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  #1  
Old 8th September 2008, 11:45 AM
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Brian Brian is offline
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Default Hello from the NW

well, I say from the NW, but actually I'm from the SE, South East London to be precise; which is plainly obvious from my accent. I've been living in Altrincham for the last 10 years now and I'm in no great hurry to move back down London.

I've been taking photographs since I was a teenager and I got my first 35mm SLR for my sixteenth birthday. I remember going round all the camera shops in London looking for a suitable second hand SLR that would be within my Dad's budget. It was looking like I would be getting an old Exacta, when we stumbled on a Fujica STX-1: a camera, that was definitely more appealing to a 16 year old at the time.

Anyway, after a few years I moved on to Canon A series cameras and then onto Nikon F80s before going to D70. Well, the F80s and then the D70s killed photography for me. Let me explain, whilst the F80 is a great camera and reasonably priced, I found you were forced to use slow zoom lenses as primes and fast zooms were out of my price bracket at the time. The whole digital thing was the final nail in the coffin and I found myself not taking any pictures at all.

So, today I find myself using a variety of cameras, most of which are completely manual and by far the majority of which don't include a meter. Which, considering I do a lot of street photography just goes to prove you don't need auto-everything to get grab shots.

My current favorites are in no particular order are:

ADOX Golf 6x6 Folder

so much fun to use, small size, great quality even if the lens is prone to flare

Mamiya C330F

Absolute fabulous lenses

Leica M3

What a camera, superb viewfinder which is so good for that 90mm lens, probably my favorite rangefinder at the mo.

Leica M2

Probably more versatile than the M3 as its got 35mm frame lines and I just love firing the shutter on this beastie. So, much so that I wasted half a roll of film a few months back as I absent mindedly fired the shutter before remembering I had a roll of HP5 loaded in the back

Hope I haven't bored you too much,


Brian
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Old 8th September 2008, 02:14 PM
Les Meehan Les Meehan is offline
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Welcome Brian

Nice to read your potted history, no it wasn't boring. You didn't elaborate on why digital killed things for you which is just as well cos' I reckon Dave would have had his rule book flying in your direction Only kidding, Dave's a great guy!
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Old 8th September 2008, 04:02 PM
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Welcome aboard Brian.

Ah... I came within a smidgeon of moving Ooop North from London myself a few years ago (would have moved to somewhere NW of Manchester) but the job fell through when the company went bust while I was talking to them () - close call...

Have fun, Bob.
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Old 8th September 2008, 05:46 PM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Hi Brian, very pleased that you have joined us.
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Old 8th September 2008, 06:26 PM
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Welcome Brian, glad to have you here.
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Old 12th September 2008, 12:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Les Meehan View Post
You didn't elaborate on why digital killed things for you ...
I've been thinking about how to respond to this over the last few days and I think the best way to answer is to say what I get out of traditional photographic methods, rather than disparaging digital.

Firstly, to me photography is a hobby, I don't have to turn pictures around in any hurry and I don't have to publish them in electronic format, so this allows me complete flexibility to choose what pictures I take and how I take them.

Manufacturers are continually trying to de-skill any process to make things easier for the user. This means that more people can, with little or no skill, can pick up a product and most likely produce acceptable if not good results. This does not only apply to cameras, but also things like computers, where we've gone from awkward text based systems to GUI based environments that even give you a wizard to do even simple tasks like eject a CD-ROM. The problem with these types of products is that although they are quick an simple to learn they often don't result in any sense of accomplishment.

For example, let's take my Nikon F80, I can stick a zoom lens on the front, set it to program mode and just shoot away. The meter on the camera will almost certainly sort out the exposure, the auto focus will ensure things are sharp, all I've got to do is concentrate on composing the image. Great, you might think that'll result in better pictures as you've got more time to compose your shot. Wrong! I found myself losing interest and not concentrating on the shots as I was treating the camera as a simple point and shoot.

Take a totally manual camera and things start to change. I'm using a hand held meter and I'm now more aware of the lighting conditions. I've set the shutter and aperture in advance for those grab shots. If the sun suddenly goes in I know to open up a stop, because I'm now aware of the light levels. Because I set the shutter and aperture, I'm aware of the fact that I might be getting blurred arm movement or that my depth of field will be limited etc. The end result is I'm more aware of the pictures I'm taking and more importantly, I'm enjoying myself and I get a far bigger sense of achievement when I get it right.

Once I've finished the film I take it into the darkroom and develop it. Well this is also a hobby in itself and one that I enjoy. I still get a thrill everytime I open the tank to reveal a set of negatives.

Once in the darkroom, I'm away from computers and it might take me a few hours just to get an acceptable print, but the quality can be spectacular and I'm not sat in front of a computer screen to boot. When I was using my D70, it would take a couple of mins to adjust the levels, crop the image and the job was done. So, although I could get a print very quickly I didn't enjoy the process and it ended up with the files sitting on my hard drive never being printed.


So, to sum up, traditional photography allows me to embrace the whole process; to become more involved. I enjoy myself and get a far greater level of achievement when I get something right. To top it all I can get away from the computer for a few hours.

Oh and one last reason... Whenever I go round town with a Mamiya C300 or Adox folder I get people come up and talk to me. People say: "That's a great camera", "Wow" or "What's that?". It doesn't matter what they say, it's the fact that they've noticed and struck up a conversation; this has never happened to me with a modern SLR.


Sorry to have gone on again,


Brian
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Old 12th September 2008, 12:54 PM
Les Meehan Les Meehan is offline
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Brian

That was a brilliant response to my question! I thoroughly enjoyed reading what is obviously a thoughtful, concise, and honest assessment of how traditional photography produces a much deeper experience than perhaps digital can; not just at the taking stage but throughout the entire process.

I expect many people with experience of both mediums would embrace your thoughts and have no doubt mirrored them in their own minds.

I could easily see this being published in a photography magazine on one of those 'In my opinion' type pages (you know, the last word page).

I think you did the right thing is simply stating the enjoyment aspects of film rather than disparaging digital.

A very good post!

Thank you!
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Old 14th September 2008, 11:17 PM
BobRob BobRob is offline
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Hi Brian and welcome from another adopted North-westerner...I came from Birmingham originaly moved to Nw some 30 odd years ago and have never considered returning.


When I read your response it was just like reading my own story I have tried d.... and hate it's blandness and lack of involvement.

I live in Rochdale..if you fancy a meet up or a trip out let me know.

Bob Robertson.
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