Heading West

Blog entry No. 100 ! Thanks to all readers and re-visitors.
I use the occasion to delight you with a selection of images of an exhibition I did in 2002 in Germany. Took me five years to finally scan the negatives, even I am not convinced yet, what will survive on the long term, files or negatives (files on DVD will def. loose based on current studies).
All images from this series (Exhibition was titled "Heading West") are shot with a Bronica ETRs and a pano back or 6x4.5 back, the locations are in Nevada and California.

Creative Time and Space

Some reflection about creative output or value-time. Do you realize, the more you are distracted, the less you get done or the less creative ideas you have ? Some observations:

• The more equipment I bring along, the less focused I am. Always thinking which camera should I use now.
• I sit in my room/lab/photo office (whatever you call it) and I get distracted by the various books I want to read/look through or finish, by the stack of negatives I need to scan, the number of images I want to print and frame, the untouched book project, surfing the web for inspiration, writing these blog.
• The best creative ideas (for books, projects, experiments) I get while traveling in airplanes or lonely hotel rooms on office trips (assuming its a dark, cold and less-interesting environment around the hotel).
• It seems there are creative time corridors during the day, you should find out about yours.
  
• The more GB's of images you try to produce on a trip the less you create, you get stuck with sorting out the images. Rather shoot less.
• I feel not satisfied when I dont get anything done during a whole day, but also very happy when I finish only one thing.
  

Conclusion: You can do only one real creative thing at a time. Try to focus and let it flow, anyway you cant force the ideas to come. Whatever we do, we wont be able to visit all places we want to see and explore, work out all ideas and so on. Maybe thats not the point anyway, just enjoy doing what you like.

I write these lines, while scanning 5 year old negatives, sorting other image files on my harddrives, cleaning the clogged printerhead for the 5th time in 4 weeks and thinking of the next entry in my blog, which will be number 100.
My 2 cents for today.

Vertical = Panorama ?

The question might be technical or rather philosophical. What defines a panorama ?
[pan- + Greek horma, sight (from horn, to see; see)] or
An unbroken view of an entire surrounding area. (link)
From this prospective a vertical would not be panorama, but you can bend it by lying on your side and seeing a scene (90 degree). The vertical is shot with a panorama camera, so does this fact make a vertical equal a panorama ?
To be honest, I dont care. I love both and sometimes I feel like turning my 6x17 by 90 degree and shoot !
Some subjects really ask for the vertical format, sometime you need to think out of the box (or lets say out of the panorama) to see it (bot as photographer and as viewer!).
I will do a little presentation about Panorama Photography during Photo Imaging X-change 2007 (held in conjunction with Imaging Expo Singapore 2007, November 1-4). So if you happen to be in Singapore, feel free to drop by. There a lots of other interesting workshops and presentations as well. More info @ www.pix-singapore.com

I share some verticals with you (also from my last Australia trip through Queensland).

Queensland Panorama

I still want to share some panoramic work that I made during the recent Australia trip. I have been off to Germany for the last 2 weeks, so while being really offline, I didnt update this page, your bear with me. Some more thoughts about panoramic Australia: So much I appreciate the panoramas by Ken Duncan or Peter Lik for their craftsmanship, experience, strong colors and so on, I sometimes dont feel like following their style and do another similar shot. Of course there are only limited ways to do landscape photography, no doubt. A panorama is special, on recent trips I occasionally didnt make a panoramic shot because its already there, nothing new, or I didnt find that angle, that view, which is new. With this attitude you wont find any leftover landscapes which has not been shot 100.000 times before, you might say, just think of the 12 (10?) Apostles in Australia or the famous black tree in the red Namibia desert. But at the end of the day you shoot for yourself ! So I share some different black and white views, which are not necessary typical for Queensland or Australia, but for me they are ! Cheers.

Vintage Queensland with the Agfa Isolette

One or another piece of my vintage camera collection always follows my trips. This time I selected the Agfa Isolette, made in Germany somewhere 1951-1954, with a 85mm/F4.5 Agnar lens. Surprisingly the images are quite sharp (at least in comparison to the other vintage cameras I was playing with before). It offers more flexibility than the box, since it have an aperture range from 4.5 to 32 and shutter speeds 1/25, 1/50, 1/200 and B. Its sensitive to flare!
Anyway, I am always happy to bump into a subject or scene that gives that vintage look as well. Here we go: Isolette + Shanghai GP3 100 bw + locations in Blackwater and Miles (Yes, I admit, tourist spots).

Camera Collection: Agfa Synchro Box

What a simple tool ! A box (guess how the name was created) which contains the most simple camera tech (after pinhole) to make pictures. Produced (this model) by Agfa somewhere 1949 to 1958 the camera was the average joe's affordable camera (before single-use-throw-away, alias delvelop cameras were born). Now in 2007 my box still dont need any service (what to fix?) or batteries (there aren't any) besides a de-dusting of the simple lens.One test image on a chinese Lucky100 SHD bw film. If I am in the nostalgic mood I will do some more shootings with the box. Btw, it goes with F11 and 1/30s. Either you dont enlarge your images or you use a tripod !Have a look at BoxCameras.com for more boxes and historical more accurate data.

I love the dreamy, slightly blurry effect. No Photoshop required.

And for anyone keen to read the manual, here you go...

Shanghai GP3

OK, before I delight you with the panoramas from Australia, I still owe you results from the GP3 testfilm (link) . I used it with a Voigtländer Bessa (6x9). Please note the sharp centre area and the rather blurry rest of the image. I have no explanation yet for the funny dots (see enlargement). The film has an OK grain (less than Lucky 100), but is similar sensitive to scratches like the Lucky100 SHD (link).

Expectations

Yes, I am back from Queensland ! A very interesting, but long trip, managed to drive 3.700km with the campervan from Brisbane to Townsville and back. I must admit, I did far less panoramas than I thought I would do. It has something to do with expectations ?! Earlier this year we traveled through South Australia (a very short 5 day excursion from Adelaide to the Flinders Ranges) and I didnt expect to do lots of panoramic works there, the opposite happened ! Now I thought in Queensland, the 2 weeks time and with the flexibility of the van can do lots of panoramas... also the opposite happened ! Maybe a bit too ambitious with the driving time and didnt take the early (5.30pm) sunset into consideration. The distances are huge and there are less subjects (I found less!) than in SA. I am always looking for ruins (like the early settlement houses), a shack or rusty car, but the only things we were passing for 100's km were trees and trees. Also need to add that I run into that non-standard-tourist subjects more or less randomly and hardly find a suitable scene in an outdoor museum or "follow-the-tourist-route-sign" place. Anyway it was a great experience and I am looking forward to explore more of Australia soon. One thing I experienced one more time: (Panorama) Photography is about learning, endurance and patience, thats wonderful, there is always a next step to do, a new experience to be made along the way !
I bought a book from Peter Ilk (for my panorama bookshelf) in Townsville ("Australia - Images of a timeless land").
Now its time to work on the backlog and to wait eagerly for the films (about 5 rolls 120 and 5 rolls 135). More soon at this place.

Heading to Australia

Finally another real panoramic trip. We are heading for 2 weeks to Queensland Australia with a campervan. The panorama will be right outside the window. Should be bit easier to get up early morning. So for the next 3 weeks you wont find any updates here, but hopefully lots of panoramas after we return. 2 panoramas from the last trip to South Australia earlier this year as appetizer.

Zhouzhuang Panorama

The village near Suzhou, about 2 hours drive from Shanghai, is also known as the "Venice of the Orient" or "Venice of the East". The torturous and bumpy busride to that place reveals a full flavor tourist trap. There are definitely some very nice and old-looking spots between the old houses and waterways, but there is a high density of shops selling all kind of tourist stuff that make you ask yourself "Why the heck would I want to buy that ?". Btw, on the ride there you see villages that are much more appealing for a shooting in bw, but anyway I want to share some panoramas made with XPan, I was straying around too long without the trusty and pinsharp hassi in my pocket.

Wikipedia about ZhouZhuang

Panorama Camera Collection: Fotoquelle Panorama

Another 1$ camera from my panoramic gear collection. This model with fix focus, fix aperture (1/11) and fix exposure (1/100) was distributed by Fotoquelle in Germany but must have been produced by another company. The box shows an english description but the manual is in german, added by Quelle. Unfortunately the box doesnt show any clue of its origin.

I like the description of the features printed on the box.
The wide angle optical lens 25mm focus free angle is wider one time than 35mm focus.
Excuse me, what ? Of course the lens is optical, but one time wider than 35mm focus ? I didnt know focus comes with a focal length.
DX coded film.
huh ? its a plastic camera without battery, but with fix aperture and shuttertime, DX is useful as a third leg for this camera.
24 or 26 films actually take 24 or 36 exposures.
Really ? Thats wonderful ! I never thought so.

I took it to the usual "1$-camera-with-1$-bw-china-film-and-5$-development-test". Sorry, not convincing, it definitely cant compete with the Ansco panorama camera ! Here some results. I will refrain from further shooting with it.
And if someone really needs the manual in german, here you go..