52 cameras 52 weeks…Taking stock!
I hold my hand up, I do have a problem with G.A.S! I want
EVERYTHING! It explains why this marathon project appealed, however there was
always the end goal of my learning something about myself and where I was happy
to take my photography. I am just typing away here with no planned text so
forgive my ramblings, I just want to write it down as a constant reminder to
control my enthusiasm! Here are some conclusions I have reached as to how I see
what I do over the last dozen or so weeks and life in general after.
CAMERAS
I already kind of know what set of cameras I think will fill
my bag. Apart from a few fun or interestingly quirky ones most will challenge
present thoughts if only to affirm my choices. At any time I want in my bag the
following – My Pentax Me Super, I just cannot see me not having it to be
honest! For 35mm it does everything I want and has personal meaning. The Zeiss
Ikoflex is now my favourite TLR, the Yashica 124g is better in many ways but
little Ike tugs my heart strings while making me work hard to get good
pictures. I see the failed Bronica s2 replacing the Yashica, same format but as
an SLR it gives me a different perspective and I just love how it feels in my
hand. 2 cameras I hope will feature in the final weeks that I am also, along
will the Brony hoping to persuade Russell to let me adopt, first is a Kodak 3a
red bellows which with 6x12 frame size makes for a really interesting format
and I just love the big arsed folder! Finally, the labour of love since it died
back along – The R.B. Graflex 6x9. I hope it will be week 52 but there is much
work to do. It has got deep under my skin though.
FILM STOCK
I am pretty much now sure I am going to concentrate on black
& white, primarily Ilford’s with FP4+ as the mainstay and HP5 and PanF
filling in either side. This makes perfect sense to me in my attempts to learn
the zone system, perfect my development work and take it through to wet
printing. I will still shoot and develop colour for budget reasons till the
project is finished, but after that I will be using it sparingly and sending to
labs for what I think will be more consistent less stressful results. That’s
not to say I won’t still play around with old stock occasionally.
FORMAT & COMPOSITION
Format is clear from the above, I see 35mm for fun family
stuff and those quick snappy shots while 6x6 & 6x9, 6x12 too as my solid
photographic work. Using these to capture my growing attraction to my
surrounding landscape seem favourable to me. I live in an area very much
dominated by man’s encroachment on nature and natures fight back, it makes for
stunning composures I have yet to do justice too. I the sea, the city and
rolling moorland, I see a future of slow tripod work and that excites me! Large
format is an itch I want to scratch and will eventually fall into place but my
setup isn’t ready for that just yet.
WHAT NEXT THEN?
Presently I am trying to do too much, the exploring of gear
and my love for vintage cameras satisfied by this project, coupled with trying
to forward my own work and join in the many fun projects in the wider film
community are time consuming, normal life stuff is affected sometimes So, I
will be combining them altogether, I will be shooting less and hopefully with
more meaning and quality.
