Street photography with an old Rolleiflex

wblynch · Jan 4, 2011

Not to mention it's easy to take pictures to your side with a TLR. And they are nearly silent, even quieter than the legendary Leica.

Overhead shots at a parade or public event are fun as well.

Q.G. · Jan 4, 2011

dfoo said:
Give it up man. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me it has nothing to do with insecurity. I'm not wedded to any particular camera or format. I own lots of different types of cameras and use and love them all. What you said, however, is just plain not right and you were deliberately trollish and confrontational about the whole thing.

I will give it up.

But though i have explained why TLRs are indeed archaic, i have never heard why they would not be. Just that it would not be right.
So i guess what i have 'confronted' is a shipload of sentiment, with no trace of anything else.

Meanwhile, i'm not wedded to a particular type of camera either, and will also continue to enjoy them all. Including the TLRs.
There's a current thread titled "Having a hard time understanding the Leica mystique". Well, i don't know why other people (obviously) can't enaoy using theirs, just because they are not a design that would make sense today. HAving a hard time understanding the Rollei mystique, i guess.
But such is life.

blockend · Jan 4, 2011

Q.G. said:
So i guess what i have 'confronted' is a shipload of sentiment, with no trace of anything else.

No, TLRs work, especially at candid photography, Vivian Maier's work says so. Check out Eugene Atget for old school technique. It was out of date when he did it, still quite brilliant, no sentiment involved.

Cromlech · Jan 4, 2011

I just received my TLR in the mail after seeing Vivian's work. Now all I need is a neck strap.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 4, 2011

Thanks for the link

SuzanneR said:
Here's an article that gets a little more detailed than most, though the dismissive critique from some curator feels a little premature, considering there are still so many pictures of hers to review. I think by the time it's said and done, she may well have found a place in the history of photography books.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-2011/Vivian-Maier-Street-Photographer/

Thanks for the link. I think if she was a better self promoter or had an agent, she might have been more famous. I think your right in find a place of photographic history.

DWThomas · Jan 4, 2011

Cromlech said:
. . . . . Now all I need is a neck strap.

I derive perverse joy from carrying my Yashica 124G on a neck strap that proclaims "Canon EOS Digital" -- I like to keep bystanders guessing.

Paul Verizzo · Jan 4, 2011

DWThomas said:
I derive perverse joy from carrying my Yashica 124G on a neck strap that proclaims "Canon EOS Digital" -- I like to keep bystanders guessing.

I like hooking up my Honeywell Strobonar flash to my Minolta digicam. That big elliptical head that no one under the age of forty, maybe, has ever seen stops 'em cold......... Using the simple autoflash function it works just fine, no high tech needed. (Although the thryristor autoflash is amazing technology in my opinion. It's just old tech.)

Your Yashica with the EOS strap probably makes them think its a prototype. Ah, back to the future!

Cromlech · Jan 4, 2011

DWThomas said:
I derive perverse joy from carrying my Yashica 124G on a neck strap that proclaims "Canon EOS Digital" -- I like to keep bystanders guessing.

Now there's an option... How about for something sneaky?

Or maybe I could just go awkward and use some cotton twine... Bahahaha!

2F/2F · Jan 4, 2011

Nice story, and some good pix too. 100,000 negs shot by someone else! What a jackpot for an estate sale crawler like myself. I have a few life collections of people's photographs, slides, movies, and film (including all the 4x5 b/w film that was shot with my very Linhof Super Tech III), but nothing this neat. Thanks for the link.

2F/2F · Jan 7, 2011

Here is a ten-minute video with more information: Dead Link Removed.

Sirius Glass · Jan 7, 2011

2F/2F said:
Here is a ten-minute video with more information: Dead Link Removed.

More of Vivian Maier's work.

http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

Keep selecting "Older Posts" at the bottom of each page.

Steve

Guillaume Zuili · Jan 8, 2011

Wow !
Her work is just fantastic !
The night snapshot a beauty among many.

As for obsolescence... All film cameras are obsolete.
They became so because photo manufacturers lost the power to the computer industry and now they are pure consumers toys (from the top digit Hasselblad to the low consumer level) with a life expectancy of a couple of years. As for design and concept, they are not made by photo enthusiasts or else but by people who care less.
They in fact became obsolete because you don't need to buy a TLR (for instance) or any film camera every 2 years...

Now ALL cameras have qualities and defaults.
View camera needs a tripod to be operative. Blad are bulky and noisy. etc, etc...
35mm were created for the need of compactness and action but they are...35mm, etc, etc...
Rolleiflex don't have interchangable lenses...

So what ?
Who cares ?

If you know the tool with his strengths and limits, you make do like with anything else.
And a Rolleiflex is a very simple camera and becomes a terrific tool.
You don't need tons of accessories or lens, it brings you to the essence of photography.
The Leica of medium format.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

G.

AgentX · Jan 8, 2011

Don't you understand that QC's personal definition of "archaic," which excludes Hasselbads but somehow includes Rolleis, trumps any reason you might throw at this?

By the way, QC, Webster's obviously agrees with you. No doubt this definition backs your bizarre notion:

ar·cha·ic
[ahr-key-ik]
–adjective
1.
marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; antiquated: an archaic manner; an archaic notion.
2.
(of a linguistic form) commonly used in an earlier time but rare in present-day usage except to suggest the older time, as in religious rituals or historical novels. Examples: thou; wast; methinks; forsooth.
3.
forming the earliest stage; prior to full development: the archaic period of psychoanalytic research.
4.
( often initial capital letter ) pertaining to or designating the style of the fine arts, esp. painting and sculpture, developed in Greece from the middle 7th to the early 5th century b.c., chiefly characterized by an increased emphasis on the human figure in action, naturalistic proportions and anatomical structure, simplicity of volumes, forms, or design, and the evolution of a definitive style for the narrative treatment of subject matter. Compare classical ( def. 6 ) , Hellenistic ( def. 5 ) .
5.
primitive; ancient; old: an archaic form of animal life.

Q.G. · Jan 8, 2011

AgentX said:
Don't you understand that QC's personal definition of "archaic," which excludes Hasselbads but somehow includes Rolleis, trumps any reason you might throw at this?

As opposed to you, i do understand that your insecurity makes it impossible to bear to know that putting one camera on top of another made sense at one time, but no longer does.
As (a few) others have stated here, it makes no difference at all for whether, if, and how you enjoy using a TLR. Why, look at the images that are the subject of this thread!
But apparently it does to most in this thread. Can you explain that insecurity, Agent X?

AgentX · Jan 8, 2011

Q.G. said:
As opposed to you, i do understand that your insecurity makes it impossible to bear to know that putting one camera on top of another made sense at one time, but no longer does.
As (a few) others have stated here, it makes no difference at all for whether, if, and how you enjoy using a TLR. Why, look at the images that are the subject of this thread!
But apparently it does to most in this thread. Can you explain that insecurity, Agent X?

I'm not insecure. I'm just astounded at the arbitrary nature of this hermetically sealed definition of "archaic" you've created.

"Makes sense?" It makes sense to me because it obviates the need for a loud moving part that blacks out the image at the moment of exposure.

But I don't care if my camera's archaic or not, quite honestly. It's just jaw-dropping that you can say a Hassy (or any mechanical film camera) is not archaic but the Rollei is. They're ALL archaic, according to most people and the general zeitgeist. Film itself is archaic according to most anyone you ask.

Q.G. · Jan 8, 2011

AgentX said:
But I don't care if my camera's archaic or not, quite honestly. It's just jaw-dropping that you can say a Hassy (or any mechanical film camera) is not archaic but the Rollei is.

There we go. Idiot time in full swing again.

Can you provide a quote?
And can you provide an explanation?

All we get is ranting. Inane ranting to boot. No wonder you hide behind an anonymous Alias X.

Toffle · Jan 8, 2011

2F/2F said:
Here is a ten-minute video with more information: Dead Link Removed.

I'm only about half-way through this video and I have to stop to catch my breath. Amazing, yes... stunning..

Devastating.

In her self portraits she reveals a gaze that gives a hint of the artist nobody knew. She didn't need to process and print her images... she knew what she had captured. I hope, beyond the ambitions of Mr. Maloof, that we come to have a more complete and academic study of her amazing work.

Did I read correctly that Mr. Maloof is clipping negatives and selling them to fund his work? Please STOP! This is reckless. Sell all the prints you like, but please don't disperse her negatives where they may be poorly cared for or possibly lost forever.

The image of her trunk of floppy hats, the props that made her anonymous, invisible, made me smile. I am glad that they are part of the collection. What a treasure, too, to have her voice on audio tape.

Toffle · Jan 8, 2011

Q.G. said:
There we go. Idiot time in full swing again.

Can you provide a quote?
And can you provide an explanation?

All we get is ranting. Inane ranting to boot. No wonder you hide behind an anonymous Alias X.

Hey...
Please take this to another thread. This thread is about Vivian Maier.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Guillaume Zuili · Jan 8, 2011

Beautiful video !

eddym · Jan 8, 2011

Toffle said:
Hey...
Please take this to another thread. This thread is about Vivian Maier.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

I've been asking the mods to do us that service, but so far no response. Maybe if we just stop feeding the troll, he will go away. Unlike most of us here, he's not interested in polite discourse.

Jim Chinn · Jan 8, 2011

I didn't bother reading the whole thread as I think arguing over the merits of specific cameras supports the idea many people hold that a great photograph has more to do with the camera than the photographer. After looking at her images I don't think it would have mattered what kind of camera she used. Very few people who call themselves photographers have "it". "It" being that undefinable talent that is the difference between making mundane and extraordinary photographs. She has "it" in abundance.

Paul Verizzo · Jan 8, 2011

Jim Chinn said:
I didn't bother reading the whole thread as I think arguing over the merits of specific cameras supports the idea many people hold that a great photograph has more to do with the camera than the photographer. After looking at her images I don't think it would have mattered what kind of camera she used. Very few people who call themselves photographers have "it". "It" being that undefinable talent that is the difference between making mundane and extraordinary photographs. She has "it" in abundance.

Bingo!

I've seen great photographs taken with a Brownie.

AgentX · Jan 9, 2011

Count me out. Sorry to have contributed to the destruction of a good thread.

blockend · Jan 9, 2011

To be fair, the thread title did refer to street photography with an old Rolleiflex, rather than, say, undiscovered photography master found, so the thread could and did go in two directions. I fail to see the case for TLRs being bad cameras when Vivian Maier's work is so accomplished but popular photography has always confused equipment with accomplishment and manufacturers are in no hurry to unravel the two aspects.

Q.G. · Jan 9, 2011

blockend said:
I fail to see the case for TLRs being bad cameras[...]

Just a quick note, to think about: who said where that TLRs are bad cameras?
So no wonder that you fail to see a case (being made) for that.

Street photography with an old Rolleiflex

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