Wallace Koopmans Artlog

These two images are about the division of the image through lines.  The pictures are broken into smaller shapes by the lines running horizontally, vertically and also diagonally.  Additionally there is the repeating patterns of lines: the steps, railings, grill.  All these lines create a certain visual rhythm.

Most of  the images that I took of this debris did not have the impact that I wanted.  It wasn’t until I got right down amongst it that I was able to convey the sense of being there adequately.  I was then able to depict that the waste wood stretched from the foreground to the  bridge in the distance using a relatively wide field of view  oriented vertically.

What goes into a photography like this, is it merely a snapshot or a considered composition?  It’s a bit of both, the crow wouldn’t take directions.  The image itself is divided equally between the house and sky and by their values and textures.  In addition the crow now stands in contrast against the sky at the intersection of the roof lines.  I held this framing until the crow turned this way just before it flew away.

I wonder if these structures grew over time or some engineer somewhere planned this from the beginning?   I have tinted the image as can be seen by the sky colour which helps to bring together all the elements

Your eye lids are getting very heavy, that’s right, now repeat after me I will not take pictures of faces in places.

These images are of the Coghlan substation in North East Langley.  It was part of the B.C.E Railway and provide power to the trains that traveled from New Westminster to Chilliwack  south of the Fraser River.  This section was completed around 1910 and carried it’s last passengers in September 1950.

Let me explain, from around 1957 to 1963 there was a Japanese camera company that manufactured under the name Beauty.  There really is very little information available so I’m relying on Camarapedia for much of it.  http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Beauty_Lightomatic.  This particular camera the Lightomatic,  “wasn’t everything in the fifties ‘omatic?”, has a fast f1.9 45mm lens.  The selenium cell is attached to a  meter  visible on the top and is coupled to the shutter and aperture.  A unique feature of the film advance lever is that it needs to be left partially out otherwise the shutter is locked.  The viewfinder has parallax correction and shows a generous amount of area outside the picture frame.  It’s an attractive camera that I will need to test further to determine it’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I’m so young and you’re so old”-Paul Anka

No not that Diana, the made in Hong Kong plastic nearly everything camera of the early 1960’s.  I spotted this camera in an antique store.  It was absolutely the worst camera I have ever seen, so I bought it.  It really can be distilled down to this, it is a semi light tight box with a single element plastic lens that produces an assortment of distortion and yields images with less contrast than Banff in a blizzard.  So what is the appeal?  Some  people claim it allows the freedom to just create images.  I claim it allows you to blame the camera when you don’t.  Yes a distinctive look can be achieved with this camera but at what cost.  For me I believe using it was a one time deal.  I would rather use a Zeiss Ikon or a Voigtlander Bessa, if I want to shoot 120 on an old camera, I at least might have a chance of predicting the results and I’m sure I’ll still retain artistic freedom.

These images where taken the same day as the last DA35 post and have been re-sized but are otherwise processed in the camera.