Oops, I just bought a camera too!

[Amund]

Due to decreasing sales in the company I work for, me and 39 others got the dreaded envelope today : in three months we don`t have jobs there anymore...


That said, I`m a optimistic guy and will find a new job, I`m sure!

But to comfort myself on this sad day, I decided to buy a camera I have secretly wanted for some time, a Gowlandflex! It has been listed in the "for sale" ads in a Norwegian website for quite a few months and now was the time...

It is the "current" model, with a Rodenstock Geronar f/6.8 210mm taking lens and a Wollensak Velostigmat 8 1/4" f/4.5 Focus series II viewing lens.
It`s in great shape and has a bright finder. It came with both a regular viewing hood(like Rolleiflex) and a reflex hood.

But best of all:As this was his last 4x5 camera, in addition to the camera I got(this wasn`t in the ad):

A Polaroid 545 in good shape
Two unopened boxes of fresh Polaroid T-55 film
Two unopened boxes of fresh Kodak VC 160 Quickloads
A near new film holder
And best of all, two boxes of fresh unopened Agfa APX 100 !!!!!!!!!
One of my favorite films in 35mm/120, finally I get to try it in 4x5!

This day started badly, but ended pretty good

I guess I`ll be the only one doing handheld 4x5 street photography in Oslo this summer

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Well, congrats on the camera, and good luck finding a new job.

Those are really curious cameras. How does it feel to use it handheld?

 

[Digidurst]

Oh man! Sorry to hear about the job! But sounds like you found something to lift your spirits

Good luck in finding another (even better) job and have fun with LF. Well... how could you NOT have fun with LF?!

 

[Ole]

I guess I`ll be the only one doing handheld 4x5 street photography in Oslo this summer

Come across to Bergen, and we'll make street theater out of it!


Anyway: Congratulations with the new camera - and congratulations with the liberty to look for a better job

 

[BradS]

Ever think about those "forks in the road of life"...? You know those times in life where you make a decision or, embark upon a new path and don't really think much about it....then twenty years later you look back and realize...what a major life changing event it was.

I wonder how this day will look with twenty years of hindsight.

Congrats! You got a really nice rig. Have fun and keep filled in on how it handles and c.

 

[Amund]

Thanks for your support everybody!

David, I have only shot two polaroids with it, but it`s certainly handholdable, the focusing is very smooth and easy with a pretty bright groundglass image, can`t wait to shoot some portraits with it!
The Geronar seems sharp wide open(but I don`t trust polaroid prints for sharpness) ,anyone with experience with this lens?


Ole, that would have been something! We probably would have ended up in jail though


And yes, I see the opportunity for a fresh start, losing a job isn`t the end of anything, only the beginning to something new...

I attached a image(©Ansgar Valbø) of my camera with the reflex hood on)

 

[Ole]

Ole, that would have been something! We probably would have ended up in jail though

If I take LF to town I have to make a performance out of it - that much shiny wood, leather bellows, dark cloth, wood tripod... I dress up nicely in suit, tie, trench coat and hat too

 

[mark]

Cool camera, looks heavy. Is it?. As for the job good luck.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

If it's well balanced, I'm guessing it feels something like my 5x7" Press Graflex without the big mirror action.

 

[Amund]

It`s not that heavy, about 5 lbs

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Not bad!

 

[Donald Qualls]

Ever think about those "forks in the road of life"...? You know those times in life where you make a decision or, embark upon a new path and don't really think much about it....then twenty years later you look back and realize...what a major life changing event it was.

I wonder how this day will look with twenty years of hindsight.

Heh. Every time I think of a "fork in the road" I get a picture of a Gary Larson cartoon, in which a dinner fork about ten feet high is standing in the middle of the branching thoroughfare.

And then I think about the tines of such a fork stuck in my foot, since that's the way the forks in life's road usually feel when I find them.

For myself, about eight months ago I left a job to move with my wife after her job was transferred (she was given the choice of a "paid" move -- that only cost us about $1500 out of pocket instead of $10k, so not that bad a deal -- or a severance package). I'm still unemployed, but my photography is doing very well indeed -- well enough I'm seriously considering ways to start selling my work. So, it may not take even twenty years before I look back on that fork in the road with a more upbeat attitude -- but the last eight months has certainly been interesting...

 

[Amund]

First image made with the Gowlandflex is (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Amazing camera!