Wallace Koopmans Artlog

I’ve used the Konica I for this previously because of it’s completely separate shutter and film advance as well as the way that the film advance moves in little click steps. Because the image is formed upside down and backwards on the film you need to pan from left to right to make a stitch where the image sides line up. I made no effort to actually align the images but allowed them to overlap and even did a few multiple exposures where I didn’t advance the film at all. I wouldn’t say I think the results were great but an interesting beginning. One of the limits of photography is the concept of a single image representing a moment of time. This is a break from that boundary and I believe is worthy of further exploration.

A long post title but discriptive which makes me wonder if I really need to say anymore.

After finishing the pack of Fuji Fp100C in my Polaroid pack film camera I loaded it with Fuji FP3000B and I am smitten. While I enjoyed the results from the colour film I haven’t been completely sold on it. There is a coolness to the colour and the image clarity is not spectacular. With this faster black and white film (3000 ISO) though the camera is stopped down considerably allowing the lens to perform better. It just seems to be the right film for the camera and the era, you expect a black and white print to come out of this camera.

Not every image needs to have a deeper meaning, I do enjoy photography sometimes just for the mere fact of the doing.  These images fall into that category.

Just a couple of images, one of which was the last on a roll of film as I walked to Lens and Shutter to drop it off for processing.  In the second image I love how the shrubs appear to be recoiling from the lone one on the other side of the line.  Sometimes to see possible images like this you need to envision the world as it might look in a photograph.  This is made easier when the subject is simple and appears to be in a single plane like this one, but really a photograph is ultimately shapes on paper.  Looking out in our three dimensional world and assessing it in two is hard work but the camera does not choose for you, it’s just the tool you use to do the conversion you can share.

“I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.” – Garry Winogrand

I have to say as far as the luck of things coming together for a an image it did for the one of the old man and the child along with the large and small tug boat.

What to say about this camera, well it takes 24x36mm negatives like it’s name says.  It’s a camera like it appears to be.  Oh and if you point it at the sun you get the greatest lens flare, which may be reason enough to own it.  The lens quite frankly is poor the viewfinder is poorer and it’s usability is poorest.  It’s a zone focus camera and not a rangefinder. It’s greatest technological achievement is that it has a double exposure prevention mechanism but does require setting the shutter separately from winding the film.  Maybe someday in the future when I have forgotten all these flaws I’ll shoot another roll with it.

If the best camera is the one you have with you then the best subject is the one that’s around you.  I went for a lunch time walk around where I was working and took some images as I went.