All posts by Thomas Pindelski

About Thomas Pindelski

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At the turntable

Photographs

At work.

This man is a cable car conductor. San Francisco’s cable cars have been using the turntable at Market and Powell since the late nineteenth century.


G1, 22mm, f/5, 1/250th, ISO100

At this terminus, the conductor has to exit the car after aligning it carefully using a trapdoor in the car’s floor, pulls a lever in the street and then manually turns the car to face uphill once more.

I love this man’s direct, unflinching gaze, and his obvious pride in an occupation over one hundred years old.

The EPL theory of success

Photography

Check who gets there before you.

If you believe success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, then I think you might agree with my Empty Parking Lot (“EPL”) theory of success.

The EPL theory states that if you arrive at, or leave, work and the parking is empty then the odds of success are strongly in your favor. In other words, hard work may not be the only answer but it certainly improves the odds.


The EPL at work. Leica M2, 35mm Summaron. Kodak Gold 100.

When I first joined the labor force in 1976 it was abundantly clear that my personal interests – art, photography, music, fashion – came with long odds of success were I to try and make a living at them. Too competitive and too dependent on Lady Luck for the big break.

So I chose finance. A modicum of numerate skill (largely absent from the workforce at large, so less competition right there) and a solid work ethic nurtured by poverty and a poor choice of parents did not guarantee success, but certainly improved the odds. And it was not lost on me that there was only one Christian Dior, one David Hockney, one Cecil Beaton, one Irving Penn, one Annie Leibovitz and so on. Through a mixture of skill, good timing and luck they had succeeded. And, of course, they all shared a willingness to work hard. So at least we had the latter attribute in common!

By contrast, there were lots of gray haired – and gray – men making a more than decent living on Wall Street, unknown, unloved and unrepentant of their career choices. An easy option. Do what you have to for a living and what you like for fun.

All of which is a roundabout way of expressing my admiration for my nephew-in-law who, having recently graduated in the Northwest, decided to try his hand in the world of commercial photography in New York City. One of the toughest professions in America’s toughest city.

Here’s what he wrote me the other day:

“Hi Thomas –

It has been awhile, and I wanted to give you a brief update about what photography related business I’ve found myself in.

August has been a dry month, and is so for about everyone in photography, but September is beginning to look up. I’m not sure If I’ve told you about my official position at the Studio Shoot Digital over here on 23 E 4th street NY, NY, but at the risk of repetition I will venture on; I am the go to man for the location shoots that come to our studio.

We have a grip location truck, featuring a digital suite for editing onboard; the entire rig cost upwards of 600K and is quite sufficient for a large commercial shoot such as the Liberty Mutual insurance job I had last month where we had multiple crashed cars on set, fog machines, and models; we had to build a set that looked much like chaos, some insurance pitch about accident plans. I operate the 15 ton truck, drive it, and work with all the grip gear on board; most shoots I also operate as a direct assistant to the photographer, rigging lights, holding light boards etc.. I have become acquainted with most all of Profoto’s gear, from lights to power packs. Also, with terms of lighting a set, I have learned much of that as well …. Everything from using gels to get the right cast of light, to diffusion to soften, or harden light specific to each projects needs.

Over the past 5 months I have gained some confidence from my studio, and last week I was offered the opportunity to use one of our 6 studios to do a test shoot of my own; by my calculations I was using about $40,000’s worth of free cameras, lenses, and equipment, not to mention a free studio with a $1,300 day rate. I am in the process of retouching and you will certainly be on my list of people who sees these photos first. I shot with the new Canon 5D Mark II, which I’m not sure if you’ve had your hands on yet, but it is quite nice, and an impressive step up from it’s innovative predecessor; I’m interested to see Nikon’s answer before I make any purchases myself; although, most of the industry uses Canon …. Peter Lindbergh uses Nikon however, and Ari Hot lights that don’t flash but are constant, which is how he gets his feel. < .... >

I plan on doing more test shoots of my own in the near future, with a goal of building a book, and a website …. I’m still in need of a good scanner to transfer all my negatives over to digital files, as some of them are still my favorite images. My Canon G10 goes about everywhere with me, < .... >. It is a very flexible camera, and despite its small sensor size It has many advantages over a bulky DSLR; however, it does require an understanding of its limits, which are numerous in low- light scenarios, and I try not to shoot on it over 800 ISO, because of noise.

I have been on set 3 times for Ralph Lauren, for Lucky Magazine, Discover Card, Belk, Liberty Mutual, Clorox, and Pergo… Not a lot of fashion aside from the Ralph Lauren shoots which have been quite lavish; great food, fun people, and gorgeous models… The idea of my job is that me and The Coyote (the name of the truck, more info at shootdigital.com) can be anywhere within a hundred miles plus of NYC, and you’ll have all the equipment, power from generators, and digital capabilities to have a successful shoot. So far, it’s been going well, and I am going to begin training as a tech so when the season for the Coyote ends (sometime end of Fall) I can stay on at my studio as a freelance worker.

I bartend 4 days a week for my steady money, and when shoots come up, I take time away from my bar job, which has proven quite understanding and flexible. So, for the time being, that is what I have to tell. Let me know if you have any specific questions about any of these shoots or my job, as I’d be more than happy to indulge the topic further.

Speak with you soon Thomas, hope all is well.

Brad.”


Inside the Coyote which Brad drives to locations – note the two MacPros.

Time will tell whether my nephew has the luck to succeed in his chosen field, but I do think you will agree that he has the EPL theory down pat. In the meanwhile, I hope he can blog for us on some of his shoots which sound quite thrilling.

Good luck, Brad!

The Leica X1 and street snaps

Cameras, Leica

Some thoughts.

It’s 9/9/09 and Leica finally introduced its full frame digital M9. I won’t be dwelling on it here as I doubt there’s much need for, or interest in, a $10,000 camera (with lens) which comes with almost no automation, bulky lenses and a near total lack of weatherproofing. For that sort of money there are several rugged and capable DSLRs available from other makers and the specific situations in which a rangefinder camera excels are few and far between. Street snapping is probably the main genre where the r/f is most at home. A good reality check may be found here.

Leica has also introduced the X1, a fixed lens (35mm equivalent) APS-C body with a very appealing design. They deserve hearty congratulations on this as it’s not yet another rebadged Panasonic, though the premium price of $2,000 is hard to swallow. Plus you will need to add an optical viewfinder to make the thing workable in street situations which adds more cost. With v/f and with its non-detachable lens extended it’s much the same size as the G1 or GF1:


Leica X1

Note the full manual operation afforded by separate shutter and aperture dials.

So who needs this? Well, my perspective has altered significantly in the two short months during which I have owned the Panasonic G1. Having been a street snapper since childhood and having given up on film when the Canon 5D came along, I have been waiting for the ‘digital Leica’ a long time. And the G1 has changed how I think about street cameras.

In days of yore you would load up your little shoulder bag with a 35 and 90mm Leica lens, leave the 50mm on the M2 or M3 slung over your shoulder, and cram in a few rolls of film wherever you could stash them. After decades of use all the manual adjustments required became second nature – aperture, shutter speed, focus and the endless tedious changing of film in fair weather or foul (mostly foul in my London days). The results of those early efforts can be seen in all their monochrome splendor here. You didn’t complain because there not only was no alternative, no one saw digital coming. And SLRs were too loud and bulky and noisy to be an alternative for the truly unobtrusive and relatively quiet Leica M. You just learned to pre-visualize the image and would change lenses on the run to make sure the right one was in place by the time you pressed the button. And it made sense to have the right lens in place as film could only handle so much enlarging.

When the 5D came along you suddenly had medium format film quality at an affordable price with full automation thrown in. The bulk seemed modest compared to my Rollei 6003 and the ergonomics superior, but no one could accuse the 5D of being a street snapper. Landscapes, macro still lifes, portraits, QTVRs, HDR, all well and good, but unobtrusiveness is not that camera’s strong point.

So along came the Panasonic LX-1 with its host of compromises. Shutter lag, slow autofocus, an awful LCD screen replaced with a glued-on optical finder and too small to handle easily in a hurry, yet it was the best this street snapper could find at the time.

But the digital Leica did finally come along and the logo said ‘Lumix G1’.

After the first few hundred street exposures you realized that the craving for the rumored 20mm f/1.7 (now available) pancake lens was gone. I don’t need f/1.7 but I do occasionally like 35, 50 and 90mm focal lengths, much as I did in the M2/M3 film days. And the G1 went one better at the wide end, stretching to 28mm.

But it’s the total automation and that revolutionary Electronic View Finder which make the G1 the digital Leica. No need to change lenses. No need to excuse the quality of the kit lens or sensor, both small and superb. No need to wait for autofocus – in 1,200 exposures I have ‘beaten’ the AF just once. It’s that good. And as for the sensor, you may not want to make 30″ prints (who any longer makes these regularly?) but 13″ x 19″ is par for the course. And no need to set anything other than the aperture or squint into a dark finder trying to figure out what the camera is doing. The automation is outstanding and the EVF even better. In fact it’s pretty close to my wish list. Best of all, you can set the frame aspect ratio to 3:2, just like in that Leica of yore, and that’s how I use my G1.

So while Leica has done a fine aesthetic job (let’s just hope the shutter and focus delays are low) in designing the X1, I really question who needs a fixed focal length camera at such a price when you can have a more versatile tool with the same bulk for under one third of the cost? The only thing the G1 has which I have realized that I do not need is the interchangeable lens. The kit lens is this street snapper’s ideal.


Distraught. G1, kit lens, 14mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO100.

So yes, the digital Leica is here. It just happens to be made by someone else.

Eye research

Photographs

Just using mine.

You have to wonder whether this eye research business purposefully chose the building for its two-eyed window or whether it’s just one of those things that happen.


Eye research. G1, 42mm f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO 100

I rarther fancy serendipity is at work here.

Spotted on Fillmore Street in San Francisco.

About the Snap: Lonely

About the Snap

Lonely.

Date: July 28, 2009
Place: Between the Tenderloin and Nob Hill, San Francisco
Modus operandi: Happy to be leaving the Tenderloin.
Weather: Typical overcast San Francisco day.
Time: 10:40am.
Gear: Panasonic G1, kit lens at 45mm, f/6.3, 1/80th, ISO100
Medium: Digital
Me: Thrilled to still have an eye for this sort of thing.
My age: 57

This reminds me of my picture of Perry’s taken at the very end of the last millennium. I had been tramping around the Tenderloin and was pretty much happy to be leaving the area. There’s really very little good that can be said about it.

Heading East, I saw this one from far away and was lucky that the lady remained as still as when I first saw her. Her deeply unhappy face speaks of a date broken, a heart crying.

There was a brief break in the traffic after what seemed like an age (in reality a couple of seconds!) and I managed to get the snap with that sweet kit lens on the G1 racked out as far as it could go – 90mm equivalent.

Just like using that old Leica 90mm but a lot faster and easier. No lens changing, no focusing, no light measurement needed. Words fail me in trying to convey just what a perfect camera/lens combination the G1 makes for street snaps like this. If this is your preferred genre, I strongly recommend the G1 and 14-45mm kit lens. It is all you will need and your ability to give near-100% attention to the subject will make you a better photographer.

In this case, I was fortunate to be able to balance the outward looking figure with the door on the right.

Taken not long after yesterday’s snap and a few blocks east. Seconds later the lady was gone. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Absent the usual sharpening using a Lightroom import preset no other processing was required – the naturally muted contrast of the G1 and my default underexposure setting makes for a low effort camera-to-final-image setup.