Yoshihisa Maitani, 1933-2009
Photo: Olympus Corp.
I've returned, ready, rested, and rarin' to get goin' again. I notice the world has not stood still while I've been away: on July 30th the world lost Yoshihisa Maitani, who, partly by happenstance* and partly by accomplishment, will be forever known as one of the great camera designers in photo history; and, in light of new intelligence, I have decided to retract some past snarky comments I made about Annie Leibovitz. I hereby apologize for calling her Romulus and Remus riff for the Lavazza calendar "the worst photograph ever made." She's had more important issues to deal with, as recent news makes painfully clear, and was doubtless scrambling to crack a hard nut when perpetrating that pic. On a different level than many of us will ever inhabit, true, but that probably makes it worse, if anything. Most of us mortals have been between that nasty rock and hard place a time or three. So I take it back, what I said. Good luck to her.
So what did I do on my summer vacation? I hope to write at least one report. (One of my grade school teachers gave everyone an automatic "A plus" for their "What I Did Last Summer" essays. I hope you'll be feeling similarly lenient when you slog through mine). One thing I can tell you is that I only used one single lens for ten days, the Pentax 15mm ƒ/4, to try to force my eyes to deal with its flagrant wideness. The strategy only sorta worked, but it kinda did. Sorta. Again, I hope to report, once re-entry into real life is fully accomplished. (Re-entry being my sister-in-law Basia's apt term for returning from an extended vacation. Hold the emails: I'll be dealing with the existing stack for several days. What's harder, do you suppose, getting ready to go away, or coming back?) Posts might be light for the next little stretch, but rest assured the fire's relit and the old engine chuffing away again. Thanks for coming by while I was gone (the site received a little more than 160,000 visits while I was away. Not losing all my traffic sure makes it less stressful to go).
Cheers,
Mike
P.S. Oh, and, to brag shamelessly, I sank a 37-foot putt, longest of my life by far. Sixty-odd shots that good, all strung together, and I could beat Tiger Woods. Yeah. Right. I'll work on that.
*It was not common then or now for Japanese workers to be allowed to stand out and do the star turn, and Olympus management reportedly had to be persuaded by its American advertising people to allow Maitani-san to be singled out in a series of still-famous ads.
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Featured Comment by Roger: "I'm not hooked on T.O.P. I could have stopped my daily checks of the site to see if you were back early any time I felt like it. Really."
Featured Comment by Dave Kee: "Annie, oh Annie, what were you thinking? Never having had much money I am always amazed (and a little repelled) by rich f#%ks who can't seem to make do with so much. On the other hand who really needed that red Miata? Tolerance, tolerance."
Mike replies: Thanks, Roger (and to everyone who sent good wishes on either end of my recent break). Dave, how come you wrote "#%" for "ol"? (Just kidding.)
The Winning Photo: Ben Sheppard and Robert Howshall's Pebble Project 
