From A Boy To A Young Man

Judaism's rite of passage from childhood to adulthood happens for boys at the age of 13 (bar mitzvah) and for girls at the age of 12 (bat mitzvah). What we have come to recognize as the ritual - sometimes simple, but often opulent - is not necessary for the rite to take place. The obligations of adulthood  are automatic.

Young men are permitted and expected to wear tefillin daily. The first time the young man puts them on is usually two months before his bar mitzvah date. That ritual is documented here, here, and here. There is an intricate yiddish text that very observant Jews require the young man learn and say from memory, called the ma'amar, which is a chassidic discourse on the deep mystical meaning of tefillin. It's recited during the celebration dinner which can occur before or after the actual bar mitzvah service usually held on shabbat, and on the occasion of the young man being called to the torah for an aliyah a day or two before the service.

Eli Moshe reciting the ma'amar and being guided by his father Sholom:

Receiving the priestly kohanim blessing from his maternal grandfather:

Leading the late afternoon mincha prayer service with his paternal grandfather:

 Congregants joining the family in the celebration:

Preparing to read the torah at Chabad World Headquarters in Brooklyn, NY:

 Eli Moshe being called to the torah for his first aliyah:

The proud father and uncle:

Dynamic Range of the X-Pro2

Shooting yesterday in NYC was a challenge because of the brilliant sunlight. I wanted to test the dynamic range of the camera. This is what I got when doing my usual conversion to b/w in Silver Efex Pro. Very manageable highlights and detail in the deep shadow. The guy on the right kind of looks like Arnold Palmer.

I plan to play a bit with the ACROS film simulation in the camera. But just as a test, I applied the Lightroom preset for ACROS to the color image:

First Day on the Street With My X-Pro2

A stunningly sunny early spring day in NYC and a new camera: the perfect combination for happiness. Even being quite familiar with the layout of buttons and dials on the X-Pro1 and X-T1, the new camera took some getting used to. I have more with which to experiment, but for now just a couple of shots to push the camera to its limits.

I wanted to test the dynamic range and see how much latitude I had to play with in my processing, so the bright sunlight coming from the left and falling on this woman's very gray hair were just at the edge of being blown out, but the dark shadows still kept some detail:

With the X-T1 the noise level at ISO 6400 was manageable and produced acceptable images after using some noise reduction. But the X-Pro2 at 6400 proved to be outstanding.

A few test shots with the X-Pro2

Tomorrow is my first real day out shooting with the X-Pro2. Up to now I've just been trying different settings and getting the feel of all the buttons. Plenty of reviews and blogposts on all that stuff by photographers who are much more concerned with tech details and such than I am.

I played with the ACROS film simulation because I was curious to compare the camera output with the ACROS film simulation preset in NIK Silver Efex Pro 2. And I was also curious about it because in my film days (eons ago) I loved shooting with Fuji Neopan 100, 400, and 1600. So here's a few shots of comparison. In General I found that the ACROS jpgs generated by the camera were tonally more pleasing that those made with the Silver Efex Pro preset.

In this first set, the top images was SOOC, the second with the Silver Efex preset,

Again with this set, the top image is SOOC, the second made with the Silver Efex preset, and the third made with my customized processing in Silver Efex.

Celebration of a New Life

I always feel honored when a family allows me to photograph the ritual of brit milah. It's a ritual that connects us to the covenant that G-d made with our founding father when his name was changed from Abram to Abraham.

It's customary for the paternal grandfather to hold the baby in his lap while the mohel performs the ceremony:

After the ritual, the baby is passed to the maternal grandfather and blessings are recited:

Getting Ready For My X-Pro2

Another set of street shots taken with my X-Pro1 in 2012.

The universal 'dressing down'.

 No smoking here!

Who me?

 Outside the Hog and Heifers. Gone but not forgotten:

Fuji X-Pro2 Is coming in early March

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this camera. I loved the X-Pro1 and dumped my Nikon gear within months after I received it. The camera had its drawbacks, and while I also like my X-T1, it's just not the same feel and cachet. Just to whet my appetite (not that it needed it) I started reviewing the photos I shot in the first few months I had the X-Pro1 and reworked some of the RAW images. Four years of growth and maturation in image processing - what a difference!

Here's the first batch from the Spring of 2012: