Egads

I was with a friend today….to whom we just met in physical form as he came up from DC. to Philadelphia. Up until now, we have zoomed…texted, and shared images.

But a realization became apparent; that was he is a ‘digital’ nomad while I am a ‘film nomad’…. Not a lot of either of us blends to the others likeness when it comes to the end product. It is like I prefer an old dusty spy novel from the 1940’s and he prefers the latest from Lee Child or the like.

I eat up on random noise….I enjoy a scratch or two on my film….stray dust particles are a welcome site….water marks from developing is an imperfection element of perfection. Even stray light from an accidentally opened film canisters are a thing of beauty. … To me, sharpness is a bourgeois concept …blur is character. I enjoy shooting ‘into the sun’…. or purposely exposing wrong.…. or speed set too low to create a blur…. expired film…. The list of what can be done continues, not to mention the fuzziness of wide contrasty subjects and a general feel of messiness inherent in film.

My friend…. ‘none of that’….. No, none. He enjoys nose hairs on his images to be perfectly sharp. In fact, ‘sharpness’ is central to his thinking as focus peaking is key. Auto-mode is necessary. Using ‘live view’ and adjusting some toggle switch to set exposure and end product. Or, taking 5x the number of images I take and still end up with one good shot. Now I know he has knowledge, so don’t get me wrong. He has an excellent understanding of photography and I know that includes camera basics as he goes back in photography time, as long as I do.

But somewhere near Albuquerque we each took another turn and haven’t looked back. We both grew up in a film world….both embraced the Digital age as it hit upon us like a surfing wave. But yes, somewhere, sometime…our paths as photographers separated. He kept going down the Digital Nomad path and now has and believes in having the best camera and lens one can get. As he says, you only live once. And yes, I agree. I took the path back to the ‘film nomadic’ approach…..While on occasion I do ‘look back’ to that time we both were in Albuquerque (metaphorically speaking), yet each time I go out to shoot, I grab the film camera. Like him, I want the best….and have deemed my Olympus OM series from the late 70’s to mid 80’s as best; coupled with my vast array of Zuiko lens. And to boot, I do have a Leica MA plus lens if I prefer that route. All film though.

Now, we both go out and find approaches to viewing a scene or subject….we both look for light and wait for the scene to appear. Nothing really different. Just that the nomadic approaches we each have become married to, has been dictated to us almost via osmosis. Digital and Film… equally as different as painting with Acrylic or Oil or Water Color. That is recognized in the painting world, and now, we need to recognize that same difference in photography.

Barnacks Down Under

“Been Down’ a week….have shot about two complete rolls using my Barnacks Model 1 and Model 2. They differ slightly so I have decided that I need to only take one of them with me on a shoot. When I brought both along, to compare…..all I did was confuse myself as the ‘set-up’ of each differs slightly.

Never-the-less….. I do miss my MA but these two are well worth it. In my part of Melbourne, I must admit…..it lacks a certain flavor that begs for street photography, hence perhaps why I have only shot two rolls in a bit over a week. I intend to venture to downtown Melbourne where I have shot prior and know the lay. I am looking forward to that. In neighborhood’s such as I am in now, I walk…I find…I have to be very creative in my approach and then, well……will see once I develop these rolls in a few months from now.

Yes, a few months….. I can live with that. I think of it as Christmas…… I have a present to open in terms of rolls of film, and I will get there. One day, sometime…eventually, soon, down the road…. Yes, at not too distant future.

Jan 18th 2023 Pima Air and Space

First blog of 2023….New Year!

Today I am going into Pima Air and Space in Tucson, Arizona to do a shoot. I was going to go with the wife as she could shoot her Canon AE-1 ( which she has had since it was brand new) and I with my Leica MA. We could have a competition of 50mm. But she banked out, so…..I will be able to most likely get in the ‘zone’ a bit easier now.

But I am looking forward to the angles, the sun….shadows…odd views, both inside and outside. I have a few rolls of 400 Fomapan and my MA….

UPDATE: January 23rd, 2023. I spent 4 hours at the museum and went thru 3 rolls of film. You can view my images on my project pages under Air Space.

I came in to this project wanting images that were unique, and not the everyday Plane snapshots that offer little creativity. My images were taken with “Geometry’ in Mind….’Shadows’….”Pieces of Planes’…. I wanted something that offered a perspective where I could document uniqueness.

This first attempt underexposed my indoor shots. I shall return and re-capture those.

The outside images were taken on a day were most were shot in the F8 and F11 @ 1000. I liked the result in which they present themselves. My lens was a 35mm Voigtlander instead of the 50 Summicron I had initially planned. I am happy with that decision as a 35mm allowed me a bit of expanse in the images. If I would have used a 28 or 24 I felt I might have cropped too much. A 50 would have allowed for little ‘expanse’.

The film I used was 400 Fomapan where it “illicits” a noisy…rough….gritty feel to it. Again, my style…my intent. I enjoy creating Zines and I can see where this project will eventually turn into a Zine.

Always be Ready, always

This morning as I did my ‘am’ walk-about here in Philadelphia….I walked out the door and immediately ran into a nice photo op, but…alas, guess who wasn’t ready? My camera was ensconced in my bag with settings that were simply ‘left-overs’ from yesterday’s jaunt. That combo meant I missed the photo……

What was the photo? ….it was cold and and icy rain falling so these two women were walking by with a dog. The dog was outfitted with homemade boots on all four paws, and the ladies had these funky boots as well. Would have made a nice shot of two booted ladies and one booted dog in between. All told…8 boots. So, always be ready and this implies both digital and film.

My camera is a Leica MA….a pretty pure camera to the bones as it is totally manual everything and yet, while not overly difficult to do quickly, it does help to have the camera at least out of the bag. While the ‘photo’ walked on by, I pulled the Leica from the bag, took a light read on my Weston, and settled on F8 @ 125 ….film is 400. Then, I walked on…all prepared and ready for the next photo which I wasn’t going to miss.

But after walked about 10 meters I decided on returning to that photo opp….why not? They were not far away and with a bit of power walking could catch up. So I pivoted and started the chase. All of a sudden they were gone, turned a corner. I picked up the pace. After I turned the corner I found my photo, minus one lady so now I am down to only 6 boots.

I approached the ‘now lone lady’….spoke to her….requested I take a photo of the dog and yes, of course….she loved it. Most doggers (people who like dogs) love to have their pet shot. So I knelt….took in the entire scene of just her feet from knees down and captured her feet with the dogs four boots. Nice shot….. But again….prepare yourself and be ready before you get out the door. Don’t allow that shot to escape.