Attributed to Ira Glass:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1CWHEKNrBig/TjHxBTsXo8I/AAAAAAAAAWk/NyXKQKotTKs/s1600/The+gap.jpg)
Let me just say, I hope the hell so.
I'm new to the forum (hi!), and probably daily I struggle with why I continue with photography, other than the love of the pastime. I don't know who I am as a photographer, I don't know what I want from it or where I'm headed, I haven't done anything I'm really proud of in like three years, and I certainly don't have anything thematic going on in my work.
Sometimes I work on certain aspects, sometimes I try to replicate certain aspects of other work I envy, but mostly I flounder. But I love it, I love seeing all your work, and here I am, hoping I won't be a total embarrassment to myself by 60.
In the interim, the lot o' you inspire me. Seriously. And I'll keep working on it, Ira, you bastard.
Thanks, Mojave!
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?
Something old is easy. I've been to San Francisco a couple of times on business, and love that city. In some ways it's a stereotypical California city and other than joggers and baristas it's like the whole thing is asleep until 8 AM. I'd get up at about 5:30 and hit the streets. Without fog, it's just blows me away.
This is with a Rollei 35S and Ilford XP2 Super. I bought it the week my daughter was born. I shot with a Nikon in college, put down the camera for maybe a decade or more, then stumbled across the little Rollei while getting prints of my newborn in a then-local shop. Now I've got about a dozen cameras, a mix of 35mm and MF, and if I could have only one camera it would be the Rollei.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3081/3161458337_7a9a6a0d13.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/3161458337/)
Good Morning (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/3161458337/#) by knapjack (http://www.flickr.com/people/27031365@N02/), on Flickr
Something new? Crap. Who came up with this idea?
I posted this elsewhere already, but I picked up a Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim for free, and was surprised to find how much I liked it. I've amassed three or four 35mm plastic fantastic cameras as I try to figure out who I am as a photographer. I think the whole toy camera and selective focus event horizon is really about asking what makes a compelling image. I used to be a decent technician but my content always fell short, so for me plastic was a way to try to force myself into taking a new look.
I've never really shot with a lens as short as the UWS before, and I like how it can really give a sense of presence, almost voyeuristic sometimes. I know the camera is going to explode any second now, and it makes me want to hunt down a bunch of short glass for one of my other cameras.
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5312/5914522558_27d0657242.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/5914522558/)
Chicken Fan (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/5914522558/#) by knapjack (http://www.flickr.com/people/27031365@N02/), on Flickr
Something borrowed. Without posting digital, I suppose I'll cheat.
For Christmas I keep asking for a Holga. Two years ago my wife balked because shipping to Alaska was more than the camera. Last year she found she could get me a Holga lens with a Nikon mount pretty cheap and stuffed it in my stocking.
I was hoping it would be crappier.
Every time I shoot in color I usually think I should never shoot in color again, but for a standard family snapshot I think I got lucky. Thank you Kodak.
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5319/5813635301_c2fab43e51.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/5813635301/)
Summer Toes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/5813635301/#) by knapjack (http://www.flickr.com/people/27031365@N02/), on Flickr
Something blue.
The Rollei again with my first roll of Ektar. I like how the Rollei forces you to slow down. Scale focus. You can barely trust the light meter. I second-guess everything and screw up half the time over-thinking the problem, so I'm always ecstatic when I get it right. This specific cheat is, "Something in the middle of the tank will be in focus, and the blacks will be black."
I still have no scanner of my own. The neg looks good, but the crappy lab scan thrashed the contrast a bit and I fiddled with it in Picasa to bring the blacks back down.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5031965387_39ea5a3b2e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/5031965387/)
Jellies (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27031365@N02/5031965387/#) by knapjack (http://www.flickr.com/people/27031365@N02/), on Flickr