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- Name
- Stephen
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Hello.
My first photograph was taken with a box camera borrowed for a holiday. I was only allowed one photo on it (it was a landscape) and I still remember being pleased that it was the only one on the roll with a level horizon. Shortly afterwards, my mother gave me a small plastic camera that used 828 film (35mm without sprockets and with backing paper). This would have been around 1955. The bug really caught after watching a TV program on making your own contact prints, and I started a couple of days later. A bigger box camera (8 on 120) came next, and an enlarger followed in 1961. A brief trip into 2 1/4 square (box Brownie) didn't last long, and I got my first 35mm camera.
An Exa IIB SLR came in 1965, and Exakta in 1967. This served me through my university days (UEA, Chemical Sciences). The loss of my home darkroom during term time was hard (I was exposing about 3 films a day and spent most of my time at home developing and printing). There was a photographic society darkroom, but I was never comfortable with it; and as Ferrania had just made available bulk loads of colour slide film and processing kits, I switched to colour slides.
The Exakta was replaced for use by an OM1 in 1974. I added an OM2 in 1977, and an OM4 in 1984. And there my 35mm equipment has remained.
I wasn't happy with most of my prints, and I certainly didn't like grain. I could never make a large print (for me, that means over whole plate size (6.5" x 8.5") from 35mm that was good enough. Sue (my wife) suggested I try medium format, and a trip to a shop saw us returning home with a Mamiya RB67. We were both surprised by the choice, as we both went in thinking Hasselblad; but we both preferred the handling of the RB67. In time, an RZ67 and shift lens was added.
On a visit to Bath, I called into a dealers to buy some more film, and we started chatting. He pointed out that I would get even better quality from 5x4, and he happened to have 3 5x4 cameras in the shop... A demonstration, a check on my part that an upside down, back to front image wouldn't be too tricky for me, a long discussion with Sue and an overnight sleep saw me back at the shop and starting on my LF career.
I no longer have that camera; it was a monorail design (for those unfamiliar with LF this means bulky and hard to carry) and heavy to boot. Which you probably could do without harming it much. I used it for several years and sold it on. I now have a Wista DX and a Canham DLC 54.
On the darkroom side I have Durst M805 (up to 6x7) and LPL7451 (up to 5x4) enlargers set up on the bench, and a Phillips TriColour enlarger (35mm) in the back of a cupboard. If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing to excess.
My preferred subjects are landscape and architecture, in black and white. I find colour too difficult and restrictive a medium to work with.
Outside photography, I enjoy reading; mainly Reformed theology (my favourite author is John Owen 1616-1683), science (particular interests optics and quantum mechanics - I specialised in theoretical chemistry), ancient and medieval history, and art. The book I finished a few days ago was "Eye and Brain" by R. L. Gregory; I'm currently reading a book on writing art history. I'm always intending to improve my knowledge of Latin and NT Greek, and would like to master German.
Which brings me to my conclusion. I'm retired now, and I'm spending my declining years not in writing a Latin grammar (Latin joke there) but a book on photography. I know it will never be published (I have a slip to prove it) because it's emphatically not the sort of picture book that is found in high street bookshops. It's about motivation and seeing; all the theory you really need (plus some) and nothing that should really date. And because I assume that people know what they want to photograph, no chapters on "how to photograph X". Almost finished, in need of a few illustrations, it's about 400 A4 pages. If anyone wants to read it, I can supply a link (pdf, about 120,000 KB). All I ask is critical comments in return. A PM will get you a link.
My first photograph was taken with a box camera borrowed for a holiday. I was only allowed one photo on it (it was a landscape) and I still remember being pleased that it was the only one on the roll with a level horizon. Shortly afterwards, my mother gave me a small plastic camera that used 828 film (35mm without sprockets and with backing paper). This would have been around 1955. The bug really caught after watching a TV program on making your own contact prints, and I started a couple of days later. A bigger box camera (8 on 120) came next, and an enlarger followed in 1961. A brief trip into 2 1/4 square (box Brownie) didn't last long, and I got my first 35mm camera.
An Exa IIB SLR came in 1965, and Exakta in 1967. This served me through my university days (UEA, Chemical Sciences). The loss of my home darkroom during term time was hard (I was exposing about 3 films a day and spent most of my time at home developing and printing). There was a photographic society darkroom, but I was never comfortable with it; and as Ferrania had just made available bulk loads of colour slide film and processing kits, I switched to colour slides.
The Exakta was replaced for use by an OM1 in 1974. I added an OM2 in 1977, and an OM4 in 1984. And there my 35mm equipment has remained.
I wasn't happy with most of my prints, and I certainly didn't like grain. I could never make a large print (for me, that means over whole plate size (6.5" x 8.5") from 35mm that was good enough. Sue (my wife) suggested I try medium format, and a trip to a shop saw us returning home with a Mamiya RB67. We were both surprised by the choice, as we both went in thinking Hasselblad; but we both preferred the handling of the RB67. In time, an RZ67 and shift lens was added.
On a visit to Bath, I called into a dealers to buy some more film, and we started chatting. He pointed out that I would get even better quality from 5x4, and he happened to have 3 5x4 cameras in the shop... A demonstration, a check on my part that an upside down, back to front image wouldn't be too tricky for me, a long discussion with Sue and an overnight sleep saw me back at the shop and starting on my LF career.
I no longer have that camera; it was a monorail design (for those unfamiliar with LF this means bulky and hard to carry) and heavy to boot. Which you probably could do without harming it much. I used it for several years and sold it on. I now have a Wista DX and a Canham DLC 54.
On the darkroom side I have Durst M805 (up to 6x7) and LPL7451 (up to 5x4) enlargers set up on the bench, and a Phillips TriColour enlarger (35mm) in the back of a cupboard. If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing to excess.
My preferred subjects are landscape and architecture, in black and white. I find colour too difficult and restrictive a medium to work with.
Outside photography, I enjoy reading; mainly Reformed theology (my favourite author is John Owen 1616-1683), science (particular interests optics and quantum mechanics - I specialised in theoretical chemistry), ancient and medieval history, and art. The book I finished a few days ago was "Eye and Brain" by R. L. Gregory; I'm currently reading a book on writing art history. I'm always intending to improve my knowledge of Latin and NT Greek, and would like to master German.
Which brings me to my conclusion. I'm retired now, and I'm spending my declining years not in writing a Latin grammar (Latin joke there) but a book on photography. I know it will never be published (I have a slip to prove it) because it's emphatically not the sort of picture book that is found in high street bookshops. It's about motivation and seeing; all the theory you really need (plus some) and nothing that should really date. And because I assume that people know what they want to photograph, no chapters on "how to photograph X". Almost finished, in need of a few illustrations, it's about 400 A4 pages. If anyone wants to read it, I can supply a link (pdf, about 120,000 KB). All I ask is critical comments in return. A PM will get you a link.
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Good to have you here Stephen.
