which is to say, I can do pretty good work with digital and 35mm SLR gear.
But for the longest time, I’ve been trying to take decent photographs with my Hasselblad 500C/M. Over countless rolls of 120, I can just never seem to get the results I want, no matter how much experimentation I do with aperture and shutter combinations, lighting conditions, and film stock. I bracket and meter and re-meter. I try to get accurate depth of field. When I want soft shots, I get sharp ones. When I want contrasty shots, I get washed out ones. And the same applies in reverse. Honestly, I get more predictable (and more satisfying) results from my $20 plastic Holga! Very frustrating.
I know it’s all a learning process, and medium format isn’t as forgiving as 35mm, but it still annoys the crap out of me that a lot of other photographers in my skill set range can get great results with the same camera, yet I Just Can’t Seem To Do It Right. Especially in light of my discovery of the Apollo 11 film library yesterday. I mean, when a guy — in a spacesuit, on the surface of the moon, in 1/6th gravity, pumped full of adrenaline from being the first person to set foot there, wearing a huge helmet and operating the camera with enormous gloved hands — can take an amazingly well exposed and focused photo like this, with minimal photography training, and essentially the same camera that I use, then what the hell is my problem?
Nice photo, Neil Armstrong, you spacesuited bastard. Astronauts are such showoffs.
[ Update: a reader pointed out to me that the Apollo crew did indeed have quite a bit more photographic training (in both equipment and technique) than I gave them credit for. Doesn't make me feel any better though. h/t Derek ]

In memory of
1st Lt. George M. Delgrosso
US Army Air Corp. / 5th Air Force
1914-1991
Miss you, grandpa.
For all my quirky habits, I’m not much of a ritualistic person. Some things I do repetitively or consistently out of mere habit, but rarely do things procedurally according to any kind of personal tradition.
Having said that, I do have a bit of a custom when it comes to “retiring” a filled notebook and beginning another. I did this with one of my Moleskines the other day. The first one in a while, actually; it’s pretty rare when I fill one from cover to cover. I always have a bunch of them going at a time, some for specific projects and others lying around for general note-taking and core-dumping. So more often than not, I’ll abandon them at some point, and they’ll just get stuck on a shelf or tossed in a drawer.
But when I hit the back page of a well-worn Moleskine, it’s fun for me to use that as a reason to grab a fresh one, get it ready, and start filling it with ink.