Easier said than done.
I guess I'll start with the most recent thing on my mind and then move backwards.
A little over a year ago my dad's friend gave me a camera; it belonged to his uncle - a photographer from Buffalo. At first I was unimpressed with the simple nature of the camera. I knew very little about what it was or what it could do. A few days ago I found the camera sitting in its bag on a table in my basement. Surprise! For some reason I instantly had to try it out. I played with the functions, moved the focus (which I had not understood before, but after playing with the Polaroid Electric Eye camera, it all made sense now), and just took in the simplicity. It is a Konica Auto S2 from the mid 1960s. The focus seems spot on and the lens is really great. The only trouble is that the shutter sticks at anything slower than 1/60. I already talked to a gentleman in Nebraska that specializes in cleaning, lubing, and adjusting (CLA) Konica cameras and he said he'd be willing to take a look at it and give me an estimate. Since the battery that they used is no longer made I am going to have him convert the internal settings so that it can accept a contemporary battery. It is going to cost a bit more than I would like, but from the pictures I've seen taken with this model and the way that other photographers talk about it, I don't mind putting a bit of money into it. And the best part about the camera is that inside the case I found a little notebook that described the places the photographer used it (including many countries throughout Europe) and what he photographed. It's a small slice of history. Thanks, Dan Hayes, for this opportunity, even though you don't know that you have handed it to me.
My next piece of good news is that I finally bought a new lens for my Mamiya RZ67. I've been shooting it at 110mm since the day I bought it and I was ready to take a step in a new direction so on a whim I bought a 65mm f/4 lens. The lens stated that it uses a floating lens system, which I'm still not exactly sure what it does. This thing is incredible, though. I was testing the focus range and was able to get something perfectly in focus when it was approximately 3-4 inches in front of the lens. Incredible! With the 110mm it had to be at least a foot or so away. I took a few test shots with it the other night, using a one light setup and a roll of Portra 160NC that expired in 2002. I don't have a picture of the lens yet, but maybe I'll include one next time when I post an image from the roll. Something is beginning to take shape.The darkroom is still slowly marching forward. I haven't been as into it as I was at the beginning so it is moving a bit slower. Everything is finished aside from the insulation at the ceiling to block out the last remaining light and some sort of smooth surface to cover my table. I looked into laminate but it seems a bit expensive. If I am going to be spooling my own film on the table I want to make sure it is completely smooth (unlike the plywood that is on there now). I am going to be cleaning up and loading most of my supplies into the darkroom this weekend so I can see just how much stuff I have (too much!). I just have to work on a table to place my light box on.
Oh! And I also bought a Seal 210M Dry Mount Press so I can mount my finished prints and mount my paper onto a stronger surface for making gum bichromate prints. So excited.
If anyone has any suggestions on a good material for a tabletop, I would really appreciate it!
I also recently purchased a few new books on art theory and the way that photography as art may be developing in the future. I've been looking at them for some time and now I can finally sit down and look through them.
The idea of an 8x10 camera crossed my mind this past week when a few were being sold on eBay. I regret not buying the one (maybe regret isn't the right word...) but I'll leave that to a future time. I know that I am going to eventually buy one. It isn't even a question. I just have to wait for that time. I think I want to try glass plate negatives and a few other things before I weigh myself down with ULA. I have too many rolls of film sitting in my fridge, and too much film waiting to be spooled. I should get some of that under control before I jump ship to try something new.
If I had any words of advise, they are too lost below a layer of photography to come out now.
And before I end this post, I just wanted to share that I have been working on a bit of a poem/short story. It is a bit of a project I've been contemplating for a while and a few standout lines popped into my mind the other day so I finally began writing. Wish me luck.
"The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
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