Harold Davis's Blog

I’m lucky enough to have scored a Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 lens (used, but in excellent condition). The lens is most interesting I think wide-open at f/0.95. Yes, you read that aperture correctly—it is an incredibly bright lens that seems to act almost like a funnel for light. When used at more conventional apertures (for example, f/8 or f/16) the lens seems decent, but, well pretty conventional—and nothing so special that it is worth the price or weight. But at f/0.95, this lens is extraordinary!

Fern 1 © Harold Davis

When it comes to gear, the craft of photography always involves trade-offs. This is another way of saying, “there are no free lunches!”

Fern 2 © Harold Davis

In the case of the Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 the obvious baggage includes the price and weight. To my mind, at f/0.95 the lens behaves somewhat like a Lensbaby ought to behave: essentially a “sweet spot” that is in focus is created, and glowing out-of-focus areas are everywhere else. But hitting that critical focus point with the lens where one wants is no piece of cake because of the very feature that is desirable, the extreme light sensitivity of this lens.

With these close-up ferns I found focus wide-open mostly easier to achieve with my Monochrom M11 on a tripod.

Fern 4 © Harold Davis

Note that I added a variable extension tube to get this close to my subject, and used a focusing rail to make the critical focus possible.

I think the classical use-case for this lens is in portraiture, and possibly street photography. I may well use this lens in these ways. But I also intend to experiment, and use my “Noct” as it has never been used before!

Fern 5 © Harold Davis

Before planting the beast of a cactus in a pot along our front porch, I photographed the plant in its black, plastic pot indoors using my Leica Monochrom M11 with an orange filter.  With the camera on a tripod, the cat wandered in and out of my exposures, and was inadvertently captured in motion in some captures.

My Prickly Heart © Harold Davis

The cactus was bulging out of its pot, and looked vaguely heart shaped. I worked in Photoshop to expand the visual resemblance to a Valentine’s Day heart, with the results you see here.

The Split Rock Plant (Pleiospilos nelli) looks for all the world like it is made of small stones, each one dabbed with dots (see the black and white images at the bottom of this story).

Split Rock Flower © Harold Davis

Its flower comes out the “split” in the rock, usually quickly but with some apparent shyness. The blossom is very heliotropic—meaning it closes when not in direct sunlight—and doesn’t seem to last long. A short life but one that is very sweet seems an apt way to describe it. Ain’t nature grand?

Pleiospilos nelii “Split Rock” 2 © Harold Davis Pleiospilos nelii “Split Rock” © Harold Davis

To make these portraits of an up-close-and-personal Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) frond beginning to unfurl, I used my 135mm lens on a bellows. This is the same setup I used for my recent Gazania image, except with capture using the Leica Monochrom 11 rather than the 11MP. I used an orange filter on the lens to help enhance the black and white.

Fern © Harold Davis

It’s fun to be able to peer into a different world, the way things look in the exciting world of macro photography!

Becoming © Harold Davis

The Gazania, commonly known as the African Daisy, is a highly heliotropic flower. This means that it opens in direct sunshine, and closes back up in the evening (or on very cloudy days).

Gazania © Harold Davis

I cut this Gazania blossom at high noon on a sunny day, and brought it inside. The idea was to photograph it on a black velvet background while it was still open.

I placed the flower in a small, blue glass vase, and wrapped the ensemble with my black velvet background cloth, allowing a little reflected blue light to come through the background. To make the image, I used my Leica MP11 with a focusing rail and Novoflex bellows mounted on my tripod. The lens I used was my Leica APO-Telyt 135mm f/3.4, stopped all the way down to f/22. The exposure duration was 30 seconds.

I’ve been asked whether I used LAB color and my LAB action to create the colors in this image. The answer (and it somewhat surprises me) is, No: this is pretty much straight out of the camera, and LAB color was not involved!

I found the magnificent Columbia River gorge somewhat diminished (in gestalt if not in topography) since my previous visit years ago.  Maybe this had to do with the time of year. Early spring was splendid but this visit in the heat of August not so much. But also in the interim a massive fire had severely damaged the environs, and so many people “found” the area—just a hop skip and jump from downtown Portland—during the pandemic year that the result was gated access, difficult parking, and general overcrowding.

Multnomah Falls © Harold Davis

That said, the sheer wonderfulness of all the falling water makes the gorge a must-visit for any photographer. As was my plan, like with the models, I photographed with my Leica Monochrom, using longish exposures to still the water in motion. One more entry in my chasing waterfalls saga!

Origins © Harold Davis

Speaking of sagas, here’s the Godafoss waterfall in Iceland, and (below) Kegon Waterfall in Nikko National Park in Japan.

Kegon Waterfall © Harold Davis

I spent a few days on the Oregon coast in a model photography workshop. I primarily worked in black and white with my Leica Monochrom M11 using an orange filter. Special thanks to the lovely models: @Floofie, @MikaLovely, and @Whitney.Masters

Mika on the Coast © Harold Davis | Model: @MikaLovely Elemental © Harold Davis | Model: @Whitney.Masters Floofie holding up the rock © Harold Davis | Model: @Floofie Sunset Joy © Harold Davis | Model: @Whitney.Masters

I’ve enjoyed photographing today at the Portland Japanese Garden. The garden bills itself as the most beautiful Japanese garden outside of Japan. This may well be true, and it may even be more beautiful than some gardens that are in Japan.

Heavenly Falls ©️Harold Davis

Had this public garden been in Japan there would have been less cement on the paths and more stone work. Shoes would have needed to come off on fine wood floors. And likely there would have been more variety in food.

But all in all, a very nice taste of Japan without leaving North America. I look forward to posting more photos from the garden.

Yesterday I built a small spiral in our garden below a specimen Japanese maple tree. I constructed the spiral using small rocks as the border for an aggregation of miniature ferns (Leptinella) between the path laid down by the pebbles. The Leptinella plants came in six-packs from the horticultural nursery.

Garden Spiral © Harold Davis

What changes to this spiral will there be over time? I can’t wait to see. One cool thing about creation in the garden is that nothing is ever final. Things change over time, plants grow, and weather has its impact. It’s so much fun to have a thumb in the wind with a creation where nature is the chief artist! Maybe I’ll extend the spiral tomorrow to embrace the tree!

Yesterday I decided that my Serpentine Sunflower (Helianthus bolanderi) was getting a bit “long in the tooth” (insert favorite joke about serpents and teeth here). Indoors, I deconstructed the sunflower bush, then reconstructed it on my light box in the shape of a tree. I found the roots, which I cleaned off with a hose and brush, very visually interesting.

© Harold Davis

The sunflower bush looked a little empty, so I added a gazania and some gaillardia blossoms. Now my serpentine sunflower tree is more like a virtual, holistic garden!

Click here for a video tour of my actual garden, and here for online webinars and tutorials.