Wallace Koopmans Artlog

I guess I just couldn’t wait, I’m posting this in the field.  See Polaroids can even be uploaded, they have kept with the times.

Today I was initiated into the secret world of photo walks.  OK it wasn’t secret at all in fact there was only a short initiation followed by a hazing that consisted of being mocked for my choice of cameras.   It was the Scott Kelby Fourth Annual World Wide Photo Walk otherwise know as the S.K.F.A.W.W.P.W.  It was nice to meet other photographers and strange to be in the presence of so many other photographers taking pictures.  If you’ve ever worked on a construction site, different trades continuously walk past each other without a work spoken.  I mean if you have to walk passed someone 40 times a day are you really going to say hello or even excuse me every time?  Well it was a little like that but a bit more polite without anyone stealing your extension cord.  Everyone tried to avoid walking into each others pictures and it was quite fun.  It’s certainly something I will do again and I look forward to seeing the other peoples images, I think there will be as much variety in the shots as there was in the people.

This is the sort of sacrifice it takes to get that one shot.

Not much remains from the old mine site of Allenby BC, all the buildings are gone and the concrete is crumbling away, but these barrels still lay where they were dumped.  I don’t know what they once held but by the sheer number it must have been something for the processing of the ore.

Mostly I post my images in bunches because quite frankly I take a lot of pictures.  Every once and a while though there is one image that stands out to me.  This picture of the three chairs falls into that category.  I like the composition but also the sense of place it has for me, it reminds me of many hotel laundry rooms with the sound of buttons hitting enamel.  I moved the chairs to match the perspective lines of the flooring but otherwise this is where you sit to wait for your clothes to dry.

While driving past this location in the afternoon I noticed a lot of people fishing so I decided to return later to see if I could get some sunset images with figures.  While showing so many similar images together makes them seem somewhat repetitive, as they were all shot in a similar manor, it does give an indication of the variety too.  Within a small area you can usually create many different images by looking for different angles and by moving around.  I tried to convey the relationships between the people in these images, either fisherman respectfully giving each other space, or the implied familial connection between the figures.  If you are taking pictures that work as silhouettes you need to be cognisant of the relationship of the shapes.  What I mean by this is that if there are overlaps you need move to eliminate them or at least ensure that they don’t create an unintelligible mess.  If not you may look at your images later only to find that they don’t work as well as you might have hoped.  This can occur because your brain is able to ignore these inconsistencies and fill in the missing information at the time but that tends not to translate into clear two dimensional images.  Amongst these images I think the ones that work the best have clear space between the figures.

I was graciously given this lens, a Vivitar 35mm in m42 mount.  It might be one of those things where someone can’t quite bring themselves to throw it out so they go “Hey I know give it to Wallace, he’ll use anything”  Thank you for understanding me.  It would appear that if this lens has any coatings they are minimal and non effective and that’s the “feature” I decided to exploit.  I’ve actually been looking for a lens that will flare this badly for a while without much luck.  Modern lens makers go to great lengths depositing rare elements using complex processes to improve the performance of lens elements by reducing internal reflections.  The result is that with a modern multi coated lens very little flare occurs even with a very bright light source in the field of view, this lens is the opposite of that.  So why would I want a lens that does something people work so hard to eliminate?  It’s just a fun way of evoking a nostalgic look. 

This image may be the glint that stared it for me some 23 years ago.   (Kodachrome 64 shot with a Minolta X-370, lens unknown, well I just don’t remember.)