Spring Fever
The rediscovery of the sun always makes me reach for the SX-70. I don’t know how that works, but it does.
I only have 8 packs of Polaroid film left!
Photo Reads
Over the last couple of days I’ve been collecting links to some of my favorite longer-form articles, essays, blog posts, and interviews about photography on a new blog called Photo Reads. I can’t promise to update it every day, but I do spend quite a bit of time online looking for stuff like this anyway, so I thought I would share the results with everyone else.
If Twitter is more your thing, there’s a Twitter account too. Same stuff, different format.
The most recently posted article about Joel Sternfeld is a pretty interesting read. I love coming across stuff like this.
Lee Friedlander
“The subject of landscape as a photographic possibility is both pleasurable and very difficult. The subject itself is simply perfect, and no matter how well you manage as a photographer, you will only ever give a hint as to how good the real thing is. We photographers don’t really make anything: we peck at the world and try to find something curious or wild or beautiful that might fit into what the medium of photography can hold.”
-Lee Friedlander, from his introduction to Lee Friedlander Photographs Frederick Law Olmstead Landscapes
I have been pecking away at the world myself and have a few photographs from the past winter to show for it. I’ll have something to share soon, I hope. I’ve been having some trouble with the weather these last few weeks, so mostly I just drive around Long Island and take notes on places I would eventually like to photograph if I ever get the chance.
Chamonix 45N-1
Chamonix 45N-1
I’ve been shooting exclusively with a large format camera for about a year now. There have been many times in the last twelve months when I’ve seriously questioned that decision. My previous 4×5 camera was heavy, wobbly, and didn’t like to stay in focus for very long. I got so tired of carrying that thing out for a whole day only to come home with a sore neck and a stack of out of focus negatives.
At the same time, I knew that I was doing the right thing by sticking with large format. I am in love with the 4×5 negative and the way the view camera works, and that feeling has only grown—even when I haven’t always been happy with the results.
I decided a few months ago that it was time for a new camera and started doing some research. My goal was to find a camera that stays out of the way; the fewer little operational problems I have to worry about the more I can concentrate on making pictures. I decided on the Chamonix 45N-1, which is becoming known as the sports car of the large format photography world: well-made, lightweight, and extremely stiff. It’s also nice to look at and reasonably priced, as far as these things go. It’s too soon to tell if I’m going to fall in love with this camera, but so far I’m very impressed.
Another film giveaway
If you can use 100 rolls of expired color film, check out James Pomerantz’s expired film giveaway.