Kitesurfing (by chance)0
neil posted in Travel on April 25th, 2010
Needing to chill the f8 out0
neil posted in Travel on April 8th, 2010
I take my photography seriously, too seriously at times. There is a phase where most of what I shoot will be work (no less fun, just a different intensity) and that I make everything else I shoot like work too. This normally means I stop shooting for relaxation until I press my reset button and remember why (and how) I got into photography in the first place.
I’m in the ‘work only’ cycle just now. So when I went on a stag-weekend where I would be seeing old friends, I did’nt want to spend my time in intense-shooting mode, and I could’nt leave the weekend unphotographed. Fortunately my friend James offered a solution. He leant me his WOCA.
cc licenced image from @dave on flickr
Its a Holga-like which takes 120 film (medium format) and exposes it somewhere between 1/60 and 1/100th of a second at close to f8. Its focus settings are a choice between person, some people, lots of people and mountains. The lens was soft around the edges and in some other places and did’nt line up with the viewfinder. It claims to be a 60mm lens on the front but it really is’nt worth doing the math for its 35mm equivalent length as it won’t get you any closer to a useful answer. A supermarket-compact would offer greater control over exposure and framing!
This would prevent me taking things too seriously, although I did strap an SB800 flash into its hotshoe so I would make a picture, even if the normal exposure was off by a country mile. Shooting with the camera was addictive. I burned my two rolls of film and another that James provided. Granted that was only 36 exposures and I did dedicate most of the weekend to having fun and catching up. So the mission of making interesting photos without getting absorbed was achieved.
However my reset button was’nt pressed, I’m still taking things too seriously and have’nt pulled my camera out for pleasure since. The first time I wound up in this state (circa 2005?), I checked out Bart Pogoda’s blog: http://bartpogoda.net/ and saw someone mixing work with pleasure interchangably and brilliantly. Picking up the camera not only for straight up work, but because it is still a toy for playing with (and making new) friends. I’m looking forward to finding out what resets me this time, maybe I’ll write about it in a few years.
The Grab-shot0
neil posted in Travel on April 3rd, 2010
We’re walking back to the car. Bertie is trailing, carrying the bouldering mat. I turn on the path and see a photo, only I’m shooting film. I’ve only got a handful of exposures left. It is the end of the day so I point and shoot the Woca camera. Conventional framing is out as the viewfinder and lens point different directions. Just throw the lens towards the picture and hope. James spots it on the neg and scans it in the first batch. Its nice when things turn out.