I received my Fuji 14mm lens a few days ago and since I've been busy with other projects I haven't had much chance to try it out but got this shot off last night. This was shot at ISO 2,000, 1/15th @f4. There's a bit of distortion but considering its a 14mm lens I think it looks quite controlled and looks pretty sharp to me.

I am really enjoying my X-e1 and the 18-55mm zoom produces great shots throughout its range and now the 14mm appears to be another great Fuji lens. The auto focus is also quite fast with this lens; although it did hunt a bit in this dark situation, certainly not worse than my old Nex 7 though.

I've had my Fuji X-E1 for a bit over 2 weeks now, with the zoom lens, and I'm am really enjoying it and I would say it's just about perfect!

It is well balanced, wonderful quiet smooth shutter, quick to start up, great viewfinder, and no shutter lag. The so called kit zoom is wonderfu, well built, sharp, no creap (and I look forward to buying more Fuji lenses),  the focus could be better but it's a big step up from my Fuji X100; which I sold a last summer in frustration of its focus and start-up issues (which I think have now been resolved and certainly the upcoming X100s sounds very promising.

I've put together a book of my street photography projects for the year 2010. There's a link below to order a copy. Thanks, ron

Street Photography: 2010 by Ron Greer | Make Your Own Book

So I received 80 rolls of Neopan 400 in 120 format yesterday. That shipment came from England and was actually cheaper per roll than the order I have in at Adorama. Today I should receive 250 rolls of the 400 roll order I placed with Adorama. I'm not sure if I will receive the balance of my order or not but between these two shipments I ought to have enough film to get me through the summer; maybe.

I leave for NYC in a few weeks and expect to shoot about 100 rolls in that week alone. I hope Fuji comes up with a replacement and doesn't leave us 120 shooters in the dark.

I just tried to order Fuji Neopan 400, 120 format, for an upcoming photo project and was shocked to find out it has been discontinued. What? no, say it isn't so Fuji. I'm told there might be one last shipment coming so I ordered 400 rolls.

This has been my black and white film of choice for years now. It's a great film and at a $1 per roll cheaper than Tri-X a great value.

I actually envisioned Kodak giving up on Tri-X before Fuji would reduce their product choices; I guess I got that wrong. So, the choice will soon be Tri-x or one of the eastern european offerings. I've tried a few of those and I was not all that pleased with the results. I guess there's also Ilford, I think, but again I'm not that crazy about HP5 as it doesn't seem to scan as well as Tri-X or Neopan.

I am working on creating a list of the best items, what I'm calling things "Worth Owning". In both good and bad economic times one needs to make their money to further and so I'm working on a list of great things. This is a list of things that work straight from the box, that won't get out dated quickly, and you will want to hold onto. Well, that's my in my opinion at least.

here's the link: Ron Greer's "Worth Owning" List

I just received my copy of Robert Frank's The Americans; the expanded version. Wow, what a great book, first off its huge. Second the quality has to be seen to appreciate, it's printed in Germany and the reproductions, binding are of the finest quality.

I have owned the standard version of the book for a decade or so and was hesitant to the same book over. Well, the moment I opened the Amazon box thoughts disappeared. Although I'm just starting to read it it is clear the author has really done their research. The addition of such items as copies of letters, including his Guggenheim grant proposal, and his contact sheets really make the book come alive.

Anyone interested in street photography needs this book! Here's a link for it:

Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, Expanded Edition

I finally got around today to scanning the last of NYC'09 images. They can be seen here. Over 500 pretty good images in a week seems pretty good to me. Out of this loosely edited group, what, perhaps 50 or so are real keepers; I hope. I actually haven't looked that closely yet.

I'm off in a few weeks to Germany and Italy for the holidays. Most of my time will be spent in the Sächsische Schweiz, but I will also spend a week in Venice! This is what I'm really looking forward to! I've never been to Venice in winter so I'm curious how this will be. I'm expecting grey damp weather so I'm bring lots of B&W film and my trusty Mamiya 6.

My final full day in New York. As I awoke to light rain I didn't expect much from the day; I figured I just wander around a bit and enjoy the day. Well, before I knew it I was reloading my Mamiya 6, and again, and again. I ended up shooting all the film I had brought in my bag (14 rolls) and had to switch to digital for the rest of the day. I started off in the lower section of Chinatown and slowly worked my way up to Canal and then over to Broadway and SoHo, and finally up to Union Square. Much of the morning I was shooting at 1/125th of a second but they mid-afternoon I was up to f11 @1/500th.

I'm in NYC almost a week now but sadly must go home in a few days. I'm here doing street photography. I'm shooting mostly in black and white, using my Mamiya 6. What a great camera! It is simply the perfect street camera, even better than a Leica M. Why? bigger negative for one but I like the square format as well. When I do use my Leicas for street photography I'm often frustrated when I must shoot a vertical image; it just throws my rhythm and timing all off. If you're holding a Leica in the vertical position, even if it's not up to your face, it's pretty clear your taking or going to take a photo. My Mamiya allows me to be more discreet.

This image was not taken with my Mamiya though. By this time in the day I had run out of film, and was heading back to my room for more. I had to use my Nikon D700 and 35mm lens.

Photo: Chinatown, NYC

There's a new member in the family; my camera family that is.

A pretty nice Leica M4. It's not collectible nice but it's still pretty clean and very usable; which is the point of owning it. Yes I own a Leica MP but I had a M4 back while going to Brooks in Santa Barbara and sold it to buy a Nikon F3. I have always regretted selling that M4, but money was tight then and I couldn't have two camera systems at the time. So, I've been watching the Ebay listings.

Modern digital cameras, with the exception of perhaps the M8, just can't compare to film cameras of the past. Take a look at any of the classic cameras from the late '60s through early '80s, such as the Pentax Spotmatic, Nikon F2. These cameras would be cost prohibitive to make now days. I doubt any digital camera can truly become the friend a well made film camera can be.

Went to Whidbey Island this last weekend. This was the view from the beach at Keystone. I really like the Keystone beach (my name for the beach just south of the Keystone ferry terminal). It is covered in a wonderful variety of stones, that make a great rushing sound as waves receed and the shore is just packed with driftwood.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 70-200 f2.8 vr & 105 Micro

I've been busy developing my recent black and white street photography from Paris. I still have many many rolls to develop and scan but I have a few up on Flickr. I've also been busy shooting stock.

Camera: Mamiya 6, 50mm, Fujipan 400 film

Since Thursday I am the proud owner of a Nikon D700. Yes, I just bought a D300 in December but I just couldn't resist getting back to a full frame SLR. I never did like the tiny viewfinders of my Fuji S2, D70s, D200, D300, always hated the 1.5 conversion factor. It's so nice to use a 50mm lens as a 50mm lens, et cetera.

I am still getting to know my new friend but I can tell you Nikon's new FX sensor is simply amazing. Images shot at ISO 3200 are brilliant. I simply love the feel and sound of the shutter. It has a smoother feel and more precise sound about it (compared to the D300). With the added high speed sensitivity I am now using the auto-ISO feature. I simply set the camera in aperture mode, the lens at f8, low shutter speed at 1/60th, and high ISO at 3,200. This is a great walk-around configuration.

So, my D300 is gone, as are my couple of DX lenses. I have numerous film lenses I can now put back to use but I expect to buy a 70-200 f2.8; once new replacement appears.

Photo: Stolben, Germany
Camera: Nikon D300

Just back from a month in Europe. My first stop was Paris, for a week of street photography, the rest of my time was spent in Germany, part in the Bodensee area and part in the Dresden area; with a few days in Frankfurt.

I flew the new, this year, Lufthansa Seattle-Frankfurt route, and it was very nice. Nice new plane, friendly staff, and they even provide metal silverware with the meals. Also, their inter-Europe flights offer free beverages (like beer and wine!).

Most of my images were taken with my Precious Mamiya 6 and it's wonderful 50m lens; using Fujipan 400 black and white film. I will start processing the 75+ rolls of film after my upcoming art show . I also shot color and used my Nikon D300.

I will be displaying oil paintings at the August 16th and 17th "Fresh Paint" art show. Until then I"m pretty busy getting my work ready for display. This will be my first art show and I'm looking forward to the experience. If all goes well I expect to start attending shows across the west coast.

Photos: Paris, taken with a Nikon D300

Went to see the Dali Lama today. I have no photos as we weren't allow to bring cameras into the stadium. We sat in the group right behind him so he was right in sight but ironically I found myself looking a lot at the giant monitor.

It was a blazingly hot day. After sitting for over 3 hours I was feeling quite toasted.

I spent last week in Portland, mainly to visit the North American Handmade Bike Show. We took Amtrak down and rode our bikes all over Portland. The show was over-whelming, too many people too many $5,000 frames, but Portland was wonderful. We had surprisingly warm weather(considering that the weekend before Portland had snow) and we rode late into the night exploring the city.

I especially liked the Hawthorne neighborhood. Portland has much to offer, so many small shops, still so many gritty areas to explore; I really need to go back and shoot black and white there. I'm not so sure I could live there though. I don't think I could live in a river town, I think I need the salt air of a port town.

Happy New Year! I am just back from a stay in Vancouver. We had a great time, I took some decent street photos, brought my bike along, saw a wonderful performance of the Nutcracker, by the Moscow Classical Ballet but sadly in the incredibly ugly "Queen Elizabeth Theatre".

I often hear people praising Vancouver as better than Seattle, more European, more urban. Well, if you consider tearing down all the old buildings of the past century and replacing them with glass and concrete high rise apartments to be a good idea and more European then yes Vancouver is all that.

Don't get me wrong, I like Vancouver, I could live there, it's a lively city in a beautiful natural setting but I wouldn't consider it better, certainly not safer, just different than Seattle. It's sort of a mix of Hong Kong meets Oakland. There are lovely parts of Vancouver (The West end!) but also many parts you wouldn't want to walk in; even in the daytime. A drive east from downtown along Hastings street provides miles and miles of urban decay, and hundreds of transients (Vancouver is the warmest city in Canada so VanCan tends to attract Canada's drifters). There are also many dreary concrete high rise apartment "villages" connected by the Skytrain where people stay before returning to work (hello, Burnaby?). Anke thought Vancouver had a Czech-look about it. I'm not so sure the fine Czechs would appreciate that remark.

We stayed at the Georgian Court Hotel, which was quite nice, but they didn't think we should walk the 10 blocks to Chinatown, at the very least, they said, don't go past Hastings street or turn left anywhere along the way.

Speaking of Chinatown, I had what had to be the worse Chinese food in my life there. We left most of it on the table. Strange because half of the former Hong Kong population now lives in Vancouver. I guess the good cooks stayed put. We did have some wonderful meals, including Japanese and Lebanese.

Photo: Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver
Camera: Nikon D300

Well, it's official, I have just published my first photo book. It's available for sale HERE. It's a small book but hey it's a start. It's a retrospective collection of my street photos of people from the start, 1989, through my most recent trip to NYC in September. Please consider buying one!

I just submitted this image to JPG magazine. If you have a free moment you could go there and vote for my image!

JPG is a very interesting magazine. Please vote!

Photo: Seattle
Camera: Leica MP

I'm still working on developing my NYC film but I do have many roll scanned and some images up on my web site . I got worried with the first batch of film I developed as I had almost an entire roll of film that was slightly forward focused, in other words soft. But, so far I am averaging 50% or better of usable images per roll; so I'm happy.

Many people have asked me why I haven't switched to digital for my black and white work (where auto focus might help). It might help although autofocus cameras are hardly foolproof. The biggest problem with digital, to date, is only a dSLR has the quality I want (and the lack of lag delay), but they are all too noisy for my way of photographing (3 to 5 feet away from the subject). Even my Mamiya 6 is a bit too noisy, I try to time the exposure with a street noise, or in the case of subway shots I took while in NYC, the noise of the brakes or doors opening.

I love this picture of the woman and her son. He was looking at me most of the time, the woman didn't notice me (I was 3 feet way) but a woman a few seats down did (which I noticed once I had the shot), and she gave me the evil eye and changed seats. That was fine, she wasn't worth a frame any ways.

I sometimes feel like one of the angles in "wings of Desire", as most kids pick up on what I'm doing (taking photos of them) but the adults are for the most part clueless. Which is a good thing.


Photos: NYC
Camera: Mamiya 6, 50mm lens, Tri-X film

Still haven't finished developing my NYC film, I'll get around to it soon. I'm off to Winthrop for a mini vacation with the family then later next week I'll get back to developing film.

Speaking of film, I had a guy in NYC come up to me and ask to buy film from me. It was the week of Sukkot and the main photo shops were closed, and even though he only wanted 35mm b&w film he was having problems. I couldn't help him because I was shooting 120 film.

Photo: Paris'07
Camera: Mamiya 6

I still have lots of darkroom work but I hate being in the darkroom during the day, especially when the weather is nice and sunny as it is in Seattle this Fall. So, I did a little scanning this afternoon, but not before a nice long fall bike ride this morning. Here's an example from Paris this summer; more coming and already on my web site.

Early this week I tried upgrading my scanner software from Vuescan to Silverfast. What a mistake that was! After testing the demo version and deciding it was better I paid the bucks and got the serial number. Problem is the serial number doesn't "stick" and I still have watermarks on the scanned images. Silverfast, I found out, has terrible customer service. They only do it by email and I'm still waiting for a response from Tuesday!!! So, it was back to Vuescan, which is a bit buggy but workable.

Photo: Paris
Camera: Mamiya 6, 50mm lens, tri-x film

In these days of the ever new digital improvement I find it rather amazing that I'm still shooting film; and quite a bit of it at that. I haven't shot color film in years but I shot a lot of black and white film, although my beloved Leica MP gets very little use even for B&W. I am, however, shooting a lot of medium format B&W film through my also beloved Mamiya 6.

Two nights ago I finally finished developing my film from Dresden, Frankfurt, and Paris projects from the summer and tonight I will start developing the 50+ rolls of tri-x from my most recent NYC trip.

I think NYC must be the best city in the world to shoot street photography. As much as I love Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles, et cetera, they just can't compete with New York as a location jam packed full of interesting people. It's also an amazingly safe city to walk about with a camera dangling about one's neck. I never felt concerned in New York, not downtown, uptown, LEV, Brooklyn, Queen. True, I didn't go this trip to The Bronx but the current NYC is nothing compared to my first NYC visit in 1984. Then, even with my M4 hidden under my coat I was fearful, I poked into shops to look at my map, I was told not to walk more than halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge, I avoided the subway when possible. Now, well, now New York is wonderful, simply the best. I think I would move there, at least for a year, if I could talk my wife into it. Well, at least I have my yearly photo trip, and perhaps with time I can increase that to twice a year.

Getting ready now for my annual fall trip to New York City. Film ordered, ironically from NYC, flight booked, and lodging, I hope will be actually there. I normally stay at a mid-town hotel but this trip I'm staying in an apartment I found on Craigslist. I do hope it is for real. As usual, I don't really have plans other than wandering the streets hoping to come across images. In NYC this doesn't seem to be a problem, such a densely packed city with such an amazing variety of people.

Photo: Los Angeles, Ca

No photo today. I have something like 50+ rolls of 120 B&W film to develop. My European adventures were great: Frankfurt, Paris, Schwäbisch Hall, Dresden, Spreewald, I got lots of photos and had some great times and although I've been back in the states for weeks now I still haven't made it into my darkroom to develop film.

This week end is the Seattle Hempfest, one of my favorite local events to photograph. I was there today, luckily while the sun was out, and I should have a hundred or more decent photos. I am in favor of most of the things the event want to promote but most of the people attending and most of the speakers don't help their cause. Clearly Pot can have an effect on the mind. It all makes for great photo taking though.

I'm planning my next photo trip, a week to New York City. I have my plane ticket, I'm working on my lodging. Where I take photos is still a work in progress; but I expect to do as last year; and simply just walk the city with my Mamiya 6 around my neck. Ready for the decisive moment.

Took photos of people today at Gas Works Park (as they waited for the fireworks to start). but I won't have time to develop them until the end of August. I simply won't have time to get into the darkroom before then.

I'm packing my bags, and bike, tonight for my trip to Europe. I'll be heading first to Frankfurt, then to Paris for street photography, then back to Germany and some bike riding around Schwäbisch Hall, and finally to Dresden to relax in the Sächsische Schweiz (great bike riding too). Rather than take my S&S-equipped road bike I'll be taking my Dahon folding city bike. Once I get to Dresden I can use my old Canondale road bike I keep there.

I seem to be too busy to make any blog entries, but I simply must! Went to the annual Solstice parade in the Fremont district of Seattle last Saturday. Here are some photos. It's always a great time, lots of naked bike riders (although now days they are pretty much dipped in paint (hardly naked). Still a great time and good photo chances.

I rode my first century (100 miles) of the year Thursday. I realized on Tuesday it would be my last chance to ride a century before I turned half a century old; which I did yesterday.

I rode my new bike, a Rivendell Romulus Cantilever. This frame was made in a small batch a few years ago and I found a new old stock in my size (61cm) at a Minneapolis bike shop. I received the frame a week ago yesterday and had the bike built up by Tuesday; so this was also a shake-down run.

I didn't have the idea for this ride until Tuesday and did little more than put air in the tires and buy some food. Other than a flat tire, a constant headwind, and some light rain I had no problems and made the ride in an acceptable 6 hours. Not as good as I had hoped for, but considering I rode every day of the week (I should have rested at least Wednesday), didn't have the greatest selection of food along (too much sugary stuff), and was riding alone, I feel happy with the results. The bike was perfect and already feels like an good friend!

The clan members met me 10 miles from my destination, the Olympic Club in Centralia (an amazing place). There we ate, drank, watched a movie, played some pool, and stayed the night. We came back to Seattle today to celebrate my birthday with friends. A nice start to the second half of my century.

Photo 1: The 'Romy' at a snack break
Photo 2: Meeting the clan members (aka: Louise & Lucas) just before my final destination
Photo 3: The Olympic Club
Photo 4: The 'Romy' at rest in our room at the Olympic Club Hotel

camera: Leica D Lux 3

Yes, it's another photo of me; sorry. But I just had to show off my newest berets. These are really big and floppy, they will make you feel like you've just stepped off the Ponte Vecchio in Renaissance days, perhaps heading to have an espresso with Michelangelo. Well, that couldn't be as the espresso machine wasn't invented yet but at any rate it's a great beret, or Boina as the Basque say. I've got them for sale Here

Had some free time last night and so I went down the street to the Sunset Tavern, in old Ballard, and saw Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by a well balanced (sound wise) hypnotic sound. I especially liked the Cello player.

Up Date: I'm still crazy about this band. I've bought the CD and now have bought a cello! Am I over the top? I don't think so. I always have liked the cello.

I highly suggest you order this cd straight away!

Camera: Leica D Lux 3

Have you ever thought of wearing a beret? One of the world's greatst head covering inventions ever. I own several berets: french, english, spainish. I love them.It is rare to see someone in France wearing a beret, they have been out of fashion there for the past 20 plus years; with the exception of the American tourist. So where is the beret still worn, or Boina as the Spainish call them, why the Spanish Basque region of course.

Which brings me to the finest beret made; which I just happen to import. I'm not getting rich importing berets, I guess it's my hobby, but sell them off my web site: HERE , and on ebay from time to time. I just received a new order and I haven't raised the price, even though they cost me more than the last order (and the dollar has fallen once again). So, splurge a bit and order one. They also make a great present as there is only one size (the headband can be stretched to fit any head).

A few months ago I made the terrible terrible mistake of pulling my 35mm Leica lens off the counter with my MP's neck strap. The lens looked fine but the focus was froze! I took it to a local German camera repair guy who, after months of dinking around says there are no new parts to be had and all the used parts he has ordered a not good enough.

So now what? A new 35mm Leica lens is over $2,100!!! My other choice is a $1,000 Japanese-made Zeiss or $300 Voightlander lens. mmm. what to do? In the mean time I'm having fun with my new little pocket camera, the Leica D Lux 3. Still back-ordered most places I've been shooting away for over a month. It's not up to 35mm standards, which means the photos I take can only be for fun, or painting ideas.

Photo: Seattle
Camera: Leica D Lux 3

Well tonight's Ballard art walk was a big success. It was unusually cold in Seattle (32 degrees f) so I was surprised to see how many people ventured out. Of course it didn't hurt that we had birthday cake on hand; not to mention beer, wine, champagne, german wieners.

I showed a more extensive display of my most recent New York City photos, as well as a few new oil paintings.

Photo: Studio Boina, Ballard
Camera: Leica D Lux 3

The New Year gets started and I have several goals: more and longer bike rides, shoot more street photography, paint more, write more.

I'm planning to head to San Fransico next month to see the start of the Tour of California, I'll also do some street photography while there. I also need to get a trip back to NYC but I'm uncertain if it will be spring or fall. Summer I'm off to Europe. I expect to fly to Brussels, visit the Eddy Merckx Bicycle works, stop off in my old haunts Paris before heading to Germany and finally Vienna and Venice.

This Saturday will be the first Ballard ArtWalk for the year and I will be open.

Well the Christmas season is over, thank goodness, and I just need to get past the New Year to get started fresh! I always feel anxious for this time of year to be over. It seems all forms of life (business, creative juices, et cetera) come a halt in December.

During these slow December/Christmas days I've been giving thought to the next year: new goals, wishes, dreams, expectations and one of those was to get back into music.

So a Christmas present to myself was this nice new shiny double French Horn, or Horn as the pros like to call it. I played the horn for over 8 years and sadly sold it when I headed off to photography school. I always did want a silver horn and also always thought the detachable bell design was a good one, so when I saw this pop up on ebay I couldn't resist. Nice German (Geyer) designed wrap. I've already bought a music book of Puccini pieces, still need to find a nice book of Mozart. I also need a nice backpack style bag so I can carry my horn on my bike!

Photo: Ballard
Camera: Leica D Lux 3

I think I'm in holiday mode now. No, I don't have the holiday spirit I'm just sort of waiting for it to be over! All seems to be "on hold" for the holidays. I've done a bit of painting, printed a few photos, but other than that I'm just kind of hanging out, waiting for the new year, new projects, new adventures, new ideas.

I did buy a new pocket camera, a Leica D Lux 3 It's by far the nicest looking of the pocket digital cameras but more than just a pretty face it has a useful lens range(one of the few that goes to 28mm) and it produces quite nice images, although the sensor size is too limiting; but so are all the pocket digital. I'm waiting, waiting for a full sized sensor pocket camera!

Photo: Madera, Ca
Camera: Mamiya 6