Hi there everyone,
My name is Alexander and I am a filmaholic.
It must be running in the family. After all, being born in Moscow, USSR, exposed me [pun intended] to the world of Zenits, Smenas and other Kalashnikov-inspired cameras from the early age. I fondly remember sitting in the bathroom-turned-darkroom with me dad, watching him work in the red light and staring in awe and wonder at the images magically appearing on the paper in trays.
My dad did not allow me to touch anything or take pictures, though, and I was not interested in photography until my first camera, a 35mm P&S that I got as a gift at the age of 12 or so. My first roll of film did not go very well and I did not continue.
The breakthrough came with the first one-time job that paid for a brick-styled digital P&S (Canon A300, if it is allowed to name any digital cameras here!) I enjoyed photography immensely; having a simple camera with a prime fix-focus lens allowed me to concentrate fully on the images, not on the technical details. I have produced quite a lot of pictures, many of them keepers (at least according to my standards in 2004!)
The big, bulky and ostensibly sexy DSLR has been the object of my desire, though. Comes year 2007 and a Nikon entry-level DSLR. I already knew what type of photography I was interested in, so that DSLR was really just a new, flexible tool that allowed me to realise my creative ideas (light painting or serious macro, for example). Pixel peeping came and went very quickly after realising that when looking at photos at 400% you would inevitably find flaws and defects in the image, be it from a cheap P&S or the biggest and baddest DSLR. Toyed with RAW for a while, being misled by blogs of some self-proclaimed experts (tech nerds with no souls). Bouts of GAS with spells of recovery. Bouts of happy shooting with lapses into GAS. Have accumulated some gear (two flashes for wireless lighting, four lenses, several gadgets). Ken Rockwell used to be a perfect therapy and an antidote. I remember one case when I thought that I must have a 35 mm lens to complement my kit. Read Ken waxing poetic over it but it was the bottom line that made it: "Duh, so what. 50mm is cheaper, lighter, brighter and would do the job. Just take a step or two back." Case closed. $200 not spent is $200 saved.
Read books and magazines on photography as an art medium. My photography improved immensely, and some of the images were printed large to be hanged on the walls of my friend's houses. One of them was an impressionists-inspired image of golden-yellowish flowers with swathes of lush green, lime and pine colours in the background. No digital manipulation at all, just plain good "painting with a camera" (deliberately blurring the image by swaying the camera on a long exposure). Speaking of Photoshop - I have always harboured a deep, visceral dislike of any digital post-production. Not because I consider altered images as "fake"; not at all - it is all about art and not about being 100% true to the nature. No, I disliked editing because I wanted to be out and about making great pictures, not sitting in front of the box bombarding my eyes with photons and electromagnetic emissions! My daily job involves computers and IT, hence in my free time I try not to touch anything electronic with a six-foot pole. Talk about busman's holiday!
Another turning point came after a road trip across SW USA (oh how I miss it! Used to have vivid dreams of those yellow-divided highways...) Took a minimal amount of gear: a camera, two or three lenses (50 mil + ultra-wide 11-16mm + 300mm maybe), flash and a Gorillapod. The epiphany came after coming back home. I realised that I had missed quite a few shots because my camera was at times sitting in the trunk of the car while I was hiking and sight-seeing. I did not want to lug that brick along with a 50-pound backpack! In one decision sold everything (body at a loss - digital rot; lenses at a very good price, even accounted for inflation) and bought a tiny but versatile and powerful Canon G16 with 1.8 lens that would allow me to make travel photos at night, sans tripod!
I used to have the camera with me at all times and would never miss an opportunity thereafter.
I could not care less about the technical quality of the images. However, the photos lacked some of the oomph that my DSLR-authored images had. My style involved shallow DoF and vibrant colours as well as having a single prime lens and using a viewfinder to get into the state of flow. Actually, one of the reasons I bought G16 was that it had a real, functional optical viewfinder, but it turned out it was impractical.
Not wanting to succumb to GAS or blame the camera for the quality of my work, I continued using the G16 for two more years but with less dedication. Most of the photos were mere snaps, usually while travelling and sight-seeing. Mind you, they still were good as I endeavour to make even a snap stand out (at least in my eyes) and work on each image instead of machine-gunning everything around me, but those photos were not fine art in the sense of "an image that is primarily made to be aesthetically pleasing and not just document the events unfolding around the photographer and of interest to her only".
A year ago though, while relaxing on a beach and making holiday photos with my GF, I realised that I miss that SLR experience. Viewfinder, DoF control, bokeh and a prime lens. Now that was a perfect moment to try something new, something daring, something that I had been only thinking about. Something dangerous, unconventional and without any promises of good outcomes. A magical world called film photography. A little bit of research, a little bit of shopping around and here I was, holding my very own Nikon SLR, made of metal, made in Japan, built to stand the test of time (the camera is older than me and would probably outlive me as well!)
I treated the camera and the film with utmost reverence and respect. Each and every frame must count. Full stop. 37 keepers on the 36 roll, no less.
Was somewhat apprehensive of the meter, my focusing abilities and the light seals, but the very first roll of film, even being a cheap colour negative, blew my mind. The soft grain, the sensual play of light and shadows, lack of any digital artefacts (think stepladders in dark areas), the warm feel of something living, breathing and inconceivably beautiful… Needless to say, I was in the state of rapture. And yes, about 80% of the shots were keepers! Three or four frames wrongly exposed or blurry, a few shots that had a nice composition and balance but were bland, and the rest was quite good. Not that I would call any of the shots my best, but the images were decent.
The logical next step was to go the full way and get into the arcane art of B&W developing and printing. Now THIS was something! Surprisingly, my very first roll of film turned out great, with only a minor disappointment of a few spoiled frames due to film layers sticking to each other in the tank. Then came first proof prints, then large prints… Now I'm waiting for the shipment of MG baryta paper for even more luscious and luxurious prints.
B&W shooting is on the hiatus at the moment, though. Last month, inspired by the prints, I put in a roll of Ilford film. The next day it was out, untouched. The summer bacchanalia of colours forcibly demanded Velvia (or a colour negative, at least)! Yet another thing to try for the first time - E6 process (lab costs are way too high)!
My gear is limited to a 35mil SLR, a 50/1.8, a 135/3.5, a flash, three filters (pol and two B&W), a tripod and a few rings/adapters/extenders (for the deep macro). When I am out shooting, usually one lens stays at home.
Out of curiosity I bought a $15-worth fifty-years old 120 box camera as a gift for my GF (yes, yes, for my GF, it was not a gift for myself!); she enjoys it a lot and even made a print in the darkroom with me. We are now waiting with impatience for the lab to develop Ektars from our last trip.
I do not really care about gear, even though I do marvel sometimes at the ingenuity of mechanical construction, as contrasted to sterility and soullessness of electronics. The mechanical exposure calculator on an SB-20 flash made me chuckle while aperture sensing using a piece of cord (“length of 115±0.5mm”, according to the service manual) left me in awe and wonder.
My camera is being tossed in sand or deep snow, I scratched the skylight filter on walls and caves a few times and carry my lenses in a backpack banging around with other items. I do not give a toss about image quality (although I do prefer smaller grain, higher resolution films and delicate contrasts on paper). I read art magazines, poetry and listen to J.S. Bach for inspiration. Whereas I would love to try medium format and get a C-series Mamiya TLR (at least out of sheer curiosity), I told myself that I shall produce some high-quality fine art prints first before I could even consider another purchase.
Having an artistically-inclined dad helped in setting my priorities straight. I remember vividly two episodes concerning tech vs. art.
When I was a penniless student shooting that A300 brick, my friend got a shiny brand new Sony bridge DSLR from his rich uncle. We spent the day playing with it in bliss. Oh the bokeh! Oh the nerd knobs! Oh the RAW! Later, I came to me dad drooling and told him about the experience in superlative terms. He listened to me and asked one question, somewhat irritably: "Has your friend made any great pictures with it already?.."
At another time, when I was in a stage of unnecessary anxiousness about sharpness, dynamic range and noise of my DSLR, I visited parents in our summer house and my old man showed me some landscapes he had made lately. With a .3 MP camera phone. He didn't have a laptop so the pictures were displayed on the small screen of that very phone. To my dismay and discomfort, I realised that his photographs, made with something that was not considered a camera even back then, were better than mine. All the RAW, tripod, forced ISO 100 and "manual" settings giving an illusion of control meant nothing.
I am not going back to digital. I prefer the Zen simplicity of film and electronics-free workflow. Should the emulsion production stop overnight, I would quit photography. Good old trusted G16 would still be used to make travel snaps, but my art endeavours would be directed back to drawing, painting and calligraphy. Or I would start playing piano again.
P.S. Oh and having escaped claws of Vladimir Putin and KGB I am living in Warsaw, Poland now. Being a resident of EU allows me to travel more freely, which makes my photos better!
P.P.S. That post was supposed to be a simple "Hi there". A word of advice: don't read Scott-Moncrieff's Proust the night before writing on forums!
EDIT: minor spelling and word order.
My name is Alexander and I am a filmaholic.
It must be running in the family. After all, being born in Moscow, USSR, exposed me [pun intended] to the world of Zenits, Smenas and other Kalashnikov-inspired cameras from the early age. I fondly remember sitting in the bathroom-turned-darkroom with me dad, watching him work in the red light and staring in awe and wonder at the images magically appearing on the paper in trays.
My dad did not allow me to touch anything or take pictures, though, and I was not interested in photography until my first camera, a 35mm P&S that I got as a gift at the age of 12 or so. My first roll of film did not go very well and I did not continue.
The breakthrough came with the first one-time job that paid for a brick-styled digital P&S (Canon A300, if it is allowed to name any digital cameras here!) I enjoyed photography immensely; having a simple camera with a prime fix-focus lens allowed me to concentrate fully on the images, not on the technical details. I have produced quite a lot of pictures, many of them keepers (at least according to my standards in 2004!)
The big, bulky and ostensibly sexy DSLR has been the object of my desire, though. Comes year 2007 and a Nikon entry-level DSLR. I already knew what type of photography I was interested in, so that DSLR was really just a new, flexible tool that allowed me to realise my creative ideas (light painting or serious macro, for example). Pixel peeping came and went very quickly after realising that when looking at photos at 400% you would inevitably find flaws and defects in the image, be it from a cheap P&S or the biggest and baddest DSLR. Toyed with RAW for a while, being misled by blogs of some self-proclaimed experts (tech nerds with no souls). Bouts of GAS with spells of recovery. Bouts of happy shooting with lapses into GAS. Have accumulated some gear (two flashes for wireless lighting, four lenses, several gadgets). Ken Rockwell used to be a perfect therapy and an antidote. I remember one case when I thought that I must have a 35 mm lens to complement my kit. Read Ken waxing poetic over it but it was the bottom line that made it: "Duh, so what. 50mm is cheaper, lighter, brighter and would do the job. Just take a step or two back." Case closed. $200 not spent is $200 saved.
Read books and magazines on photography as an art medium. My photography improved immensely, and some of the images were printed large to be hanged on the walls of my friend's houses. One of them was an impressionists-inspired image of golden-yellowish flowers with swathes of lush green, lime and pine colours in the background. No digital manipulation at all, just plain good "painting with a camera" (deliberately blurring the image by swaying the camera on a long exposure). Speaking of Photoshop - I have always harboured a deep, visceral dislike of any digital post-production. Not because I consider altered images as "fake"; not at all - it is all about art and not about being 100% true to the nature. No, I disliked editing because I wanted to be out and about making great pictures, not sitting in front of the box bombarding my eyes with photons and electromagnetic emissions! My daily job involves computers and IT, hence in my free time I try not to touch anything electronic with a six-foot pole. Talk about busman's holiday!
Another turning point came after a road trip across SW USA (oh how I miss it! Used to have vivid dreams of those yellow-divided highways...) Took a minimal amount of gear: a camera, two or three lenses (50 mil + ultra-wide 11-16mm + 300mm maybe), flash and a Gorillapod. The epiphany came after coming back home. I realised that I had missed quite a few shots because my camera was at times sitting in the trunk of the car while I was hiking and sight-seeing. I did not want to lug that brick along with a 50-pound backpack! In one decision sold everything (body at a loss - digital rot; lenses at a very good price, even accounted for inflation) and bought a tiny but versatile and powerful Canon G16 with 1.8 lens that would allow me to make travel photos at night, sans tripod!
I used to have the camera with me at all times and would never miss an opportunity thereafter.
I could not care less about the technical quality of the images. However, the photos lacked some of the oomph that my DSLR-authored images had. My style involved shallow DoF and vibrant colours as well as having a single prime lens and using a viewfinder to get into the state of flow. Actually, one of the reasons I bought G16 was that it had a real, functional optical viewfinder, but it turned out it was impractical.
Not wanting to succumb to GAS or blame the camera for the quality of my work, I continued using the G16 for two more years but with less dedication. Most of the photos were mere snaps, usually while travelling and sight-seeing. Mind you, they still were good as I endeavour to make even a snap stand out (at least in my eyes) and work on each image instead of machine-gunning everything around me, but those photos were not fine art in the sense of "an image that is primarily made to be aesthetically pleasing and not just document the events unfolding around the photographer and of interest to her only".
A year ago though, while relaxing on a beach and making holiday photos with my GF, I realised that I miss that SLR experience. Viewfinder, DoF control, bokeh and a prime lens. Now that was a perfect moment to try something new, something daring, something that I had been only thinking about. Something dangerous, unconventional and without any promises of good outcomes. A magical world called film photography. A little bit of research, a little bit of shopping around and here I was, holding my very own Nikon SLR, made of metal, made in Japan, built to stand the test of time (the camera is older than me and would probably outlive me as well!)
I treated the camera and the film with utmost reverence and respect. Each and every frame must count. Full stop. 37 keepers on the 36 roll, no less.
Was somewhat apprehensive of the meter, my focusing abilities and the light seals, but the very first roll of film, even being a cheap colour negative, blew my mind. The soft grain, the sensual play of light and shadows, lack of any digital artefacts (think stepladders in dark areas), the warm feel of something living, breathing and inconceivably beautiful… Needless to say, I was in the state of rapture. And yes, about 80% of the shots were keepers! Three or four frames wrongly exposed or blurry, a few shots that had a nice composition and balance but were bland, and the rest was quite good. Not that I would call any of the shots my best, but the images were decent.
The logical next step was to go the full way and get into the arcane art of B&W developing and printing. Now THIS was something! Surprisingly, my very first roll of film turned out great, with only a minor disappointment of a few spoiled frames due to film layers sticking to each other in the tank. Then came first proof prints, then large prints… Now I'm waiting for the shipment of MG baryta paper for even more luscious and luxurious prints.
B&W shooting is on the hiatus at the moment, though. Last month, inspired by the prints, I put in a roll of Ilford film. The next day it was out, untouched. The summer bacchanalia of colours forcibly demanded Velvia (or a colour negative, at least)! Yet another thing to try for the first time - E6 process (lab costs are way too high)!
My gear is limited to a 35mil SLR, a 50/1.8, a 135/3.5, a flash, three filters (pol and two B&W), a tripod and a few rings/adapters/extenders (for the deep macro). When I am out shooting, usually one lens stays at home.
Out of curiosity I bought a $15-worth fifty-years old 120 box camera as a gift for my GF (yes, yes, for my GF, it was not a gift for myself!); she enjoys it a lot and even made a print in the darkroom with me. We are now waiting with impatience for the lab to develop Ektars from our last trip.
I do not really care about gear, even though I do marvel sometimes at the ingenuity of mechanical construction, as contrasted to sterility and soullessness of electronics. The mechanical exposure calculator on an SB-20 flash made me chuckle while aperture sensing using a piece of cord (“length of 115±0.5mm”, according to the service manual) left me in awe and wonder.
My camera is being tossed in sand or deep snow, I scratched the skylight filter on walls and caves a few times and carry my lenses in a backpack banging around with other items. I do not give a toss about image quality (although I do prefer smaller grain, higher resolution films and delicate contrasts on paper). I read art magazines, poetry and listen to J.S. Bach for inspiration. Whereas I would love to try medium format and get a C-series Mamiya TLR (at least out of sheer curiosity), I told myself that I shall produce some high-quality fine art prints first before I could even consider another purchase.
Having an artistically-inclined dad helped in setting my priorities straight. I remember vividly two episodes concerning tech vs. art.
When I was a penniless student shooting that A300 brick, my friend got a shiny brand new Sony bridge DSLR from his rich uncle. We spent the day playing with it in bliss. Oh the bokeh! Oh the nerd knobs! Oh the RAW! Later, I came to me dad drooling and told him about the experience in superlative terms. He listened to me and asked one question, somewhat irritably: "Has your friend made any great pictures with it already?.."
At another time, when I was in a stage of unnecessary anxiousness about sharpness, dynamic range and noise of my DSLR, I visited parents in our summer house and my old man showed me some landscapes he had made lately. With a .3 MP camera phone. He didn't have a laptop so the pictures were displayed on the small screen of that very phone. To my dismay and discomfort, I realised that his photographs, made with something that was not considered a camera even back then, were better than mine. All the RAW, tripod, forced ISO 100 and "manual" settings giving an illusion of control meant nothing.
I am not going back to digital. I prefer the Zen simplicity of film and electronics-free workflow. Should the emulsion production stop overnight, I would quit photography. Good old trusted G16 would still be used to make travel snaps, but my art endeavours would be directed back to drawing, painting and calligraphy. Or I would start playing piano again.
P.S. Oh and having escaped claws of Vladimir Putin and KGB I am living in Warsaw, Poland now. Being a resident of EU allows me to travel more freely, which makes my photos better!
P.P.S. That post was supposed to be a simple "Hi there". A word of advice: don't read Scott-Moncrieff's Proust the night before writing on forums!
EDIT: minor spelling and word order.
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