Dog And Pony Show Revisited — STREET SILHOUETTES

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. It seems like the appropriate thing to say, now that Francis Ford Coppola has released his final director’s cut of “The Godfather, Part III”. That said, I don’t think that Lydia came back to Hong Kong, just to drag me back out onto the street. After all, she was just grabbing a few of her odds and ends before heading back to Sweden, and then to points unknown. Such is the way. And as for my other since-departed-partners-in-crime, they too have flown the coop.

Mind you, it was in mid April that I went out on this photowalk with Lydia. I was still contemplating what to do with this blog. Suffice to say, I didn’t do much. With the weight of Covid pressing onto me - onto all of us, not knowing how the world was going to unfold - I just didn’t feel like starting something new. I guess I just wanted the comfort of familiarity. To crawl back and do what I did for the better part of three and a half years. Sadly, even that was a stretch too far. I didn’t really do much shooting for 2020.

So when I finally went on this, my first photowalk of 2020, I was surprisingly out of practice. Shocking! And, this only a handful of months since I last shot a roll of film! It was strange. It was as if the old adage of “if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” is true. Then there was the issue of technical failure. With my camera collecting dust for so long, the batteries went dead. Normally, having a non-functioning meter wouldn’t be the end of the world. But since I haven’t been shooting for a while, I couldn’t fall back on the Sunny 16 rule.

Fujifilm Provia 400X (Expiration Unknown) @ 50mm — ISO 400 Film of Unknown Providence & Questionable Storage @ 50mm Focal Length

On top of that, there is also the question of what to write between the photos? The year that passed wasn’t exactly a bumper year for photographic innovation. Leica came out with the high resolution sensor M10, like I predicted many years ago on Leica Rumors. They also came out with a monochrome variant of the M10 and also the Q2. As for lenses, I don’t recall Leica introducing any new M-mount lenses for 2020. I mean, I would have known about it, since Craig from the Leica Store in New York would have informed me of it.

And as for Canon and Nikon, they’ve gone increasingly more mirrorless with their full frame offerings, while still hedging themselves with DSLRs - with old habits hard to break. At the moment, I am on the fence on getting the Canon EOS R6 and the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 IS USM. But, what’s the point of getting a new camera and lens when there really is no reason for me to go out and take any photos? As it is right now, my Canon EOS R and whatever lens I have is sufficient for all my digital needs - which is nothing.

Personally, what I found most exciting in 2020 was the iPhone 12 with its 52mm lens. Yes, I skipped the iPhone 11, since I really didn’t think it was materially better than my iPhone X. And to be frank, I don’t think I would have upgraded to the iPhone 12 if my aging iPhone X of three years didn’t seem so buggy, as the vernacular goes. So if you think about it, the fact I found the 52mm lens of the iPhone 12 to be the single most exciting development in photography essentially sums up 2020. It truly was a year best written off.

And please don’t get me started on film. 2020 might truly be the end of the line for old film stock. On eBay, there has only been two decent listing all years of Fujifilm Provia 400X. And seriously, I don’t recall a single good listing of Fujifilm Neopan 1600. But to be fair, the supply of Ilford Delta 400 and 3200 has been rather stable. But then again, what do I know. It’s not as if I’ve been depleting my stock of Ilford Delta 400, given that I really haven’t had much of a reason to go on any photowalk during the year that passed.

But with existing properly-frozen-stored stocks of Fujifilm Provia 400X pretty much depleted or priced at exorbitantly high asking prices on eBay, the writing is obviously on the wall for the coming year. Color reversal film is relegated to only ISO 100. That means we can only shoot slide film during the daylight hours - not that ISO 400 enabled us the flexibility to photograph in the suboptimal light. However, that loss of an extra two stops can mean all the world a difference to a film photographer without fill flash in tow.

All that seems to be left to film photographers, other than a smattering of boutique film with intentionally unpredictable and wildly biased color balance, are a handful of color negative films from ISO 100 to 800. Beyond that, we can only hope that Kodak will continue to produce what little they still have. As for Fujifilm, always giving way to shareholder’s interest, we’re all holding our collective breaths that the beancounters don’t rationalize what little left they still have. It’s just a matter of time that the ax will fall on them.

As you can see, there’s nothing to write about last year. The fact I took the year off was prescient of the world that was to be in 2020. And, what of the year that is to be - 2021? It is not like we’re not out of the woods just yet. Covid is still amongst us. The beancounters are still reticent with their new product cycle upgrades. Still, even if the Leica’s and Canon’s and Fujifilm’s of the industry take a leap of faith to introduce something new, how new could that new be? It’s just going to be some incremental tweaking hyped a hundred times over.

And, that is precisely the problem. It’s precisely why I decided to end the blog on the eve of 2019 - the year before the year that changed the world forever. But having sat out on the sidelines for the better part of a year, I realized there might still be some more I’d like to squeeze-out. But if not for technology, then what more can a blogger blog about? Love of photography? Love of the process? Love of the experience? Love of the moment? Just love? Love of photography as a metaphor for life… of existence… of humanity.

We’ve forgotten about our humanity over the last four years, with tribes against tribes at each others throats with the miasma of a pandemic hanging thick over us all. In such an unforgiving environment, the least I can do is usher in from time to time some perspective - not that I am the voice of perspective. No, far from it. The best I can offer is a dose of friendly familiarity with my brand of the same old same old. Besides, it’s not as if I could conjure up something new for this tried and true dog and pony show. That would take real effort!

Thus, I decided to go out on this photowalk with Lydia before her departure. It was for that comforting feeling of familiarity. It reminded me of better days gone by in order to reassure me of better days still to come. To that end, I would like to share nothing new with you. Just me, offering you the comfort of familiarity, or rather the semblance of it, since my partners-in-crime have all left Hong Kong. Even so, regardless of whoever I nudge in front of the camera for this dog and pony show, the photograph will feel like déjà-vu.

So does this mean that I will be continuing where I left off? Not quite. I don’t believe this blog will be updated as regularly as before. There was just too much pressure to keep up at that frantic clip. No. What I will do is post an update from time to time. Or perhaps, what I should do is do a series of blog posts, and then go into hibernation until my shadow is gone upon re-emerging from my groundhog hole. In any event, I still need to find a willing co-conspirator in front of the camera. On that end, I haven’t found much longterm success.

In any event, a new year awaits us bringing possibilities. Who knows who I will dislodge from the woodworks, willing to take the time to go on photowalks with me every now and then. Maybe some old faces. And for sure, there will be new faces. And who knows, maybe my partners-in-crime will return - although that seems highly unlikely, given that mandatory quarantine in Hong Kong is now 21 days interned in insolation at a government contracted hotel at the expense of the inbound traveler - at regular rack rates and limited vacancy.

That said, I’m not going to lose any more sleep over my weekly deadlines. There is just too much life out there beyond the confines of my viewfinder and online musing. That is why I have decided against regular updates. There are books to read and personal experiments from my readings to conduct. Besides, whatever I gain from my books and experiments, I can share it with you. The only question now is how to spin that into a narrative arc that can make sense for this dog and pony show. It’s not all about photography, you know.

If you want to read about megapixels and high ISO sensitivity, there are oodles of blogs out there serving that purpose. If you want something a little different in a familiar package, then perhaps this dog and pony show might fit that underserved bill. Who knows, from a love of photography, you might learn a little about yourself.

Disclaimer

Jan 1 Dog And Pony Show Revisited

Disclaimer

Jan 1 Dog And Pony Show Revisited

Jan 12 The Fallacy of Too Much Gear