Another Nail in LF Photography from Afghanistan

[Mark Woods]

Here's a link for today's LA Times you might find interesting. Digital is making its way to Afghanistan.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-camera24-2009jun24,0,6804391.story

Enjoy.

MW

[pablo batt]

i want one, digital is dead, long live film lol, one day the recycled yogurt pot plastic used to make digi devices will run out, WHAT WILL THEY DO THEN HUH HUH .

i just dont believe all this new tech has been thought out enough, i dont even like yogurt.

i wish i could live in Afghanistan sound like its fun.

[rphenning]

That man sounds like a legend.

[rdenney]

Too bad the article didn't include any examples. I'd rather see "ethereal" than read the word.

And ironic that the only photograph supplementing the article was surely made with a digital camera.

Rick "wondering if there is less than meets the eye" Denney

[Kirk Keyes]

Maybe the guy should display some of his work on the outside of his camera box instead of color pictures that have been cut out of a magazine...

Was there an article in the papers when the wet plate photographers were going out of fashion because of the popularity of dry plates?

[Clarence Rhymer]

Hello,

Here are a couple of pics of my Thompson Street camera. I don't use it at present. There is rather low demand here.

I was corresponding with Eaton Lothrop about street cameras back in early 2007, but alas he has passed away. He had 62 street cameras in his collection, including 5 Thompsons.

Don't use the Devry much either. Some of the best pictures of my parents were made by street photographers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a very long time ago. Of course Foncie Pulice of Vancouver, BC is legendary, although these later cameras are 35mm.

By the way, does anyone here own or use a street camera?
Are there still old-style street photographers in Havana?

DannL, yes, not exactly large format, but large format used to be smaller. But then, nostalgia ain't what it used to be either.

Cheers,
Clarence

[747sp]

it seems as though everyone is negative about film at the moment (this weeks news re Kodachrome is mainstream...) I get a lot of stick from guys in my (day job) office who think I am mad dragging the backpack a couple of miles for one shot, while they can point me (by email) to flikr where they have a collection of photos they got in the park the last time the snow fell in London. Surely the issue is that it is magic being there at that moment..at 5am when the sun turned those clouds pink and it was worth it getting out of bed at 4. Not that it wasn't magic for him with his Canon 450d that day in the park........

[Mark Woods]

I feel it's more than that. I have a friend who is a very respected Cinematographer who shoot stills digitally. He has more than 1200 stills he put on a loop as b.g. when he had a party at his house. I gave him a B&W contact 8x10 print, and his comment was, "Your work is much more contemplative than mine." He's right. I feel that those big negs (i.e., cameras) cause us all to slow down and think it through about what we're doing. It's the experience, but it's also seeing the world at a slower pace.

My $.02!

MW

[JoeV]

I've built a similar device, actually a portable processing box. The camera I use seperate from the developing box, using 4x5 sheet film holders, or an old Polaroid Model 800 loaded with paper negatives. The link to a lengthy thread on F295 about this project is here (http://www.f295.org/Pinholeforum/forum/Blah.pl?m-1230847394/s-all/).

Many of these photographers are found on the streets of India and Bangladesh, and some in South America. They frequently display their sample prints decorated all over the camera's side, or on a display board next to the camera. Each camera seems uniquely built and decorated, much like family-owned Jeepneys in the Phillipines are custom decorated.

My ultimate goal is to do this kind of street photography at Rennaissance Fairs and other specialist get-togethers, not "for profit" but for fun, with the fares charged to cover costs of materials. I don't have the business end of the thing completed, like business license and peddlers permit, in order to be legal, seems like this year had passed extremely fast.

~Joe