Evaluating Photographic Lenses: The Technical Challenges

Here are a couple of interesting (very) technical articles by Roger Cicala, the owner of LensRentals.com:

There is no Perfect Lens

There is no Perfect Lens Test Either

The gist of these articles is that evaluating lenses can be difficult, because different copies of the same lens can exhibit markedly difficult performance and no one lens testing methodology can tell the whole story about lens performance.

Quincy Jones: Architectural Designs for Eichler Homes

Those who are interested in Eichler Homes and Mid-Century Modern design might be interested in this book: A. Quincy Jones. The architect Quincy Jones did some of the designs for Eichler Homes.

Oops-Steve Jobs did not Grow Up in an Eichler Home After All

According to Walter Isaacson's recently published biography of Steve Jobs, Jobs said that he grew up in an Eichler Home. However, my father says that this is not true. While the home in question was designed by architects (Anshen and Allen) who did some of the designs for Eichler Homes, it was a built by a builder named Mackay Homes, which wanted to build something similar to Eichlers, but with a "softer" look. My father should know, since he was the sales manager for Eichler Homes during its heydey. However, Steve Wozniak did indeed grow up in an Eichler.

This article in California Modern tells the whole story: "Jobs’ ‘Likeler’ Is No Eichler"

David Adler: Architectural Works

For those who might be interested in the work of the architect David Adler (see my previous blog post about the Tobin Clark Estate), I just discovered this book, edited by Martha Thorne (Associate Curator, Department of Architecture, Art Institute of Chicago), and published by the Yale University Press: David Adler, Architect

Unfortunately, the book is currently out of print

Ezra Stoller and Modern Architecture

Ezra Stoller and Julius Shulman were arguably the most influential and successful (in terms of the quality of their work and the significance of their commissions, not necessarily monetarily) architectural photographers of the 20th Century. Between them, they photographed the work of all of the top modern architects, including Wright, Neutra, van der Rohe, Johnson, Pei, Saarinen, etc..  Not long ago I found a copy of Ezra Stoller's book Modern Architecture, which was last reprinted in 1999. I had been meaning to get this book for many years.  Now I regret that it took me so long to get it. 

Shulman's work tends to get more recognition than Stoller's, perhaps because there are more books devoted to Shulman's work, some of which are still in print; and perhaps also because Schulman produced several iconic images (such as his famous photo of Richard Neutra's Kaufman house), that have received very broad exposure in publications beyond those devoted to architecture.  However, I think Stoller's work is of equal quality, and I think I even prefer it  to that of Shulman.

In any case, I think that anyone interested in architecture and architectural photography should take a good look at Stoller's work in this book.  Of course one can find examples of his work in many books on modern architecture, but I think it is especially useful to view his body of work in one place.