Luka -- Thanks so much for your generous answers to my "interview questions". Your responses shed additional insight into your method and equipment -- extremely valuable and even entertaining to find out.
Looking forward to your further images and commentary.
You really should think about a book of some type, based on your wide range of subjects from the last few years -- you have the photo skills and the prose skills.
Paul, yes, on the Pentax 67 I typically use mirror lockdown even handheld at critical shutter speeds.
Anyway, time for series 4, which should be the next to last.
On the way to Grand Canyon we stopped in Monument Valley which is a Navjo Nation tribal park. We did not go deep into the park as we did not have had time for it but had a nice lunch in the restaurant at the visitors’ center and enjoyed some pretty spectacular views. If you’ve ever seen a classic western movie then you’ve seen Monument Valley. John Wayne loved this spot as did director John Ford and subsequently this background was used a lot in classic westerns.
Grand Canyon itself was a bit of a disappointment as we had not allocated enough time for it. We came in the afternoon and left in the morning so we only got to do a quick tour of the standard viewpoints on the south rim. There was quite a lot of haze so you couldn’t see all that far. I think to really experience the Grand Canyon you have to go down into the actual canyon either by hiking or by helicopter. The latter would have been cool but unfortunately we did not have time for it. There is an native American tribe living at the bottom of the canyon and there is a regular helicopter shuttle going several times a day. The prices were quite reasonable – something in the $50-$80 range, so if you are ever in Grand Canyon and have the time, take a helicopter ride to the bottom of the canyon.
After Grand Canyon, on our way to Zion we stopped at Page, AZ where the Antelope Canyon is located and the Horseshoe Bend of the Glen Canyon National Recreation area is located. There are two Antelope canyons – the Upper and Lower. The former is more popular as it is more easily accessible but it usually comes at the price of hordes of tourists. After a kidney crushing ride into the desert to the slot canyon we were however happy to see that the eight of us in the truck were the only group currently visiting. So we basically had the canyon to ourselves and only saw one other tourist group when we had exited. We had about 45 minutes in the canyon so one did not really have time to stand around a shoot at a specific spot too long. This wasn’t much of a problem as you could essentially point your camera in any direction and get an interesting abstract pattern.
The down side was that the shooting conditions were atrocious. The dynamic range required to capture both the dark and light regions is way outside what any camera can handle. You shoot from a tripod and around ISO 100-160at f/5.6 you need anywhere between 1 and 30 seconds while at the top you see parts of the sky and need around 1/4000 to get the exposure right - that’s about 17 stops of DR. In addition it’s extremely dusty. You won’t notice it while you are in the canyon as it’s very fine dust/sand but when you get out you and your gear will be completely covered with it. Antelope canyon is famous for killing cameras and I’m not surprised.
I used two cameras (M9 + 35 Lux ASPH & 5DII + 21 Distagon) that I had wrapped into plastic bags with holes at the appropriate places, sealed with electrical tape. To my disbelief the 21 Distagon failed me miserably – it flared so badly that my first shots were completely unusable. I’ll show some examples later.
On the way back from Page we stopped by the Horseshoe bend. I had completely forgotten about it when one of my co-travellers reminded me that I wanted to see it. It’s quite an impressive sight. You hike for about a mile and a half in the desert and suddenly it just pops up with really intense colors. I got some of my favorite shots at this spot.
The region of Arizona that we travelled through this day was largely in the territory of the Navajo Nation – the largest Indian reservation in the US. It was very interesting to see and a bit sad. You can hardly believe that you are in America. The region seems to be poor, mostly rural and very run down. If one is interested in social documentary photography this region is definitely worth a visit.
Gunzorro wrote:
You really should think about a book of some type, based on your wide range of subjects from the last few years -- you have the photo skills and the prose skills.
Thanks Jim However, I've only been doing photography for less than a year and a half so the range of subjects isn't all that wide.
Luka, wow...outstanding set!!! Great B&W composition and feeling to MV1. The colours and rendering are superb in GC1 and GC3. And AC1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are amazing in abstract colour and composition. Great stuff
Interesting to compare the ZE21/5DII and M9/35 Lux in AC1-5. IMO I prefer the M9/35 Lux with the more richer rendering and depth. My favourite from this mini set is AC5
sebboh wrote:
that first lizard shot is awesome. Page is where i was born, but i've never actually had the chance to return there as an adult.
Thanks - that's my favorite as well. Page you say? You should visit - there are some great sites for photography. Apart from the Antelope canyons and the Horseshoe bend you also have the Glen Canyon not far away.
During the trip we made sure to primarily eat American cuisine - which translated into a lot of stakes and burgers. The best burger of the whole trip was in Page at a place called Slackers in the center of the town.
Thanks - that's my favorite as well. Page you say? You should visit - there are some great sites for photography. Apart from the Antelope canyons and the Horseshoe bend you also have the Glen Canyon not far away.
During the trip we made sure to primarily eat American cuisine - which translated into a lot of stakes and burgers. The best burger of the whole trip was in Page at a place called Slackers in the center of the town.
hopefully i'll get to visit it again soon, i've seen so many pictures. i was only 18 months old when we left. we have a few other vacations locations to hit first though and very little vacation time.
i'll keep Slackers in mind when i do eventually make it. this might just be my bias but i think you probably missed out by trying to eat american cuisine (though given your rural settings maybe not). i always thought the US's biggest contribution to food was having a bunch of different ethnic groups in close proximity which created a number of interesting blends of cuisine.
sebboh wrote:
i'll keep Slackers in mind when i do eventually make it. this might just be my bias but i think you probably missed out by trying to eat american cuisine (though given your rural settings maybe not). i always thought the US's biggest contribution to food was having a bunch of different ethnic groups in close proximity which created a number of interesting blends of cuisine.
We did eat other stuff as well, especially when we concluded the trip in the Bay area. You have to remember however that for the most part we were travelling in sparsely populated areas so the choices were limited. Still, in the stake & burger category the food generally ranged from good to excellent. My favorite meal was in Jackson, Wyoming – Tournedos in a sauce of blue cheese and Dijon mustard.. yummy
In California I avoided Mexican and Tex Mex because of previously bad experiences, but we did try some Thai, Sushin and Fusion. It was OK, but those things are easy to find in Sweden as well. We don’t have a tradition of stakehouses though and as I’m a carnivore through and through I never got tired of them during the trip.
Food wasn’t all positive though. The US seriously need a ‘bread revolution’ the same way Starbucks created a ‘coffee revolution’. The bread, biscuits, muffins etc one got in the hotels one could buy in supermarkets were just dreadful. Soggy, without texture and with the dominating taste being too much added sugar. This was consistent during the trip. We stayed at standard hotels belonging to the regular chains (Hyatt, Marriott, Holiday Inn, Hilton, Sheraton, etc) – i.e. nothing particularly luxury but not particularly bad either. After the first week we gave up on the hotel breakfasts – they were just too awful.
Apart from that I thought the food was generally very good.
--
Anyway, I promised some examples of how the 21 Distagon failed me in a way it has never done before. Some background information. If I had to pick my all time favorite lens the choice would stand between the Zeiss 21/2.8 Distagon and the Leica 50/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH. The 21 is a fantastic lens and it’s been a faithful and reliable companion for over a year. That it would fail to deliver in a critical situation was unthinkable. One of its many positive sides is extreme flare resistance.
Before entering the Antelope canyon I had wrapped both my M9 and 5DII in transparent plastic bags. I cut openings for the necessary holes and sealed the whole thing with electrical tape. I had originally planned to use the 35/2 Biogon on the M9 but I could not operate the aperture ring inside the plastic bag (it’s on the front edge of the lens) so I used the 35/1.4 Summilux ASPH instead. Unlike the M9 the 5DII was only partially sealed – the plastic bag only encapsulated the lens while the weather sealed body was out in the open. Against better judgment I also put on a high end B+W UV filter (82mm UV 010 XS-Pro MRC Nano) to protect the 21. As some of you know, I’m highly critical towards the use of UV filters as I don’t think you are likely to improve upon the precision engineering of a lens by adding a random glass surface to it.
I shot from a tripod and this was the first image I got with the 21:
I swore, thinking what an idiot I was to have ignored my own advice and put on the UV filter. So I ripped off the plastic bag (so that I could access the filter) and removed the UV filter. I caught up with the group and the guide and tried again. Much to my dismay the improvement was marginal:
I’ve never seen it do something like that before. In all my past experience the 21 Distagon had excellent flare suppression. And even when I did not include the primary source of light in the frame, I still got veiling flare and secondary reflections. Very disappointing.
I’ve always been much more suspicion of Leica lens flare which had seemed much more inconsistent to me. In this case however, the 35 Lux ASPH delivered. This was the only example of it flaring that I could find and as you see even in this case it’s far more controlled than the 21:
So, if you find yourself visiting Antelope canyon, my advice is to leave the 21 in the camera bag and use some other lens. It’s the first time it has failed me but it did it in a pretty awful way producing unusable images and I had to limit myself to shooting certain parts of the canyon that did not include direct views of the sunlight above.
I just saw flare like that with my 21 in the corner during a long exposure where the light was brighter in the background in the far corner.
With Antelope you don't want include any of the bright,direct sunlight sections at the top.
You also need to go at midday on a sunny day to get the special beams of light.
I went there about 4yrs ago with 5D and 24-105.
We were lucky enough to see one beam appear for a short while as it was partly cloudy day.
One Indian guide was throwing the fine dirt in.the air to make a netters light beam but my camera was getting covered.It was very frustrating having your shutter open so long and then get ruined as someone walked into your shot.
Hope you got up early to see the special red dawn light at monument valley.
wayne seltzer wrote:
With Antelope you don't want to include any of the bright,direct sunlight sections at the top.
You also need to go at midday on a sunny day to get the special beams of light.
I think this is sound advice. It looks like your shots were all taken looking up. Was it too crowded to take interesting shots that include the ground? I'm also a bit allergic to burnt out highlights, tbh.
It is surprising though to see such bad flare from the D21. Makes you wonder which lenses in the same FL range would do better.
Anyway, thanks for posting your series! Excellent images and many of them have a good impact (the AC series least, I think). I enjoy HS-1 most from this last post of yours. The water fringed with green in the middle of the arid landscape is really pleasing and refreshing to look at. MV-1 has amazing depth, but the b&w conversion looks overcooked to me -- I'd prefer a gentler gradation.
wow, great shots Luka.
I'm very envious of your trip, I've wanted to do something like that for a while since first visiting the Grand Canyon on a day trip from Vegas.
i would expect rangefinder ultrawides to perform better with regard to flare simply because they can have smaller front elements and simpler optical designs
denoir wrote:
Food wasn’t all positive though. The US seriously need a ‘bread revolution’ the same way Starbucks created a ‘coffee revolution’. The bread, biscuits, muffins etc one got in the hotels one could buy in supermarkets were just dreadful. Soggy, without texture and with the dominating taste being too much added sugar. This was consistent during the trip. We stayed at standard hotels belonging to the regular chains (Hyatt, Marriott, Holiday Inn, Hilton, Sheraton, etc) – i.e. nothing particularly luxury but not particularly bad either. After the first week we gave up on the hotel breakfasts – they were just too awful. ...Show more →
yeah, continental breakfasts always have horrid pastries. bread is generally a weakness of the US to though. the fresh bakeries that are prevalent throughout europe just aren't anywhere near as common here. i presume it's just because packaged sliced bread is so much more convenient with it's long shelf life (especially when you have to drive everywhere and can't just walk to the corner bakery).
Luka, wonderful set, i like all of them but you're killing me since i cannot move somewhere but sit and work in a very hot and humid weather in the city
Excellent set Luka, wish I could have met you for a beer! Hope you enjoyed your trip and again, nice work. The grand canyon shot is quite unique, not an easy task.
I see you experienced the wonder that is the Arizona Sun.. which can be very very tricky at times..
denoir wrote:
Like most other US cities we were in it is not pedestrian friendly. We had to take the car to travel about 100m from the hotel to a restaurant. There was no way getting there on foot! It felt particularly ridiculous as we drove a massive SUV. Perhaps one of the Americans here can answer that – what’s up with the hostility towards pedestrians? The city planners in just about every place we visited seemed not just to have ignored pedestrians but made life as difficult as possible for them..
Check your library or order(Amazon, etc) a book called The Geography Of Nowhere by James Kunstler. Kunstler wondered why the public places in the US were so badly designed(compared to the other industrialized countries), so he investigated the history of such things. Every interested American should read this book as well.
