Hats that Uncover what They Hide

I was looking out of my window which faces a mountain chain in Prescott. The crown jewel of that chain is Granite Mountain which is 2,325 km in altitude. Sunsets are very colourful behind that mountain chain but sometimes sunrises are too.

On this morning, there was a large cloud upon the mountain. Actually it looked like a soft cover or a hat. I grabbed my camera, put the old Nikkor –P 180mm tele-lens on it and clicked. 

A second or so later the shape of the cloud changed. And a few minutes later it was gone.

It is all about timing. Interestingly, over the years photography has also taught me to follow that undeniable paradigm by making the most of any moment in my life. I know that, like that cloud, if not capture to the fullest at that moment, it will pass and never be the same.

But one has to also be patient to “click”, on a shutter or emotionally, when the moment is just right. Not only right. For example, I often take photos of wildlife in our backyard. I have not been able to capture the mountain lion (cougar) on film yet, but deer are much more curious and friendly. So, there were two fawns looking for food. I knew I had one chance to click as the sound of a 1969 Nikon’s slapping curtain scares them. So I waited. At some point I anticipated the positioning between the two fawns hoping to have a visual illusion.

Here is that illusion:

So, after printing the Granite mountain shots, I thought of hats. I suppose that is the first thing that comes to mind, especially when the hat is tilted to show mood or attitude. And I thought of a few hat shots I had taken.

This is a traditional head cover. A lot of history there and no real attitude. It belongs to a time, and a place, that we still see around the globe.

 This one has an attitude. It is also traditional to the South and South West of the US. Yet, I felt that this artist, while carving a horse out of wood, wanted to isolate himself from the surroundings. So it is an attitude of shielding.

 Well, this one has nothing to do with the hat but the posture of the artist. In the viewer of my camera I saw a bull charging this woman. The hat is really secondary here.

In this case, that hat is a sign of importance and rank. Nothing to do with covering your head or protecting it. The contrast in rank with the men surrounding this sword-carrying leader is what I wanted to get. Although, when I looked at the printed photo, I realized that he may not be a very expert in holding a sword while putting it back in the scabbard. I doubt it that one should hold it by the blade!

This woman and her hat were in perfect upright posture. But I took this photo because of the street lamp – I am not sure they are supposed to be bent like that…

 I like the harmony of this photo. In my mind that is the perfect head cover shape that man could have warn. A cowboy hat would have just destroyed the flow of the lines!

Finally, there is this photo. Everything in this man’s posture and surrounding is unassuming. But it is his candor, written on the cardboard he is holding that tells you his attitude.

Sometimes, a hat is much more than a cover.

December 23, 2017

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2017

Cowboy Painter Joe Beeler Statue in Sedona, Arizona

A friend gave me his 1970s Olympus OM-1 because it belongs to a different time. Few people can find film, and even fewer places would develop them.

I suppose I belong to a past time that has not yet passed for me. Working in my darkroom provides the same excitement as it did almost 50 years ago. When the picture starts taking shape in the developing tray, it is still magic.

So, I wanted to try the camera. I have 6 OM-1s in my collection and all have traveled the globe with me and carry scars from each trip. This one has been kept almost intact giving the feel of using a new camera.

On a sunny Friday, went to Sedona, Arizona to wander around the city getting ready for Christmas. Many were taking pictures of the red rock formations, the Christmas decorations, and of dogs dressed in holiday garments. Being a strictly Black & White film user, red rocks are always monochrome for me, Christmas decorations seem to be non-creative, and dogs wearing silly hats, well, kind of silly. 

So, wanted to find that street photography moment for which B&W photos give a special character.

On the main street of Sedona, there is a bronze statue of a local cowboy painter Joe Beeler. It is slightly larger than life and faces the mountain and red rock formations. It is a perfect tribute to the environment and its cowboy heritage. The statue has probably been photographed a million times, but when I was walking by there was a man in a cowboy hat sitting behind it reading a book.

I immediately saw the scene in B&W, and decided to find an angle that would make the man as “bronze-like” as the statue. In order to prove that he was a living soul, wanted to find an indicator while respecting the identity of the book reader.

At that very moment he turned around to show his white beard, and that was what I needed.

Technical details: I used a 50 mm Zuiko lens opened to f11. Since I use slow film, the speed was set to 1/125 second. With such small f-stop all corners of the frame will be in focus. So, to give the printed photo a bit of blur and movement I used a 1950’s Russian Jupiter -3 camera lens instead of an enlarger lens. My enlarger is from the 1950s as well and it has a Leica 39 mm lens mount so I can use camera lenses from that era instead of enlarger lenses. While an enlarger lens is flat-field (meaning it will not distort the photo when printed) using a camera lens provides distortions outside the center of the frame. Used as such each camera lens has its own distortion characteristics. The Jupiter lens not only distorts but also gives a swirling feel to the distorted areas. Only one other lens I have, the coveted 1948 Carl Zeiss Jenna 7,5 cm Biotar f1.5 gives such swirl to the actual photo! See the tree in the left upper quadrant for Jupiter’s effect.

Now my two “statues” were surrounded by movement!

December 9, 2017

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2017