delgrosso dot com

Previously, previously.

(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.

Continue reading…