September 2007, Münster (Fuji Sensia 100).

September 2007, Münster (Fuji Sensia 100).

I love shooting film. There is something about the aesthetic that film has that always pleases me, the fine soft grain and the pleasing transition of zones. So much so I went and bought myself another film camera, the Canon Canonet Q17 GIII,  a classic, compact and quiet rangefinder from the 70s. More once I get it and use it.

Summer 2006, Cologne.

Vienna 2006.

For a long time I thought I had lost the negatives containing this photo but to my joy found them on a roll I had given for developing. The man on the right is from the Philippines and has lived in Vienna for the past 11 years. We got talking when I went to take a walk along the Danube while visiting Vienna while he had come there to while away the evening by listening to some music on his boom box. As our small talk began to end I surprised myself by asking him if he would let me take his photo. And I won’t foget his reaction. His face lit up with a big smile and he actually called his son (the guy on the left) to join him in the photo! I was somehow touched by his gesture. I wish there was some way of sending a print of this photo to him. I’m sure his face would brighten up in a similar fashion as before.

I’ve mixed feelings about this shot. On one level the abstractness appeals to me but on the other hand the lack of obvious interest points in the photo seems to make it too vague. But in the end I liked the whole ‘what the hell was he thinking when he took this?’ mood this photo evokes and so decided to post it!

I’ve had the Minolta Dynax 9 with me for many months now and shot a few rolls with it. But until now I hadn’t managed to scan the films. So here it is finally, the first photo on this photoblog with my Dynax 9. This was shot outside Vienna, Austria in April this year.

The Dynax 9 is arguably the best pro film SLR ever produced, released just before the transition to the digital era. Built like a tank but so easy and intuitive to use. Perhaps the only ‘pro’ camera that you can pick up and start shooting without going through a manual first. It is virtually a crime that Minolta managed to screw up the timing of the release and subsequent marketing of this amazing camera. And they went and further crippled it by not upgrading it but instead releasing a similar featured, technically more modern but less pro Dynax 7. Even though with the advent and convenience of shooting digital I do not use it as much as I’d like to I don’t think I can ever give up one of the finest photographic tools ever produced!