A Personal Challenge.

This is what having a digital camera does to me.

Awhile back, I challenged myself to shoot a roll of black and white film in a day. I failed. It took the better part of two weeks. To be fair, the day I picked was a school day and I had a lot of other responsibilities, but it kinda hurt to realize what I used to be able to do in 15 minutes I couldn’t get done in 8 hours. I used the Hasselblad, which creates 12 6cm by 6cm images on a single roll.

You’re doing the math right. I took the better part of two weeks to shoot 12 pictures with a camera I used to use all the time. It made me feel like I was losing my touch. There’s something about using medium format film that makes the photographic process slow down: Click the meter, check the light, think about where the image wants to be, recheck the light, focus the camera, set the aperture and shutter speed, frame it up, push the button, advance the film… It gets to be a mantra, but it’s a slow, measured way to make images. Moreover, there’s the singular joy of waiting for the film to come back. I knew a guy who described it as “Christmas morning, every time.”

Anyway, that small trip down memory lane is only to set the stage for this image and the few others coming down the pike.

Say Cheese.

I was looking back through old stuff on flickr and “found” this in my photostream.

I uploaded it just over two years ago, but I distinctly recall shooting it when my wife was pregnant with my daughter. I made the mistake of going to NYC with a big heavy film camera instead of either a smaller film camera or a digital camera and still I managed to score this one. I wonder if it wouldn’t have looked better shot through a Holga…

In the Center Ring.

I’m not as good at taking pictures of “things” as I think other people are. It’s something about myself that I routinely wish to change so when the opportunity to practice comes, I try to grab it.

I’d found this collection of stuff while wending my way to D.C. a couple of weeks ago and decided to seek it out again. The circus tent that had been there was gone, but the man who owned it all was amiable enough to let me wander around.

Here are a few of the images I got that I liked.

The View From Here.

This was fun. Two cameras, one subject, same vantage:

Hasselblad.

Holga.

Baggage, Or The Ultimate Found Photo.

Anyone who has a thing for cameras and gets them used will tell you that from time to time, there’s film that someone else exposed (or shot, depending on what the pictures look like, I guess) left in the cameras. Such is what happened to me when I got my first Hasselblad.

It had a roll of some kind of Kodak film in it. I dropped it at the local camera store (and this has got to be almost 10 years ago) so I could see what treasures awaited me.

When I got the film back, it was woefully dark. I tried to print a contact sheet to get a feel for what was there and couldn’t see anything. I quickly gave up but never got rid of the negs. Imagine my surprise when I scanned a couple the other day to find that there were really images there.

Someone had a holiday at the shore apparently. The rest of the story is up to your imagination. If this kind of thing intrigues you, do a quick google search for “found photos” and have a good time. This magazine may also interest you, though it’s not just photographs.

Even in the Cold.

Got the film back from the sooper cold day that the Hasselblad gave up. I was kinda thinking that none of it would come out. A lot of what came out was wonky, and there were several frames that just didn’t expose.

Despite that, there were some definite keepers and happy accidents. Oh, and it turns out that the camera loves Sarah.

nb: The new body came today. Now I have two and the question is, “Do I need two?” I think we all know the answer to that one, my friends. Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving.

Doofus at Work.

Joe over at Brainchild Collective shot these images while I was shooting one of the surfers in the series. Since I was shooting film, he picked my digital camera up while I was working and grabbed these two, among others. If I may say so myself, I look like I know what I’m doing — which is probably and indication of what a great actor I’d make. I don’t even look as fat as I am in real life. Whoa.

There’s something cool about having “behind the scenes” shots of stuff, despite the fact that nothing really amazing happens behind the scenes. Thanks, Joe.

Flat Out Jealous.

Witness the coolness that is Alicia J. Rose:

This is probably my fave of all of her stuff.

In the current issue of Rangefinder magazine, there’s a cool interview with her that details how she makes some of the magic you can find if you wander over to her website. If you’re interested, they send the magazine to folks for free, just for asking.

I originally “met” her (in the way that you can meet people over the internets without ever touching skin) when I discovered that she was one of the principal photographers for a band I really like, The Decemberists. What’s amazing about the pictures she crafts is that they’re all done on film. Have a look at her flickr stream. Who on earth is that prolific using a plain old Hasselblad anymore?

I’m over the moon about her work and catching her in a publication that I read was an added bonus.

Hence my jealousy. (grin)

GOYA

Over at Flickr, there’s a guy (his work is also here) who set up a small group called GOYA. It means “get off your ass,” although, for the purposes of alienating the smallest number of people, the group says “arse.” It’s a group that’s dedicated not only to photography, but to making photographers think out of their usual boxes.

In the words of the group’s creator:

GOYA is a challenge. A challenge to get out there and make new work that is a departure from something you normally shoot. Normally, I’m shooting portraits of musicians and entertainers. So GOYA for me is to go out and shoot portraits of strangers, street people, or to get out of the portrait realm and shoot still life, nature, etc. Subjects I don’t shoot for pay.

It was with this idea in mind that I took a few hours out of my weekend to shoot some black and white film. It’d been a long time since I’d done anything of note on purpose, so I packed up the camera and drove around to a few places I pass regularly and went back to them to make photographs. I’m not sure anything of import will come of them, but it was fun to go out and “push the button” for awhile.

I sometimes forget how much fun it is looking through the square viewfinder of the old camera rather than the much smaller digital 35mm. The world is more luminous. It’s more interesting. Something about the optics of the Hasselblad makes everything look dreamier than it is in real life.

I may process the film (and actually, the roll of film I shot while we were in England a few weeks back). It may be a few days before I can scan them, but in any case, I’ll post to crow (or rant, more likely) about my results.

Oh, and I may have an entertaining announcement within the week. Gimme some time…

(And for what it’s worth, Chase Jarvis posted a bit on his blog that talks about photographers finding inspiration here. He’s turned it into something of series. After you’re done, get off your own arse.)