Photography is memory. I read that somewhere and it makes sense. What else can explain the universal appeal of our family snaps? All the images I've ever made are in the past and help me remember what I was doing at the time of exposure — no less.
Lately I've been making Polaroid 54 and 55 exposures as well as two Tri-X negatives per subject when time permits. This gives me a print and three negatives. This exercise takes about 15 minutes. I take water and clearing salts in sealed containers along for the Pol negs.
I make black and white prints using traditional
wet darkroom techniques on silver gelatine papers. Film of choice
has been TriX since the first attempts in the early sixties. Now
developed in HC110B and/or Pyro after Hutchings. Negatives which please me are printed — often a few years after making the exposure — other negs are filed.
I've also made platinum prints from digitally printed negatives. I learned this process at a workshop given by Burkhardt Kiegeland. Making a digital negative for an antique process may seem strange, but it was a way to learn the process without having to make numerous LF negatives first. I don't think I'll be doing anymore platimun printing soon as I would prefer contact printing from in-camera negatives of the final format. This means ULF and I'm not financially well off enough to go that route. Yet...
Most of my photos are from withing an hour's drive of home. The Weinviertel in Lower Austria has been under cultivation for millenia and is a lovely and human scaled landscape.
Cameras: The first was a Brownie, then my father's
6x9 Speed Graphic. When I moved to Europe for a year (I thought)
in 1972 I took along my Topcon Unirex and two or three lenses. Great
camera at a reasonable price. It featured aperture priority and a TTL lightmeter
that served well. I gave up the brand after
two camera bodies failed and no replacements were available - those were pre-Ebay times. I can't remember what I did with the cameras and lenses — to my chagrin.
For many years years I've used a
Nikon F4 (purchased in 1991) and a Linhof Technika V (bought used in 1984). The Nikon's fine for snapshots. The Linhof
is for work where large negatives
and the impressive detail they capture are important, although the Linhof can be hand-held using a 6x9cm rollfilm back with
good results.
Recently I was able to get a Topcon Unirex and three lenses for an astonishing €15 including shipping! So how I have three active cameras. I also own two Minox 8mm cameras — a "B" and a "C". These subminiatures haven't seen service since the mid 1970s.
I can also work up digital files. Printing them is another matter. I tend to use this technique for snapshots only.
