A 1976 Nikon F2 with Agfa APX 25 B&W Film Expired in 1975

 

 

The past month the country, and especially Arizona, saw unprecedented snow storms and arctic temperatures. Staying mostly indoors, it was a good time to repair a few of my cameras.

As I was looking through my shelves of cameras arranged by make and year (mostly from 1938 to mid-1990s) I stopped on a couple of Nikon F2 that I had not used for a while. After testing the speeds and meter, one of the 1976 F2’s speeds hung up lower than 1/8^th of a second.

So, I started the cleaning and lubrication with that one.

… Along with the 1969 Nikon F, the F2s were my favorite travel cameras. They have been around four continents for 40 years and still my Nikon F FTN has had no repairs! The speeds are perfect on the mark and the meter as good as my Nikon F3’s.

After a couple of hours of work, the F2’s speeds came back to life. And so did my nostalgic feeling to take it out and use it again. But I wanted the old experience back, so looked in my small freezer where I keep film and paper for the Agfa APX 25 film package, and took one out to let it thaw at room temperature for 2 days. I had no idea what to expect from a 25 ASA film that had expired in 1975, but I had to try it!

The Nikon F has been used in wars and in good times, and never missed a step. The F2 was a major improvement on the F through its metering system, and because it could take a professional grade motor winder. However, it was necessary to routinely exercise with weights, as the camera, the winder and the 8 AA batteries it took weighed more than 3kg, and felt like 10kg if hanging from your neck during a day on assignment! More, the MD-3 motor winder, and MB-2 battery pack had and moved hundreds of gear and springs to advance a single frame. So the noise that outfit made sounded like a machine gun…

Here is my 1976 Nikon F2 with motor drive and battery pack

Note the strange rubber cover around the viewfinder. I have lost the +1 diopter magnifying lens and my aging eyes did not see as clear to manually focus each frame (I do not like to wear prescription glasses when taking photos as most of the old cameras have metal rims around the viewfinder and these scratch my lenses). So, I took the front cylinder of a mini flashlight, cut the lens from my old prescription spectacles to fit the flashlight cylinder. Now, I could see perfectly clearly to focus the lens. But the protruding cylinder still being metal, I needed a rubber cover to protect both my eye and spectacles if I decide to wear them. After looking a bit in my nick-nacks bin, I found a small rubber wheel probably belonging to a toy truck. I cut it go around the makeshift diopter lens I made, and now my eye is safe!

And I do not think there is another Nikon F2 in the world that has a toy truck's wheel fitted on the front piece of a Mini Mag flashlight around the viewfinder!

… I loaded 8 AA batteries and tested the winder. After about two decades of silence at first it sounded like a heavy smoker during his morning cup of coffee. Then, all the gears got happy and my heart was beating a bit faster hearing that music again. At some point I was worried that the coyotes outside my house will hear the machine gun and fear for their lives…

So, I loaded the 40 year old Agfa film and took the F2 for an early morning shooting test (ha! “shooting” really applies to this camera when using the motor drive...)

… I developed the exposed film in Kodak D-76 solution. When the fixer bath was over I was pulling the strip out of the Kodak Day Developer (which I have used for decades) when the strip tore. I suppose that over the years the traditional celluloid film had gotten a bit brittle. So I lost a few frames, but the others looked amazingly well exposed with the delightful detail that a 25 ASA film can capture.

My favorite shot was of a raven sitting atop a statue erected in memoriam to American soldiers from Prescott, AZ, who gave their lives in the Vietnam War.  It was just after sunrise and tonal range was perfect for B&W film, even if it was 40 years old…

 

March 12, 2023

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2023

Body Language in Street Photography: Storytelling without Words

 

 

Visual arts always tell a story without words or sounds. The story starts with what the artist saw or felt, but ends with how it becomes interpreted by the reader or viewer.

In street photography, that story is mostly anticipated by the photographer who contextualizes structures, colours and people and, waits for the story to unfold. The pleasure of pressing on the shutter release at that critical and “decisive moment” is the reward for carrying a medium format camera hanging from your neck and walking miles in crowded streets.

Here are a few examples of how I like to anticipate the story through body language as a form of expression.

A.      People looking at other people:  There can be two or more people in this “frame” who may be communicating through facial expressions or by how they occupy the space among and around them.

Circus actors in Baltimore, Maryland:  One of my favorite body language photos I took in the backstage of a circus. It shows listening, tiresome from smiling during the act, or perhaps disappointment following a mishap in the routine. 

 

Street fashion parade, Barceloneta, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona: This is the photo at the top of the page. Costumes, umbrellas, and make up were made for B&W photography. The expression of the woman holding an umbrella is full of pride but also of past experience with streets shows. I took a number of sequenced photos of her as on that day I was carrying a 1970s Nikon F2 with a motor drive.

 

Edinburgh, Scotland:  “Dirty Dick’s” is a popular watering hole in that city. There was a rugby game on that day and the post game crowds were thirsty. They were surely talking about the outcome of the game, but given the body language, I wonder if all were supporters of the same team.

Virgina: I took this at an art show when I noticed how the artist was looking at a couple going through his prints. In psychology, it is often found that crossing arms means feeling defensive, anxious or insecure. Was the artist worried that his work is not appreciated?

Seoul, Korea: This photo has been published as a book cover. I took it at the Seoul International Airport after seeing a young woman napping next to the moving walkway. It is a photo of anticipation as I waited the two flight attendants to reach the napping woman. But I did not know that one of them will look at her with such a photogenic facial features.

B.      Individuals in a crowd: In this case, the body language expression is confined to one person and it contrasts the attitudes of others around him/her.

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy: I first this man’s hair shining in the sun as he walked in the crowd. It was as is the sun’s rays had beamed on him only. Then when he walked through me and my Minolta Autocord TLR, I could see him all expression in my waist level finder. The rest of the crowd looks totally without any character!

 

Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland: This young woman was in a world of her own, away from the passersby. Her elongated physical features and the facial expression tell a story of being in deep thought, and perhaps in distress. For a person with a camera, her expression had to be captured.

 

Highland Games, Prescott, Arizona:  We do not see her face, but she is watching the ball and chain thrower in full action. I assumed they knew each other and that she was cheering him in her own quiet way. Her seemingly calm expression contrasts nicely with the intense effort he is displaying.

Each of these six photos had a certain story for me that I did anticipate. The moment of freezing the moment on B&W film did indeed capture that story for me, but I know that each viewer will “read” another story, depending on their past experiences.

And that is why I accept that any of my photos are not mine once they are published – they belong to the interpretation of the viewers.

 

March 5, 2023

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2023

Snowstorm in Prescott, Arizona or Life in B&W Before Sunrise

 

March remains the unpredictable weather month, although lately every month is different from its past trends.  A week ago a series of storms with heavy snow and sometimes hurricane level winds swept through the U.S from west to east.  The big one started in Southern California three days ago, passed through Arizona and went east through the Midwestern states. Both California and Arizona saw record snow falls, sometimes surpassing a foot in elevations less than 4000 feet altitude.

Prescott, the cowboy town I have “written” about through my photography, had a foot and a half of heavy, wet snow shifting around by 40 MPH winds.  Overnight all was B&W!

So, this morning my dog, an Akita who loves the cold and the snow, woke me up an hour before sunrise ready to go downtown and play. I took my 1970’s OM-1 camera and hoped to capture the snowy downtown before the snow plows clean the streets.  But the city had started the cleanup already and most of the streets were already passable.

Here is a view about 30 minutes before sunrise

There are a number of statues around the Court House, all celebrating people or activities this historic frontier city is proud to cherish. One statue is of William Owen “Buckey” O’Neill and his horse (February 2, 1860-July 1, 1898). As many of Prescott’s historic figure, O’Neill was a colourful character. According to Wikipedia, he was “a sheriff, newspaper editor , miner, politician, gambler and lawyer. He later became a captain in Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and died in battle.”

Here is Buckey’s statue

 

For some reason, my dog likes to stop by this statue every morning on his first long walk. Today, Bucky’s face was unusual, as half of it was perfectly covered with snow, as if he was wearing the mask of the Phantom of the Opera! I mean perfectly – the snow lines were precise as if drawn by a pencil, and enhanced its profile in a way that the statue, on a snow-free day depicts. In fact, the snow has created a new profile that did not resemble the actual statue's face! Here is a cropped section to show the unusual, albeit amazingly clean-lined, snow profile:

At this moment, it was sunrise although the sky was cloudy and everything still looked B&W. But with increased brightness Buckey’s face, from a portrait angle, had more to offer about the snow covering. The photo at the outset of this page captures those lines naturally framed by his now augmented and white cowboy hat and the frosted tree branches as depth of field.

 

By now, my dog had gotten impatient to continue his walk instead of looking at me play with the knobs and dials of the OM-1. So, we went for our daily one hour walk, this time letting him play to his heart delight in the snow and chase the raven looking for food in the public trash bins.

In a side street few blocks away from Square where the Court house and Buckey's statue are, the snow has enhanced a "car collection" display. The vintage Jeep had now even more character as an all-weather, all-terrain vehicle!

When we returned an hour later, I had a tired but happy 110 pounds Akita who decided to cool down his belly on the snow under the statue. The Snow had melted and the lines were not as precise and clear on Buckey’s face, but now my dog was happy that I was willing to take a photo of him!

 

March 2, 2023

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2023