1.02.2023

Blending in, with cameras, is nice. Sometimes you go straight in and other times you hold back and wait for it. Old prints. On fiber paper. Top one from Rome. Middle image from Siena. Bottom from either Rome or Siena. Can't remember and my GPS never worked right on my Hasselblad 500 CM...

 



For the younger viewer the headline included a joke. There was nothing electronic in a Hasselblad 500CM. Least of all GPS. Or Exif. Or AF. Or auto-exposure. You actually had to think about stuff...

And stay anonymous. And have fun. 

13 comments:

John said...

Not even auto dark slide removal ;)

Markus said...

Staying anonymous with the Hasselblad certainly was not that easy. But Italy in the sixties/seventies was certainly different.
Fine images, Kirk!

Anonymous said...

Trying to puzzle out why some of the Hasselblad images showing the black edges don't show the two V marks?

Reminds me of a cheezy photog in Salt Lake City a few decades back. Had a show at a good gallery where he would tell all "Hasselblad" when asked about the gear used for the square images. Problem was he printed with the edges black, full frame. One shooter challenged him on it and he still insisted "Hasselblad".

Your images don't have the Marks - you aren't using a Hassie - was the reply when he asked why the guy didn't believe him. Of course the artist of the hour didn't know what he was talking about.

Next show - the V's were there. Seems he had his Camera Technician file small V's in his Mamiya TLR. Some will go to any lengths to appear as something they are not.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Anonymous, in this case, the images above, the top was made with a Mamiya 6 and the bottom two with a H-blad 500 CM.

If you are trying to vet every single frame and tie it directly to whether it was done with a Hasselblad or some other camera you maybe are looking for the wrong thing in an image.

How were the Salt Lake City photographer's actual images? You know, the parts inside the frame lines?

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Markus, All these images were from the mid-1990s. Not the 60s or 70s, or even the 80s....

Don't age me too fast...

Jim Weekes said...

Wow, the camera is more important than the photograph?!?! As I recall the Mamiya TLRs had some pretty good lenses and as a Mamiya7 owner I know those lenses are fabulous.

Anonymous said...

Kirk, not vetting, just noticing.
As for the SLC shooter, good images. Absolutely no reason to lie about it. What brought it out more than ever was his insisting and inserting "Hasselblad" to one and all at any opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Can understand your GPS not working on the Hassie.
Am worried about batteries going bad on my 8x10 Deardorff. I don't know how to change them and don't have the operators manual...

Greg Heins said...

Let me help the Deardorff user. The batteries are found in a sort of vertical soft-ish form that usually starts about 6 inches to a foot behind the ground glass and goes all the way down to the ground. They do go bad and can’t be replaced, only renewed when the camera is sold.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Anonymous, Got it. Thanks!

Robert Roaldi said...

Could it be that largish medium or even large format cameras may be unobtrusive in street photography because no one thinks people would use something that big just to take snaps pf people walking by? And if you do stop someone and ask to take their picture, you appear to be doing something really important or you wouldn't be lugging that much mass around, and so they feel more happy about complying.

Can you carry a Hasselblad with a wrist strap?

JohnW said...

Mr.T I don't care if you used a cardboard pill box with a hole in it. DAMN but I love your street images.😎

Anonymous said...

The last is from Siena. You can see it from the "weird" lamp in the upper left corner.
Each area fighting in the Palio has their own colours and it is repeated in the lamps.
Wonderful city and don't forget to visit The Nanini Bakery.