Washington, DC January 24, 2009

I was in Washington, D.C. last weekend and in a rarity had the afternoon to myself. No obligations, no kids in tow. I decided to go downtown, walk around the White House, take in the atmosphere, and also take in the Avedon show, Portraits of Power, at the Cocoran.

Meadowlands, NJ January 26, 2009

Driving into New York City this morning for an assignment. About 7:30am, 18° out, stunningly clear, beautiful sunrise.

Photos from an editorial story on Edwidge Fils-Aime, pâtissier and owner of the bakery, The Little Chef. Haitian born, Manhattan trained, Edwidge creates a work of art in everything he does.

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Lincoln Memorial December 31, 2007

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

The assertion that “all men are created equal” was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.

-Abraham Lincoln quotes

Working in a Closet - Lyndhurst, NJ; December 4, 2008

Last month I worked on an assignment for the Wall Street Journal, a story on Anne Marie Harrison and her recession proof closet. The closet was walk-in but it still did not have a lot of space. For the image above I’m standing in the doorway, using a 19mm lens. Mix in leap frogging a videographer and it was a case where my lighting had to be quick to set up, look natural, light the overall area well, and be out of the way of any video shots.

Over the past year I have been using my Canon flashes less but this was a case where the Canon strobes fit the bill perfectly. I was without an assistant and traveling very light – one camera bag and one lighting bag.  I used three Canon flashes for the assignment. Two clipped on the uppermost wire shelving in the closet with Omni-bounces attached, pointing straight up, and one on camera, also with an Omni-bounce, to add fill light and to wirelessly control the other two.

The Wall Street Journal article is online here, and their video story can be found here.

Working in a Closet - Lyndhurst, NJ; December 4, 2008

I’m now on my third iPhone in one-and-a-half years. Sounds like a lot. It’s not really. iPhone #1 lasted until it got wet (more on this later), Apple replaced it with iPhone #2, and then I upgraded this past June to the iPhone 3g, iPhone #3. A big question all along has been what to put the iPhone in and how to carry it. It’s nice and sleek without a case, but sleek and slippery are pretty close in feel, and a dropped iPhone with no protection is not going to last long. Running around on assignment, well, accidents happen.

Which brings me back to iPhone #1. I’ve seen many iPhone cases and the one that I’ve liked the most and used the most has been the Case-mate Signature Series Leather case. It’s soft leather so it feels great, it looks great and while it adds some bulk it has protected my iPhones from many a fall. The leather is wrapped around a plastic form fitting shell. Very nice and it looks professional. You’re not going to feel like the guy in that American Express ad who tries to pay for a client lunch with his personalized cartoon-hero credit card thereby killing the deal.

Case-mate Signature Case, Photo: Case-mate

So, how to carry the iPhone around? Short of a man purse or happening to be wearing a jacket, I’m not crazy about putting it in my pants pocket.  Is that an iPhone down there or you just happy to see me?.. It needs a holster. Case-mate makes a holster but similar to the iPhone I’ve been through a few of these. It’s a nice concept and allows the iPhone to rest on a belt. It should work. The problem is Case-mate uses a large plastic clip which doesn’t last long. The clip breaks off or the spring in it (a doubled over piece of thin metal) looses its resistance so the clip no longer holds. Their holster also does not keep a firm grip on the phone.

Which brings me back to iPhone #1. I’m on assignment photographing architectural interiors, working in a renovated bathroom space. It’s tight, not too much room, working with 14mm and 20mm lenses. I’ve got to be by the toilet to get the right angle and shoot through the doorway. Getting to the tripod requires a move out of Cirque de Soleil. If you don’t know where this is going I’ll give you a hint, I should have put the lid down on the toilet… I’m doing the move, twisting to get behind the camera, the clip on the iPhone holster doesn’t hold and down it goes, right into the commode. I fish it out, wipe it off, turn it off, wash my hands, later wipe off the phone with some cleaner, turn it back on after a long time and for a week or so it still works. But then the top line of the keyboard stops working. No qwerty for me. Luckily, Apple replaces the phone under warranty, no questions asked.

So, long story short, finding the right holster that will fit my iPhone with the Case-mate sleeve on it and which has a secure clip has been a googling hobby of mine. I just found it. I had to go to the ends of the earth, okay, I didn’t but my browser and my credit card info did. It just arrived and it’s great. The holster case is made by Nutshell of New Zealand. They make leather cases for all sort of phones, pda’s, cameras, gps’, and more.  For the iPhone alone they offer fifteen case sizes each of which can be customized further. The icing on the cake, they offer a case made to take an iPhone with the Case-mate Signature case on it. Too cool for school. I ordered two in black, one with a clip for me, one without a clip for my wife whose iPhone lives in her purse. You can add a full-flap or a security strap, either with velcro or a magnetic clasp. Nutshell has even measured to make sure the magnet they use is shielded.  The belt clip is a clip with a capital “C.” It is steel and it is not going to break. Your belt will break before it does.

The inside of the Nutshell case is very soft, it won’t scratch your phone, it has a great new leather leathery smell, and the Nutshell holster is very comfortable to wear. Much less bulky against your hip than the Case-mate holster.  Two thumbs up. I think this combo, the Case-mate Signature case with the Nutshell holder, is about as perfect as it can get.

Nutshell Holster Case, Photo: Nutshell

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Updated 1/13/09: New Nutshell photo and additional information.

Princeton, NJ, January 04, 2009

One more image from yesterday, the Grackle tree.

Updike Farmstead, Princeton, NJ, January 04, 2009

We took a New Year’s weekend walk today. Three of us and the dog. The weather’s been gorgeous, upper thirties and clear. 

This is an area toward the edge of town, the Updike Farmstead. Its always been farmland, as far back as I can remember. Wedged between the Delaware & Raritan Canal and a sharp turn in the Stony Brook (which flows south and then northeast), the land rolls a bit but is part of a larger swath of floodplain. For me this was old and new. We started at the Friends Meeting House, where I went to pre-school, walked through a bit of woods, and then followed along the edge of the fields. The dog was in heaven.

I had never walked into the fields before but today was an Andrew Wyeth kind of day. The fields beckoned and in we went. Mud, cornstalks, dried corncobs, the occasional patch of ice, a deer’s carcass picked clean. Off in the distance crows were busy making small talk and avoiding us.

We planned to make it over to the canal, follow the towpath, come back through the Institute Woods to the battlefield, and around to the meeting house. Best laid plains. We headed southwest when we should have gone northeast, Stony Brook corralling us in. It was too high to ford and the shoulderless bridge too unsafe to pass over. No mind. We headed back, away from the shelter of the trees on the field’s edge, picked a straight and true row in the mowed down corn and let it lead us home.

A nice way to begin the year.

Larger Version of the image above is available here.

July 10, 2009: Updike Redux