buy a beret here:

How to stretch a Basque Beret

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RGP76510-Edit, a photo by Ron Greer on Flickr.

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RGP76346-Edit, a photo by Ron Greer on Flickr.

Jessica Domingo

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RGP76475-Edit, a photo by Ron Greer on Flickr.

Had a second photo session with singer song writer Jessica Domingo on Sunday. Working on a tight time schedule we did two clothes changes and four different locations within my studio block. For this image I used a RoundFlash ring light and Einstein flash with a strip box as a kicker. RoundFlash Magnetic Ringflash Adapter

#421 Susanne Sundfør - White Foxes

The amazing voice of Susanne Sunfør

a great price on a full frame dslr, Nikon D600: 

http://www.adorama.com/INKD600K1.html?emailprice=t&KBID=63032

Ron Greer's photostream

Ron Greer's photostream on Flickr.

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