Re: [Leica] Millbrae notes

["Margaret Jeffcoat" <margaret01@excelonline.com>]

Byron: Thank you for a very interesting and very enjoyable post.
I think the image of the little fellow is one of the best Childs portraits
I've ever seen- well done

Cheers Wilbert

- ----- Original Message -----
From: <leica@rakitzis.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 6:50 AM
Subject: [Leica] Millbrae notes


> [Not a lot of Leica content, but I have just finished running 9 rolls
> of film and I'm inspired to write something before I go to sleep:]
>
> I was at the Millbrae mudflats today, just east of the San Francisco
> airport, looking for interesting views of mud at low tide with airplanes
> in the far distance. I had my view camera with me, and it was a pleasant
> afternoon so of course I got a lot of questions from perfect strangers
> about what the heck I was doing there.
>
> One thing I love about photography is the people I've gotten to meet:
> strangers on the street (as above) but of course anyone I've met through
> the LUG, plus the regulars who I see at the pro photo store in our area
> (Keeble & Shuchat in Palo Alto).
>
> Back to Millbrae: I was approached by a Hungarian man and his 8yr old
> son. He was there to let his boy catch views of airplanes landing and
> taking off, but he was fascinated by the 4x5 and wanted to know everything
> about it, from the lens design, focusing, running film at home, etc. We
> also ended up talking about raising children bilingual in the US, and
> whatever else caught our fancy.
>
> Just then a dyed-in-the-wool planespotter came up, and started telling
> us about all the planes that had landed there so far that day. Good
> grief! He was also curious about my camera, and was astounded to hear
> that I could develop my film at home. I guess this ranks there with all
> the comments I've heard about my Rolleiflex: "Can you still get film
> for that camera? Does it take good pictures?" By now, I've learned to
> smile inwardly. The same goes, for that matter, for comments about my M2.
>
> At the same time, two cute young women who were sitting on a park bench
> about 20ft away would call out to us every so often: "Hey, what kind of
> airplane just landed?"
>
> Of course after answering that question 5-6 times I couldn't help but be
> curious, so I walked up to them and made some smalltalk about airplanes
> and what they were doing there watching them. It seems that one of
> them is a transport pilot who is just learning to fly jets, and she was
> familiarizing herself with all the different types of airplanes using SFO.
> The other girl was a flight instructor at San Carlos airport. You never
> know who you are going to meet: as a birthday present from my wife,
> I recently got an hour's flying lesson at San Carlos airport! I haven't
> redeemed it yet, but it was a very pleasant coincidence to run into one
> of the instructors.
>
> Anyway, while all of this was going on I was shooting 6x12's of the
> mud and the airplanes. I even discovered a decisive moment: as the big
> 747's taxi out of the new international terminal, there is a fleeting
> split-second when they turn left towards the long runway. At that point
> they catch the setting sun on their fuselage and I think make quite an
> interesting spectacle. Needless to say, I didn't capture that on film
> today! I was too busy talking -- there is a cost for everything.
>
> This whole field trip was a lot more fun than I expected it would be,
> and I will definitely go back tomorrow if the weather is good and try
> to catch a 747 at about 4pm with the sun glinting off the fuselage.
> I figure I have about 1/10 of a second or so to do this. Should I bring
> an SLR to do this, or tough it out with a 4x5? :-)
>
> Well, the film is hanging up to dry, and what is most remarkable to me is
> a roll of Tri-X cam out of my M2 (with 50 summicron): it's my standard
> fare of moving children shots (I have shot hundreds of rolls of film of
> my son by this point. e.g.,:
>
> http://www.rakitzis.com/00-10-16/chinup.jpg
>
> is a recent winner.) and I was struck by how sharp, sharp, sharp the
> pictures look. I am talking about wet negatives as they get hung to
> dry, but I am often convinced that I can see amazing results even at
> that point.
>
> I guess the Leica bug has gone to my head, but I'll let you all know
> how these latest shots look once enlarged.
>
> Regards,
>
> Byron.