This new Pentax of mine has made me think about my craft. Now I see light, I pose a shot in my own mind, I set it up, point the camera, look at the scene through the viewfinder, check there is nothing ugly in the background, focus and take the shot. Simples. Two poses. Two shots. No looking at the back of the camera to check the histogram and pretending that taking another ten shots will make all the difference; it won’t – it just fills my storage. And the shutter makes a wonderful sound. Loud and guttural but authentic and portentous.
And the other thing I’ve noticed. People love my Pentax. “Ooh – what’s that? It’s a film camera, isn’t it? Oh, I miss my mine. We should never have ditched it in the move, dear.” Now ensues a spiel from me about the fact that it is twenty odd years old, in mint condition and is a medium format camera with a film exposure area of nearly three times that of a 35mm film camera. I need to tighten that spiel up a bit, or my wife will get bored.
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dan on film 