✦

Mo Baller is apparently very good at the ABS

Reading Handke On Handke and other cancelled artists, getting back into reading, and avoiding the trap of "TV brain prose" as coined by Lincoln Michel

Wrote about reading Handke and other cancelled authors, getting into a groove with reading, "TV Brain prose" (via @thelincoln.bsky.social), and fixing flaws in my own writing.

mnchrm.co/reading-hand...

My boss gifted me one a few weeks ago I still haven't taken for a spin! Got a recipe you recommend?

Is there any value in nationalism? In nations?

!!!

Met a physical therapist yesterday at a run club, and asked him if his job had taught him anything useful as far as being an athlete is concerned.

He said: "Don't smoke."

♥️♥️♥️

For sure, less risk of failure, too. But where's the fun in that?

Oh my God, yeah. Now most people just say they wish they were homesteading, hard to imagine people actually buying tools for it. Maybe just because the middle class is getting squeezed lol

The LARP is Real You know, like those guys who put away the D&D dice and throw on wizard robes and don foam swords to act out their character’s exploits in the nearest woods?

I wrote about the LARP of life.

mnchrm.co/the-larp-is-...

The LARP is Real You know, like those guys who put away the D&D dice and throw on wizard robes and don foam swords to act out their character’s exploits in the nearest woods?

I wrote about the LARP of life.

mnchrm.co/the-larp-is-...

Thank you!

✦ Refrakt: 39 — Compressed Space I had a very photography-focused weekend. Last Sunday, I participated in my first photography exhibition, organized by cizucu, which I wrote about on Friday. But even before the exhibition, I had the opportunity to meet up with Anson Tong, the photographer and writer behind the excellent site Tahusa. We spoke at length, of course, about photography. There’s a lot from that conversation that I’m turning over in my mind, and hope to write more about soon, but one of the things that’s stuck with me most strongly is how much of my preferences have shifted over time, particularly with lenses. This is __Refrakt__ , a bi-weekly newsletter from Ian J. Battaglia on curiosity, creativity, and (hopefully!) insight, through the lens of photography, writing, study, art and beauty, and my life. When I was shooting Fujifilm, I found myself pushing ever wider. Of course, I used and loved the Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4, which offers an equivalent field of view to a 50mm lens on a “full-frame” camera, but I also found myself going wider and wider. From 35mm I started favoring 23mm, going so far as 18mm (a 27mm equivalent field of view on full frame)—that idea seems almost insane to me now. Lately, I’ve favored a 40mm, and rather than opting for my next go-to of 35mm, I’ve found I often want to be even tighter, wishing I was shooting 50mm, most of the time cropping in somewhat. I’ve got a 28mm, quite close to the 18mm I used to love, but I rarely use it anymore. I used to want to shoot wide, capture as much of a scene as possible, photographing people in context. Often, I was getting quite close to my subjects—not quite Bruce Gilden, but not shying away. I still don’t shy away, but find myself being more deliberate with my composition, slowing my process rather than speeding it up. * * * _If you enjoyed this issue, consider joining my_ _membership_ _program, The Order of the Black Lotus. For the price of a cup of coffee in Tokyo ($3/month or $30/year), you not only support my writing and photography, but I’ll send you a**handwritten, one-of-one postcard from me in Tokyo** —a tangible piece of my journey, just for you. You’ll also get access to all **exclusive posts** , and an invitation to **my private photography feed on**_** _Retro_** _._ JOIN THE ORDER OF THE BLACK LOTUS _Joining is the most meaningful way to ensure this work continues, and I thank you for your support!_ * * * Now, more than wide scenes, I want to isolate a subject, minimize the distance between them and me, them and a viewer. It only occurred to me while speaking with Anson that perhaps this was another reason I so often prefer to shoot images vertically. I had thought, embarrassed, this was a symptom of our smartphone world, that I was subconsciously pushing towards a format that lent itself to optimal viewing (and easy disposal) on the go. I’m sure that _is_ part of it, but additionally I realized I’m simply trying to cut out as much of the frame as possible, reducing context, bringing the focus more into my subject. This makes me think two things; simultaneously urges me to both lean in and lean out. I’d like to try photographing even tighter, opting not for the 28mm from my kit, but the 90mm, and see what images I can come up with. Leica M10-P & Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f/2 One of the things I like most about the image I exhibited, also a departure from my Fujifilm days, is that in stopping down to make focusing easier, get the sharpest performance from my lens, I of course also get a long depth of field. Combining this with longer focal lengths, and you get a strong compression of space, highlighting the “flatness” of the image. On the other hand, I want to lean out. Maybe I should shoot wider again, push myself to stick to horizontal, find good compositions that make full use of the scene. Anson Tong in the snow, Shinjuku, 2026 I’ll do both, eventually. I hope to continue to challenge myself and my work, and through that process step forward into something new. Anson was right, though: sometimes it’s only through someone else’s eyes that you can learn something about your own work. * * * ## Subscribe to Refrakt A bi-weekly newsletter on curiosity, creativity, and (hopefully!) insight, through the lens of photography, writing, study, art and beauty, and my life. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. Join 150+ members on the path. Buy me a coffee

This makes me think two things; simultaneously urges me to both lean in and lean out.

On some recent photographic tendencies, as noticed by a friend.

The Asakusa line is my enemy

The PriceMaster (full version) YouTube video by ThePriceMaster

it is apparently the 25th anniversary of the greatest piece of art Denton, Texas, has ever produced

First day on the new lifting program. First lift: volume squats. Life is suffering.

Wearing a cardigan, listening to Pig Destroyer. I contain multitudes.

Good game!

New blog post! Thoughts on cooking, and on coming home to an empty fridge.

Why is every Instagram caption just ChatGPT now? Garbage ass website

Bing chilling

On what we've lost on the Internet, and how to get it back.

Basically, I think teams like the Rays and Brewers do a good job of fairly ruthlessly exploiting every edge they can find to maximize their regular season win totals while other good teams aren't prioritizing that as much. Once everyone is doing that, though, they just don't have the horses.

"Is Liquid Glass Frutiger Aero" - the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate,

Clear Blue 透 明 青

Wrote about what I've been working on!