My Photography in 2023

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Before I start to write about my photography in 2023, I think it would be good for me to talk more broadly about my photographic journey.

My interest in photography started in 1974 when my wife bought me my first serious camera: a Minolta Hi-Matic 7sII film camera, which I used extensively in the 1980s and 90s, along with a Canon AE-1, which I acquired several years later. At some point in the early-mid 2000s I switched to digital photograph, but somehow my interest in photography had waned. I didn’t feel like going out to take pictures and only took pictures of family vacations, family events etc.

Things changed in 2010. I had lost my primary digital camera. I later found it again but by that time I had purchased another one: A Panasonic Lumix LX-3. I loved this camera (still do). Somehow it reignited my love of photography, which was just as well because retirement was looming in 2012, and I needed to find something to do with myself.

After that I split my time between photography and doing things (plays, shows, meals out, travel etc.) with my wife. It was a good time.

This went on until late 2020 when my wife of 43 years unexpectedly passed away after a thankfully very brief illness (not COVID). This was a very tough time for me and I had to find something to keep me occupied, or I would have gone mad. Of course, that thing was photography and between late 2020 and late 2021 I was constantly out taking pictures.

Late in 2022 I volunteered to work for our local Historical Society. This was something I had been meaning to do for some time, but never gotten around to. Since then, I’ve been there virtually every workday from 9:00am-4:00pm. This doesn’t mean that I have given up photography. Far from it. I still take photographs, make photobooks and the occasional prints; collect old cameras and photobooks etc., just at a slightly diminished pace than before.

So photographically speaking this is what I’ve been doing during 2023.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Despite my commitments to the Historical Society, I’ve managed to get out on quite a few photowalks:

In addition to the above I walk a lot around the area where I live and take many pictures. All told I kept about 1,500 photographs in 2023. I took a lot more.

As in previous years I’ve created two year-end posts featuring my favorite photographs, one on favorite black and whites; and the other on favorite color photographs.

BLOG

I maintain and will continue to maintain this blog, which I started in 2012. In 2023 I made 366 Blog Posts. The total number of posts since I started the blog is 4,359.

WEB SITE

However, I have also become a little tired of the blog format. I will keep the blog as a kind of illustrated diary of what I’m up to, but in 2023 I created a more traditional website for myself. You can find it at hgdphotography.org.

NEW DIRECTIONS

In previous years I’ve tried some more experimental (for me) approaches e.g. Macro Photography, Street Photography etc. In 2023 I tried my hand at infrared photography. I enjoyed it and will probably do more. I also want to learn more about video. I have cameras that can shoot video, but I didn’t have software to edit the results. I’ve now acquired some. I haven’t done much with it in 2023 but anticipate doing more in 2024.

I like to see my photographs in print but have little wall space to display them. So instead, I’ve focused on creating photobooks (more precisely ‘Zines’) of my work. In 2023 I created (or substantially modified an earlier version of) the following:

  • Opus 40. A remarkable large environmental sculpture in Saugerties, New York,
  • Golden Anniversary. Documenting my friends Marc and Rozanne Prisaments’ 50th Wedding Anniversary.
    • >A Tree:(revised): Around the Neighborhood No. 1. A series of photographs taken at the same time of single nearby tree.
  • A Pond: Around the Neighborhood No. 2. A series of Photographs taken around a nearby pond, which was once the outdoor pool of a famous resort hotel now gone.
  • Infrared. My attempts at infrared photography.
  • Quinceañera (revised). Documenting a friend’s granddaughter’s celebration.
  • Rivertowns No. 1: Along Albany Post Road, Tarrytown (revised). Part of an ongoing series of photographs of towns along the Hudson River.
  • Rivertowns No. 2: Dobbs Ferry. Part of an ongoing series of photographs of towns along the Hudson River.

PHOTOBOOKS

In 2023 I continued to add to my collection of Photobooks by and about renowned photographers with the following:

  • Dream Street. W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project by Sam Stephenson.
  • Looking at Images. A deeper look at selected photographs by Brooks Jensen.
  • Dido Moriyama by Bruna Dantas Lobato.
  • The Americans by Robert Frank.
  • Infrared Photography: Digital Techniques for Brilliant Images by Laurie Clein et al.
  • The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben.
  • Richard Misrach on Landscape and Meaning.
  • Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment.
  • Graciela Iturbide on Dreams, Symbols, and Imagination.
  • Peter Lindbergh on Fashion Photography.
  • Then: Photographs 1925-1995. By Alexander Liberman.
  • Larry Fink on Composition and Improvisation.
  • Todd Hido on Landscapes, Interiors and the Nude.
  • Time in New England by Paul Strand.
  • Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs by Ansel Adams.
  • The Portfolios of Ansel Adams. By Ansel Adams.
  • 1975 Masters of Contemporary Photography: Duane Michals. The Photographic Illusion: Using the Mind’s Eye to Created Photos for Collectors and Clients.
  • 1975 Masters of Contemporary Photography: Art Kane. The Persuasive Image: How a Portraitist and Storyteller Illuminates our Changing Culture.
  • 1975 Masters of Contemporary Photography: Elliott Erwitt. The Private Experience: Personal Insights of a Professional Photographer.
  • Let us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans.
  • Eudora Welty. Photographs by Eudora Welty and Reynolds Price.
  • Josef Koudelka: The Making of Exiles by Josef Koudelka.
  • Ansel Adams. An Autobiography. By Ansel Adams.
  • Atget. By John Szarkowski.
  • The Living Sea. By Hussain Aga Khan.

CAMERAS

I’ve added a few new (to me) cameras to my collection of old/inexpensive cameras. My current focus is on medium format and older digital cameras:
Of late I’ve focused on medium format, and older digital cameras and added a few new cameras to my collection of old/inexpensive cameras:

  • Canon PowerShot Pro 1.
  • Sony Cybershot DSC-R1.
  • Sony Cybershot DSC-F828
  • Pentax K10D
  • Yashica Mat-124G
  • Petri RF
  • Kodak Art Deco Six-20

    • That’s about it other than for me to with anyone reading this a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

    Some of my favorite pictures of 2023 – Black and White

    by Posted in Abstracts, Cemeteries, Landscapes, Nature, People, Sculpture, Trees Leave a comment

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    Foggy Law Park. Briarcliff Manor, NY. March 2.

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    Cornelia Cotton in her store/gallery. Croton-on-Hudson. March 4.

    Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, May 2023

    Tomb, Old Dutch Burying Ground. Sleepy Hollow, NY. February 14.

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    Taking a Break. Boston MA. July 22.

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    Abstract Composition. Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ. August 16.

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    Gnarly Tree. Briarcliff Manor, NY. October 15.

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    Figure on Third Avenue, Manhattan. December 20.

    Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, May 2023

    To the Mausoleum. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Sleepy Hollow, NY. Feb 14

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    White Cube with onlookers. Manhattan. December 20.

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    Tree detail. Old Methodist Cemetery. Pleasantville, NY. November 26.

    Some of my favorite pictures of 2023 – Color

    by Posted in Abstracts, Flowers, Fungi, Landscapes, Nature, Statues, Street, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

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    Red Fody, Bronx Zoo, June 21

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    Street Photographpy. Well, it is a street, and not just any street. This is 42nd Street, Manhattan, New York City. December 11.

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    Leaf and Stumps, Camp Andree, Briarcliff Manor, NY. November 20.

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    Third Avenue and 55th Street, Manhattan. December 20.

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    Abstract Composition on the Charles River. Boston, MA. July 21.

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    Flower and Insect, Opus 50, Saugerties, NY. June 23.

    Tree Branch with Clouds

    Fallen Branch, Leaves and Reflections. Briarcliff Manor, NY. March 5.

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    Fungi. Briarcliff Manor, NY. December 7.

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    Bison Fighting/Playing, Bronx Zoo, NY. June 21

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    Member of the Fire Department on Memorial Day. Briarcliff Manor, NY. May 29.

    Another new/old camera: The Canon Powershot Pro 1

    by Posted in Canon Powershot Pro 1 Leave a comment
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    I first came across this camera on a YouTube video entitled: What makes this 8mp CCD camera so special? on YouTube Channel called Snappiness (which I can heartily recommend to anyone who’s interested in older digital cameras).

    There’s a good review at Canon PowerShot Pro1 Review.

    I was intrigued enough that I decided to get one for myself. Why? Well, I must admit that the major reason was that red ring on the lens. If you’ve watched the video above, or read the review, or are just into Canon cameras, you’ll know that the ring indicates ‘L’ series glass: the best that you can get for Canon cameras. I wouldn’t normally want to spend the money that Canon ‘L’ series glass commands. I was sure that this was a marketing gimmick. How could you possibly get this type of lens on an admittedly very old (2004 vintage) sub $100 camera.

    When it eventually came, I went to our local park to try it out. You can see the results below.

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    no images were found


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    The review above concludes:

    The PowerShot Pro1 is a camera designed to be familiar to current Canon owners, easy enough to use for first time buyers and yet still provide a semiprofessional feel and feature set. Canon has borrowed from its professional lens line to put an L quality label on the lens system to indicate that this is a new lens and it has been designed to fulfill the high-resolution requirements of an eight-megapixel CCD. In use the Canon felt slightly slower than I was expecting, certainly not much faster than the G5 and I didn’t see any marked improvement in speed overall from that camera.

    Overall image quality was good, that L lens proving it can deliver the resolution and that Canon’s reliable DiGiC image processor can turn out a quality image with good tonal and color balance and no noticeable artifacts. We had two areas of disappointment from an image quality stance, firstly the lens exhibited noticeable lens shading especially at wide angle and/or maximum aperture, secondly noise levels were high enough to be seen at ISO 100 and progressively worse at higher sensitivities. This is clearly a trait of the eight megapixel sensor and while we commend Canon for taking a ‘purist’ approach to image processing these levels of noise really should have been tamed with an (optional?) noise reduction feature.

    The Pro1 left me feeling neither hot nor cold, the camera delivered as much resolution as we had expected with on the whole good image quality but didn’t really perform as we would hope ‘across the board’. I didn’t see any major improvements in performance and ‘usage feel’ and was left slightly disappointed by noise levels at higher sensitivities and the potential lens shading. That said there’s little doubt that the Pro1 can deliver great images when used carefully and should certainly be in the top three on your shopping list if you’re considering an eight-megapixel prosumer digital camera.

    The review mentions the following ‘Pros’ (remember these were pros in 2004. Most of them wouldn’t be very special nowadays):

    • Very good resolution, joint best of group
    • Wide angle seven times zoom lens, fast at wide
    • Selectable color space (sRGB / Adobe RGB)
    • Good shot to shot times
    • Good flash performance
    • Time-lapse feature
    • Relatively compact and lightweight
    • Good ergonomics, decent hand grip, zoom ring
    • Wide range of accessories available
    • Some unique features (ND filter etc.)
    • Clean image, quality image processing thanks to DiGiC
    • Large 2.0″ Tilt & Twist LCD monitor, 235,000 pixels
    • High resolution electronic viewfinder
    • Supplied IR remote control

    I’d agree.

    As for the ‘Cons’:

    • Vignetting / lens shading at maximum aperture
    • Visible noise from ISO 100 upwards
    • Slower than expected startup time
    • Limited latitude of image parameter adjustment
    • No AF assist lamp
    • No live view histogram
    • Lower than advertised continuous shooting speed
    • Long CF write times for Super-Fine images (4.8 sec)
    • Disappointing battery life – camera bug?
    • Poor automatic white balance in artificial light
    • No WB fine tuning

    None of these bother me too much. Once upon a time the “Visible noise from ISO 100 upwards” might have bothered me. But with the kind of noise reduction available nowadays it’s not really much of a problem.

    I rather liked it. It’s small, light, has a decent zoom range (28 – 200 mm equiv). I liked the ergonomics. It’s fits into my current passion for collecting older digital camera. And it really is very sharp for a camera that cost next to nothing.

    Looking at Images

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    A fascinating book by Brooks Jensen, the Editor of Lenswork magazine.

    According to the Introduction:

    This book is about what we learn about and from photography and the creative process by looking at photographs with more than a glance. It is about the process of art making in photography. It is about the content of what we create, not the mechanisms of how we create. As such, this book has been written with photographers in mind – especially those who use their cameras as a means of personal expression. Making photographic art can be a mysterious path.

    The book contains 122 (101 black and white; 21 Color) two-page spreads. The left side of each spread shows a photograph, and the right page a commentary by the author.

    The introduction also states:

    In addition to my written comments that accompany each photograph, you will also find a QR on the page with the text and image. The QR code links to an audio recording on our website. The audio is not simply a recorded version of the written text, but rather an extension of the ideas that have arisen as I’ve reflected on each image.

    What a great idea!

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book an can heartily recommend it.