The Fall of Icarus

 

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Diptych on 24x30cm Ilford MG Warmtone FB Semi-Matt paper.

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As fascinating as the story of Icarus is, I love how Brueghel the Elder depicted it in this painting, and how W.H. Auden interpreted the painting in this poem.

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Well, here we are, at the end of yet another year. Apparently, film photography is still making its comeback. And yesterday Pentax thrilled many with their announcement that they were considering making new film cameras.  All good news, but I wonder how sustainable film and paper production is, with the ever-increasing prices and our plummeting purchasing power. I also wonder how healthy darkroom printing is. Generation Z seems to enjoy film photography, but if they only scan it to upload to social media, they are missing out big time IMO. 

So, that was 2022. If you've taken the time to write comments, thank you, I appreciate it! Reading your thoughts and exchanging ideas is an important motivation in writing a blog.

Cheers!

Fortyfive Pancakes

The pleasure and freedom of walking and taking in life with a simple camera and a single lens. Unburdened with weight and excess stuff, the body, and more importantly the eye, stays fresh much longer. You might miss a couple of photos because you didn't bring those three other lenses, yet the gain is much greater than the loss. At least that's my experience.

It could be a point&shoot or a Holga. For me, it's usually a Rollei TLR or a Nikon F2/F3 with a 45mm pancake lens. I'm very fond of the latter combination, and have often preferred it to a Leica. In an interview, the late and great Mario Giacomelli, when asked about his camera, remarked that he wanted a "working man's camera", and sent his delicate Kobell to Milan to have everything removed that he deemed unnecessary. (You should check it out. It's wonderfully bizarre). For me, the F2/F3 are a working man's camera: spartan, robust.

I prefer the 45mm focal length over a 50mm. 45mm feels right. Maybe that's why I have both 45mm pancake Nikkors: The ancient GN-Nikkor and the much newer 45mm-P version. Both are wonderful. The old one had some Guide Number  coupling feature for flash (hence the GN name), which I've never used. Other than that, it's a bit weird in that the focusing is reversed, and the focus throw is very long for mid-to-infinity distances and then gets a bit short for near distances. Mine also survived a fall making the focusing very rough at some distances, turning it into a working man's lens...oh yeah!

I feel more relaxed when photographing people when what I put in front of  my face is of the humble kind. Nothing that looks like it's gonna steal their souls. Even better when it looks like a working man's camera :)

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The working man's camera the working man had with him for the above photos: