I was going through negatives for some direct contact prints today, and found these from earlier in the year at Glen Affric. The first image was shot on my little Lubitel TLR medium format (6×6), the second on the wee foldy Kodak medium format (6×9), the third on the large format (5 x4) and the last was a digital shot from my Nikon.
I like them all. The Lubitel is pure muscle memory, my friend, cheap and cheerful but always produces images I love. The Kodak is trickier to use, and doesn’t have a range finder, but I LOVE the big negatives it produces, and also the images. The 5×4 image is far from perfect, and I really messed up the tilts and focus, but I had SUCH a good time getting it all set up and finally hitting that shutter. And the digital took less than a second, less than a thought, but captured the light shift and the moment I wanted.
Maybe they all look much and much the same. They all offered something to me. I like playing with my photography and these are just tools to help me do that. I like seeing the comparison of the four cameras – something I hadn’t done before!
Which do you prefer? Does the final image negate the zingy feelings of getting to the point of clicking a shutter? Letting the light flood in to hit the film (or sensor). A controlled, tentative and brief meeting followed by fireworks of sorts – a micro moment gone forever. Is that the bang?
I’m a slow photographer these days. I do it for my own curiosity and creativity. I see more of the machinery involved, the innovation and invention, the layers of someone else’s talent, the predecessors who ultimately gave me my shot at discovering my own talent.
My approach isn’t technical, the light leads me. And I often deviate. I’m moving away from the expectation that as a photographer I should be able to talk extensively about the tools and magic machines I use to fulfil my innate creative heart. Leave that to the inventors and engineers, the scientist who discovered silver could capture time. I will gratefully use their wisdom, and sometimes my curiosity will delve into their realm, but I see myself as the next link in the chain.
Just some ponderings!
Jess ꩜
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