Pixetera

2023 was a big year for Pixetera. Two months earlier, I had moved to Upstate South Carolina, and in March I finally bought a DSLR to replace the I-phone 7 and pocket-sized, consumer-level digital cameras I had been using since starting this blog in 2012. This is something I had wanted to do for years, but didn’t because the available specs never matched up with my wish list.

For those who are curious, I ended up with the Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark III (still can’t wrap my head around the model name) and M. Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 Pro lens—a rig that definitely wasn’t going to fit in my pocket or accompany me wherever I went. Still, it was light enough for this aging body to lug around and had pretty much everything else I was looking for in a camera.

The last time I had to buy one was more than 25 years ago when Nikon and Canon were basically the only affordable 35mm names worth considering as a professional. These days, the choices among brands and camera features are almost overwhelming—in inverse proportion to the number of well-stocked photography shops staffed by knowledgeable salespeople that still exist. Fortunately, one such store was fairly close by and made the decision easier. Ten months later, just as with Photoshop, I’m barely scratching the surface of what the EM-1 is capable of. Much as I did during my long photographic career, I’m quite content shooting strictly in manual mode, and choosing my ISO setting, f/stop, and shutter speed as each situation requires. Thank God, though, for auto-focus.

South Carolina is one of the last states I ever imagined myself living in but, politics and rampant development aside, its been working out surprisingly well both personally and photographically. One thing I’ve noticed is that my range of subject matter has broadened significantly. Whether credit belongs to the change of scenery, a new camera, my more expressive style, or a busier social life, is hard to tell. Perhaps it’s a fortuitous combination of all.

I do know that having been a northerner all my life, I am very much an outsider here in the Palmetto state. As a photographer, I’ve never identified with, and embraced that role as much as I do now. I must say it adds a special, impish kind of enjoyment to picture taking that I haven’t experienced previously.

Speaking of photography’s pleasures, I only recently discovered the work of Fred Herzog from a NY Times article on two other masters, Saul Leiter and Gary Winogrand. Herzog was a Canadian who has yet to receive the recognition he so richly deserves. If you’re not already familiar with his photography, you can view some of his images here and here.

“Man with Bandage” is considered Herzog’s signature shot, and appropriately so: it is perfect in so many ways.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I worry about what the new year has in store for us: the brutal war in the Ukraine shows no sign of an endgame; an equally destructive conflagration between Israel and Hamas threatens to engulf the entire region; North Korea is acting ominously; a presidential election here in the US risks putting a convicted felon, serial liar, sex offender, insurrectionist, and sociopath in the Oval Office; more destructive storms and weather caused by climate change are inevitable; and the uglier side of AI has just begun making its appearance. It’s not a pretty picture, for sure. Let’s just hope it’s not a keeper.