Sigh

In a past post I mentioned my Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder camera, which, by the way, I picked up on eBay for twenty-five bucks. What's a rangefinder camera? Well, for some technogeeks, a rangefinder camera is an old fashioned paperweight. These cameras represent technology that is at least 50 years old. Criminey, they use--dare I say it--FILM! They are obsolete, for crying out loud. Horrors!

Well, old is new, and old is cool. I just acquired a brand spanking new Voigtlander Bessa R3A, a made-in-Japan camera that rivals the Leica M7 rangefinder, which is, in my opinion, the undisputed world standard for rangefinders. I love the immediacy of digital, but this analog machine is way fun!

A fully manual camera really feels like a tool in your hands, rather than just a fancy gadget. Most of what I do will probably always be in digital, but retro is a dream. When I started taking pictures in a more serious way 35 years ago, everything was pretty much NOT automatic like now. Using a not-fully-automatic camera forces one to creatively understand (among other things) the use of depth of field, hyperfocal distance, and the three-way relationship between film speed, f-stops and shutter speeds. You have to think to use one of these babies; the camera does not do the thinking for you. It can be a challenge, but that's part of the magic.

I Went To Church Today

I went to the Cathedral of the Madeleine this afternoon. I took pictures with the intention of presenting them in black and white. (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

A James-esque List

Today, 1 February 2009, is my son, James', birthday. I could reminisce about the day he was born--how it was way cloudy and rather cold; how I was a manager of a 7-11 in Provo, Utah; how I remember walking across the parking lot to the car so I could check up on said 7-11 store and thinking what a babe that baby's mom was (we have a baby!?). Yeah, I could do all that kind of stuff. Instead, I thought I would make a list as an homage to the lists he frequently makes on his blog (his blog and one of his lists is here). I'm sitting in my bedroom right now. James was born 31 years ago today. Hmmm, let's see now. What are some of the technologies I can see right from where I'm sitting that weren't even thought of back in 1978?

1. Apple iMac 24" computer

2. Nikon F5 (that puppy came into being and went 'obsolete' within James' lifetime.)

3. Nikon D300 Digital camera

4. Pioneer CD carousel player--made nearly obsolete by . . .

5. Apple 120 gigabite iPod

6. Lamp with one of those screw-in, flourescent light bulbs

7. Bose bookcase speakers

8. HP C4280 Photosmart all-in-one printer, for which new ink costs nearly as much as the printer did.

9. Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer

10. Epson 4490 scanner

11. Nikon D200 camera body

12. Nikon D70 camera body

13. Nikon FA camera body (some might call it an artifact from the 80's, but I love it)

14. Nikon 24-70mm AFS f2.8 lens

15. Nikon 80-200mm AF f2.8 lens

16. A book case full of books that weren't written yet

17. An RCA DVD player

18. A Sharp VHS player (technically VHS players were around, but they cost hundreds of dollars. This one cost around $60, and now VHS players are doorstops.)

19. Motorola digital cable box

20. A pad of PostIt notes

21. A ScanDisk memory card reader

22. A Seagate 1 Terabite external hard drive

23. A 350 gigabite Acomdata external hard drive

24. A 2 gigabite USB drive

25. An photo-album style three-ring binder full of CDs that I have downloaded to the computer and now listen to on the iPod, rendering obsolete the CD player listed above.

26. A Fellowes paper shredder.

I'm done. I seem to have fallen into the trap I heard Frank Zappa intone once in an interview:

"Americans work longer and longer hours to earn more and more money so they can buy s**t they don't need."

How true, Frank. Also within eyesight, not 10 inches from the hands that are typing this right now, lies a Yashica Electro 35 GSN rangefinder camera, circa 1977--one of the only things within my reach that may have been physically in existence the day James was born.

I could be as good a photographer using that camera alone as I could ever be using all the other crap I have. Come on, Electro 35, let's stuff you up with a roll of Fuji Velvia and take a hike to see what we can see together (the grist, perhaps, for a future post?).

Oh, and Happy Birthday, James. You've done yourself, Aimee, your children, your brothers, and even your old, dottering parents proud.