Welcome to the K.R. Williamson PhotoBlog | Great photos and the stories behind them | All things photo | My opinions on the photographic world | Leica, Canon, and Sony experiences and thoughts
From the Archive: Weekend Warriors - Massachusetts National Guard circa 1978
One of the highlights of my early career was to follow a group of North Shore National Guard troops as they did their one weekend a month commitment at Fort Devens in Ayer MA. It was a great experience and I will never forget it. At the time I had an old college friend that was stationed at Devens and it was great to see him. He had been stationed in Korea and had recently been moved to Devens so it was a great treat to be able to stay with him for the weekend.
For this assignment I brought along three Leica cameras. The Leicaflex SL, Leica M3, and Leica M5. The lenses that I brought along were the Leica 50 mm Summilux, 35 mm Summicron, the 90 mm Tele Elmarit and the Leica 280 mm for the Leicaflex. This lens was originally made for the Visoflex housing.
So off I went with about ten rolls of film which I found out later was not quite enough for the whole weekend. The images are really a collection of images from the weekend and not a complete story. At that time I really had no dea what I was doing as far as story telling goes so I just have a few good images. I am missing a few because I don't know where the negatives might be. All of the images were scanned from prints I had in the archive. They were then pulled into Lightroom and post processed in Silver Efex Pro using different presets. Check out the slideshow below of all the images in the set.
From the Archive: Polo pony gives the evil eye
Every Sunday up on the Northshore of Boston in the small town of Hamilton the rich come out to play at the Myopia Hunt Club and anyone can pay to watch. Early in my career I was hired to shoot polo for the Salem Evening News and came to like the quick action with the horses and riders.
I'm a little disappointed in myself for not shooting from a lower angle but the image turned out great despite this issue. I think what has always intrigued me about this image is the look in the horses eye as he is twisted around by the rider trying to hit the ball. The other thing is the definition of the muscles in the horses neck and the riders arm as he swings the mallet. For many years I included this in my sports portfolio. Peak action in sports is key and this has it in spades. The rider is off the saddle and looks like he is falling off, the horse is looking into the frame wondering if he is going over too. And even though the player has not hit the ball yet the action is right there.
If you ever get a chance to shoot polo, do it. The results will amaze you. Oh and don't forget to shoot the crowd too they are a pretty interesting bunch.
From the Archive: Great Dane watching traffic
As a photojournalist I am always on the look out for images that portray everyday life. Most of the time we do this by just driving around looking for interesting things to shoot or by going someplace and waiting for things to develop. On this day I was over in the Hamilton / Wenham area of the Northshore of Boston looking for something interesting. I had stopped at convenience store for a can of Pepsi and noticed this rather large dog sitting in the back seat of this car with his head sticking out the window. So I grabbed the camera and made a few shots but as I was putting the camera away the owner jumped into the car and sped off. All I could do was follow to try and get the dogs name as well as the owner. Luckily the owner pulled into her driveway just a few hundred yards down the road. As I pulled in the dog was very interested in who I was but seemed pretty tame. The owner was no where to be found. Well the background looked very good compared to the previous shot I had taken so I made some more of the dog looking at traffic. This is one of those shots. As I was taking this image the owner finally came out and wanted to know what I was doing. When I explained I was from the paper she was very excited to see her Great Dane "Nemo" make it in the papers. This shot ran above the fold on A1 3 cols across. We got so many calls and notes from folks saying how much they enjoyed it. For me it was just another day as a photojournalist.
This image was taken on Kodak Tri-X film at ASA 400 and developed in a curious mix of D-76 and D-76 replenisher known to us as skunk piss. It processed the film very quickly but enhanced the grain as you can see.
From the Archive: Memorial Day in Rockport 1978
Since I am laid up from my hip replacement I thought I would dig back into my archives to look for images or stories I worked on many years ago. This image comes from the barber story I was working on for North Shore Sunday back in 1978. The "barber" Mr. Cooney participated in the Memorial Day ceremonies in Rockport. This is one of those grab shots that you get when you turn around and there it is. These school children were waiting to place flowers at a grave site. Over the years I have enjoyed looking at this image from early in my career. I love the white Mickey Mouse belt on the kid at right. The looks on these kids faces is priceless. I remember what it was like to stand and wait not really knowing why you were there or what you were doing.
Over time the negative of this image has some fungus on it and when I tried to print it at 11x14 the fungus was obvious. This image is a scan from a 8x10 inch print (image size 6x9). It was scanned as a color image then turned B&W in Lightroom and then moved into Silver Efex Pro for some more processing. This is great so if I have a decent print I can scan it and make a better version then print it larger than I could before.
More fun with melting snow banks
Sony Nex-7 w/ Leica 90 Tele-Elmarit
I made this shot at the same time as the last one. This red ring made for an interesting image against the dirt and snow. I processed it in the iPad app Photogene and picked one of the presets that gave me a cool blue cast. The Leica 90 at 2,8 really gives a nice soft background.
Fun with spring snow banks
Sony Nex-7 w/ Leica Tele-Elmarit
Exposure ISO 100 1/1250s @ 2,8
The snow banks are melting at an alarming rate and at the same time creating some really interesting formations. I thought this was kind of cool so I made a shot of it. This lens is really nice and sharp for an older Leica lens. This is wide open at 2.8. All of the post processing was done in my iPad app Photogene. I used the B&W presets to make this image then used some vignetting to darken the corners.
Spring with the old Leica Summaron 35
Sony Nex-7 w/Leica 35mm Summicron 3,5 SM
Sony Nex-7 w/Leica 35mm Summicron 3,5 SM
This morning I dug out my old Leica 35mm Summicron f3,5. My dad gave this lens to me when I was in high school. It's an old screw mount lens built in Germany back in the 50's. I have a bayonet mount adapter on it so I can use it with my M cameras. At the moment it needs a good cleaning. On the inside one of the elements is getting a little foggy but I can still use it. It does give a soft affect to the images. So this morning I put it on the Sony to try it out and I was surprised at what I got. In bright sunlight it gives remarkably sharp images considering its condition. I also tried to do something a little different as I did all the post processing in Photogenie on the iPad. This app excepts raw files from the Sony so it was a revelation to see that I could process them like I do in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro. Some of the presets were pretty cool like the infrared one in the bottom photo.
Signs of Winters Grip w/ the Sony Nex-7
Sony Nex-7 w/Sony 20mm f2,8 lens
Exposure ISO 100 1/320s @ f5.0
If you always have a camera with you then you won't miss opportunities for an interesting image as they come up . I was out to the post office and when I got back this car in front of me had tons of road salt on the hood and the interesting reflection of the trees just asked me to make a photo. B&W was the only way to go so I converted it in Photoshop adding some contrast and darkening it up some.
More Leica M9 and the streets of Boston
Leica M9 w/ Leica 28mm Elmarit
Exposure ISO 400 1/500s @ f13
As you can see I made this shot as we passed Landsdowne St. and the legend sports bar the Cask'n Flagon near Fenway Park. I really wanted to give the sense of passing by this famous area in a car so I left the window up and left the rear view mirror in the frame. No need to focus with the lens set to infinity at f13 (in between f11 and f16). Without the person in the frame it would not have given the same effect as it does. After correcting color in Lightroom I pulled it into Silver Efex Pro and used the Full Contrast and Structure preset to bring out the reflections in the window and the clouds.
Leica M9 w/ Leica 28mm Elmarit
Exposure ISO 400 1/500s @ f9.5
This shot was done the same way as the shot above. I used the same preset in Silver Efex Pro to bring up the clouds and reflections in the window. I love the reflections in the window of the bar showing the buildings. The billboard just adds to the sense of driving around Boston as they are all over the place.
Leica M9 w/ Leica 28mm Elmarit
Exposure ISO 400 1/250s @ f9.5
This shot was made with the window open as I wanted to show city living without noticing the window or any part of the car. Apartment style in Boston. I used the tools inside Lightroom to correct converging lines and it worked pretty good but not really what I wanted. I did also pull it into Silver Efex Pro and used the Full Contrast and Structure preset for the desired effect.
Leica M9 and the 28 mm Elmarit Boston street
Exposure ISO 400 1/500s @ f8 no focusing
While I was receiving a ride home from the hospital with a friend (after giving the vampires some blood) I decided that the M9 needed a workout. So just before we got onto Storrow Dr. I hung out the window a bit and grabbed this shot. The camera was locked on infinity (my lens lets me do that, no drift). Like they say f8 and be there. So I guess this would be auto focus right. Not the most interesting thing I've shot but the building is just plain cool looking, for an apartment building. A quick grab shot out the window of a cool building. I opened the DNG image in Photoshop and then adjusted the color and converted to B&W then added contrast and lightened it a bit. I will do it again at home in Lightroom and add a vignette.
This image is crazy sharp! The lens is really old. It was made in 1964 in Germany, is black, and has red feet numbers. The s/n starts with 206xxxx so it's 50 years old and fairly rare. I love it. I use a viewfinder with it since for some reason the brightlines for 28 don't come up. I seem to be having an issue with that as my 90 Tele Elmarit does not pull up the 90 lines either. So it may be a trip back to Leica for the M9 to see what is going on.
Zone focusing with these wides used to be standard practice. For instance this shot at f8 gave me from 12 ft. to infinity in focus. That really is like having an auto focus camera. Just as an example I could have made this shot at f2,8 and 25ft to infinity would have been sharp. I need to do more experimentation with this camera. Street shooting in Boston this spring would be a cool thing to do.