Prescott, Arizona is among
many cities in the U.S where the tradition of annual Highland Games continues.
It is reported that the first U.S and longest running Scottish Highland games took
place in San Francisco in 1839. While the exact origin of these games is not
fully known, there are references such games during the reign of King Malcolm
III (1057-1093). Today, Highland Games are celebrated around the world.
I enjoy “street photography”
during cultural, open air events because they provide the opportunity to
capture moments of groups one would not see on regular streets. But, I do not
attempt to use my old mechanical film cameras to capture sporting events –
today’s digital cameras can capture at least 50 frames of movement while I am
focusing and rewinding. Instead I try to identify the spirit of such events.
I have posted photos of
previews Highland Games as well as Native American celebrations1,2,3,4
In all instances I have pointed a 1950s Leica rangefinder, 1960s medium format
cameras or a Nikon F to people hoping to represent the mood of the celebration.
Yesterday, September 24th,
was the first day of the 2022 Highland Games in Prescott and I planned to
continue my own tradition of taking street photographs of that first post-Covid
Scottish and Celtic event.
… In the past few
months I undertook the tedious task of fixing some of my cameras that had been sitting
on the shelves awaiting the day when they can click again! The timing was dictated
by the longer than usual rainy season we had in Arizona keeping me away from
the outdoors.
One of the cameras to be
fixed was an early Olympus OM-1 from the 1980s.I expected this to be an easy
job as the camera seemed to work fine (shutter, speeds, rewind, clear
viewfinder) except the light meter which seemed to have given up on the await
for going out to the streets with me again!
First, a short
background. When digital cameras started to be the craze as and film makers
announced that they will not make film anymore, the camera market got flooded
with great classic mechanical cameras people were trying to get rid of. I
already had my collection of useable mechanical cameras spanning from 1938
Leica rangefinders to the 1969 Nikon F. But the abundance of very affordable
cameras in the 1990s allowed me to buy one, two or even three of the cameras I
had as spares or for spare parts as I knew there will soon be no one to repair
these old cameras,
So, I have three OM-1
cameras: two of them were broken and got them for practically nothing. The
third one had a non functional film winding lever, so it came with a speed
winder that made the camera functional. The fourth was my original OM-1 that
worked perfectly for decades till the light meter gave up.
Here are my cameras:
Ok, I was ready to
dismantle the otherwise working camera and see if I can get the electric circuit
tested. But first a simple removal of the bottom plate identified corrosion on
the red wire where someone had already repaired before. A quick cut-and-rewiring
fixed the problem!
It was indeed a very
simple job.
Next, I had a Kiron
70-150 F4 zoom lens that one of the broken camera sellers had thrown in to
sweeten the deal. I am a prime lens user and had never tried this 1980s zoom
lens, although Kiron had a great line of lenses decades ago.
It was time to try the
light meter and this zoom at the Highland Games.
Every one with the
wonder digital cameras was endlessly clicking when competing athletes were
throwing the 6 meters tall wooden beam or caber.
I wanted to test the zoom lens on the attendees as a street photographer.
My first shot
at 70 mm focal setting. It was the perfect sun and shade combination. The
repaired light meter suggested an aperture of 11 at 1/125th second
shutter speed. I liked the printed photo as it has a nostalgic feel to it regarding B&W photography, and captures the Scottish identity of the games. So, it became the opening photo of this posting.
Next, I walked to the
area where pipe players were practicing before marching as a band. That area
was behind children’s playground and one pipe player stood perfectly in between
the playground pipes as if a framed picture, One click, and he had moved. I was
eager to see how I captured that moment when negative would be developed in my
darkroom. This time I used the 150mm focal setting on the zoom.
Then I followed the sound of the pipes to see three pipers rehearsing . I patiently followed their random walking patterns to compose a couple of shots.
I was delighted to have
explored that practice area as three pipe players, walking around gave me the
composition I like most – unplanned movements that end up in a visual
story. These were also taken at the
150mm setting
Finally, I thought I
should at least take one photo of the beam throwers. Unfortunately the 1/125th
shutter speed was too slow for the quick action, but when I looked at the
developed negative the flying beam looked out of focus in an interesting way.
So, after a couple printing trials under my 1950s Hansa Pro enlarger to which I
had fitted a Soviet Industar-22 rangefinder lens, I was pleased with the
surprise – the caber looked like a giant cigarette! Or a UFO of sorts...
There you have at – a roll
of B&W 35mm film with a 1980s Olympus OM-1 camera sporting a Kiron 70-150mm
zoom lens. I was pleased with the lens as it does render that slightly soft but
contrasty look of 1980s photos.
And, I am sure all
others at the Highland Games took countless pictures of the marching bands and
the competing athletes, in colour, with their digital cameras. I hope my
B&W photos and mechanical camera captured moments overlooked by others.
1.
https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2016/05/highland-games-prescott-arizona.html
2.
https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2018/09/annual-highland-games-in-prescott-az.html
3.
https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2019/04/inter-tribal-gathering-of-contemporary.html
4.
https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2018/09/inter-tribal-native-american-pow-wow.html
September 26, 2022
© Vahé A. Kazandjian,
2022
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