b/w Photography: Gear

Hello!

regular readers might be familiar with my vegetable cooler. It used to house mealworms in spring-time. New season, new purpose!

ready to go with a decent film stock at hand

About one and a half years ago, I sat at the legendary Café Jelinek in Vienna, chatting with a friend, after-work, talking about this and that, Rome and fashion and suddenly I came up with the idea of buying a pre-loved Nikon F4. The legend! Out of reach – moneywise – in my teenage years. See, I still know the name, having admired the famous camera only from the distance. Instead I teamed up with a Yashica FX-7, which turned out to be a reliable tool, it's still in use

The friend – a professional photographyer – disagreed: "Why buy a 35mm camera? F4? You should try medium format, that might be something for you"

It did not take long and I came home with this camera in my hands:

Yashica Mat 124-G

Binocular system

3 reasons why I favoured this camera over others:

1. no mirror

I look through an additional lens - the binocular system.  No mirror means, there is no flipping, no shaking, when the mirror moves. The binocular Yashica Mat allows slow speed, handheld - 1/30, 1/15 - no problem

2. light weight

The complete camera weighs less than a Hasselblad body. Trying various cameras, I noticed several reasons, why the Hasselblad is not for me. Mainly because my hands are too small. A friend, she is a photographer, gave me one advice: hold it and see how it feels. If it does not feel right in your hands, it's not right for you, no matter how phantastic the specs are.

  

3. built-in light meter

The light meter is nice. In the long run I teamed up with a hand held light meter. The camera needs a exotic battery, mercury free, which has a shorter life span, compared to the original mercury batteries in the 1970's. Ever 3-4 months approx. 9 EUR. 

Ordinary sky, seen on a digital camera display

The ordinary sky suddenly becomes special

6 months later a friend de-cluttered his closets, mainly camera gear. He knew about of my renewed passion for analogue photography ... 

Canon AE-1: Love!

I had no idea what a difference the gear makes until I started shooting with the Canon AE-1

Canon AE-1 and Viviar 70mm-150mm lens

The 70-150mm and I did not team up very well at the beginning. The 150mm zoom did not suffice for my needs when I wanted to capture details on facades etc. It did not make any sense, until ... well, until I heard read about 80mm & portrait!!

Our youngest family member is a Labradoodle: Luna

Both cameras – the Yashica Mat and the Canon AE-1 fit in this backbag:

KATA backbag

KATA was a legend. Was – because unfortuantely, KATA is no longer. Manfrotto bought KATA a few years ago. From what I've heard, the original  KATA knowhow* and KATA design became part of the Manfrotto pro-line.

Ok. Now you have read a lot about my cameras. And what about black and white? 

To be continued!

The follow-up posting will lead us straight to the dark room

* two Isreali guys, both experienced with weapons founded KATA. Their bags provided maximum protection for (all kinds of) gear. 

News from a Darkroom aka I Believe in Film

Hello!

(very) long time no see.

There has been quite something going on since June.

First, I went to far away place, where safety nets, norms and codes are less established than in the EC. The place is Russia, Siberia to be precise. Don't get me wrong: I need this confrontation once in a while, makes us alert in a good way!

en route in Krasnojarsk, Siberia
[The next moment a mother with a baby on her arm came our way. You could tell by the different speeds where I come from and what she is used to experience.]

The day I returned I found myself entering a new kind of adventure, an adventure that speaks to my heart and soul: the darkroom. Not the other one. The real thing, the one that comes with chemicals and stacks of paper. At night, after work.

This was August. Now, on the last day of September I can look back and ... gasp. I think got really far within the past two months.

There is a lot happening in my life. Not that I am saying blogging mirrors the episodes of my life where nothing happens. It's just that all that is happening is sort of analogue: the ride on the Transsiberian train was offline. The black and white prints looks best when held in two hands.

I am glad that I do spend a lot of time off the computer at night. Developing and printing in the darkroom comes with the #1 rule: "No eating, no drinking in the darkroom", which is actuelly also quite nice, sizewise.

I will probably not invest in a super-pretty-scanner. So all that I can present here for the moment are rather poor scans  – from incredible beautiful photos.


I am almost sure I am going to dig deeper into the whole darkroom magic, show you around, let you take part at the experience. Meanwhile I hope you enjoy the light this autumn provides as much as I do. In the end it's all about light. Speaking if light and highlights: did you notice the bizarre comeback of glitter and tinsel in fashion? All the sneakers sparkling in pink, green, gold. I might actually go for one pair of those. Could be a nice counter balance for all the black & white aesthetics that dominate my senses these days.

Let me finish with the poor scans I referred to above:

Little Mia (3 months) and her proud mother

The weeping willow served as perfect setting for the shooting. The baby never got tired of looking at the tree. What I like about this photo: how they all look in different directions and still form an entity.

Yes, I did ask the family if it is OK to post the photos. Of course!) There is so much I love about the photos, the setting ...

 The afternoon light in Vienna never ceases to impress me.

 This room welcomes me when I leave the darkroom. Lucky me!

 Earlier this week, at night: HP5+ pushed to 3200

Yesterday I developed another film (last 2 photos above) entirely by myself. I printed the photos by myself and – exceptional for my standards - I did not follow the rules when taking the photos (expose 400ASA the way it's meant to be exposed) but pushed the film up to 3200ASA which allows me to take hand held photos, without a flash, at night. Ok, ok, I am drifting off into details.

What I am trying to say: I am enjoying this new, old* chapter in my life.


In case you visit Vienna until January, I can highly recommend the exhibition "Black & White" at the Albertina. The real stuff, made of gelatine and silver.

thank you for reading!
Paula
 
* been there in 1988 :-)