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Chopin Nouvelle Etude #1 in F Minor

An arrangement for ukulele, bass and drums. This piano etude is a study in playing different rhythms in each hand simultaneously, in this case, 3 against 4. I thought that it would be fun to arrange the left hand (4 beats) as an upright bass, the right hand (triplets) as a ukulele and add a drum track for extra dimension. It’s quite a jazzy sound. Chopin was way ahead of the pack. You can download it here: https://jimclifford.bandcamp.com/track/nouvelle-etude

Schooner Gigolo

What can I say that isn’t in the song? It’s a paean to a world that for the time being is lost. My friend and fellow Meteor Boy, Dave Kapell, and I played at The Schooner Tavern for many a year. Thanks for the great memories, music and popcorn. This one’s for Andy. Music by Leonello Casucci 1928 Lyrics by Jim Clifford 2019

2 New Lenses

wanderlust pinwide example
Voitlander 25mm at f0.95 example

I just received two distinctly different new lenses to use with my Olympus E-PL1 Micro 4/3 camera:

A Voigtlander 25mm f 0.95 lens (equivalent to 50mm lens on a 35mm camera)

Voigtlander 25mm f0.95

and the Wanderlust wide-angle pinhole attachment

wanderlust pinwide

I immediately began to test them by photographing objects in my house and then taking them along on a bike ride to document an art opening in my neighborhood.  The 25mm is a finely crafted manual lens by Cosina Voigtlander in Japan and has an extremely shallow depth of field when shot wide open at f0.95 and of course is wonderful in low light situations.  I discovered that it can focus as close as 7 inches which highlights the intense yet pleasing bokeh (out of focus areas).  The Wanderlust Pinwide is a plastic disc with a tiny hole in it that fits on the lens mount of the camera with an aperture of f128.  It has heavy vignetting and a softness of focus that is a signature of a pinhole camera.  These 2 lenses are so different in their construction and in their function.  What better reason to take them on a field trip together.

You can see the results here in this short video: