Bespoke.

Located on Grant Street in the heart of North Beach, you can get shoes, boots and clothing hand made here. Truly bespoke work.

Leathers.

Beautiful shoe selection.

The dressmaking area.

Measuring a customer for new boots.

The house pup – as decent an egg as you will meet.

Shoe lasts and tools.

Tools of the trade.

Cobbler at work. Nothing beats the 17mm Zuiko when the light source is in the frame.

Assorted leather goods.

The owner was so taken with my GX7 that I encouraged him to try it out, telling him he would not hear the electronic shutter. After he pressed the button thrice I told him he had it, as I posed in the lovely afternoon sun:

Me at Al’s Attire. I have looked better.

All snapped on the Panny GX7 with the 17mm Zuiko except the first (G1, kit zoom) and the third (Nikon D3x, 35mm f/1.4 Nikon G AF-S).

Old maps.

Jim Schwein at work.

“So where do you get all these old maps?”

“Many universities and libraries are digitizing their collections and have neither the money or expertise to store them properly. There is never any supply shortage for my store.”

The Schwein & Schwein store is piled to the rafters with antique maps, in the heart of North Beach on Grant Avenue. There are open displays and dozens upon dozens of pull-out drawers sorted geographically. There’s something for everyone, and the inventory is global in scope.

“We have no such thing as a typical customer. They range from students looking for wall art to affluent bankers who drop by once a quarter and drop a couple of grand. Our buyers are individuals and corporations. We have been in this location for ten years.”

Be sure to check out Schwein & Schwein when you are next in San Francisco.

Taken on the Nikon D3x and Sigma 35mm f/1.4.

The man and his workshop.

I had contracted a spot of flu, nothing serious, but enough to pull the pin on my pain threshold. By the time I struggled into Daniel Macchiarini’s (‘Mac-ee-arr-eenie’) store on Grant Street in North Beach yesterday, I was feeling pretty beaten up. The D3x and the Sigma 35/1.4 are no lightweights at the best of times and on this occasion I could feel my pain. I did not need anyone else to feel it for me. Every hair on my head testified to it.

Anyway, I was rather woozily admiring the metal gate with the monkey at the store when Daniel popped out.

“If you pat him on the head, your life expectancy will increase by six years!”

Just to be safe, I patted the lad twice. You can’t be too careful with these things.

And after just a few moments of discussion with Daniel and his small fluff ball of a pup named Luigi, with whom I instantly bonded, I had stopped feeling sorry for myself, enjoying the thrill of seeing Daniel’s very large workroom in the rear of the store. It must be some 50′ x 30′, a rare luxury in so costly an area of San Francisco. Packed to the rafters with tools and materials, it is an intensely interesting place and one in which Daniel has been crafting beautiful jewelry and objets d’art for 50 years, like his father before him.

“My dad and now I have worked here since he built in in 1906.”

“Right after the earthquake and fire. Which did more damage?”

“Neither. The Army did.”

“The Army?”

“Yes. They believed they could stop fires with explosives which they set off in great quantities destroying what was left of the city. Lunacy.”

“Indeed. A little power is a dangerous thing. Yet you are so privileged to have this wonderful workspace attached to your retail store.”

“Yes. It’s my workshop and has been for fifty years.”

You can see more of Daniel’s beautiful work on his web site here. There are earrings, pendants and bracelets galore.

Images, except the last, made with the Nikon D3x, 35/1.4 Sigma at f/2, ISO800. Last on the Panny G1 with the kit lens, ISO 100.

I’ll drop by a large portrait print to Daniel next week.

Looking good!

After I complained mightily to Sigma about the bad AF on the 35/1.4 I had borrowed from a local business, Sigma USA was kind enough to send me a brand new one in Nikon mount from the shipment received at the end of January and it arrived yesterday. I have it to try out on a free three week loan.

What better way to start giving the Sigma a work out than locally? I had just caught a glimpse of the local cobbler’s workshop when dropping a pair of shoes off the other day and it looked fascinating, everything a cobbler’s workshop should be. Almost like a Hollywood set, in fact. So when picking the shoes up yesterday, I just had to get back there to photograph it.

“Pindelski, is that Czech?”

“No, Polish. My folks were refugees, finally escaping to the west before the Russians closed the borders in 1947. You?”

“I am a Czech Armenian, part of the Jewish diaspora which spread across the world because of persecution. I came to America in 1986.

This store has been here, on B Street in San Mateo, since 1876. I prefer it messy. It’s comfortable that way”

Fellow refugees, bonding.

So when it came time to pick up my shoes, whose heels remain spread over a vast area of San Francisco’s sidewalks, I couldn’t wait to ask Victor if he would let me take a look at his workroom. He was only too happy to oblige, and it did not disappoint. The Sigma and Nikon D3x came along and absent a bit of toning down of the nasty highlights from the fluorescent tubes in the first two images, these are pretty much straight out of the camera. I did use the lens correction profile I had created earlier for this lens, as it corrects significant vignetting at f/1.4 and f/2. You can download it here and absent whatever claim I have to pride of authorship, I really recommend you use it. My wealth will change by exactly $0.00 if you download it.

Victor Sargas.

At work.

There’s always work to be done.

“I prefer it messy.”

Ancient cobbler’s lathe.

After the poor first experience with the Sigma’s AF (s/n 50004444) things are beginning to look up with this loaner (s/n 50004693). The three dimensional rendering and vibrant colors are significant optical accomplishments in a lens this fast. I wish it was lighter, but at the quality level offered I’ll grudgingly settle for a sore neck and shoulder. It is not cheap at $900 + tax, but it’s a lot cheaper than the Nikon version which, based on the sample I borrowed, is inferior and costs a good deal more.

Snapped on the Nikon D3x with the lens at f/2, ISO 400. Victor gets his large wall print tomorrow.