Interesting turn of events

 

I took this street portrait a few months ago in Leeds, actually in a shop. Her natural beauty caught my eye, thought she looked like a young Audrey Hepburn. And the background also caught my attention, gives it a surreal look, (HC Bresson was influenced by the surrealists in Paris, it shows in his work) I couldn’t resist getting a few portraits of her. It turns out she is the daughter of the actor Mark Jordon, Heartbeat, etc. He reached out to me on Instagram asking if he could buy a print, and praising my photography. We exchanged a few messages, obviously I didn’t know him before then but he sounds like a very generous, genuine, good guy…”a great eye you have, sir” he said. I love getting great comments/feedback from people who know what they are talking about, people who work in the visual arts, I often get really good comments from artists and good photographers saying things like “you have an amazing gallery” it means more to me than hundreds of likes. In fact Instagram is a bit of a mystery to me in that respect, I see some really great photographers who hardly get any attention, or likes and I also see some really mediocre, boring photography getting hundreds, thousands of likes! What’s all that about?

Back to basics

 

When I went (mostly) digital I sold all my high end film cameras, still got a few old film cameras though, and for some strange reason I often get the urge to shoot some film. Just put an old roll of film from my fridge (food stuffs are available too 😃) in this little gem, an Olympus OM1. The viewfinder looked a bit hazy, I was struggling to distinguish what I was trying to focus on, someone suggested it could be my eyesight, on the contrary…the reason I’m seeing what I’m seeing, or not seeing is because I have good eyesight. I took the focusing screen out and cleaned it with lighter fuel (it just evaporates without leaving any kind of residue) using a cotton bud, but you need to be careful tiny bits of hair can be left behind from the cotton bud, I gently blow on it afterwards to get rid of it. I also cleaned the mirror with a lens pen/brush, same thing you need to be careful as bits of hair can be left behind. The internal optics of the viewfinder is clear, it’s in great condition for its age, been looked after, used but not abused. Might replace the light seals when I get around to it. 

The viewfinder looks clear now and I can actually see what I want to focus on. I will share some images from it when I get around to it. Its interesting and fun to sometimes go back to basics, with an all mechanical, all manual film camera, I don’t bother with the meter, I like to guess the exposure when using old cameras like this, its easy to do, and modern film has a wide exposure latitude anyway. Once I scan the print to share online, from the negative or the print…it becomes a digital image! So just cut out the middle man and use a digital camera, which I do for the most part. I can understand the appeal if someone is really into film, the challenge of making prints in the darkroom etc, a skill in itself! But personally, I don’t miss messing around with chemicals and setting it all up, give me the digital dark/light room any day.