Mixing Old and the New

Bob Carnie · Oct 14, 2016

Hi All

We just finished Culture Day weekend here in Canada and my facility hosted MAC my old assistant from 14 years ago to do two days of free portraits combining
a digital camera synched to a small printer, and my 114year old camera with 480mm lens .

https://goo.gl/photos/fsYTE9yyuje6ZRhP7

Mac photographed over 70 people off the street and as you can see there was a lot of interest by the children looking at this big Camera and playing with Mac to get their photograph.

We were sponsored by Henrys Ltd, one of Canada's largest camera company, they donated printers lights connectors and digital camera to make this happen. We will do this again as
it was a positive experience for everyone involved and it was paticularly fun for me to see my old camera work with a modern camera .

mike c · Oct 14, 2016

Thats pretty nice thing to do Bob and great advertising for your studio. Did you use the digital camera to photograph the focus screen of the large camera?

Mike

Bob Carnie · Oct 14, 2016

mike c said:
Thats pretty nice thing to do Bob and great advertising for your studio. Did you use the digital camera to photograph the focus screen of the large camera?

Mike

Yes so in each portrait you see the ground glass of the old camera, btw I did not come up with this Idea, it is a long term project , kind of like an installation piece where the weekend is the show, the interaction with people
is his reward, the small prints are given to the participants, and Mac keeps them for a record, he has done this in quite a few locations with great success.

A bit of a throwback to when portraits were taken by roving photographers, some using props , others using white backdrops.

I think the beauty of this is the mixing the old with the new as most people these days look at that old camera and truly believe it does not work and has no value. The surprise is when
Mac allows people to get under the dark cloth and see and in some case take over the shoot.

Bob

mike c · Oct 14, 2016

Bob, thats great, I have a friend that owns a Camera store that would like your Idea if you do not mind me using your technique . The use of the sidewalk would be the only obstacle, the city might not like it.

Kirks518 · Oct 14, 2016

Cool. So if I figured this out correctly, what was given to the sitter was a digital photo taken with the Canon, of the ground glass?

Bob Carnie · Oct 14, 2016

mike c said:
Bob, thats great, I have a friend that owns a Camera store that would like your Idea if you do not mind me using your technique . The use of the sidewalk would be the only obstacle, the city might not like it.

I think any idea is open for all, yes by all means, the city actually promotes the interaction of public and businesses here, have your friend contact the Local BIA and they certainly would
get on board and help promote.

My particular area is under the Danny - the name the BIA gave our stretch of turf.

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 14, 2016

You have a generous heart Bob. You and Mac put a lot of smiles on peoples faces.

Bob Carnie · Oct 14, 2016

Kirks518 said:
Cool. So if I figured this out correctly, what was given to the sitter was a digital photo taken with the Canon, of the ground glass?

Yes the digital camera was live feeding to a computer printer five feet away and little dye sublimation prints were given to each person , took about 3-5 minutes from time of portrait being taken.

Mac set the setup inside on Saturday as it was raining and used flash, and on Sunday we were blessed with wonderful light so he moved on the street, definitely on the street is the best as the interaction
is fantastic and everyone was welcome to sit for their picture.

Mixing Old and the New

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