A Return to Film - A trip toward simplicity. A trip toward the real raw image.

 OK, so I have and often still do shoot digital camera’s and have nothing at all against them, the process, the convenience or the ability to view and share the images digitally. I completely understand the benefits that digital photography provides. The vastly more efficient workflows, the commercial efficiency, the ease of incorporating the images into other materials. Digital simply makes sense. Is it superior? Well that is the wrong question in my mind. It is certainly different. It is in its own way a technical improvement as photography was a technical improvement form human capture of images by sketching or painting. But sketching and painting are what they are. They are human and interactive. They are different. Analog film photography is much the same. It is a medium like sketching, or printmaking, or painting. But so is digital photography. It is a medium. It is a similar medium and yet a different medium. Digital photography is derivative of the algorithms the digital camera makers build into their cameras. Film is derivative of the formulation of the film and the chemistry that is used to develop it, to print it. 

Over the past few months I have been assembling tools, camera equipment, to again dive into film photography. In some ways this is return pilgrimage to where I started with this so many years ago and to a place I have returned to at several times along this life journey. This has been an on and off relationship with film photography that has interested me, drawn me back so many times before and does so again. I have been over the time assembling various 4x5 camera gear and lenses. I have also been looking at cameras that are a bit more transportable. 120 film cameras that fold up and fit into your pocket. The common man folding cameras that shoot 120 film. A Ventura 66 Deluxe, “US Zone, 6x6 format and an Ansco Viking 6x9 format folder. They are simple. Lens, shutter, aperture, bellows, and film advance winding spools. No built in meter, no automation, just photographer, simple camera and film. Then to be processed and printed in a darkroom. Now we would likely scan the negatives to allow it to be shared and viewed online. Another, even simpler camera is a plastic 4x5 camera outfit without a lens but instead a pinhole. The camera obscura. The simplest of cameras. Instead of 4x5 film holders I equipped it with an old Graflex Graphic 22, 120 film holder 6x6 format film holder. So now we are off on another simple journey. Another adventure in film photography. Focused on the images. Not the technology or the convenience. The simplicity. The human interaction with subject, simple device, light and film. Not easy. the real raw image capture system. 

Ansco 6x9 and Ventura Deluxe 66

Ventura 66 and Ansco 6x9 

Chinese Plastic 4x5 Camera with Graflex 22

Chinese 4x5 with Pinhole lens

Chines Pinhole camera with Graflex 22 120 6x6 film back 

Graflex Crown Graphic Rehabilitation Project Starts

New Years day project starts

It is really silly that someone who takes as many photos as I do started a project without photos of the original condition. I can't believe that I did not take pictures before I started, I thought I had but cannot find them now. Oh well! Back in September of 2013, in a quest to find a light camera to replace my Sinar F for shooting 4x5 film outdoors, I purchased an old Graflex Crown Graphic, early 50's from the serial number list on Graflex.org. It was in really quite rugged shape but did not cost much $123 plus $12 in shipping at auction on Ebay. The lens has fungus and many cleaning scratches, the shutter sticks on slow speeds, the bellows leaks, looks like 5 holes in all at the corners and the leather the leather covering was shot. From what I can tell this camera was likely in a flood. As it came from down south it might have been a hurricane. Regardless this camera has been badly abused. The leather and paint was cracked and pealing especially on the front bed but really on the wood parts as well. But she is complete with all her parts and the working mechanisms seem to function fine. When I realized she was going to take a fair amount of work to make into a working camera again I decided to put her aside and I purchased a bargain price Graflex Super Graphic which is now all set up as a working camera with my glass from the Sinar.

So over the New Years holiday I started the job of figuring out what to do with her. I had come to the conclusion that I was not going to try to restore her. I just wasn't in the mood to buy leather and do the whole recovering thing and have seen some nice looking Graflex cameras with the leather removed. Since the leather on mine was in such bad shape I have decided to go that direction. Hard decision but I plan on exposing and refinishing her mahogany wood box. I plan on stripping the old paint off of the painted graphlock back and other metal parts and repainting them. Still not determined if I am going to paint or leave bare the drop bed. I have seen them both ways.  I may put the view finder that mounts on top back on but may leave the rangefinder off for weight savings. Since I would likely use her as a handheld so I might be looking for a replacement lens and shutter that works. Plenty seem to exist and if I am patient I hope to not pay too much for. I can always use the 135mm I have on my Super Graphic Lens board. I think they are interchangeable.

The leather seems to be glued on with some kind of water soluble glue. so I have been soaking it and gently removing it with a sharp paint scraper being careful not to dig into the wood.  It is coming off fairly easily. The glue on the metal parts is a bit tougher. More photos to follow.



Side view with leather coming off. Bellows has 5 holes at pointed corners, very common!  




Front View

Side view - Leather handle brackets have been removed. Missing bed drop "button".

View of Front Standard, Bellows on this side seems free of holes.

Vivian Maier - An urban street photography addiction

Photograph by Vivian Maier

For many photogrphy is about capturing "pretty" images. I certainly have not issue with landscape photography, the capturing of natural beauty or at times even the sentimental beauty that one sees in a lot of photographic work. The capturing of every day and urban images however is not so easily understood and I have come across several historical photographers that did so with excessive compulsion. They pursued the capture of these images with seemingly little or no outlet or expecation that someone would ever see their work. Like many of us the capture and production of the images was far more important or compelling than the promotion or marketing of these images.

I recently came upon a photographer Vivian Maier,who seems to be quite the unusual example. For starters she is a woman. Aspinsterish woman who supported herself primarily as a nanny who also photographed her world with excessive compulsion. The fact that she was a woman, this single fact may have meant that she did not stand a chance of ever being noticed by an art culture that focused predominantly on men with a few notable exceptions.  As someone who has an affinity for photographing architecture, the urban environment and the more familiar things of may daily world, things not always thought of a "pretty" her work is extrordinary. What an unusual combination this quiet care giver living much of her life in upscale suburbia making these amazing images of the urban, the poor and the ordinary or our world.  These images have a quality to them that are quite compelling. Clearly she worked at her craft as these are not just snapshots. They come out of a deep knowledge and familarity with her subject, tireless compostion and timing and a relentless pursuit that borders on excessive compulsion. She had caputured thousands of images when she died many of which were on rolls of film which had not been developed as she had become destitute and homeless losing access to her darkroom. Take a look at these amazing images and remember that these images were caught on film when you had to calculate your exposure, depth of field in your head and when there were no autofocus or exposure computers. You could not just shoot 40 frames at rapid fire to get it just right.
http://www.vivianmaier.com

New55 Film: New55 and 20x24 demonstrate instant color 8x10 wit...

New55 Film: New55 and 20x24 demonstrate instant color 8x10 wit...

So I was googling around the Internet and found this link. It seems these guys are working on a totally new form of instant photographic film material. It produces positive images and negatives at the same time with little or no waist. Wow! Link to Flicker slide show of images

I will be doing more research into this. This would be a fantastic thing for those of us who would like to find a more logistically feasible analog photographic process that allows us to use our large format cameras!!

The decline of analog photograpy- The Dissapearance of Darkness

As many of you know I have had an interest in photography since I was a kid. I had my first darkroom in the basement of my parents house when I was in 7th or 8th grade and continued to do film photography well through architecture school. Along with another prized possession, my Bach Stradivarius trumpet, my Nikon F and a bunch of lenses I had accumulated were stolen from my first house and for at least a time put an end to my photography hobby. Photography in the intervening years transformed and shortly after we started Oculus Inc., the architecture firm I own with my wife Lisa in 1994, digital camera's such as the Sony Mavica came onto the scene. For pure practicality and utility digital imaging was the way to go as we could immediately share and use the images for work. Photography for me had become both utilitarian and snapshots. Quick captures of project information or kids, family and events. Not seriously working to capture crafted artistic images. While I had been given a replacement film camera it was already pragmatically obsolete as it was much easier to use, even the sluggish, point and shoot digitals for taking work and family photographs. In the intervening decade film sales plummeted. Mirroring the decline of their analog devices/techniques such as hand drafting, typewriting, vinyl records and such, the analog photo industry almost evaporated over night. The speed of its transformation/decline has really been unprecedented in the history of technology. Today while there are very likely more images than ever being taken/captured film for most part is technically obsolete. Yesterday I downloaded and App on my Iphone which is Kodak's limp attempt to promote its very few remaining of analog film products. What was so immediately apparent was just how irrelevant to the society and economy this product has become. The last significant "volume" of film use/manufacture is for the movie industry which will likely be essentially film free for commercial purposes by 2015. Certainly there are a hand full of users who will continue to use film as their chosen media. Film is still capable of creating some of the best, most powerful images. It for the most part has not changed, unless it is no longer manufactured, but the world, technology and the society around it has. I have been seriously considering purchasing a Graflex "Speed Graphic" as a more convenient large format 4x5 camera to my Sinar F. I find the Sinar very difficult to use in the field where most of my artistic photography takes place. In the course of researching the Speed Graphic camera it has become even more apparent that film is still declining. I was researching less expensive black and white films to  use for example and I discovered that Photokemika or Efke had recently, August 2012, stopped production. I had assumed, wrongly it appears, that smaller offbeat companies like this would be able to remain alive serving a boutique market. It appears there is not enough profit for them to repair ancient film coating equipment and it was easier to just close up shop. With both movies and medicine making their last moves away from silver based analog film will there be enough product manufactured available for the dedicated art photographers to continue to practice their art form?

Today I came upon a serious photographer/writer who has been working on a project for that last few years regarding the decline of analog film photography industry. His name is Walter Burley. He has just had a book published about the project "The Disappearance of Darkness". I hope anyone who reads this does not think I am trying to predict the end of film or that I am supporting it. Quite the contrary. I am saddened by this the way I would be saddened by hearing of the passing of an old friend. But my sadness can't change reality. I am wondering however if I should make a continued effort to pursue film as a viable media. Should I invest more in one more camera that I may not use or which film may not be available for? I have a bunch of gear based around the use of film which would all become moot should the materials become too limiting. Already my preferred film choice E100G has been discontinued by Kodak and Fuji will base the continued manufacture of product on financial/commercial viability. We might be artists but they are a company who's purpose is to make money not art.

 

In any case look at Mr. Burley's site and his book. It is serious work about a subject that I value very much. Walter Burley - The Dissapearance of Darkness

The Death of the Merchant of Venice



Mississippi River and Merchants Bridge



A Giant in Decline

The Wound

Her Majesty

St. Louis

Today's post are from a recent series of images shot just North of the down town area of St. Louis. I call this the Death of the Merchant of Venice as it is in and around a recently renovated bridge across the Mississippi called what else the Merchant's Bridge. It connects North St. Louis with Venice IL. Just accross the river into Illinois is an Ameren UE power station which is being demolished. It is a place grand in scale and size as the river, the bridge and the power station as well as the views back toward the city are all grand in scale.

Working with 4x5 Film Camera





Barge Crane and Abandoned Power Station

Chapel Cornice

Tonight's post is of two subjects that I have photographed before. The first is a barge crane on the Mississippi River. Across the river is an abandoned power station. It is an ethereal place. Quiet and vast. This crane stands tall looming against the vista of the powerful yet mostly silent river. These were  photographed with my 4x5 Sinar  F2 and 150mm Schneider Lens using E100G film. The second is the cornice of a chapel at the Bellefontaine Cemetery. The cemetery provides examples of architecture that are more art than function. Most architecture serves two masters being both art and function. But in these temples, tombs and chapels at the cemetery serve little practical purpose being absent of function. Yes the structure must resist the elements but they are of little use but to serve and express the connection that architecture has with our emotions. These classical structures are so rigid in their execution. Still they are are so sculptural and three dimensional.