Friday 28 January 2011

No Weapon is Obsolete


I shot this image last week using a 5x4" view camera.  Something that would have been instantly recognisable to a photographer 100 years ago.  OK, I used film instead of glass plates, but the process hasn't really drastically changed in all that time.  You still need to put a cloth over your head to see the image on the ground glass and the image on the ground glass is upside down and back to front.  The camera is not quick to set up and there are a number of stages you have to go through to get the camera ready for shooting.  You have to focus under the dark cloth with a magnifier, set the aperture and shutter speed manually, cock the shutter, close the shutter, insert the film holder and  remove the dark slide before , at last, you can fire the shutter and hear the clockwork mechanism quietly click the shutter open.

That's a lot to remember when you're directing a model as well.

But it does the photographer's brain good 

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