RE: Kodak Box 620 - First 8 Photos
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Thanks!
Taking a photo with a film camera, where you can't see the end result immediately and with a roll that only takes 8 photos is really meditative as it really takes more planning than taking a snapshot or ten with a phone or a digital camera. And this is something I would have never said 10 or 20 years ago when I owned a Canon film camera. I've found that the most fascinating thing actually is the fact what you said, with a really old camera, it feels like I'm taken 100 years back when I look at the pictures.
My goal is to find under 10€ cameras, perhaps repair them if needed and take pictures with them and be amazed if they work and fall in love with them if they give me their special artistic and unique touch to the photos. And actually I've already found couple, but that's another post so let's keep this between us. 😀
The process is just as important as the final product! With modern tech we focus so much on the end result; the process becomes obsolete and a schlep. That is an interesting thought! I like that.
I have an old typewriter, so the feeling is kind of similar. My poetry and short stories just feel more "old style authentic" when I write them on the typewriter. The same with those photographs. It just takes you back into the past. Fascinating stuff.
I will be looking out for that post! I will keep it between us 😁
Yes it is! And it's also about what I want to do. If planning some sort of structure or building something, do I want to just write a list what I should do or not forget and mark down measurements to an app on my phone/computer, or do I like to write and draw and plan things to a paper with a proper pencil.
I guess my brain has started to look at film and digital photography the same way. It's more personal. Artistic although the result may be (artistically) better with a digital camera because I see the result immediately and can do it again and again also immediately. But the process in my brain.
But what I could do and probably should learn to do is utilize both. First photograph what I want to do several times with a digital camera, i.e. use it in planning and then take a photo with the film camera. But when things co by quickly, sunny/cloudy, trams/people, it's hard not to just quickly take that photo with the film camera and not plan things at all.
That is the problem right, fleeting moments need to be captured immediately; reflection on them harms the moment. They will pass, but that is an interesting philosophical question (here I go again making everything philosophical): to what extent can we "steal" moments that needed to remain uncaptured? How many moments do we miss that we should merely have enjoyed in their "fleetingness" because we wanted to capture them? But I am sure we can turn it around as well.
Exactly. Looking at things through a camera lens, even though it may help you see the thing you are photographing better, at the same time shuts you out of so many other wonderful things happening around you. And it's also a matter of perspective. If you're looking at the bigger picture, with or without the camera, you may miss details and vice versa. And when photographing, the memory of the event is very much different. It's the memory of you photographing the event than the actual event. The shadow of the event! If that ain't philosophical then I don't know what is.
That is the saddest part. One sees the event completely differently.
That is really profound. And philosophical to the next level! I like that idea, I want to turn this into a short story. Maybe I will drink some wine tonight and turn it into a short story, if I can use your comment as inspiration!
I like that idea. It kind of "pulls you away" from the moment and turns it into a memory of a mechanical process, you pressing the shutter.
Thanks as always for such wonderful and philosophical insights!
Yes! Absolutely! Can't wait to read the story. (Gonna check out right now if you already posted it to Hive as well.)
This works for me in another way too. In a good way, from my perspective. It's sometimes so nice to put a camera in between me and the world because that gives me the feeling that at that moment I'm not completely part of the world, I'm just an observer and very few people dare to interact with me when I'm photographing. It's like a shield. Not an invisibility cloak though, which I'd prefer most. Mostly people just become so aware of themselves when they see someone photographing them or the streets they walk on.
Can't help being philosophical. I think it's because of your influence. :)
I did not drink enough wine to get me inspired. No, just kidding. I will post it tonight (my time SAST) if I get enough inspiration tonight.
Oh, that is exactly it. This also helps the story! And so true. You become, in some sense, an in-between space, liminal, or a kind of "tear" in the fabric of the universe. Okay, the creative mind took over from the philosophical one. Back to philosophy. That is really an interesting position to be in though. And I think a lot of journalist photographers feel the same. You might know about them, the Bang-bang club, but they were photographers in Africa and South Africa. Most of them committed suicide due to their inability to "interfere" in those bad times. Sorry for making it so sad at the end.
Oh, wow, thank you so much! I hope that it has a good (mental) effect on you to be philosophical, otherwise my thesis that philosophy is good for your mind will be less strong now.
I love that! Being in a liminal space when photographing. Or being the liminal space. Liminally insane.
Philosophy and wondering about life and the decisions we make and how it feels is one of my favorite subjects so your effect is like gas in the tiny flame that already exists there.
This sounds like an awesome idea. I really like this! I am going to store this in my mind and "ferment" on it.
That is awesome then! My research is on using philosophy to help people cultivate a "better" way of living so I am glad that there are people out there that might find it beneficial. Even if only a little.