This site used to be called Stuff About Photography. Now it’s called Crunchy Places.
Robert Burley’s project documents the demise of the photographic industry over the past six years. It began at Kodak Canada,Toronto in 2005.
Not sure whether I like this image or not. Kind of reminds me of one of those architectural 3D renderings. You know, the ones of new shopping centres, with stock image library people dropped in, looking as if they are floating a couple of inches off the ground because the designer couldn’t be bothered to mess about with the image any longer.
View under a bridge
I think it’s the lighting and slow exposure. Maybe I’ll run it through Photoshop, add some noise and contrast and make it look like Daido Moriyama got hold of it.
So what’s going on here? I laid out some old lead typefaces and photographed them with a 24mp mirrorless digital camera. But I used a Voigtlander lens. Voigtlander being one of the oldest names in cameras, founded in Vienna. But, of course, the Voigtlander name is now used by Cosina who manufacture modern film cameras and lenses.
Some old lead typefaces, photographed with a Nex-7 and Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 lens.
Since getting back into film photography, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that more and more film brands seem to be disappearing. Often, before any formal announcements, there are discussions on online photography forums. For example, it appears that Fujifilm might be discontinuing Neopan 400 film.
For photographers who develop their own film and also take this through to darkroom enlargements, I can see how the ongoing loss could be a serious loss. The inability to get hold of their preferred photographic tools could force photographers and artists to adapt their style of working. And obviously, the less products in the market, the less choice. Which can lead to price rises and product shortages. And, let’s face it, (hipsters aside) the market for film photography is probably only going to get smaller.
Fairground at night in Hyde Park, London.
This was actually taken at dusk, as far as I remember. Using a Canon P rangefinder and Neopan 400 film. It’s one of those occasions where I wonder what the image would have looked like had I used a digital camera.
Are rangefinders making a comeback? Or rather, should I ask, are rangefinder style cameras making a comeback?
Canon 7 rangefinder camera, with 50mm f1.8 lens.
Rangefinder cameras, by definition, need a rangefinder device. OK, but moving away from the specific mechanical definition, there does appear to be a trend to move towards smaller mirrorless digital cameras (and yes, I do realise that mirrorless cameras have a definition all of their own).
