Rainy Season in the Arizona High Desert – The Monsoon

The past 4 months have been difficult for a street photographer. Indeed, streets are mostly empty except for people walking their dogs early in the morning. Then the summer heat takes over, and along with the pandemic, keeps people inside.

I have 35mm cameras and medium format cameras loaded with film but hardly have I clicked and rewound.  And while sunsets atop the mountain are breathtaking, I can hardly see myself taking pictures of colourful sunsets with B&W film.

But the rainy season started in Arizona. It can go through September and if rain is steady would give the desert fauna and flora the moisture to survive the rest of the year.

Suddenly, the usual 8-10% humidity pushes up to 50%, and amazing thunderstorms break the big skies. In the afternoon, heavy rain can happen along with lightning and hail. The winds can gust to 40 miles an hour, and dust storms called haboob would turn the day into a dark night. Add to all this the flash flood and the monsoon season in Arizona becomes one of the most amazing time for the desert to metamorphose.

So, I decided to take a few photos of the first rain. There are photographers who wait for this season and travel the state, including the Grand Canyon to capture the spectacular lightning storms. My mechanical cameras are not apt to capture these, so my appreciation is not imprinted on 60 ASA film but my memory.

Still, the clouds and the rain let me use B&W film to show the magic of a desert storm.

PS/ The above photo is posted in a large size so the tonal range of film can be appreciated with the various shades of light in the clouds. Please look at the photo full screen to appreciate why some of us still cling on to film!

 July 22, 2020

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2020

July 4th, 2020 in Prescott, Arizona

The Covid-10 pandemic made street photography impossible. Well, unless one wanted to take pictures of empty streets, the past 3 months have seen no gatherings allowing a street photographer to capture moments of peoples’ behavior.

And that is good, of course.

However, lately many states in the US have relaxed the rules regarding celebrations and gatherings. The 4^th of July is a special national holiday and our cowboy town in Arizona allowed its celebration. So, I put on my mask and took my 1954 Leica IIIF RD with me.

Since there was no parade, my goal was to capture a few moments that made this 4^th of July special.

This photo captures the “attitude” in Prescott in July 2020. I wanted to have the riding cowboy statue on the right as well as the flags flapping in the wind on the left. The focus was on the two people wearing masks while blurring the background showing the crowd. I used a f5.6 aperture and a 1/100^th second shutter speed. Given the strong sun, I was hoping to get the blurring with the flags movement and the background.

In fact, it did work out that way because I love using FSU lenses that are still cost friendly and full of unpredictability! Yes, my Leica came with a Summar lens but I never liked its softness. So the lens I took with me on this 4^th of July is a 1954 Russian Industar. I like the softness on the edges it provides when open wide.

Ok, no B&W photographer can resist taking a picture of a spotted Great Dane! Again, I wanted to push the lens as far as I could, so this is with f3.5 aperture and a shutter speed of 1/75^th of a second. The very blurry but soft and well transitioned bokeh (background) gives the moment a character of doubt. Perhaps many who were downtown on this day were indeed still wondering when we may get back to the “good ol’ days”. So the Grate Dane photo has a 2020 mood.

Finally, this was the first photo I took on July 4^th, early morning when I was walking my dog. The artists’ kiosks were organized around the town square and this woman was just putting her mannequins out to display the hats she makes. It was a lonesome moment right after sunrise and I wanted to have a 4^th of July without any crowd. Just this artist and her mannequins. I think I took this photo with f3.5 and 1/50^th second shutter speed.

… So, these photos have been as much about the 2020 4^th of July as about the Leica I cherish and my experimentation with the FSU lenses.

But need to mention one more thing about the camera – it is a 1954 Red Dial and timer Leica IIIF with a serial number of 710933. I bought this many decades ago from a collector who could not sell it at the price he was hoping for given the small dent under the “Germany” engraving. 

What is special about this camera is that it belongs to only 5000 out of the 180,000 Leica IIIFs because it was made/assembled in Canada rather than in Germany.  These models are highly collectible and according to the Leica archives:

“Only 1000 Leica IIF ELC/RD serial number 71001 – 711000 were made in Midland, Canada in 1954”

Add a simple Russian designed-made in the Ukraine lens to it and you never know what surprises will slowly appear in the developing tray under a red light!

July 5, 2020

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2020