Trying something different

For the past year or so I have been using smaller less versatile cameras, trading the function of a DSLR for a lighter more discrete package.  It started with a Samsung NX100,  then followed with a Fuji X100, and most recently a Samsung NX20.  The Samsungs are system cameras, pretty much miniature SLR's with interchangeable lenses of remarkably good quality for their size.  Conversely, the Fuji has a dedicated 23mm lens or 35mm in real money, an almost ideal focal length for street and urban landscape work.  Although the Samsungs are versatile and produce great images, the Fuji is my go-to camera.

I am increasingly finding that I gain from using a fixed focal length lens, an image must be framed using position and movement, not a simple twist of the wrist.  This forces engagement with the subject and a better understanding of the environment I work in.  The fixed focal length also means that the lens can be optimized for the camera, the sensor and lens are a single fixed entity; the Fuji consistently produces better results than any other camera I own.  As I gain more experience in photography I am progressively simplifying how I take photographs.  I am still a gear head with more cameras than sense, but one with changing priorities and expectations from my equipment.

What has surprised me is the extent to which the camera used influences the results created.  It is not the image quality that really matters, the high ISO,  the pixel density, or the fine Bokeh of a fast lens.  It is the feel of the camera in hand, the brightness of the viewfinder, and the comfort of use, that makes the difference to being able to create a good "interesting" image. If I am comfortable with my camera I work better, I feel more relaxed and am more creative - to use a cliche, I am in the zone, where my camera becomes an extension of mind.  When I first used a DSLR I was intimidated by the controls and options, retaining a nagging doubt that my photos were crap because the "settings" were wrong.  Too much technology.  Nowadays, I put the ISO on auto, set the camera to Aperture priority, and just try to make sure that the shutter speed is fast enough. A couple of days ago it took me half an hour to figure out how to use the flash on my X100, I simply never pressed that option before...

I guess the point I am making is that technology had started to get in the way of making photographs.  I have started to use digital cameras as if they were analog cameras, so it was only a matter of time before this happened:

Meet my new friend a Fujifilm GF670, a 6x6/6x7 medium format rangefinder with a fixed 80mm lens and that novel feature, a chemical sensor...  Back to film, and also to a form of film I have never used, 120 medium format.

For some time I have been trying to lose weight largely through cutting my beer consumption, thus every time I consumed less than 10 beers in a week I added 50 Euros to my camera fund.  A few weeks ago this stood at over 2,000 Euros and I felt very much healthier.  My intent was to use the money to buy a new mirrorless format camera, a Fujifilm X-E1 and a few lenses, however, when it came to it I stopped.  It was not the cost, but the question of whether this would change anything, it is a very sexy camera, but in truth not that different to my Samsung kit and I already had the excellent X100.

So, I decided to spend the money on something that I believe will add something to my photographic journey.  The GF670 is almost a film incarnation of the X100, similar effective focal length, similar lack of ability to zoom.  OK, no Auto ISO, but a good light meter and Aperture priority shooting.  In other words it is a camera and does what a camera does, just with fewer buttons to get in the way of creativity.

So why am I doing this and what do I expect to learn.   Good question, and one that I am not sure I can easily answer.  To paraphrase Garry Winogrand, part of the reason is that I want to see what the world looks like on film.  But, I am not sure yet, I am open minded about this.  I missed the whole film thing, photography for me has been a digital world from the get go - excluding the holiday snapshottery I used to do with old 35mm automatic cameras.  I am curious about film, but have no nostalgia and mostly bad experiences.

The one motivation I can definitely point to is a need to create a tangible object with the camera, that goes beyond GB of digital data.  This stems from my recent project to scan and archive boxes of family photos.  I was struck by the physical nature of the prints and also by discovering the remarkable quality of what were tiny contact prints from 120 roll film (negatives were lost long ago).  These little images contained details of relatives lost many years ago, many whom I never met, their existence now contained only within these prints.  This made photography real to me in a way Digital never has.

Continuing the need to create a tangible object, my birthday was a few days ago.  My present from Heidi, a B&W roll film developing kit.  I really believe that this will provide a greater sense of controlling the photographic process, to gain a sense of being an artist who actually makes something that can be touched and held.

I appreciate that in all of this there is still the contradiction that for the photographs to have any presence in my world they will need to be scanned, uploaded and shared digitally.  Whilst developing makes sense, a wet darkroom does not.  This will be a marriage of the analog and digital worlds.

The beginning of a new photographic journey