He was performing, guitar and vocals, outside the Tate Modern. The song was Knocking On Heaven’s Door, a song that usually makes me see in my mind’s eye, the scene in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid where Slim Pickens is shot and sits down on the river bank, dying. His wife or partner, played by Katy Jurado, sees he has been shot and she comes to comfort him. She is on her hands and knees, a respectful distance as he goes through what he is going through, and they look at each other with love and sadness.
Meanwhile, Pat Garrett is tackling another outlaw back at the cabin seventy yards away or so. So there’s a split narrative in the scene as it cuts back and forth – and it is full of love, regret, acceptance, and death.
Wayne’s card says he is available for gigs singling and playing classic pop from the 50’s to the present, including the Beatles, Oasis, Bob Marley.
Shot with a Canon EOS R6 and Canon RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM lens at f 5.6, 1/640th of a second, and ISO 500. Look at the detail the lens is capable of.
Camden People’s Theatre in London celebrated its thirty years of existence with a private fundraiser and a show.
Performers who had been nurtured by CPT and gone on to fame in the wider world reprised the first part they performed when CPT gave them their start.
Before performing, each of them talked about the supportive atmosphere at CPT, where artistic expression was respected and valued. They said that that encouragement had given them the confidence to do things in public they never thought they could do.
Then the people behind the scenes outlined what CPT did, and asked the audience to give them money so they could continue doing it. Times are hard, they said, with ventures closing down. So it was all the more important to support CPT.
I was invited to photograph the evening, the social mixing before the show and then the show. I shot everything with the Canon RF 28-70mm f2.8 lens. The lighting was a real mix and low and I shot everything at 6400 ISO. It’s been a while since I have taken photos to someone’s requirements, and in such poor lighting.
Time was when film compacts had to have a swirl and a curve in the design. Here’s a Nikon with a curve to show you what I mean. I wanted to be a serious photographer, and curves that didn’t seem serious.
And look at the Tronic MiniCam KH35, and the bump at the end, as though they couldn’t fit the flash in so they added a bit on the corner.
High End Film Cameras
Curves only applied to point and shoot compacts. High end cameras didn’t look like that. In fact you could tell they were high end just by the look of them, like this Contax. Doesn’t that look the business?
Digital
When digital cameras came out, the whole idea of digital was that they were functional and so the designs were much more minimalist and straight lines. Like this Canon. The only nod to the old is the slight curve at the end of the body.
Except Mju
What I said is mostly true, and some curvy cameras were a lot worse than the Nikon. But one film camera that was kind of curvy but still looked good was the Olympus Mju II.
I owned Mju II at one time, but before I got to own one I had a go at owning one that didn’t come off.
I was on Broadway in New York, and looked in the window of a camera store.
The store was narrow and deep with a counter running all down the left side. Maybe I asked to look at a Mju II or maybe the conversation went in that direction. Whichever it was, the man got one out and I looked it over. Did I start to haggle or did he just start to come down in price to see at what price I would bite?
It was obvious to me and to him that I was hesitating, and then the price got crazy low. I didn’t know how to ask him without offending him. But this was Broadway, known for cheap goods and knock-offs and fake brands.
So I approached the subject in what I hoped was the gentlest of ways. With the price being so low, I asked, do you think there is any possibility that this is not a genuine Olympus?
The man was maybe Iranian or Iraqi. He didn’t answer me. Instead he picked up the camera and threw it right down the length of the counter to the back of the shop. It was a long throw and he obviously didn’t care whether the camera survived.
I was shocked. My bargain had slipped away. But would it have been a bargain? Now I didn’t have to think about it. I was relieved and disappointed at the same time.
He didn’t order me out of the shop or any anything like that, but I felt my time in the shop was up. I kind of admired the man for not giving a sh*t about offending customers. And then I was on the street and happy and in New York.
