Early Skies: Photographs & Photography

If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to check out the (relatively) new twin lens reflex “toy” camera from Superheadz. It’s made of plastic, like the classic Diana and Holga cameras that have such a cult following in the photography world. But being a TLR is has two lenses — one for taking the photograph and the other for the waist-level viewfinder. Behind this second lens is a mirror at a 45-degree angle (hense the term ‘reflex’ in the name) reflecting light towards the top of the camera to the screen where you can view your subject. Some of the most popular twin lens reflex cameras are/were made by Rolleiflex and Yashicamat, among others.

Anyway, the Blackbird, fly is a really cool camera, especially for it’s price (just over $100). More info at BlackbirdFlyCamera.com

My first print from my new Yashica Mat 124G.

Another one of my first darkroom prints from my Zero Image pinhole 6×9. When I saw the negatives the frames were overlapping and appeared to be an accidental diptych that was meant to be.

Shot at the Columbia River, Portland.

This is one of my first prints in the darkroom. It’s a Holga shot from Lake of the Woods, Oregon.

Hah! I got an email recently from Schmap!! Auckland. They were inquiring about using one of my photos taken in Auckland earlier this year for their maps. It turned out that the one they wanted was of a sheep peeing. I found it really funny. It’s hard to tell with the photo this small, but it’s here in the upper right. Or here’s a bigger version:

While most people have found themselves deserting film for digital in the world of photography, there are some of us that are walking this path in reverse (some are even running.)

Digital photography has it’s benefits. It’s in the long run cheaper. No cost of film or processing. No need to go back and forth between home and the lab. For those that are DIYers, there’s no need to maintain the space and gear of your own darkroom which in turn leads to less exposure to chemicals. And the biggest plus for many is that you can experiment endlessly with processes and techniques once you own a copy of a program like Photoshop. You can always revert back to your original copy. And you can do this all very quickly.
Digital photography also has it’s down sides. You need a computer and lots of hard drive space. You need a backup drive for when your main drive dies (which it will.) And once you have a backup drive you need to remember to backup. And then there’s what really gets me. I like working with my hands. With my hands I feel like I have more control over the process, and it feels like more of an art than when I’m on a computer. I feel closer to it and like I have more of an influence on the outcome. In addition, I end up at a computer for most of the day anyway, so I really like to avoid it whenever possible when I’m not doing my day job. Oh yeah, and I love the darkness. That’s one reason I get such enjoyment out of taking night photography, and also the darkroom.

I’ve always gravitated towards certain types of art. Towards paintings and photographs with certain textures, tones and moods. As far as digital photography has come, it’s still not film to my senses. Some will argue that, but I’m not trying to start and argument or debate here. I’ve heard everything on both sides of the extremes. It’s not just the feeling of the result, the moodiness of the tones, the feeling of the film and paper in your hands, or the grain that comes with film photography that wins me over right now. It’s all of it. There’s definitely a place and time for digital photography for me, but it’s on a different day than when I’m looking to create the art I create when working with film.