Tactile

I speak of it often….the value of ‘tactile’ or tactility, if a word exists. I speak of it for I live it, daily. Every day when I take my film camera’s out for a walk-about, I get all tactile inside.

Let me just take one aspect of the tactile movement as it relates to my cameras. The film advance. Taking my right thumb and moving the film advance lever is a remarkable soothing action. Pure mediation comes into my mind with that simply physical act.

The beauty is that this ‘action’…..the feel of that tactility, will vary with my cameras. For instance, when I shoot my Leica’s, oh boy…..melted butter comes to mind. My thumb movement just slides. The sound is an adorable soft mechanical blurrrrrrrr…….. Heaven comes to mind. As stated earlier, this is where my meditative process begins to sink in. Thumb action…..soft blur…….a moan

My Olympus OM’s differ depending on the OM model. The OM1 differs slightly from the OM2. Together the sound and feel is greatly different from the Leica’s. The OM’s are more stiff….audibly more mechanical by nature. Inherently they provide a deeper tactility than the Leica just because they lack that butter smooth Leica movement, a movement I am sure was carefully crafted by Leica engineers. None the less, the OM’s offer tactility but on a different plane.

I possess other cameras as well that equate with a different range of Tactility. IE…my 1915-1920 Kodak Brownie has this soft difficult knob to turn and I have to view to see how far to turn. Am I there yet? Is the film advanced? My Kodak Retina has this odd reverse sided film advance that is placed at the bottom of the camera as opposed to the top. A different finger placement is needed all-told but the meditative effect is high just the same. I have older Leica’s such as my model A. (circa 1929) where I turn the sprocket knob to advance film. The knob is metallic and has a pull to it, not preventing advancement but as a photographer, I do know I have to turn it about one complete turn of the dial as I can visually see the film number gauge move from 1 to 2 or 5 to 6 etc.

In every and all cases……I go out….shoot….viola….I am in love.

Leica X2

If you read my postings you can conclude I have an affair with ‘film’….TriX or possible Fomapan 400. You can say I have duel mistresses.

I find myself in Australia….Melbourne to be exact. While I took my Ricoh GR Film camera and have shot, well….just a bit, I have concentrated more on my Ricoh GR111 or my Leica X2. Up till now, if not film, I shot Ricoh GR111. But I wanted to challenge myself a bit and see how I could turn the Leica X2 into a filmenesque look.

The last time I shot the Leica X2, I shot….viewed, and then laid it down knowing that while it is super sharp and a great digital overall from 2012, it lacked that film feel. But not so fast…I challenged myself to make it so. The past few days I have probably walked 15 miles around Melbourne (not downtown) and have experimented with settings, light….exposure, shutter etc and to my surprise, I feel I have almost more of a film look from the Leica than I do from the Ricoh….wow, go figure.

What is lacking from the Leica is the character within the light/shadows….. I just can’t get the same. But I can get ‘film’ out of digital. I have Character in the blur! … the dark shadows although not the same texture as the Ricoh, still none-the-less….bold, thick blacks which encase a person’s face or play with the edges as the eyes are led down thru the image. I am excited about the Leica. At the moment (and this includes three weeks worth of playing with the camera ‘down under”…) I have 158 shots. Not all are good, but most are acceptable in what I am looking for, just not all in the composition of what is being viewed. But hey, that is okay as that is what photography is all about. Shoot…shoot…shoot…shoot…and continue to do that and perhaps you will find one or two you like. Don’t get disappointed but keep shooting.

But I had presented myself with a challenge….turn the digital Leica X2 into an Analog/film, and I am successful. Now my only problem is when I wake up each day to go for my photo strolls, which camera do I take? Ricoh Film? Ricoh GR111 or Leica X2? ….Decisions, oh the decisions we must make in life.