Early Cameras ~ Early Photographs

One of the frustrations of blogging is not having discourse with those that are interested in the subject. The blogger talks to the viewer, hopefully engagingly enough to make it worth the viewer's time to actually return again. I have every confidence there are dozens of salty photographers out there with some beautiful images, out of the public's view. To those photographers, I would so much love to have a bi-directional exchange of knowledge and ideas. Perhaps that might be a future endeavor. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged. The irritating part of that is the need to have to leave a comment through a menu of options to do so. Commenting should be direct and easy, not reliant upon another corporate connection for tracking and ad-controlling. But that's just me.

I am also going to bet that most of you photographers, seasoned and newly arrived, don't have the Cadillac budget that begets you everything you desire, hand over the money thank you. Some of the photographers I represented in my gallery at the time, wielded a Hasselblad, with Zeiss lenses. Yeah, plural. I was impressed anyway. Turned out to be a close friend, still is. Another interesting character carried a rather nice 8x10 view camera on a thousand dollar tripod. He was also a very good platinum printer using the negatives from that camera.

The point of that ramble was to say most of us begin with simple equipment and work our way up. I not only do not find any shame in that, but believe it actually is beneficial, as it forces the photographer to fully grasp the process to enhance the images taken. Things like soft lenses (cheap lenses) limitations of lens on hand, ability of the camera from available functions, etc. Case in point, one of my first cameras besides the Canon Qt film camera I bought for $40 at a used camera store, was an $18 Argoflex, which I have no doubt was made in the forties. If you Google that camera the images you will see are much more modern than the model I used. It did have aperture setting and shutter speed, as well as focus of course. It did all the basics, and was a twin-lens.

The larger film size made up for the soft thirty year old Argoflex lens. That was actually fairly thrilling to work with, as you likely know. Of all the differences between 35mm (SLR) shooting and a twin-lens, it is the looking down to shoot I appreciate the most. Anyone having used a twin-lens knows the image is backwards to the viewer. Once the eye/hand function works out that little trick the photographic view is awesome. No one knows what you are doing. From that very thought brings up an image that is for me, a personal favorite. One that has yet to be finalized, but is exemplary in the outcome of using a simple twin-lens camera in a public space. This one was a Renaissance Fair affair whereupon people were walking about in costume and period dress. How tantalizing is that?

I spotted a woman dressed as a Mime walking towards me, then stopping at a booth. I will confess to moving in closer, into a favorable lighting position for a shot, about six feet away. I do not consider that stalking, although technically.... I turned to face her, looked down and focused then turned away again. When she picked up the flute to play... I turned again, and when she turned her head just a bit, such that she couldn't be recognized I clicked the shutter. The only image I ever printed for this shot was in gum. Perhaps a print in palladium might work, but for me, the gum printing will be the only outlet. I do not make copies in gum. Any gum print will be unique.

For now this image is a work in progress. I made a test print some time ago, which is the very thing that brought me back into the active fold of printing again. The test was a success even though the print is not an exhibition quality print. It demonstrated to my liking the boundary for gum density to be used, as well as reaching a full dMax in the print with separated tonal values respectively. With that knowledge the next run will be as needed. I printed this image using the sun, hence the print time is iffy at best. The achievement is realizing a full tonal range (failed here) and, showing texture and detail, like the weave pattern of her sweater. It is likely I will crop the final image a bit to draw in the subject closer, eliminating the extraneous material on the top and right edge.

I leave this image larger than normal to show the crackling of the densest area of gum, which is the blacks. That was the demonstration of bum density boundary. The texture and detail of her sweater is what I want to preserve. This print is five color print layers. The overall image is also a bit dark, from the original layer printing, going to long. One of the vagaries of using the sun for printing. The final print will reach a dozen layers at least. Then it will be ready to exhibit live.

Gum Dichromate Print ~ "The Flute Player"
1983 ~ 8"x10 ~ Unique
Veneta, Oregon