This is a fantastic camera which is a real pleasure to use. I’m not sure any other similar camera from the time can rival it for image quality.
Some more Rolleiflex post can be seen here Rolleiflex 2.8 E3 and here Pentax K-3 vs Medium Format Film and Rolleiflex Gallery
Aside from my film and other posts on Niagara Falls I have many other digital images that I would like to share that further illustrate my post Two Niagara Falls. I am breaking this up into 3 seperate posts of 24 images each this one being the first. There may be some cross over with my film photography as I often take one of each.
One of the great things about photography is the near limitless subject matter. Even when presented with those same subjects or locations two photographers are likely to come away with something very different. There is a new mall in our area and Duncan of DLT photographic and I went to have a photographic look. The place has many different materials and surfaces and being new also has a very modern hard-edged look. Duncan recently posted his images in a blog post High Street (day version) and now I am posting these as a counter point.
Even though this is only a selection from my images there really are not any images that are that similar. So despite photographing the same place we were seeing it differently.
The Fuji Zoom Date 1000 is interesting in the world of film point and shoots for its zoom lens a Super EBC Fujinon 3.6x zoom lens; 28 ~ 100mm, f/5.8 ~ 10.5; 6 components, 6 elements and also the rear LCD and menu system. Although 28-100mm is a nice range to have, the lens is slow and has a lot of vignetting as seen in this image. 
The menu is somewhat unique because it has a four-way controller with a central menu button much like you now find on numerous digital cameras, however it has relatively few modes compared to a modern camera but that’s okay because your supposed to take pictures with it not play with the menu.
Ultimately the first try with this camera was not particularly impressive. The images lacked any of that sort of pop that a few other similar cameras have. For example the Canon Z90W or the Konica Zup28W but at least it betters the Sigma 28 AF Zoom which for all intents and purposes produces images with no corners.
On my recent visit to Niagara Falls Ontario I really saw two places in an uncumfortable coexistence. There was the bright lights and tourist shops and then there was gritty part of Niagara that appeared left behind decades ago.
There also seemed to be a nearly inexhaustible supply of empty motels and businesses surrounding the city. No longer needed for tourists that aren’t there.
To be fair I was there during May not what you would think of as high tourist season but I still think that of those people who were visiting seemed less likely to have arrived in a car and more likely to be staying at one of the larger hotels. I think there lays the difference from the past and why Niagara Falls is a concentration of restaurants and tourist traps around the one true attraction, the falls themselves.
I will have more photos to share from this trip as I shot both film and more digital images. I would have loved to have visited the American side of the falls too. I’m sure I would have discovered yet another visual story.
I was fortunate to be included in issue number two of Latent Image magazine a great showcase of photographic talent. I know, I know so what are my pictures doing in it you ask? I’m not sure I just take pictures but what I do know is that it is a great magazine from cover to cover. Here is a snippet of my two pages and yes I am using tarps in these images as a metaphor for the obscuring of the truth.
There is plenty of information available about the Canon AE-1 so I won’t spend too much valuable photography time writing about it but I will say that it leaves something to be desired in terms of ease of use. My primary complaint being the lack of any feedback in the viewfinder (in manual mode) as to what the camera is set to. Also the lack of exposure compensation beyond a hard to locate +1.5 EV backlight compensation button make it less versatile than other similar SLR’s from that time even a basic Pentax K1000 using metered manual is easier.
Used in shutter priority mode which is really its native setting it’s fine and the viewfinder is big and bright. There are many FD lenses available with the 50mm 1.4 being a great example and reason enough to shoot with this camera if you are willing to take the time to adjust to it’s controls.
They really aren’t kidding with this film when they say handle in subdued light. I thought that for the most part I had been careful yet the film ended up being heavily light struck. All indications are that the light came in through where the film exits the canister so none of this would have been while the film was in the camera. What makes this film unique is that it doesn’t have the usual orange dye masking of nearly all other c41 colour negative films. This is supposed to make it easy to scan and more versatile in different lighting. Unfortunately for me the light leak over rides any other factor of this film. That being said even those images struck by light have a certain look that makes them unique and clearly sets them apart as being from film.
I shot this roll of film in my trusty Yashica Electro GT
The Holga TIM is an interesting camera that lends itself to photographic experimentation. With its two lenses that can be covered and uncovered independently and the fact that the shutter can be reset without advancing the film it allows you to shoot two images side by side within the space of a regular 35mm film frame. You can also do multiple exposures on a single frame using the shutter reset. For these images though I would expose one lens at a time and then reset the shutter and exchange which lens was uncovered, producing diptychs on film.
It’s all been seen before as the saying goes. I want to back up for a minute though. In 2013 I was driving south on the Trans Canada Hwy through the Thompson Canyon. I am always looking for things to photograph but in this case my desire to pull over was additionally fueled only in the way that too much coffee and hours of driving can. At a certain point I saw a foot bridge over the river that I had never noticed before and doubled back to see if I could have a closer look. I made my way down to the footings of the bridge which was completed locked against any entry but I knew I had to photograph it. I took a few pictures and was quite pleased but what I really wanted was a train with tanker cars across the river. I didn’t need to wait long. I took a few shots to get things set up and waited for the right moment when the tankers were in the frame. I included the river in the composition as I was trying to show in one image the precarious situation of oil filled rail cars on the edge of one of the most important rivers in British Columbia.
Thompson River with tanker cars, 2013 (Wallace Koopmans)
Fast forward to May 2014 when I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery. I reached the second floor with the Edward Burtynsky exhibit and I was only three images in when I was confronted with the large-scale print (Railcuts #11 CN Track Thompson River, British Columbia 1985)
I knew immediately that this was the same location that I had been at the previous summer. Now I was aware of Burtynsky’s series ‘Railcuts’ and had seen several examples but I don’t believe I had ever seen this image. That doesn’t really matter though because I am clearly influenced by his work. Looking at the printed image the amount of detail he captured was amazing far beyond what I recorded with my piddly 35mm camera.
I enjoyed the rest of the exhibit and noticed several things about his work. In his more resent images he has a greater degree of abstraction with less of a sense of depth and an often higher vantage point. The difference this makes is that with some works if you stand at a certain distance they give a feeling of looking through a window right into the scene, that effect doesn’t happen with the aerial shots. If you are unfamiliar with Edward Burtynskys work I encourage you to take any opportunity to see one of his prints that you can, failing that check out one of his books, an image on a screen will not do them justice.
