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raygoodwinmajournal · 3 years

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201 - Epochal Territories - Sudden Epiphanies of Direction

The previous posts have discussed my inabilities to produce work over the summer work due to a drought of creative juices. This happens year after year and now matter how I try, it keeps happening despite preventative measures such as digesting photographic work, philosophies, music and the like. Autumn comes around and I have nothing to show for the summer months apart from some half-arsed attempts. Yet, I had an epiphany that came over me like a tsunami.

A lot of the photographers I look up to and admire shoot mostly large format, with 4x5 or 8x10 view cameras. These are brobdingnagian compared to the usual formats that I have used in the past. The photographer has complete control over all aspects of the exposure, even changing the focal plane, shifting the focus and even the perspective. Field cameras are always stuck to a tripod and can only take two images per film holder and require patience, consideration and skill. I have these qualities - as all photographers should have - but do I really need to use these formats to be considered a photographic practitioner? The vast majority of working photographers are handheld, especially digital shooters for press and media with maybe sometimes on a monopod. After having a big think with a green tea, my mind found something that aroused my interests.

My body of work is exploring the non-place, and documenting what I find in a style similar to photojournalism and documentary photographer. This is due to me nature of walking to places and finding things instead of planning and waiting. It then hit me that I should take approaches similar to photojournalism and reportage and acting on a ‘run and gun’ style of shooting, partly inspired by the quick and dirty style of reportage with harsh contrast, flash use and close ups. Can there be a way that I can meld the reportage style of photography with my new topographical photography style?

Flash photography is something I know not much about. It is an area of photography that I have neglected because I haven’t had a use for it, but now I might. I own this rather large Sunpak Auto 4205G, which is a hammerhead style flash similar to Metz flashes. These are off camera flashes which offer a huge amount of light and flash head movement to bounce it anywhere the photographer wants it. On full power, it is incredibly bright, even rivalling some studio kits. As it is also an older flash, I was concerned about the flash voltage output as I would like to practice digitally before I would eventually go over to 35mm B&W film. Many old flash guns are encroaching on 250v which can easily brick a newer digital camera. After some digging on forums and websites, the 4205G is hovering around 6.5-7v which is safe to use on my 5D MK1, which is rated to 250v at the PC sync port and 6v on the hotshoe. Above, it is attached to a Chinon CE Memotron which could be a contender for the 35mm B&W workflow. This is due to the large array of lenses I can use because of the M42 lens mount, which ranges from 28mm to 200mm offerings in my collection. It also matches the aesthetic of press photographers of the time, apart from the fact most used Nikons. The 4205G is also a decently versatile flash, being able to be used at 1/64th power on manual mode. There is also a handy automatic feature which changes to power to the selected film speed an aperture, which affects the power output and the maximum flash distance. The flash is something I may try and incorporate in either the further distanced subjects, or to bring in closer subjects and isolate them with the flash.

With all of this in mind, how can it be tied together? My initial thoughts was (noted in my book above) would be to create a photo book in the style of a newspaper, featuring my photographs and writing. I am unsure at this stage what the writing could contain; they could be my thoughts and feelings of being within the space, and describing how these spaces play upon my mind. Yet, I also have to think about how to outwardly face this project. I could collaborate with someone to have articles featured within the body of work, or work with someone in the outside world to get it created. These are things that I have to think about, and fairly soon as September is just around the corner.

In the mean time, I shall experiment with the 4205G with my 5D to see how the visual aesthetic works with the everyday banal landscape, and if it would be worth moving it to a 35mm workflow. Either way, I would like to shoot this format again because of the photojournalist influence, and to economise my shooting. I would have the ability to shoot 36 exposures in a single go and I can afford to make a few mistakes along the way. It would also mean that I can develop at PCA for no cost, get back into the swing of developing my own film and utilise the darkroom to create prints with the extreme amount of photopaper that I have procured over the years. I do also have a large amount of expiring B&W film in my freezer which does need using up, so there is also costs cut in the direction too. I would also disregard my flatbed scanner which is my usual form of scanning too, purely because the quality it provides on 35mm isn’t all too great. I would like to inducted to use the Hasselblad Flextight scanners to greatly improve the quality of the scans, which would be unrivalled compared to flatbed scans. All there is to do now is to crack on, and push myself outside of my comfort zone.

#201

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