West Coast to East Coast

I will be traveling from Arizona and my photography studio across country by car….to Philadelphia. And to boot, will be traveling first by going west to San Francisco and then up to eastern Washington State and up into Glacier National Park, before making the trek back. Yes, a trek…..surely a trek as we will have two solid weeks bopping around and close to 3500 miles.

So when up against those miles, what is my gear? First….it will be all film. No digital gear allowed which wipes out my GR11 and my OM Systems OM5.

My preferred choice will be my Olympus OM2SP with a 24mm Zuiko lens and my favorite standby lens; a 55mm Zuiko. Now, you have to understand the way I shoot….rough and ready. The 55mm is a wild, wacky and wonderful imperfect lens….. and since it can shoot at F1.2 it allows me enough light to capture ‘indoors’. This dynamic duel of lens’s is a combination allowing me to shoot a wide focal point (24mm) as we gear up for Glacier NP, Yosemite, Joshua Tree etc….

My second camera is my Lomo Kompakt Automat, and yes….it is Russia (A Ruski) and it is real and spectacular … just like my Olympus OM2SP. I selected this camera, being a point and shoot since many times when I walk the humidity of Philadelphia, I really do not want to lug around my OM2SP with a lens. The weight, although not that much relatively speaking as it is still lighter than most digital gear….still weighs on me. I am not a fan of humidity. But I do love CANDID street photography and the Lomo is perfect for that endeavor. It is really light, really small…..it is automatic if desired…and for me and of course, the way I shoot….it provides me with almost perfect results.

I have several favorite cameras….with the Lomo being right in the running. That along with the OM2SP, the OM1 and my Barnacks 1 Model A. If I had any combination of cameras, that would be it. Thus, no GAS. I don’t know what I would buy. I have fended off purchasing the new Rollei AF….fended off the Pentax 17 half-frame ( I have an original Pen F half-frame). I haven’t bought digital gear that really amounts to much in a long time. In fact, if I look at the number of shots digitally taken, it has to be less than 100 over the course of this past year. Why shoot digital when you have film?

The famed actor Paul Newman was married to his love….his wife Joanne Woodward for 50 years and they were true to each other. Since those Hollywood types are constantly playing ‘bed roulette’ ….Newman was asked why he and Joanne are still married. Newman responded that ‘why should I go out and eat ‘hamburger’ when I can have ‘steak at home’…… implying…well, you figure it out.

The point is,….my ‘steak’ is my OM2SP, my Lomo….my OM1….. …… and ‘hamburger’ is…..just about anything else.

Creating Art

I still find myself in Australia, just five more days….. My Leica 1 ‘ate’ my film and split it. As I advanced the film with each shot, unknown to me, the leader splice on the film was being torn in half as it advanced. Eventually it clogged the advance mechanism leaving me no choice but to open up the back and rip it out. Within that ‘process’ of splitting and advancing, the shutter is now not working so a soon to be, CLA is in order. My Leica model 2, ….with my Russian 50mm, ended up being my main squeeze.

This past week saw me in downtown Melbourne doing some street work. Extremely enjoyable as I find Melbourne to be very conducive to Street work. My Model 2 with a Russian lens had me wondering but I quickly became familiar with it. And like most film cameras I shoot, it forces me to slow down….I was relegated to a 50mm which is not my preferred street use, as I enjoy 24-28-35…But hey, it all worked out. With those few days I shot around three rolls of film. Lots of alleys, lots of architecture and some interesting people I chatted with. . In a month or so, Christmas will come as I develop my film.

Yesterday though as well as today I turned things on end by taking out my Ricoh 11. This experience proved to be a remarkable difference in what I shot, how I shot….and the experience. Let me explain…..

First…. with film….I ‘create art’….. With digital, …I ‘take pictures. Indeed yes…there is ‘that’ much of a difference. With film, the process of determining exposure and honing in with focus, composure, framing ….all add to ‘creating art’. It simply takes time and it takes creativity. When I print my images I know the image I view is all because of what I did from the start. No light meter, no AP, no P mode…no exposure comp…nada. Just my wits.

With digital (Ricoh in this case) the process just felt rushed, a bit contrived even. I already know what my end result is as I can view the shots on the camera before I take it (Live view) and obviously after the fact. With ’ live view’ i visually set my composure comp and style even beforeI press the shutter. It is that easy. While the images come out strong, the process, the experience….the feel…..all differs in that it simply ‘lacks’. I follow Sean Tucker on You Tube who shoots with his Ricoh on the streets of London (not that much different in feel from Melbourne). He shoots ‘live view’ and knows he can visually gauge exposure and contrast etc just by looking at the screen. It is pretty easy. Even though I need reading glasses, in this case…I am not here to read the photograph in terms of sharpness etc….rather, I take a wholistic approach and view the ‘LCD’ screen for composure, how light is hitting it etc. It is all about the visual ahead of time.

Now I obtain nice shots…. yet surprisingly when I look back on my shots I still get about 1 out of 36 that just hit me as being those WOW shots…not much different from my film. But shooting digital has me leave the day with ‘a lot of shots’…. as opposed to 2 full days of shooting with film and only a few rolls. Digital is just taking shot, after shot after shot. After all, a benefit is that those shots are ‘free’….yeah! But with that lack of expense outlay, I find myself being less picky, less thinking….less experiencing each shot.

Bottom line…. as I have stated in previous blogs….my film shots just make me more creative and less reliant on just snapping away. The end result in numbers of WOW shots is about even, but that experience, oh that experience of film is the greatest intangible I can think of, and is what continually draws me back to photography.

For this recent trip to Australia, I am a bit remorseful in that I didn’t bring my Leica MA or my Olympus OM-1. Next time….they are in the bag.

I still have a few days left but not sure if I will get much of an opportunity to shoot, with the exception of ‘family’ like shots. I envision a few with my Leica with grandkids and scooters and yes, film..