roll two

Got back the second roll of film shot on the Super Fujica 6, a roll of recently released Kentmere 100, in medium format or 120mm. Watched and read a bunch of reviews on the film, and then found a film photography website that was offering the film at an introductory special price of 4.99/roll, and bought 10 rolls.

fishing Lake Michael

This camera makes it easy to shoot double exposures, as the shutter and film winding are separate operations. I shot this whole roll doing double exposure just to see how it turned out, and whether I might need to tweak the settings in the future to make it work effectively. The roll turned out just fine using normal settings for each exposure.

Started shooting the third roll Saturday for an anticipated long term project. News later on that. That’s it for now, and thanks for reading to faithful few.

Cheers!

observe and express

16×20 collage, self on steroids

Friends who are interested in promoting my work asked me the other day what I wanted to do with my “art”. I had no real answer for them, because I don’t know. Since putting the zine in limbo, I really have been in a state of free range expression with no goals or intentions of where it is all going. I have done five collage pieces over this time, but that feels over for right now. I’m waiting on the negatives from the last film roll I shot, before I continue with that process, and hopefully then it will be revealed to me where the resurrected film thing is going.

digital overlays with holga lens

My lens of departure with my digital camera right now is the plastic Holga lens. I am loving the effects it creates, and it’s limitations. There is no focusing. Depending on how close or far away, the lack of sharpness varies.

digital with Holga lens

What I see is that this dream called life is an event of observation and expression. My goals are to just keep doing that in all the forms and fashions that may arise. Things arise and fall away constantly. I embrace that process, nothing more.

Cheers!

test roll

Got back the scans from the test roll and the camera works fine, especially for a 1955 model. It was a roll of 400 speed film, and I have included some shots as examples.

The scans are very small, the cheapest way to go, so I am going to print one of these tomorrow just to see what the quality looks like on paper. I have 100 speed film in the camera now, and have shot about half a roll doing double exposures just to see how that turns out. Using this camera really slows you down, and makes you contemplate your process and the potential subject. I’m enjoying it.

Cheers!

medium format

Yes, film is back, that seems to be the next thing. Was talking with my friend C. Bay earlier this month, and Holga cameras came up in the discussion. I used to have one, but sold it when I thinned out my film equipment. It got me thinking about medium format as a next form of expression, and the slower pace of shooting film. Tried out a Kiev 88 soviet era medium format SLR, but didn’t like the heaviness of it and the weird quirkiness in how it operated.

I did more research and became fascinated with the foldout cameras from the 1950s. By process of elimination, mostly on a financial basis, I landed on the Super Fujica 6, which was made in about 1955, and was the last model of its kind made by Fuji. It came yesterday, and I really like the way it operates. Hoping to get out tomorrow after all the rain and give it a spin.

On another subject, I have revamped the website a bit, sort of removed the zine stuff, references and such. The website domain name will remain the same, but the site has a new title. Thanks for reading.

Cheers, and Happy New Year!

ease and comfort

I deleted my instagram yesterday, the one I started in March, 2021, as a way of talking about and sharing information about the zine. The zine has ended and so now the Instagram. I was never a fan of the platform, and it continued to get more annoying as time went along. I will miss seeing the work of friends I met there, but maybe they will move on from it as well in time, who knows.

And speaking of moving and where, I am now on Post, the site where twitter refugees appear to be flooding right now. I really like the vibe of the site. It still has some kinks to work out, but I like it so far. I am there under the same handle as my last IG iteration @camerazenscura.

In a recent post on Post, I discussed my not using hashtags. Someone commented that that was how he discovered potential people and subjects he wanted to follow. My response was that I had no need to be found or discovered. I have now what Paul Hedderman calls “an ease and comfort in my own skin”, a relaxed way of being in the world, ambition extinguished. My next project is to have none, just be.

Cheers!