foto-mondo: train window- cameras etc

Saturday, December 13, 2008

train window- cameras etc

my reflection in the train window -bern- dec.09.2008

i left most of my cameras in Louisiana. i tried to pare down and only brought my nikon, a diana, 2 plastic vivitars, polaroid sx70, my sony video camera- 2 casio exilims. i might have thrown my old kodak pony 135 in my suitcase- it makes great double exposures. i also have an arsenal over here- my friend boris brought me a lot of old russian cameras a while back- and i have some others that i left here; a great old kowa, and maybe one of my all time favorites: a cosina.

my one big entertainment when here [europe] -when I"M not entertaining- is hitting the 2nd hand shops, and salvation army stores in search of cameras and lenses. i have gotten some real treasures. so, i know i'll be adding to the collection while here. it's a disease.

unfortunately it is so cold at the moment here in zermatt - minus 10 Celsius- that i have not been going out to shoot anything at all. i shot a bunch of digital stuff en route and from the train, but, haven't even been making photos in the hotel or the bar since i got here. i wrap up and walk out on the balcony to smoke, and shoot the matterhorn, daily... as it is just right there. but i have never been real big on landscape photography- except for the funky south.

i hope to do some night shots in bern and zurich -for the blur series- once i am off the mountain. but there are some great old barns and things here- hundreds of years old- that i should shoot; stuff i've probably already shot... since i have been coming here since the mid 90s.
[c]2008 doug duffey

about this blog

i began making photos in my teens. i wasn't really making much more than snapshots [except for a few psychedelic polaroids in the late 60s] until the 90s, when i bought a used Canon AE1 camera from a guy on Bourbon Street [probably 'hot']. that's when i began getting serious about photography. i taught myself everything by doing: how to use the camera; how to develop film; how to make the prints [b&w only]. when i bought 2nd hand darkroom equipment and began printing, it really became a passion.

i collect and use cameras: everything from crap 50-cent fixed focus plastic 35mm ones i find at junk stores to good quality Leica, Rollei, Bronica, Yashica, Nikon-i particularly like old manual cameras that don't use batteries etc. [Voigtlander, Zeiss, etc] i've been collecting rangefinders like crazy-it's gotten ridiculous: i have more cameras than i can use... but keep collecting. i sometimes turn broken cameras into pinhole film cameras.

i really like the effects i get with the crap plastic cameras [i like the element of surprise] using 'color process' b&w film- i usually load several w/different ASA film and take them when i go shooting. they're light, easy to carry, never need batteries, and i don't have to worry about lighting, or f/stops etc. i've also bought a lot of medium format plastic cameras as well [diana, agfa isola, etc] and old 127 ,120, & 620 film-cameras [both good quality and bad] - the fixed focus plastic lens make for dream-like, soft focus shots. i love old photographs and these were the type cameras that made the majority of those!

i've been trying to scan/archive most of my negatives/fotos for years now- but considering i have been making fotos from my teen years until now that is a major on-going work. i have about 4 external hard drives w/ thousands of fotos on them... and thousands of 'actual' physical negatives... and fotos- things i've shot all over the world; however, my favorite subject matter remains the beautiful but tragically disappearing old south, which i hope to capture as much of as possible.

i almost never have prints made. i usually print photographs myself, when i am going to do a series and or a show. i also develop all true b&w film/negatives myself, after having some negatives ruined by so-called professionals, who either used old chemicals or didn't time things right. as said, i collect old cameras and have many different film formats; many of the negatives would have to be sent off; so, doing it myself is faster and much cheaper. i'm not really into digital, because i like film... and i like working in the darkroom. digital cameras take the photos when THEY decide to; a manual camera makes the foto when YOU press the button. i've also seen digital fotos just 'disappear'- due to computer crashes- or media cards- so i prefer film. i have my grandmother's and mother's negatives from waaaaaaaaaaaaay back... which i can still print from... who knows that whatever digital medium we're using these days will even be functional in 5 years? give me film any time!

for a long time i have been using Ilford xp-2 - and Kodak BW400 [both are color processed b&w you can have processed anywhere] and scan the negatives into my computer. but , now to make things even easier, i just have whoever develops the negatives scan them to cd. of course i only print b&w- so for true B&W i print myself. if i photoshop anything it has to be a digital print; especially anything in color.

i've had exhibits in louisiana and europe, but due to the fact that music is my top priority business, i haven't been doing any printing lately. i just keep shooting more and more film and keep acquiring more and more negatives, polaroids, and cds of the work... [and collecting more cameras] at least i can post some of the digitized shots/scans here!

check out the IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT to save and continue Polaroid film