… can totally ruin your week, if it lands in just the wrong place. More about this later.

I hope each and every one of you had a delightful weekend. It was lovely in central Illinois, but hopefully it was not the last lovely weekend of the year. Picnic on the 7th of September! I was very busy, as usual, but did take an hour or two to go and explore the local botanical gardens, the Luthy Gardens, named most likely for a famous Peorian named “Gardens”. It was not the most expansive garden that I have spent time it, but it is beautifully kept and the layout has been planned with great care. I spoke briefly with the groundskeeper, while she was ejecting me from the premises, as it happened - but that was because it was quitting time and yours truly was holding up the patient employee’s departure.

It was a short visit and flew by fast, and as I being escorted off city property, I was reminded of the cardinal lesson that I teach all my field macro students - you cannot do your best work without slowing down - slowing way down. Running to get to the park, arriving shortly before closing, and trying to see everything in the time I had there, these all conspired with the dozen things I had on my mind to make slowing down virtually impossible. And unfortunately, my pictures suffered as a result. Why is that, and what does a “distracted” photograph look like? Well I would show you, but that is the whole point. When I become rushed and distracted I don’t see the shots, so I can’t capture them. Simple as that.

This is not something I am conscious of most of the time, it is something I become aware of as I look through my shots from the day. Interestingly, there are usually more of them than there would have been from a successful trip. They also lack imagination. They are perfectly acceptable from a technical standpoint (or some of them are!), but they tend to be clinical, ordinary, and unimaginative. It is not unusual for me to see the shot I should have taken, when it is too late to do anything about it.

If you are new to closeup photography in the field you may be wondering what the take-home message is from this observation - should I have stayed home and found something constructive to do? Gone somewhere else to take my pictures? No - I did exactly what I needed to do - I went to the place I wanted to visit and did the best I could with the tools I had on hand. Yes - it would almost certainly have been a more fruitful trip if I could have slowly myself down, or planned to go earlier in the day, but that is not the point I want to make. Macro photography is not about the pictures. Good pictures are a welcome bonus but they are not the prize . Getting out of the house for little while on a stunning Sunday afternoon, that is the prize. This is important, because only when I am truly engaged with the macro photography process do my overdue projects, unpaid bills, and 15,000 unread emails begin to fade into the background hum of the city outside the fences of the gardens. And as these matters are temporarily set aside, space opens up in the parts of my mind that have the capacity to see and appreciate beauty. When the everyday world around me recedes far enough to seem no longer relevant, when I am moving slowly and actively soaking up all that the day has to offer, when the last thing on my mind is getting a good photograph, that is when I can see the shots. They come to me, I don’t go to them. I just have to be ready to see them and get out of my own way while I take the picture.

I have heard people refer to this as a “state of flow”, which sounds reasonable enough. I think of to as a kind of meditation, but don’t know if this is accurate - I certainly lack the discipline to sit in silence to contemplate my breath for more than 30 seconds. But I can be out aimlessly strolling through nature, with no concept of time, for an entire day. It there is something magical in this weird hobby of ours, it is here, in the process that it is to be found. And I hope that you do.

And what does that have to do with this week’s livestreams? Well, absolutely nothing, as it happens - it was just on my mind and I wanted to tell you about it.

So, what am I going to be talking about this week? As of midnight last night I was planning on talking to you about the most recent redesign of my macro platform, a platform that I am going to be building with you over the coming weeks. I had already done quite a lot of preparation and was looking forward to a lively conversation with lots of questions and helpful feedback, but, as things do, over the course of just a few hours all that changed. Isn’t it strange the way things change with absolutely no regard for our carefully made plans? Two things happened in quick succession and one of them needs to talked about. The first thing was that I got a call from my friend and fellow macro photographer, Lester “just call me Lester” Lefkowitz. Lester was calling to tell me his books were back in stock after a fresh print run and he was ready to meet with me for his interview. A quick look at the schedule and it was all arranged. I will be be interviewing my second iconic macro photographer of the month on Tuesday, as in, this Tuesday, or today for some readers.

Book: The Manual of Close-up and Macro Photography, Volume I: The basics: Magnification to 1X

By Lester Lefkowitz

Buy on Amazon

In this first interview I am going to find out a little bit about this remarkable and charming young man’s long and storied career as a professional photographer. I already know some of it, but there is much more. I think he has photographed stuff for every major brand on planet Earth, at one time or another - and just wait until you see the pictures! We will then work out through the first volume of his book and talk about what we find. We have a second interview planed for the fall - for volume 2. So, that was welcome distraction number one, the one that shouldn’t cause any change in my programming this week. Oh, and by the way, I will not be releasing the final interview until a little later - this at the perfectly reasonable request of Mr Lefkowitz. But, if you have been patiently waiting for his fantastic books to be available once more, your wait is over. If you are a resident of the US you may secure your copy of either or both volumes directly from the author, just by dropping by this website (https://www.macrophotographer.net) and giving him some of your money. In exchange, Lester will see to it that the requested volumes are launched in your general direction. If on the other hand, you find yourself domiciled in some far flung collective lwith a name like Saint-Hippolytte-du-Forte, Castiglioni della Pescala, Blaenau Ffestiniog, or Bad Neustadt an der Saale then you have a different set of instructions You must get your copy of the latest reprint by going to the eBay store following this link - https://www.ebay.com/itm/375430264703, but do not be alarmed if the site has not yet updated the book’s status, just try back a little later.

The Manual of Close-Up and Macro Photography, Volume Two: High Magnification and Advanced Techniques

By Lester Lefkowitz

Buy on Amazon

No sooner will I be finished talking to Lester and it will be time to fire up “Sweet Young Thang” in preparation for Livestream numero uno, Macro Talk. Now the plan was that I would use the entire program to talk about the new macro platform that is being planned, and I will spend a good chunk of our time talking about this very, but this is where the second unplanned event of Monday intervenes. In a moment of inattention, sitting at my desk, suddenly and without provocation, some combination of upper extremity neurons fired in a manner and sequence that neither the neurons, nor their owner, could claim any experience of. The result was therefore a poorly coordinated and completely unexpected flailing of the left arm at the shoulder. Troubling enough in isolation, this event coincided with a perfectly mundane occurrence taking place a little more than two feet away. There could be found the blameless left hand, authoritatively grasping a large thermally insulated vessel filled wit a mixture of freshly brewed coffee, and a sugary, cream-like concoction designed to make the coffee both delicious and extremely sticky, a fact that will soon assume great importance in this narrative.

EISCO Premium Filter Paper, 15cm, Pack of 100 - Chemistry Filter Paper, Lab Filter Paper

EISCO

Buy on Amazon

If you don’t have at least two boxes of this stuff ready to go, do not drink coffee in the same room as you laptop. And a can of compressed air.

The hand, unprepared for the sudden departure from routine, swung laterally, totally at the mercy of the shoulder muscles. The coffee and the vessel holding it did not, and instead responded obediently to the insistent downward tug of gravity. The only thing that mercifully prevented the cup and beverage from slamming into the painted concrete floor and spilling everywhere was my perfectly positioned MacBook Pro, M1 Max computer, the most expensive piece of computing equipment I have ever owned, that in a blizzard of irony had been completely paid for and ended its period of warrantee coverage on the same day, one week prior. And now it was soaked over every inch of it’s case ad screen with some 16 ounces of hot, sweet breakfast beverage.

In the minutes and hours that followed, my years* of training on the rapid response “Aisle Cleanup Unit” of the local Walmart Super Center at which I was briefly employed kicked in to pull off one of the most remarkable saves in the history of computing**. I am going to take a few minutes to explain and demonstrate the methods I deployed that resulted in a fully functional and spotlessly clean Mac laptop. If you have a laptop and drink beverages anywhere near it, you need to pay attention during this part of the stream. It could pull your fat out of the fire, like it did mine. With that done I will allow a few minutes for the applause to drop to a steady thunderous roar before forging ahead with the evening’s program.

It was three days. Ed. ** Demonstrably untrue. Ed.

Which is, of course, introducing you to the new macro platform concept that I have been working on for some time. This will also give me an opportunity to introduce a new a new and important partner to the Allan Walls Photography channel. The build I am going to be showing and describing to you is an advanced, multifunction platform capable of use in either the vertical or horizontal orientations, at low to high magnification, and using any combination of standard extreme macro optics. Probably the most noticeable difference in the rig will be the quality of the primary structural material I will be using. I have decided to go with the highest quality materials and hardware that I could afford something solid and durable, that can survive a sustained and punishing workload and even survive a long distance move intact. You may not have heard of this company before, but they are hugely popular with the DIY community, recognized pros in the CNC world and is one of the most progressive groups in the field. They encourage innovation and a big part of their business is encouraging their customers to showcase the cool things that they create with the materials they source from Open Builds. You will be hearing a lot about them in the coming months. Their selection of aluminum extrusion is second to none. It is a US based company with headquarters in Florida.

Only after selecting this firm for my materials, hardware and motion components I submitted an application to their affiliate program The channel ’s application was approved and we are known an affiliate marketing relationship with Open BuildsLike with my other affiliate partnerships, this means that if you use one of my Open Builds links to get to the store and complete a purchase of qualifying products, Open Builds will pay me a small commission for the referral. As I hope you know I am never going to recommend a product with which I do not have first hand experience. When I do recommend a product it is because it is working for me and I think it could work for you too. Sometimes I make a qualified recommendation if, for example, it might be perfect for one group of photographers, but a poor choice for another. In a case like that I will make myself perfectly clear. I could have chosen any company I wanted from a lot of aluminum vendors doing business today, and I chose this company for their selection, their service, and their philosophy. I like them and I think you will too.

Say you wanted to get a ten-pack of their excellent aluminum extrusion - it is fantastic, by the way.

All you would need to do is use my link to get to the store and they will take care of everything else. This is what the link would look like if you want to give it a try. https://openbuildspartstore.com/v-slot-linear-rail-10-pack/?ref=fdnefjhr

And before I forget - here is your link to the first livestream…

https://youtube.com/live/jlk8CSX74So?feature=share

All good projects start with a solid plan and this is no different. I have a plan and on Tuesday I will be showing you what I am planning for my new studio. In the process I will walk you through every key decision and explain why I have decided to do what I am doing. From materials to the placement of the platform, the construction methods, every decision will be covered.

Then on Thursday we will talk about all the ways our plans can go wrong and I will give you some useful tips on how to avoid disasters.

And you can find the livestream by following g this link - https://youtube.com/live/Xo8XvMHf0Oc?feature=share

We have another big day on Saturday with what promises to be a very interesting discussion in the AfterStack post-processing round-table. This week we are going to talk a little about the TK Panel, a Photoshop editing add-on developed by Tony Kuyper and very popular among more advanced Photoshop users.

There is a chance that we will have a visitor dropping by, though I have no had confirmation of that. We have invited renowned editor Dave Kelly to drop by ad tell us a little about the program that he teaches in his weekly YouTube tutorial videos. Whether Dave makes it or not, we will have plenty of first hand TK expertise on the panel ready to answer your questions and demonstrate the panel in use. Your invitation is below.

There is ,of course, no Pzoom this week, but I will be back with another, one week from Saturday.

And a quick reminder 0 the competition for this month is soon ending - get you pictures in as soon as you can! The theme is “My Tiny Universe” - making a scene or landscape out of tiny, macro-sized materials. Compositing is not allowed in this contest for August!.