My Friend Flickr

 I came across this interesting post about Flickr on the Design Observer website in which Jessica Helfand heaps praise on the photo sharing site:

"... Flickr is a digital photo sharing website and web services suite that was developed by Ludicorp, a Vancouver, Canada company founded in 2002. It's a utopian oddity — a culture enabled by a technology that in turn enables a culture — and it's a brilliant example of socially networked software because it's free, its easy, and it makes sense. It also capitalizes on the great strengths of mobile computing, which is to say you can engage in all sorts of computational activities while being, well, mobile. Put simply, Flickr lets you upload photos, then helps you organize them, sequence them..."

I was half way through the article before I noticed that it was written in 2005, early on in the history of the site.  In that same time frame, digital had still not totally steamrollered analog and Helfand pointed to one of the weak points in digital camera design then.

Helfand has produced an astounding number of essays about design issues over the years; I thought her last post on an exhibit about typography, Type is (More Than) Image, was particularly nice.

Verde que te quiero verde.

Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.
Con la sombra en la cintura
ella sueña en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Bajo la luna gitana,
las cosas la están mirando
y ella no puede mirarlas.

Romance Sonámbulo
Federico García Lorca (1928)

Jacques Léonard's Camera

 I came across an article in La Vanguardia about a retrospective exhibit of the work of French photographer, Jacques Léonard. What caught my eye, of course, was the much used photo of the photographer with a camera to his eye -- a Kodak Medalist!

I had not bumped into Léonard's work before, but a quick Google search shows he does not lack for fame in Europe.  He is best known for his extensive and exquisite documentation of the gypsy communities of Spain, particularly of Barcelona.

None of the many articles turned up in the Google search results mentioned Léonard's gear, so I turned to Google Bard:

What camera was used by French photographer, Jacques Leonard?

Jacques Leonard used a variety of cameras throughout his career, but his most commonly used camera was the Leica IIIf. The Leica IIIf was a 35mm rangefinder camera that was introduced in 1954. It was one of the most popular cameras of its era, and it was known for its high quality of image. Leonard used the Leica IIIf to document the Roma community in Barcelona in the 1950s and 1960s. His photographs from this period are some of the most iconic images of the Roma people.

In addition to the Leica IIIf, Leonard also used other cameras, including the Rolleiflex TLR, the Contax IIa, and the Nikon F. He also used a variety of film stocks, including Kodak Tri-X, Ilford HP5, and Agfa Ultrapan.

Leonard's choice of cameras and film stocks reflected his commitment to high-quality photography. He wanted to capture the Roma community in as accurate and realistic a way as possible, and he believed that the Leica IIIf and other high-quality cameras were the best tools for the job.

So nothing there either about Léonard's Medalist.  It is a camera that I've always lusted for, but the price and the likely need for professional restoration discouraged my interest.  Had I found Léonard's work earlier, perhaps I would have been motivated to hunt for one more diligently.

Ken Rockwell's Review of the Medalist

Theory vs Practice

I had a fresh roll of Arista Edu 100, so I decided to shoot it in my Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim and process it semi-stand in RO9 (Rodinal) at 1:100 for an hour.  I thought that should give me good control of contrast and tonality.  Wrong.  The pictures were excessively contrasty and the tendency of the vuws to vignette was emphasized.  Here are the best ones from the roll.

The rest had mostly blown out highlights.  I may have not gotten a fair test for my idea behind semi-stand processing.  I'm down to the dregs on my old bottle of RO9 (Rodinal), so there's no telling if the results would have been better with fresh developer.  

TLR

 I found a couple rolls of 2006 Delta 100 in my refrigerator film drawer, so I loaded one in my YashicaMat and took some walks through the neighborhood and along the trails of the riverside forest.  

The last photo was made in the park near our home.  The girl's mother said she liked my old camera and added that her grandfather had been a photographer, possibly using a similar camera.  She said one his nature photos made it into National Geographic.  The little girl was very interested in our conversation; when I asked if she would like me to make a picture of her, she gave an emphatic "yes", and her mother helped her to pose for the camera.

ebay delivers

  Ebay, the online auction site comes in for a lot of criticism.  I haven't really found any real reason to complain about the company's operations.  I've mostly bid on low-cost, low risk cameras and I've mostly got what I wanted from the transactions.  Getting to try making pictures with some old camera, even one of modest value, has always been a good source of inspiration for me.

Recently, I took a risk on an old Kodak folder priced at $20 with a $16 mailing charge.  The risk took the form of poor photos of the item and zero prior sales by the seller.  When the shipping date window opened and closed I emailed the seller, only to get a lame excuse.  With no refund in the works, I messaged ebay to claim their 100% guarantee, and was pleased to have a resolution in a few days.

Here is the final ebay email on the transaction:

Your refund is on its way!

Hi Mike, Your case for this item has been resolved. Unfortunately, we didn't receive valid tracking information from the seller. We're sorry you had a problem with your purchase.

Here's a summary of your refund. You should receive it in 3-5 business days.

Refund summary Subtotal $20.00 Shipping $13.40 Tax $2.59 Refund Total $35.99

Shooting Blanks

 The Argoflex Forty is my favorite brilliant screen twin lens camera and Kentmere 100 is a favorite film.  

Unfortunately, the two do not get along well together.

The problem is the very faint frame numbering on the film's backing paper.  Even under bright sun the symbols and numerals are barely visible through the ruby window on the camera's back.  The result is that it is very easy to roll the film right past the upcoming frame.  On my last neighborhood stroll I managed to lose three of the twelve frames on the roll.  Add that to normal loss through missed focus and other mishaps and you end up with a frustrating experience and few good shots per roll.

In fact, most paper-backed roll film produced these days has frame numerals with poor contrast.  That is of no consequence for users of cameras with automatic frame spacing such as you would find in later twin lens reflex cameras, but it is a serious problem when the photographer is dependent on seeing the frame numbers through a dark red window on older and simpler cameras.

Here is an example of what roll film backing paper used to look like -- it is from a roll of Pan F 50:

Since I still like the quality of Kentmere in regard to grain and tonality I'll continue to use it with my film cameras that have auto frame spacing like the YashicaMat and the Voigtländer Brilliant.  However, I'll look for something else to use in my cameras that require viewing the framing numerals through a ruby window.

Summer Shooting

One needs to get out early in the day now to find tolerable shooting conditions.  My walk around Tingley Ponds took me up close to noon and I only had the energy to snap one picture on Kentmere 400 in my No.1A Pocket Kodak.

I took an early morning walk around Old Town and managed to finish off the roll.

All the pictures were made at the minimum aperture of f45 and the maximum shutter speed of 1/50.  In spite of the camera's simplicity it always makes nicely sharp pictures as long as I use a tripod.  A couple adapter disks allow me to easily use 120 film to get images with a panoramic format.

A Month of Pictures

 My photographic style over the years has been reliant to a large extent on covering a lot of ground.  I always liked wandering around with my camera and recording things of interest that I came across.  I was also not stingy with film; I tended to burn a lot of film exploring whatever subject was before me.  All that has undergone a rather drastic change due to a mobility deficit stemming from a couple tendon injuries.  So, the pictures presented here all came from a single roll of Kentmere 100 which spent a month in my Pentax ME.  I shot just a few frames at each of half a dozen locations.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center

The maiden voyage of 2926 (half a mile)

The yearly car show at the Albuquerque Art Museum

A stroll through Tiguex Park

The flooded riverside forest

San Felipe de Neri Fiesta 2023

High Water

 Snowmelt and rain have pushed the river over its banks to flood the riverside forest.  I walked about half a mile parallel to the river with my Mamiya C330.  

Athens

We stayed in a nice little hotel in the Plaka district and spent our mornings walking its narrow streets, never far from remnants of the city's ancient past.

Getting further out from the city's center was made easy by the extensive subway system.  A small sidewalk cafe near the Acropoli station provided a memorable meal along with a quick tutorial by the waiter on the proper use of a bead bracelet to ward off the evil eye.