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Been playing around with a rental Lumix G9 this week. Nice camera. We'll see if it ever needs to be added to the stable. :)

Fun house party with our friends Alex and Tommy in Lincolnville. Colly most enjoyed the strawberries and paddleball. ​

We tremendously enjoyed a family wedding this weekend. Since this blog mainly focuses on photo technique and gear I'll be brief on the emotions. But it was something to behold.

So happy for my niece and her new husband, whom we fell in love with. 'nuf said.

As for photography, no hanging out at the periphery with my Canon and zooms for me this time. I sat in the middle of the row with my tiny Lumix, and only occasionally popped up using the rear screen. I totally enjoyed the entire day, and never felt like I should be 'documenting it'. Just shot what I saw. Fantastic.

Did this mean I missed some of my 'go-to' shots.? Yes, yes it did. Did that hurt? A bit.

But, at the end of the day, and end of a career, you realize that's not what matters. Being there, being present, and taking home a couple of nice images is the goal.

Mission accomplished. 

It was five years ago that we were living in Newport, RI, and attended a huge clambake on the beach in Middletown, where my wife spent half of her childhood. I believe it was a fundraiser for the local bird sanctuary. Quite a production, and a lot of fun to attend. ​

Summer has been slow in coming this year. Lots of rain, and all of my attempts to turn off the furnace have been thwarted. Ah well. Could be worse. Haven't seen a snow flake or patch of ice in weeks. I'll take it. :)

Took a nice drive around the peninsula over the weekend. Summer is almost here. Mid-June. Funny weather.  :)

Please join us for the opening reception on June 14th, and hope you enjoy the show!

So, those of you who've followed me here and/or on dearsusan.net are familiar with my recent format change.

Well, 'change' is probably a bit strong, but I'm seriously considering a new camera format. I very seldom shoot professionally any longer, and even less often feel like hauling around a 20lb backpack of pro gear...hoping for a shot worth stopping the car, and inconveniencing the family.

With this in mind, I recently began looking at a smaller format camera for travelling, and chronicled that decision on dearsusan under the guise of 'A Camera For Paris'.  The article is here: 

We are indeed planning a trip with the boy in 2020 to visit my wife's favorite European city, and I immediately started making my plans from a photographic point of view. Something small, light, and unobtrusive was clearly called for.

Fast forward a month or so and I'm now shooting with a Panasonic Lumix GX85. I bought it mainly because it was on sale, with two lenses to get started. I figured that if major issues surfaced early on my exposure [ha] was small.

Turns out I'm fairly well impressed. The kit 12~32mm came highly recommended, and for good reason. I'd gladly take it on any venture, and the pancake design makes it perfect for travel.

The kit telephoto was less impressive but perfectly serviceable, so I had a full e-24~300mm system for not much more than $400 all in. Pretty sweet.

Results were positive enough to add a Leica 15mm f1.7 [e-30mm] lens to the nacent m4/3 collection, and the results above speak for themselves.
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Looks like I've finally found my new, digital, Leica-esq walk-around camera. I will likely add a couple of zooms to round out the kit, but this combo alone is just fantastic. And, add to that, I'm able to fit my two existing Leica M-mount lenses to this body very easily! More on this later, but so far, so great.

I sold my Leica D-Lux Typ 109 to fund this as chronicled in the article above, as well as the X-Rite ColorMunki. Full comments available to anyone who's interested in that decision.

It's very possible that a 'full sized' Lumix body [ha, they're pretty small] will join the stable, and someday [perish the thought] the heavy-iron 5DS and L lens collection will go up for sale.

​We'll see.