TRAVELLING WITH ANALOGUE

The following are some of suggestions when you travel abroad and plan to take some analogue photos to remind you of places visited and/or for a photo project.

Film - On a recent trip to Europe I took a total of 8 airline flights. At each one of the security screening I had film canisters in a plastic bag and asked if the film could be hand inspected. This was agreed to at 6 out of the 8. With modern screening technology (eg swabbing for explosives) it is possibly less problematic to get hand inspections. I would suggest this for 35mm or roll film. On a previous trip I asked for this to be done for sheet film, but the attendant wanted to look inside the box, so that one went thru the x-ray machine. It is a bit of luck of the draw but there’s no harm in asking. Depending on where you are travelling, buying film at your destination can be useful in reducing the number of inspections

Bodies - Take 2 bodies if you can. On a trip to Scotland I was taking a picture with a new full frame digital camera, and the viewfinder image went black, because the internal viewfinder mirror fell off! The second body I had was a life saver.

Lens - Travel light with one or 2 lens. My favourite lens for 35 mm is Canon 45 mm tilt/shift lens. For 4 x 5, my Fuji 150 mm lens (having a similar perspective to a 50 mm lens) is ideal.

Tripod - Essential. The wind in Iceland really blows!

See and feel the image - This is a key part of the creative process and driven by what you want your pictures to express. For me, photography is most powerful where it moves into ‘subject as a metaphor’ or ‘subject as a story’ , where a space for posing questions, reflection, communication, curiosity or drama is created for both photographer and viewer, and where mood and emotion are paramount.

The straightforward image below was a gentle local scene, in summer, in dappled light, combining natural and man-made elements. Initially meant as a record of the local environment, it took on a different significance when a week later all of the vegetation had been cut down. Admired one minute, gone the next.

The feeling of winter

"Black angled trees...

An onyx labyrinth twists down the wind

Until the ground is rippled white brocade

beneath a shifting  candleflame of sun."

(poetry by Sandra Fowler)

This photograph, which I took late in the day in the Snowy Mountains in NSW, reflects the elemental feeling of winter. The days are short, nature exerts its force, the ground is frozen, the air is chilled, and the wind is biting.  While Australia has large arid expanses, the snowfields in NSW and Victoria have a unique beauty and poetry. Setting up a large format film camera in this environment can be quite a challenge!

How to capture Autumn in a different way?

Autumn is a season of cooling temperatures and falling leaves. As the temperature starts to cool, the metal chairs in the park become less and less occupied. Golden leaves start to gather on the ground, blown randomly by the wind.

I made this photograph using 2 negatives. The leaves form a carpet, their pattern imbued and reflected in the chairs. The horizontals of the chair backs and long shadows balance out with the verticals of the chair legs. The feeling to me is that summer is past, winter is approaching.

Using multiple images is a niche area of photography. Some photographers apply this extensively in their work, for example, Jerry Uelsmann. Done well, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Done poorly, the results can be a train wreck!  Some double exposures can be done accident, when the same film in the camera is unknowingly exposed twice, with the results seen when the film is developed.

My use of double negatives is very selective. For some other examples, see my Mobius images from the Home page. Experimentation can sometimes lead to magical results.

WHY ANALOGUE?

WHY ANALOGUE?

• THE PHYSICALITY OF FILM - A tangible medium which can be felt, touched, worked and preserved, and representing a half way point between light producing a negative and realisation of a positive image
• THE MEDITATION OF THE DARKROOM - There is a meditative rhythm in world under red light, with light through the negative affecting the polarity of photographic paper, which slowly reveals the positive image through wet chemistry
• SERENDIPITY - The unforeseen element of chance and surprise when the image or image making is bent in magical ways
• WORKS ON PAPER - While most digital images are usually kept  and viewed via digital file, a silver gelatin photograph incorporates an image rendered in black metallic silver within a physical archival work on paper
• CYCLES OF CREATIVITY - Film is making a steady resurgence, perhaps like a mobius strip where you have to complete 2 full cycles to arrive at the starting point