Settling for Less or Seeing it for more...

[Godfrey]

I would photograph regardless. Film, digital, or whatever comes next. ...

On the money.

I am motivated, compelled, to make photographs. I enjoy making them with whatever equipment whim, caprice, or necessity deems apropos at the moment I want to make them. Often, it seems the harder the process from vision to finished photograph is, the more fun it is. Other times, my vision is expanded by the ease of using the particular equipment.

I never "leave" some medium or format, to "go to" some other. I think about what I'm trying to achieve and look for whatever might get me there, or I just see something that looks like it might have some interesting qualities that I can utilize and try it out.

Wonderful photos, and I love your Porsche avatar, Helen! Reminds me of another passion that has cropped up of late: I've wanted a Lancia Fulvia coupé since I was 10 years old, and I may just move Heaven, Earth, and my local Bank Manager to fund buying one... LOL!!! What price Art?



G

Lancia Fulvia 1.6HF Fanalone
"Equipment is transitory. Photographs endure."​

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I have collection of film cameras. Some are family cameras. It is not big collection. Nothing is expensive.
I'm trying to sell some of it locally. I also have three digital cameras I want to sell.
My wife doesn't like darkroom taken space and me buying film. I'm slowing down on this part.
I like film as the process most.

 

[robert blu]

Wonderful photos, and I love your Porsche avatar, Helen! Reminds me of another passion that has cropped up of late: I've wanted a Lancia Fulvia coupé since I was 10 years old, and I may just move Heaven, Earth, and my local Bank Manager to fund buying one... LOL!!! What price Art?

Lancia Fulvia 1.6HF Fanalone
"Equipment is transitory. Photographs endure."​

My father had a Fulvia Coupén (not the more sporty HF version), it had been his last car. When he died (too young) I inherited it which I kept for many years.

It was an excellent car with two double body carburetors which had to be tuned each 8/10.000 km or each season change!

I for sure have some picture of it, but where? I'll try to look for them .

 

[JeffS7444]

I am at the "There is no glass" stage: Shoot with what you got. Or not.

 

[Bill Clark]

I will never recover my financial expenditures for the Lexus and the Leica

If you keep them, long term you can.

My wife and I owned a Toyota Corolla we bought new in 1986 and kept it until 2002. Our children drove it thru high school and college. My son, last to drive it, came home one day and said, “Dad the car runs great, but every time I drive through a puddle of water, my pants get wet!” The car was never taken to the dealer for repairs.

 

[Godfrey]

My father had a Fulvia Coupé (not the more sporty HF version), it had been his last car. When he died (too young) I inherited it which I kept for many years.

It was an excellent car with two double body carburetors which had to be tuned each 8/10.000 km or each season change!

I for sure have some picture of it, but where? I'll try to look for them .

Your father was a cool guy.

Yeah: Dual, two-barrels, side-draft Solex or Weber carburetors. They shouldn't really need such frequent adjustment, but sometimes they do if there is a fuel delivery or wear problem, which problems do kind of develop over time as wear and dirt affect them.

No problem for me, I had a job once upon a time in the dim ages of my youth as a carburetor rebuilding specialist, and at about that time was also did jobs as a mechanic doing engine building and tuning... The Fulvia engine is a beautiful, simple piece of mechanical artistry that needs only mechanical skills and insight, unlike the modern half-computer-driven engine in my Merc which needs a $40,000 diagnostic computer system to tell a mechanic how it's feeling today. LOL!

Life was rather simpler back then...

G

 

[helen.HH]

Is that a 356 by your name? My 911 and Boxter go to my son when they prize the keys
from my cold dead hands. Great picture by the way. Cheers Dan

Thanks Dan !
confused by the 356 question

 

[helen.HH]

Wow. I just can't enjoy photographing with a digital camera. I just bought the most expensive camera in my life, and I wasn't even exited. I left it in the box for a week, took it out and when I found out the manual is more than 800 pages, I put it back again.
My photographs are better with digital, I just don't enjoy it.
I will keep my film cameras even if they make me a worse photographer.

haha, made me giggle between your keeping it in the box, omg to a 800 page manual and your final quip
"I will keep my film cameras even if they make me a worse photographer"

all delicious, completely understood ~
Thank you !

 

[helen.HH]

Wonderful photos, Helen! I’m not ready to leave film behind, even though I’m shooting more digital these days. Instead, Covid and quarantine have forced me to concentrate on photography I can do on my own, away from crowds, out on the coast, in the trees, or in the mountains. As much as I love street photography, the concentration on a narrower range subjects and settings has changed the way I see the world photographically.

Pleased You liked the photos...
Great to hear You will still be shooting film

I must agree with You, 'street' no longer has it's pull or fascination for Me
Be drunk on Nature , symmetry, shadows and light
Thanks !

 

[helen.HH]

Still have my film cameras but only occasionally use them. Besides an emotional attachment to an imaginary past, I’ve had to be honest with myself and admit that the very mechanical nature and ‘beauty’ of brass and glass are what appeal to me.
Never been an artist and have stopped pretending. Yes, the instant feedback of digital has sucked me in, but the instruments themselves? No more feeling for them than my toaster or coffee maker. Just another appliance made to last to the end of the warranty and then, when it dies, be discarded.

Fascinated by what can be done by bare minimum of photographic tools.

Certainly a few interesting points... I liked these thoughts of yours
"the very mechanical nature and ‘beauty’ of brass and glass are what appeal to me. "

"Yes, the instant feedback of digital has sucked me in, but the instruments themselves? No more feeling for them than my toaster or coffee maker. Just another appliance made to last to the end of the warranty and then, when it dies, be discarded"

Cheers and Thank You ~

 

[helen.HH]

Lovely images and poetic titles. I gave up film too, many years ago. 'Just too lazy I suppose. 'Miss it some, but only black and white and then mostly the way it can sometimes handle highlights when exposures are just right.

Thanks for the kind words...
I am actually quite smitten now that I have done the deed
throw myself in wholeheartedly, do or die, lol

 

[helen.HH]

I find myself going backwards in my choice of cameras. I shoot dslrs for work. For myself, it’s all black and white film. Nikon F and F2 with first generation Nikkors or Leica IIIa cameras with pre-war lenses. It helps that I have a purpose built darkroom that has been a refuge this past year. I’m still working at a job I enjoy, running a weekly newspaper in a rural community, so I have been out almost every day during the pandemic.

Wonderful to hear your sense of Wonder and contentment,
Life is good for You it seems !

Best and Thanks ~

 

[helen.HH]

I have not shot film in years. Retirement is a short time away for me. I plan on setting the darkroom back up and shooting B&W again. Until then - I have the Nikon Df and Leica Digitals to use with my lenses. I miss shooting the Nikon S-Mount lenses, hence the need to do film.

As far as letting change mold me: I was writing code to process digital images 40 years ago. I shot nothing but film the 15 years before that. I still get paid to write code, but anything written for my digital cameras is just for fun.
Helen- good choice to keep MS 246.

I too Miss the Nikon S World, sometimes wish I had kept my S2 / 50 f2
but I am now on a resolved path...
Since Eric passed away , I no longer have the head to one day do film another digi...too unsettling for me...so The M246 is magic in terms of B&W, ease of use, little PP to get what I want and see

Nice to hear You are going to shoot film again
Thank You Brian !

 

[dourbalistar]

Thanks Dan !
confused by the 356 question

Helen, I think Dan is referring to the Porsche 356 in your avatar photo.

 

[helen.HH]

People change. New needs arise. New user experiences get satisfied.

I do think creative types get bored easy, needing new stuff or new experiences every so often. Google it; actually been shown. Ha, ha, that's probably the genesis for GAS.

Anyway, if someone moves away from film, or even photography, I'm sure there's some "new"creative something filling the space. Unfortunately only 24 hours in a day.

Simplicity is good too. Makes us concentrate on the important.
I still enjoy the process of B&W film. Bulk loading, developing ect. It's a nice contrast to how much the world has become computerized and electrified. But ultimately, it really still is only a means to an end -- getting out and seeing something new. Guess you can do that with a digital camera too.

Yes agreed and puts me in a clearer perspective re:
creative urges/boredom
Simplicity
means to an end
computerized, electrified World versus film and it's home grown ways

Thank You !

 

[helen.HH]

I don't think digital/film needs to necessarily be an either/or proposition. Personally I get just as much enjoyment out of shooting with my 907x as I do with one of my stereo glass plate cameras or one of my old Graflexes. I thought I was done with film too a number of years ago, but something compelled me to bring it back into the fold despite my continued use of digital. Who knows Helen - you might return to it somewhere down the line. And if you don't, well that's okay too.

To me it's all photography, no matter the recording media.

Yes Vince, U agree it's all photography
I just no longer have the patience and devotion for bouncing between systems... Losing Eric has dramatically changed my 'focus' concentrative efforts... It's as if I am no fully present in the World, only a part of me and some 'other' part in the 'other' World

Pleased to hear You effortlessly enjoy Both !
Thanks !

 

[helen.HH]

I would photograph regardless. Film, digital, or whatever comes next. I prefer digital these days but who knows; might slip on the ice and wake up wanting to do albumen prints. As long as the photos get the brain working, I'll be out there doing whatever.

Your blessed indeed ~
Thank You !

 

[helen.HH]

Where am I now? -

The past decade and a half have been a process of trying to convince myself that I enjoy working with digital cameras. I've owned a number of them and still own two. Some of them have had teething pains, but the look of the images was enough to look past the warts. Some have been incredible shooters, but the files lacked in processing flexibility.

No matter how much I've enjoyed the results, I've kept coming back to my original (true?) love of film. Specifically black and white film. A combination of the process and the results keeps me engaged and happy that I can make images that reflect some of the beauty in this world.

Digital serves purposes. Film serves desires.

Un derstood your final thought
"Digital serves purposes. Film serves desires."

though I am becoming more amazed at how far 'diogital' has evolved
sometimes the Beauty can blow your mind...I think DIGI is harder to make a perfect atmospheric photo .
Digital for me Requires more concentration, understanding
when You do it right (more infrequent than doing it with film)
it can be very satisfying, hehe.

Cheers and Thanks !

 

[helen.HH]

As I age my radius of operations seems to shrink. I sometimes think I'm going out to photograph the same old same old. And yet . . .

Each time I visit the well-worn venue I seem to find some new aspect that I overlooked before. Or, I can treat the same subject in a different way. The constraints are in our minds.
(Helen, that's a nice 356 in your avatar. A, B, or C model?)

Great to be blessed with new vision...
Thank You ~

does this help with re; to model



my kind of Atmosphere
by Helen Hill, on Flickr

 

[helen.HH]

Helen, I stopped using film completely in 2008. My first digital camera was a Canon DSLR bought the year before. I had undergone neck surgery and had plenty of down time to read and learn about digital gear, methods and the "how-tos" during my recovery. At first I hated it. New trick, old dog. I was resistant to change. Tri-X and HP5 had been my standards in photography for 35 years and I didn't want to give them up. But the fact is the Tri-X and HP5 had changed over the years, the printing papers were different and I had been deluding myself there was any consistency in the world anymore.

So eventually I came around to accept digital photography for what it was--just another method of taking pictures and making prints.

I sold my Leicas, gave away all my film (a lot of film) and closed down my darkroom. I tossed out the chemicals and remaining partial boxes of paper and tried to find someone to take my enlargers--but no luck there. I made a clean break from film. It wasn't as hard as giving up cigarettes but it wasn't easy either.

In my opinion, I confused the love of photography and light and the creative process with the methods and tools. Once I got over that, I really began to love photography again. Now you couldn't make me return to shooting film, processing film, printing negatives and working in the darkroom.

You're a creative person, Helen. Your nature is to make art. You have to have an outlet for this creativity. At some point you chose photography. How you do photography is not the point. Photography is the point. Or knitting, writing poetry, drawing pictures or any of a gazillion other practices. As long as you're creating, you will feel at least somewhat fulfilled life. Film, digital...? Not important.

Yes indeed, Brilliant ~
as You said: "Not Important"... quite right
Thank You !