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.

Experimentation

Change, I am into it dude….. but alas, others sink in quicksand until their hand, grasping to ‘yesterday’ which has by now, sunk below the sand line. So , what has been blossoming in my mind? Different film brands…. My latest roll which I shot this morning and just processed this afternoon, was a Svema Black and White 400. Those old Ruskie’s are at it again.

Off the bat in the development process I noticed a few things. First, the negative itself is ultra thin on the Svema film….when compared to a more normal Kodak TriX. This thinness makes it difficult to load onto the spool and I had to take care to not cause a rip or notch in the negative roll, making it impossible to roll onto the spool. Also, the film, as one winds it on the spool, has this inherent crinkly-like sound, much like some of those baby rattles that have crinkly material attached to excite the little critter.

Once wound….it takes twice as long to develop at 1+1 going the distance at 20 min instead of 9-12 minutes for TriX. But since I am AA (Anal for Analog), I found I ate up up those extra minutes and enjoyed the tactile nature of agitating a film tank for an additional 10 minutes. I told you…AA. The more I can postpone scanning the film and entering the strange world of the digital peeps, the more attuned I feel to the entire process.

Oh, let me mention uniqueness. The film type renders a unique look. Listen folks….don’t listen to those subscriber hungry You Tuber’s who speak to the film camera itself as if ‘it’ is the missing variable in the world of unique image play. The camera is just a box man. It takes the image and that’s it. Nada mas (at least in the film mode), although, yes….some film cameras are more advanced with Spot Metering or having an Exposure dial but those are not the norm. Even the infamous Leica M3 or the newer version Leica MA, lack those features. So that unique look really comes down to the film itself + lens selection + your own skills playing with the exposure triangle. Not sure what that is? Look it up……

So given my lean towards film experimentation, in the past few weeks I have used Kodak TriX, Fomapan, Kino Monolit, Lomograph Berlin Kino, Arista and now Svema. I like it….oddity. Uniqueness. Un-norm-like. Some might even state some of my images as ‘errors’ or faulty film or bad image taking etc… Heck, who cares.

journaling

I like project photography….as evident by a few blogs uploaded. To compliment that I want to addressing the concept of ‘journaling’… It is a simple process but one that adds to your overall result.

In life….we meander, don’t we? Today we do ‘this’, yesterday we did ‘that’….two weeks or a month or 6 months ago we did ‘this and that’…. It all adds up, but usually our ‘this’s and that’s ‘ run together and we forget what we did. Like a snake crawling in the grass, we meander, we eventually get someplace but in the process we fail to record in images alone; the big picture.

That is where journaling comes into play. I started to journal about my photography 8-9 years ago when I was leading a group of birders into the jungles of Ecuador to bird. I journaled where we were, what Tom saw, or how Pete tripped on a log etc . Since that adventure, and not so soon after, I began the journaling process for my street photography.

So what is in the box? I journal about the mechanics, the light….what I captured and where. I journal about my thoughts and what worked or what I needed to return to. I journal about my reflections too. For you see, since I enjoy social documentary and I couple it with photo-projects, my journals become one element to the finished product. I carry around a small notebook and make a point to record the day. When my images come to life, not only do they speak to the event recorded on the negative but the journal adds a new dimension to how that shot was taken and why.

I enjoy it….

Projects

Hey dude….too many photos… and I shoot film!!! Imagine if I shot digital and came back from a vacation with a thousand downloads. Dah; then what? Then I would have to select ‘A’ photo from essentially 20 identical posed shots which occurred during the same scene/photo —all the time looking for the perfect one.

Lucky I shoot film, eh? Yet admittedly, even shooting film rends me with multiple boxes of stored negatives not to mention how many I have scanned to a digital file. But is it really the numbers game; or hold up, back up….return to the point where you haven’t even taken a shot. Ask yourself….what am I shooting? And when you do that, you find the real issue at hand.

“What am I taking photo’s of and why?” For years my idea of street photography was what many people did, done, continue to do….shoot anything that moves or looks cool, or shoot the bum on the street or totally mindless ‘tourist shots’ that belong on postcards, or look for insane anal features such as capturing nosehairs or butt cracks. Whoa Dude…. I soon bored of that. The same ole crap that gets posted to Photo websites as ‘art’ becomes mindless dribble and even then, then what? Tons of photographs/negatives (since I shoot film) and again, then what?

So listen man…take some advice from an old fart photographer….I ‘Project-out’ my photo-ops. IE: as a typical photo-shoot goes: I load my film, grab my lens and lock the door knowing that I walk out that same door with a true purpose in mind as I walk the streets. Mentally I have zoned in on a certain topic and know what to look for. I have peripheral mental vision as opposed to aimlessly wandering and shooting and coming home with “tourist / postcard?” photographs.

If you look at my photos in the navigation section of my site, you will see that some of my broad topics include a ‘Zine Option Available’. Those are the projects that I have turned into projects. You will also note that I have many other photographs but they are my aimless ones, although categorized. When I want to project them out, I will re-visit those photographs and like a musician creating a song, I will begin to orchestrate my project based photo theme. What do I have, what do I need….. You get it. I orchestrate it. I find what works, get a feel of where I want to be….and go out shooting with that in mind.

Try it….you will begin to find more meaning in your photographs, more purpose. Don’t become The Dude as in the Big Lebowski. Be a photographer with purpose…No aimless wandering…no Tourist Postcard photographs.

Just shoot Film if you Want 'IT" to look like Film...Dah!!

Years back I bought a new car…my first new car. This was in 1981. Yikes…. I wanted a Honda Sedan and when I went to the dealer, the cost of the new car was over my price point being around $6,000. My brother-in-law sold Subaru’s and convinced me that the Subaru Sedan was just like the Honda Accord and was $1000 cheaper, so I bought it. I wanted a Honda and got a Subaru. I can’t complain for I had that Subaru for 15 years so it was a good investment.

But the point was,…I wanted a Honda. I got a Subaru which at the time was a Honda Wanna-be. I learned my lesson 42 years ago. Buy a Honda if you want a Honda, or buy ‘anything’ you want if you want it and forget the ‘wanna-be’s’.

Point now……. I was watching some You Tube videos as people today are always trying to get a film like look/ experience….feel etc….from a Digital camera. They want digital but want it to be ‘film’ and look like film. Well, why go for the film-wanna-be in the first place? Buy a film camera and shoot film if you want film. Pretty easy; really.

Shoot with a Purpose...

I have evolved as a photographer….. and I like that. As a former educator, this shows me that I continue to be a life-long learner…. I evolve, adapt and adopt….

I won’t get into the ‘evolution itself’…as why bore you? But I will state my intent now…. While I still shoot street and still shoot Black and White and still shoot Analog, my evolution has taken me beyond from just shooting street photos. I now shoot with a purpose, a social documentary one.

For instance…… I have a ZINE out entitled “No Eye’s Upon Me’….where I sat on the streets of Philadelphia like a homeless person and shot from the pavement/cement….with my butt sitting on the sidewalk and my eyes looking “UP”… I wanted to take photo’s from that angle and document what ‘that person’ viewed.

I did it…. I took my camera out and knew that no one would really look at me (which they didn’t do) so my camera was not a problem. I shot…. I framed and shot by guess. I succeeded in gathering images of people staring away, busy on their phones…looking up, down…across….over, under…anyway but ‘at me’…. You can purchase a copy of my Zine for $10….just email me at lehmannmath@yahoo.com

Other ZINES to Purchase:

Urban Life: Philadelphia Street Photography Series 1
Off Season: Life on the New Jersey Coast in the off season
Caressing Light: Shots of light ‘borrowed’ as it caresses off scenes/people.

Well, that is just one of my ‘purposes’ and I have more. But the point I am making is to challenge yourself and go beyond a postcard-like shot. Go beyond returning home with your digital camera and having a 1,000 images to sift thru. What are you going to do with them all anyhow?

Find a purpose…..stick with it and shoot it. Go out with that purpose in mind and let your eyes wander the streets for that image that relates to your purpose. Be selective…. Shoot with style and art. Be creative. Evolve as a photographer.

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..

Why I enjoy my film cameras....(again)

What gives?…. I usually find myself on the opposite end of any fashion, be it clothing, cars….pop culture and yes, photography. I love film.

Don’t get me wrong for I have shot digital since it came out, just like many people. I can recall when I worked in sales/business, where I won a camera as a prize for winning a sales contest, and I was given this modern camera that had “auto mode” …The tech was fabulous and that was in the early 80’s.

I can remember dumping my film cameras and picking up tech from that point…digital camera’s…yeah!!!! But something happened between that time and lets say…..13 years ago. I dumped my digitals and picked up film once more. Yes film…… and let me layout a me reasoning here. First…what eventually were ‘bugging points’ about digital and second, what are my ‘love handles’ for film.

Digital Bugging Points:

First….I got tired of a 1000 shots (or seemingly) every time I would venture out with my digital camera. Like a machine gun; ratta-tat-tat….ratta-tat-tat….ratta-tat-tat, ratty-tat-tat. But I remember distinctly (during and after the capturing process) telling myself that somewhere within that ratta-tat-tat, that there was bound to be one good photo.

Second…photography became easy. Even 13 years ago the ‘skill’…the ‘challenge’…the process of taking a shot was just stale. Like an old lady…a dry piece of bread. Not sure how best to describe but the word ‘stale’ comes to mind. I walk out the door and just press the button and, yes….place in auto-mode please. Auto-focus, aperture priority….ISO at 20,000 or whatever….take a shot. Wow, wasn’t that fun. Let me pat myself on the back or….should I say, pat the camera on the back.

Third….I would have those same 1000 images to go thru in photoshop. I might spend days on the computer pouring over shots that were essentially the same and yet taken ‘nano-seconds’ apart…. “Let me see, which one of these exact same 20 photo’s looks better than the others. Okay, that one, I guess. Now for the next grouping of 20, and the next and the next until I get to the end of what that memory card holds. Now, how to store all of these and where and how and will I really ever look at them much again? I am imaged out man….It is like the postal system and never runs out. More mail….mail today, mail tomorrow and mail the next day. Images now, a 100 tomorrow, 500 the next day, 200 the day after ….. I am going “postal’….Help me…..

Fourth…no character, just looking for total sharpness. Can I see that person’s nose hair? Blow up the shot to 200% on photoshop and what does it look like? Perfect, right? If not…toss it. Is the image in correct exposure? Do I need to do something in photoshop that might take me hours to produce, just so I can gain perfection…total sharpness….anality to the nth degree in all aspects…. EEEEEEK…. turn off that computer. Stand up and say “I am as crazy as hell and am not going to take it anymore. “….

Now….for the Aspect of Wanting FILM:

Those and other reasons just led me to film. Film demands for me to not only ‘be in the zone’ when I take it, but film provides a very tactile experience for me and film simply has character. Let me speak to that first—-character.

Character…. what is it? It can be deep shadows…..roughness in how they look and play against the whites and grays. Just look at that photo I have to the left, or just go thru my ‘pages’ and view my projects. Do you see the difference between my film and your digital? If so….you have found character. Oh, scratches, and dust and water marks are also character. Together, they represent an image that just has mood. I love it. It is like being forgiving with your lover who might be carrying a bit more weight than normal, or ‘goes off on a dime’ and freaks out about some odd thing she/he heard about. Sure, they drive you nuts but ….you still love them. You make love to them despite the flaws because it is those same flaws that allow the hormones and juices to flow for desire and lust.

How about tactile feel….. The minute I open up the canister with the film and just exist…(look ma, no hands)…. I smell the film. mmmmmm, it smells rich. It immediately takes me back to my entire 60+ years of life when I would load film and that ‘odor’, so unique to film, connects me to my past. Then I load the film….stretch it out, …hit the sprockets….feel it catch and take a few blank shutter presses. I haven’t even taken a shot and yet, look at the tactile-ness I have hit upon. Like feeling your lover’s body….knowing their skin…knowing their spots that emit a sharpness of breath, a gasp…a moan….a release. Without your sense of feel making love….you lack that pure lushness within.

Now….in taking the shot—-depending on my camera but since I use old film camera’s …well, I do it all. I go thru the steps of the entire process….… Know how connected I become to each image I shoot. I don’t press the shutter just to press. Rather, I approach each shot as a piece of art. Carefully I craft the image with settings, scene….composition etc. One shot….not 20-30 ratta-tat-tats…..no, one shot. Then I move on. Sure, I might move around the scene a bit and take another shot, but not 20 in the same area. I slow down…my mannerisms are keen to what is around me more so as I take only one shot. What will work best. My tactileness of knowing the situation and scene. I bend low….on my knees….I turn sideways or cramp into a corner. I take a step back or forward. I take a shot…..one shot. I take my time as I take one shot, I caress the scene and merge with the light. I make love with my eyes as I am captured by the beauty in front of me as I have control….I manipulate my hands and fingers onto the camera and settings. Hago amor….ah, one shot.

That shot…the pressing of the shutter….a snap, a mechanical noise of a ‘click’…. Each camera of mine has a different click…The Olympus OM-1…Canon AE-1…Leica MA…. Barnacks model 1 and 11…. ooooooo, that click is so unique. When I press the shutter I know, ….I just know I took a shot. I feel it in the release of the shutter let alone that sound. But that sound….oh that sound. My senses are enlightened….my breath is faster…. I am drawn to that sound. It is like a moan during an erotic intense love act…. I am drawn to wanting more. That click….that sound, so akin to my lover releasing ….a shallow groan, a drive for one more….not over yet…one more…… It just draws one to do more. …..hmmmmmm.

In the zone…….establishing a quiet mind. You can’t do any artistic project and not have a quiet mind. One always needs to shed themselves of worries, ….work, family stress etc before doing photography. This is no different for digital as it is for film. But, the process of getting into the quiet mind or ‘the zone’, for me….is partially developed in the beginning. You know I love the forwarding of film as I twist the knob 360 degrees…. Then it stops. I am ready. I have advanced the film and I am ready. I am in the zone my mind is quiet. My brain is totally on the next ‘one shot’ …Is it just ahead, or around the bend, or on the sidewalk, or above or to the side. Not sure, but I know I am in the zone, I have a quiet mind. This is why I hardly ever take good photo’s when out with a group, big or small…..I just don’t get in the zone. I also don’t get in the zone when I know I have endless shots. No sir….with my film, I have at most….36 and that is if the roll is brand new to begin with. But usually I shoot at most 12 or so images in a 2-3 hour walk. Twelve (12)…. for I force myself to be in a zone. With digital, I take a 1,000 or even a 100 but I don’t take just 12. Now, I can…..but I don’t. It is just the culture behind digital as opposed to the culture of thought behind film. If you are in love with a person, you know what it is like to be in that ‘true zone’.. The mind stays in focus, your brain becomes one-dimensional and you slow move in unison with scene as you undress it…play with it…. make the scene come to you…allow it to open, be open…. be vulnerable.

All done…… the roll is done, when that might be. I have to now rewind the film and reload. Again, tactile….smells, feel, sense…..touch….grabbing and pulling and turning. When home again, …..the entire experience of the developmental process. Some people complain that for every few rolls (two per tank) that they have to spend 30-40 minutes in the dark room. Complain..? What….this is fun time for me. This is creative time…..judging and calibrating my time I want or the shots I have and how much I might want to add to the contrast or development of each roll…. I love this ‘me time’…again, my ‘in the zone time’ but at the other end…… This is when I am spent…..I lie almost in a corner, tired….my energy at a low…. ready to rest. I have captured a love.

And of course when all is said, it is pulling the film from the tank, unraveling it from the spool and catching that first glimpse of actual images on the negatives. Too light? Too dark? Just right? ….either way I pull and hang. I run my fingers over to get rid of most of the water drops and feel it as I snap the water off at the end of the strand. I leave my film to dry, like a pair of women nylon stockings hanging in the bathtub…..an allure that makes me return. Left over cuts of film lay on the floor like underwear torn off in a rage of want and desire.

I love film………