_valerian

Printing up my portfolio. This is good practice for getting better with printing on fiber paper, which can be a real pain. Especially with negatives of high contrast, or even worse- negatives with well exposed shadows but with very bright highlights. I just keep printing and working and the pile of prints is growing on my desk. The theme of the contest I will enter is “Nippon” but man I have to think of a title for my work. If you did not know by now, photographic portfoilios need to be titled oh-so-cleverly with just the slightest bit of irony. Think about winogrand’s “Stock Photographs” for a good example. What no more photographic collections need in their titles is the word “TOKYO” because everyone seems to be doing that now. It’s like all you have to do is put “TOKYO” with a noun. Or maybe a verb. Tokyo Nobody, Tokyo Story, Tokyo novel, Tokyo photographs, Tokyo blah blah blah. Of course, this is also similar to the word “America” in the title of photographs about America. But then again maybe the words TOKYO and AMERICA fit the work and so what.

But since I have been printing, I have not been in the mood to be developing film. That is why there are nearly 60 rolls on the counter bar thing above my sink, with a few more added to the rows each day. I have another 30 in the fridge that are practically begging to be processed in a soup of Hc-110 and tap water. I have been shooting black and white fuji presto 400 but also I have been shooting color film… with (no way!) a 50mm lens. That is a challenge. The 50 is not something I ever liked or have been comfortable shooting with. Which is exactly why I want to try and figure it out. While in Nebraska I shot a lot with my Konica Big Mini, which has a 35mm lens. Those photographs looked pretty interesting to me, in terms of how the lens looks- 35mm looks very natural. I think I want to shoot with a 40mm lens on my leica. Cosina just put out that new 1.4 one, and I saw 6 of those used at Map Camera the last time I was there.
Shooting with a different lens or a different format even is something one ought to try if you are serious about your photographic work. A zoom lens won’t solve this issue though, because it makes it too easy. Making things hard yet interesting is the way to go. Longer lenses? Color film? How will this affect my body of work in the long run? Not just in pictures I will make, but also towards a greater personal understanding in my abilities in, and the possibilities of, this medium.

Maybe you read this (or maybe both of you who read this) and are wondering why I write this kind of stuff but do not post any pictures to prove it- Thats because I have not gotten around to scanning those prints. Hopefully you will see some soon.