Analog Love
I got a classic Argus C3 for Christmas from my dad. At first, I didn’t know what to expect. It was old and clunky and the parts didn’t move so well. But it looked cool as hell. So I took it all apart and spent a couple hours cleaning the insides with q-tips and alcohol and then lubing it all up with baby oil. Voila!
Now that I’ve gotten my first roll of photos back, I’m happy to say it takes lovely photos! One thing that made me nervous was that a few times, the shutter release caught on my finger as it was releasing. This made the exposure longer than it was supposed to be, but it resulted in giving those photos a lovely glow!
If you get the chance to buy one of these cameras, I’d highly recommend it!
9:56 pm • 31 January 2012 • view comments
Bergen in the Sun
After forever, there was a day of sun in Bergen. I think it happened the day after I caved and bought rain boots. I had the morning off so I decided to set out early and spend as much time outside as I could stand. Walking and taking pictures, that was the plan. I really wanted to take pictures because all my film cameras struggled in the low light of cloudy Bergen and my poorly lit apartment. I hated to use a flash and I’m no good with them anyway.
So out I went with a loaded camera. An Olympus XA2, it’s really fantastic, especially with 100 speed film.
Immediately after stepping out the door, I felt the strong tendrils of sunlight warm me. It was Fall in Norway and I was wearing a jacket, but as I walked in the sun I was tempted to take it off. I was tempted to take everything off and run naked through the streets, proclaiming the glory of the sun. Humans need sunlight and the more skin I bared, the more sun I’d get. I needed to stock up. Who could say when I would see its yellow glory again? The plan was pure logic and surely people would follow suit, but I wasn’t brave enough to try.
Instead, I set about snapping photos of little animals casting long shadows. I photographed the city, the streets in a new light. Everything seemed fresh. Old felt new. Familiar streets looked foreign as the sun shined into the darkest corners and deepened the shadows that remained.
On a bench in the fountain park I sat, jacketless, and read a few chapters in my book, snapping occasional photos of passersby.
It is a real phenomenon in Bergen that when the sun comes out, the population of the city nearly triples.
6:13 am • 19 December 2011 • view comments
Bit By The Polaroid Bug - Thoughts on SX70 and Impossible Project Film
At the beginning of the summer I got myself a Polaroid SX-70 as a birthday present to myself. I also picked up a bunch of Impossible Project film when they had the super cheap “poor pod” sale.
I’d heard all sorts of stories about how difficult it could be to get a decent image with the experimental film, but I was up to the challenge. I decided to take a picture of all the people I met during my vacation at home.
I’ve been through maybe three or four packs of it now and I gotta say, I’m hooked. It isn’t the easiest film to work with, and not really anything like the old 600 film I have used before, but it works. I can get used to covering the film from light, and even shoving the photos under my arm for the first couple minutes of their life. That’s ok. I can even deal with the photo never really coming out how I pictured it would. That’s part of the fun.
The part I like the least, however, is that some of the films, especially the earliest batches, tend to deteriorate over time. Not necessarily days, but weeks or months after the photos are taken. The silver shade ones especially, tend to drift toward muddy brown. Apparently they sell a dry age kit that consists of a ziplock back and some silica gel (the stuff that comes in new shoes), but I didn’t feel like dropping cash on it. Instead, I’m trying the home-brew method of storing the photos in a (hopefully) airtight box full of rice.
As for the SX-70, all I can really say is wow. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed looking through a viewfinder quite so much before. Everything looks so beautiful through its lens. It can focus super close, has amazing, smooth bokeh, and is bright and clear. Especially after I peeled off the ND filter I had over the lens for the first 3 packs of film. Here’s the thing, you can use px600 and px680 film in the SX-70 no problem if you only crank the brighten/darken wheel all the way to dark. In fact, I find I get much better results doing that than with the ND filter. For starters, you enjoy the luxury of faster film so less nerve-wracking long exposures.
One question I often ask myself, when I feel that my camera addiction gets out of hand, is if I had to chose just one camera to keep and get rid of every other camera, what would it be. It is such an incredibly hard question. But, I can definitely say now that if the film were as affordable and readily available as, say medium format film, then I would definitely choose this camera. Instead, I’m stuck having no idea as my camera collection grows and grows.
9:16 pm • 30 September 2011 • view comments
A Brief Moment on a Latvian Train Between Riga and Jumala
Now we are sitting on a Latvian train to Jumala (or something). I bought another Zorki 4 camera just because it has lug bolts (for a strap). I also got this little notebook and pen.
The train bangs loudly on the tracks reminding me of an old wooden roller coaster I once rode. One door swings ajar on its hinges while one sliding compartment door supports itself on the floor.
I point out the window and remark how the nature looks like Africa. The comment is half in jest, but it really does have a wild feel to it. Just like the city.
The trees are overflowing with hanging leaves, the grass is tall and untamed.
The roller coaster begins again as we depart from our first stop. The further we get from the tourist center of the city, the more things seem to be in disrepair. Crumbling brick buildings, reminiscent of castles of old.
I wonder what this town had looked like when all the buildings were new. Or if there ever was a time when everything was new, and when that time might have been. Surely not while Latvia was in the Soviet Union. Or maybe.
The train passes uncountable numbers of empty, vast factories with broken windows and crumbling walls. It’s hard to imagine those places filled with workers and machinery and energy.
1:10 pm • 26 September 2011 • view comments
23
I’m at a stage in my life where I feel like I’m being pulled in many directions at the same time. There are so many possibilities that I’m afraid to do anything so I don’t close all the other doors. I feel that right now, I am at the point where I choose what I will do and what will define me for the rest of my life. I have to decide if I’ll take a hard, high-risk approach or try to do something safer. And the worst part is just how long this decision takes. Like right now, I’m somewhere in between the risky and the safe and I can’t chose which side of the fence to jump down on.
But the thing is, what I do now, that doesn’t have to be what I do forever. It’s really hard for me to internalize that. A job that I work now, a place that I live now, that isn’t set in stone for the rest of my life. Things are always changing. Sure, taking some opportunities makes you lose out on some others. But the alternative is taking no opportunities and losing out on all of them. Honestly, I’m writing this to help myself, mostly. Hopefully, by saying it out to the world, I’ll really take it to heart. I’m 23, I’ll figure something out.
For now, traveling around hasn’t been so bad. Soon, I’ll start a one man company so I can start accepting freelance payments. Not a bad start. Maybe starting a small company like that will help me get some useful experience for eventually opening a coffee shop. I know that sometimes I want everything to happen now, at this moment, but some things are worth waiting for. At least for a little while.
10:33 pm • 24 September 2011 • view comments
