I once facetiously asked a coworker if the cameras we sold were tools or collaborators. Then realised that I'm on the latter side of the argument. Never one for gear acquisition, I quickly settled on my Canon A1, Instax Mini 90, and Mamiya 645 for all my photographic needs.
Each has its own quirks and benefits, they can be temperamental and require compromise. To me, that makes them collaborators. Recently, the light meter on the A1 stopped functioning, and I need to decide between repair and replacement.
There have been times in the past when it sat idle, and yes, I got nervous if we were still a proper fit. But I know, good or bad, that we will work together again.
Thank you! You can listen to me read all of the Iterations by tapping the play button at the top of the posts. It’s my voice, not Substack’s auto-generated one.
You asked if there's a tool that you couldn't live without. Undoubtedly it's my Rolleiflex 3.5F and Ilford HP5 film. I've been using it to make this Street Portrait series for the last year. http://AmericanStreetPortraits.com
The Australian photographer Peter Coulson put a great video up on YouTube recently, It's not is about the gear (YouTube) - https://youtu.be/oZ1P819ORhc?si=Ox9cI7lcNudKkIGG - the essence of which was that the gear really doesn’t matter except in that it should feel great in hand and be so that your aren’t thinking about the gear, but rather the pictures you are making. Definitely worth a watch.
I once facetiously asked a coworker if the cameras we sold were tools or collaborators. Then realised that I'm on the latter side of the argument. Never one for gear acquisition, I quickly settled on my Canon A1, Instax Mini 90, and Mamiya 645 for all my photographic needs.
Each has its own quirks and benefits, they can be temperamental and require compromise. To me, that makes them collaborators. Recently, the light meter on the A1 stopped functioning, and I need to decide between repair and replacement.
There have been times in the past when it sat idle, and yes, I got nervous if we were still a proper fit. But I know, good or bad, that we will work together again.
Love this. I always listen to your podcasts and while reading this, in my head, I heard your voice reading it aloud.
You always write about deep things. Thanks.
Thank you! You can listen to me read all of the Iterations by tapping the play button at the top of the posts. It’s my voice, not Substack’s auto-generated one.
Thank you. I'll start doing this too.
You asked if there's a tool that you couldn't live without. Undoubtedly it's my Rolleiflex 3.5F and Ilford HP5 film. I've been using it to make this Street Portrait series for the last year. http://AmericanStreetPortraits.com
The Australian photographer Peter Coulson put a great video up on YouTube recently, It's not is about the gear (YouTube) - https://youtu.be/oZ1P819ORhc?si=Ox9cI7lcNudKkIGG - the essence of which was that the gear really doesn’t matter except in that it should feel great in hand and be so that your aren’t thinking about the gear, but rather the pictures you are making. Definitely worth a watch.
There’s a nonsense devotion for old cameras now. Photographers always looked to the future in their imaginary. Not now