The Wabi-Sabi of B&W Street Photography

 

 

I was admiring a compendium of waterfalls photos a landscapes and nature colleague of mine had taken, in B&W, during a trip to Latin America.

“It is all about patience, “he started, “the technique is relatively simple nowadays with digital cameras. But composition, the right light and surrounding high textured structures remain what distinguishes a seasoned photographer from one who is fascinating by the water, rocks and trees and forgets to tell his own story.”

“Eventually, the story is capturing the perfect harmony between the movement and stillness; between fluidity and still textures,” he concluded.

“I assume you never used a tripod for street photography, yes?”

 

Indeed, my work relies on walking among those who are moving as well” I summarized. “Most importantly, to do so without effecting their behavior. So, a tripod or a large camera is not what I carry in my small, vintage leather bag.”

Then he asked if, as he had done with the focusing on patience, I could narrow down the secret of B&W street photography.

It was not a difficult question to answer. 

“It is the search the perfect imperfection that in moments that are not framed by the photographer,” I replied. “There is no time to compose, wait for the light or reformulate the best combination of shutter speed and lens aperture. You just guess, through experience, how the composition could naturally shape itself based on predictable human behavior, and get ready to capture it before it changes and disappears.”

He laughed. “Especially since you are in the ancient ages of using mechanical cameras and film! By the time your thumb rewinds the film to the next frame, the world had changed around you…”

So, I promised to share a few shots with him.

 

A.    The photo atop the page is from Old Town Vienna, Austria.  The evening light was soft upon the stone columns and I was having coffee with friends. I saw the young woman pushing the stroller and had enough time for a quick click on my Nikon F sporting a 1960s Nikkor-Q 20cm lens. The composition was created by the moment, serendipitously.

 

B.     Stephansdom, Vienna, Austria. I took a few seconds to frame this shot because I was using a Mamiya 645 1000s camera and a Ukrainian Arsat fisheye lens. But the mime unexpectedly opened his eyes just as clicked, making the shot a story.

 

C.     Siena, Italy.  Ancient stone walls, when the light is right, are among my favorite framework (and frame) for capturing stories in B&W. As I was walking the streets of Sienna, I saw a pigeon in the gap between two stones. As I was about to take a photo with my 1954 Canon L3 rangefinder, the pigeon got out and another popped its head from the opening between the next stones. I was delighted, when I looked at the developed film, that I had caught the split second of the moment as a witness.

 

D.    Paris, France. Here is an example of the stone walls, almost at dusk, helping with the “texture serenity.”  I was walking along the Seine when I saw this young woman comfortably sitting on the stone steps wearing sunglasses. The photo is taken with the Mamiya 645 1000s and the venerable Mamiya Sekor 80mm 1.9 lens.

 

Next, are a couple of “aquatic” photos for my friend to perhaps see street photography in aquatic settings.

 

A.    Watson Lake, Prescott, Arizona. These are one more of an anthropomorphic rendition of ducks’ behavior in the lake. The 3 of them dove in synchrony and I took a photo. Then I saw one separated from the other two, and clicked again. I took the photo with a 1954 Leica iiif and a Canon 85mm Serenar lens, but these were just a fun shot. When I developed the film, I was amazed that two of the ducks seemed to “hold hand” while plunged upside down in the water while the third one had been “kicked away”! What argument did they have underwater?

 

and

B.     Santa Cruz, California.  This would be a perfect setting for my friend to experiment with B&W photos of the waves and rocks at sunset. But for me, it was what I first thought to be seals in the water. It was only when I looked through the viewfinder of my 1982 Minolta X-700 and its 250mm Kiron lens that I realize these were surfers catching the waves. I took a few shots (the external film winder still works…) and this one had captured one surfer up on its board. In that sense, it is a “street photo” in a context of rocks and waves!

 

 and the cropped section

…  Here you go, my friend. In our conversation I described my work as cherishing the perfect imperfection of street photography and vintage fashion B&W film. But perhaps it is also the Japanese Wabi-Sabi philosophy where the search for aesthetic and harmony is to celebrate authenticity more than perfection. As such, it is partaking in the transient nature of moments, and hope to freeze that or those moments on silver embedded film pellicule.

Of course my comments are about B&W street photography where you capture whatever is presented without the perfect staging.

Landscape and water photography in B&W are true creative interaction between the setting and the photographer as Ansel Adams said:

 

                                                          “You do not take a photograph; you make it”

April 24, 2026

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2026

Last Photo of 2025

 

 

I am not a fan of cameras that fully depend on battery too function. There are two exception, though – Nikon F3 and Olympus OM-1.  While I have never had a bad Nikkor lens, the only Olympus Zuiko lenses that come close to vintage lens effects are the 50mm f1.8 and the 100mm f2.8.

That being said, I do own cameras that I rarely use given their dependency on battery, among then the Nikon FG and the Olympus OM-2n. Their acquisition was to complete my collection, and when I question why I have been stuck in the 1940s and 1950s with my all mechanical cameras, I go back, load the “newer” cameras with half a strip of film, and I become a bystander as these cameras do the metering, winding and other things on their own.

And when I print a few photos, I take the cameras back to the shelves they were sitting on for decades…

Few days ago I decided to take the Om-2n and 50mm Zuiko lens downtown for the last street photos of 2025. Since Om-2n is smaller than the true professional OM-1, I fitted my old OM-1’s winder to help me with steadier shots, and rolled and loaded about 6 frames B&W ASA 100 film strip.

Here is the camera and lens

 

And my travels’ challenges survivor winder with the tape still holding the loose battery compartment shut tight …

 

I chose one frame to print, as, under the loupe, the developed strip seems to have captured a story I wanted to capture. It was about a woman and a child setting up a children’s theatre on the sidewalk. The sun was perfectly transforming the woman into a fairy, and the dark hair of the child gave the contrast I was seeking.

After a bit of burning under enlarger, the photo emerged as an example of what a good lens and slow film can deliver – a delicate and unintrusive softness, depth of field, and enough mystery for different viewers to interpret.

But, there was also a surprise. When I looked closely to the printed photo, I saw a 5 dollar bill in the left hand of the child. I had not seen it in the split second I took the photo, or on the film strip under the loupe.

 

Wonderful! Now my last street photo of 2025 and first post of 2026 has a mystery and a story for each viewer to propose.

 

January 1, 2026

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2026

My Post-WWII Soviet 1953 Kiev 3A Camera -- I Learned Photography Using it, And it is Still With Me After 60 Years! A few Recent Photos and Thoughts

 

Like many photographer using vintage cameras, I do have the urge to take one that has been sitting on the shelf for a white. Last week I picked up my 1953 Kiev camera and decided to use it again during the holidays.

The Kiev 3A has a special place in my collection – it was my first “real” camera after a Kodak Brownie. I was 8 years old and my mother believed that I had a photographer’s eye, so she got me the venerable Kiev rangefinder as a Christmas gift. And I learned B&W photography through the camera and its 1952 50mm Jupiter 8 f2 lens. Of course I did not have a darkroom then, so my father, a dentist, made an agreement with the neighborhood photography shop owner to discount dental work fees for him and his wife if he developed and printed my “masterpieces” for free. So I own to my parents the discovery and support of my lifelong passion for the arts.

Over the next six decades, I kept the Kiev, used it, and learned how a photographer needs to become one with his camera to capture human attitudes in the streets of cities around the world. Eventually, the cameras that I traveled with were the 1953 Kiev 3A, the 1954 Leica IIIF, the 1954 Canon L3 rangefinder, and the 1969 Nikon F Photomic. My collection has quadrupled since, but I still have and use my original cameras.

 

A word about the history of the Kiev rangefinder camera.

The Kiev camera has a significant history associated with WWII. Indeed, post-WWII, the Soviet Union took Zeiss Ikon’s toolings and designs from Dresden to the Arsenal factory in Kiev, today’s Kyiv. There, they started manufacturing clones of the venerable Contax II and III using the original Zeiss Ikon materials. The Contax camera was now re-badged as Kiev and the tools, glass, casing and other materials necessary its production lasted till 1960. During that period two exact clones of the Contax III were produced – the Kiev 3 and the Kiev 3A, the only difference being that the latter had an added post for flash synchronisation.

So, the cameras and lens made at the Arsenal factory in Kiev were all original German Zeiss Ikon parts, hence for professional photographer and then collectors those Kiev cameras became legendary with the added historical content. When the parts and tools were unavailable, Arsenal factory produced Soviet copies of the cameras and lenses which did not achieve the excellence or reliability of the German Contax. So, the most legendary Kiev cameras and lenses are those made in the 1950s.

My Kiev camera has an additional attractiveness – the template atop the light meter (which still remains amazingly accurate!) is engraved with an “A” and a serial number of 531314, indicating that it is a Kiev 3A made in 1953. However, my camera does not have flash synchronization (no port) and historical facts are that the Kiev 3A production started in 1954 and ended in 1959, while the Kiev 3 production period was 1948-1955. Therefore, what I have is a transitional period camera, engraved as 3A but really it is a 3.

Collectors love these kind of history, but for me as a user, Shakespeare was right “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” as the cameras are original Contax.

 

… So, yesterday I took the Kiev with its 50mm Jupiter 8 and a 1970s Soviet Jupiter 11 f4 that I had not used before. I do have the 35mm Jupiter 1970s 12 and a 1955 85 mm Jupiter 8 f2 lenses as well, which were the only original lenses made for the Kiev. Later a Helios-103 53mm f1.8 lens was made but I did not like its more “modern” character.

Here is my camera and the vintage lenses made for this 35mm rangefinder camera

 

Its engraved production date and model

 

The bottom view. Note the useful  "Contax foot" a folding contraption that stabilises the camera when put down and averts any scratching of the bottom plate. It is a unique feature of the vintage Contax camera and especially useful when taking a timer shot .

 

The three lenses other than the Jupiter 8 50mm:

First, the 135mm f4 Jupiter 11

Second the Zeiss Sonnar clone Jupiter 9 85mm f2

And third the 35mm Jupiter 12 lens that is a clone of the Zeiss Biogon designed in 1934 by Ludwig Bertele, the architect of the famous Zeiss Sonnar.

Finally a word about the carry case. It is a work of art as far as vintage leather cases go, and mine has survived the past 70 or so years with much grace.

See the pocket that holds a yellow card?

That is a handy guide for choosing the combination of shutter speeds and lens aperture, in Cyrillic!  Surely a historic artifact.

How did the 50mm Jupiter 8 and 135mm Jupiter 11 do during the downtown Prescott Light Parade?

Prescott is known as Arizona’s Christmas Town as celebrations, parades, and music and art festivals span the entire month of December.

The Light Parade was on a sunny and relatively warm day, and the slow film I was using was perfect for the using relatively slow vintage lenses.

A.    Using the 1952 Jupiter 8 f2 lens: I have used this lens countless times in the 1970s so I knew what to expect. I just did not know if the lens was still performing well after a long respite on the shelf.

 

A young girl wearing a Sunday dress was next to a tree and the shade of the trees mixed capriciously with the sunny spots on the ground. To test the lens, I used an opening of f8 and a shutter speed of 1/125^th second.

 

The photo is shown atop this entry. I did some burning under the enlarger to darken the background and let the white dress in its softness contrast with the texture of the tree trunk.

 

As expected the lens delivered that cinematic result that the 1950 lenses, especially when German, are praised for.

 

B.     Using the 1970 135mm Jupiter 11 f4 lens: Since I had acquired this lens to complete the original set of 4 Kiev lenses and never used this lens before, I took most of the photos with this lens. Unfortunately the process of using an external finder slowed the rhythm of shooting necessary for a split second take during street photography. 

Still, a few shots show what a little bit of experience using this lens can deliver.

I took this photo from about 20 meters away. Since I had read that this lens can deliver a nice bokeh when open up to f5.6, and since it was a very sunny day, I set the aperture to about f7 (there are no clicks on the aperture ring so the opening is continuous between set numbers) and the shutter speed to 1/250^th seconds.

The vintage feel is there, but less pronounced than with the 50mm Jupiter 8. But the sharpness is above average.

 

This next shot was from about 15 meters. This time I used an aperture of f4 and a shutter speed of 1/500^th seconds.

Now the blurring of the background came through! Although I prefer the smooth blurring of the 85mm Jupiter 9 which I had used for portraiture decades ago, this 135mm lens did surprise me. Maybe I will try again, perhaps with a wider opening and 1/1000^th second speed using a less busy background.

 

Was this experiment worth it? 

Yes! Not only did the 70 years old camera and lenses work impeccably without any repair and maintenance over the years, but the results were very pleasing given that I had lost the tempo of using a rangefinder camera with a second external viewfinder/framer when a quick focusing and framing was needed with the 135mm lens.

And of course it took me back to using my first camera and lens I got from my parents when I was 8 years old. And that camera is still with me, and does handle well in my now bigger hands!

 

PS/ Here are a couple of my published posts about using my 1953 Kiev 3A over the years:

https://vahezen.blogspot.com/2021/06/when-lalbatros-of-baudelaire-meets-rumi.html

 

https://vahezen.blogspot.com/2024/02/siamo-tutti-semi-in-attesa-della-pioggia_4.html

 

December 7, 2025

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2025

Talking About Induction of Labour During Morning Dog Walk

 

 

It is winter already and my dog Ziggy, a 65 kg Akita, loves his long morning walks in the cold. I am an early riser, so we do downtown at 5 am every morning for a few miles of walking.

At that hour the downtown is practically empty, except the occasional car and the two other men who walk their dogs every morning. We exchange a few words and continue our quiet walks.

Ziggy remains vigilant as a protective dog throughout the walk. His eyes see what I cannot identify in the dark, and his nose guides him to the raccoons and skunks that come out of the city sewers and down trees at that hour. He knows to stay away from these animals, but when he picks up the scent of a coyote he tests my still dormant muscles to the limit by pulling me like a small horse.

So, this morning he stopped, got the hair on his back up, and pointed his head to something in the dark. I did not see anything but trusted his judgment. So we walked slowly, till I saw a person, wearing heavy winter coat with a hood walking back and forth in front of an apartment building. Ziggy stopped and assessed the situation – was he to protect me or just be friendly?

And friendly he was. We came close, and while I could not see the face of the person, it was a female voice who said:

“Oh, he is a cute dog!”

By then, Ziggy was next to her and promptly sat down at her feet, something he had never done before a stranger.

“Can I pet him? I promise I am harmless” the voice said.

“He is too” I replied, “and he seems to like you.”

Then, given the hour and the way the woman was pacing back and forth, I asked:

“Are you ok?”

At that point she lifted her hood and I saw a young woman with sad eyes.

“I am scheduled to be induced tomorrow. Forty three weeks already. I am very, very tired. So I am walking back and forth hoping that I can start labour. But no luck.”

Somehow Ziggy had figured things out.

“It is beautiful moment of your life” I said, “I am sure all will end soon with the birth of a new life that will make you proud for the rest of your life. Just do not stay too long in the cold.”

She did not respond, jut asked:

“What is his name?”

“Ziggy” I said.

Then she walked back to the front door of the apartment building and disappeared.

 

… As we resumed our walk, somehow a moment from a maternal health clinic in London, England came to my mind. I was there to discuss a Caesarean section study with the clinicians and I recalled a typically British sign on one of the clinic’s doors. As always I had a camera with me.

Upon return, I looked for that photo as I was sure I had not published it before. That photo is atop this assay.

Then, as I was looking through my scanned photos (from film prints, of course), I wondered if there were other signs or moments from my health care troubadour days that I had forgotten taking.

So, here are a few.

 

A.    Buenos Aires, Argentina: Staying with the health care theme, this had caught my eye. Of course, it was meant to! (The writing says "There is a plan for every one.")

 

B.     Amsterdam, the Netherlands:  Well, I have to admit that I had not seen such advertising for men’s underwear!

 

C.     Vienna, Austria: It is not sign, but that kiss on the bench takes a special meaning when Mozart is looking at you!

 

D:  Capetown, South Africa: I think the room service hotel employee had a great sense of humour. the ironing board delivered to a room looks like a modern robot that would iron your shirt by itself!

 

E.     Jerome, Arizona: I wanted to meet the person who designed those perplexing road signs!

 

F.      Rochester, New York: If the daily menu is not clearly written, just ask the cook.

 

G.    Malaga, Spain: I am delighted to live during the present state of human evolution.

 

H.   Arizona state line: I took the first photos from a moving car window.  The first two are complementary as I took two quick shots with my Nikon F3. The third one explains why I did not see any tourists at that park…

 

At this point, I stopped searching through my photos, knowing well that there are more such captures.

And I wished that the young woman we met this morning will have a blessed experience becoming a mom tomorrow.

 

November 21, 2025

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2025

Tonal Range Through Light and Shade Using 100 ASA B&W Film and a Vintage Nikkor 105mm F2.5 Lens

 

It was a pleasant October day for the 2025 Fall Arts & Crafts Show in Prescott. The annual heavy rain season ended, the full moon was larger and brighter than ever, and the sun was as warm as a desert sun can be. 

Over the years I have seen many of the same artist display their works at this downtown show, yet I like spending a few hours walking around for street photography. In some way, it is my own way to pursue my creative tendencies and capture a few moments with my vintage cameras on B&W film.

This time, I left the 50mm lens home and opted for the 105mm f2.5 Nikkor on my 1990s Nikon F3 HP. Although the camera is “new”, the design of Nikkor 105 f2.5 goes back to 1954 when it was first produced as a rangefinder lens. The adaptation to the Nikon F mount happened in 1971 and, for the manual focus lens, the design remained unchanged till 2005 when production stopped. I have owned mine for more than two decades as my prime lens for portraiture.

This time I wanted to use it as a short zoom and see how it will do with light and shade compositions. Although the F3 with a winder and the Nikkor lens tends to be on the heavy side to carry, the balance between the two is wonderful and allows for quick and precise manual focusing.

A. Photo atop the page

So, I started with a composition for which a portraiture lens is most appropriate. The photo atop the page was taken from a distance of about 12 meters, the man sitting in the shade of a tree. I set an aperture of f4 using the Aperture Priority mode of the camera.

The texture, the creamy bokeh, and the sharpness of the lens are all what a photographer dreams of when using film. The man changed his posture right after this shot, and I did not have a chance to reset the aperture to f2.5 hopping to see a more fluid bokeh. Still, I am glad I had the 105 lens instead of the 50mm f1.8 I often use.

B. 105mm as a telephoto

 

This next photo was all about experimenting with light and shade and using the 105mm lens as a telephoto. I saw a man getting ready to lay down under one of the tall trees around the square, next to the 1907 statue of Bucky O’Neil, a Prescott hero, who along with 200 local men joined Teddy Roosevelt’s voluntary Rough Riders cavalry and fought the Spanish-American war in 1898.

I immediately saw the posture of the man as if having a conversation with O’Neil who is on the ground next to his horse. But since I took the photo from a distance of about 40 meters and f5.6 aperture, that detail may escape the viewer of the larger frame.

Here is a crop to show why I took the photo:

 

Still, for a portraiture lens, the Nikkor shows delightful detail as a long shot, and the overall tonal gradient between the shade and light of the composition is typically what film capture compared to digital media.

C. Almost a portrait

Finally, a typical street photography moment to fulfill my goal of testing the venerable Nikkor 105mm with that tonal range full of gray to show depth and detail. This one shows a young lady who stopped for a second to check her phone under another Bucky O’ Neil statue, this time riding his horse. I had the aperture set to f5.6 but hardly had time to focus and frame before she moved, and the lens for just a tad too long to include the O’Neil’s hat. 

Yet, the technical prowess of the Nikkor’s 80 year old design shows why it is still a favorite of many professional photographers in an era when lenses and cameras, often with the assistance of AI, can do things unimaginable a decade ago.

Even if few of them now use mechanical cameras and film!

PS/ I have taken photos of Bucky O’Neil statue after a snowstorm here:

https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2023/03/snowstorm-in-prescott-arizona-or-life.html 

October 6, 2025

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2025