Once again I’ve left it until very late in the day to make my decision about participating. I wasn’t going to take part for three reasons, 1. It’s in January again! 2. My health isn’t good, I need an operation, fat chance of that in the UK for some considerable time and I get about 4.5 hours sleep a night if I’m lucky and 3. Covid, I’m not happy about roaming very far for the not essential purpose of taking photographs.
Recently I’ve been posting images from my days using 35mm and 120 size film and, despite the often low image quality I’ve been happy with the results, not just because of a trip down memory lane but I can see some unexplained difference between digital and film with film somehow winning out aesthetically. At the same time I’ve been very taken with the images of photographers like Bert Hardy, Thurston Hopkins, Edith Tudor-Hart, Wolfgang Suschitzky, Bill Brandt and Kurt Hutton. Most of them were at their peak in the 1940’s and 1950’s with compelling images often centring on social issues of the day such as poverty and the disparity between rich and poor. Their images are gritty with limited image quality but huge subject appeal. (Note that I'm not comparing myself with any of those greats!)
For me my own local parish is probably photographed out so it will mean trips to either Kingsbridge or Salcombe which will at least get me out of the house. I’m hoping to show the less touristy side of those two towns and attempt something along darker and grittier lines, I might fail spectacularly.
Whilst I’d like to be using film there’s no chance of doing that so I’ll have to choose a digital camera. I’m not particularly interested in the gear if truth be told, for me it’s the image. I go along with Bert Hardy’s idea that the photographer and not the camera makes the image, after all one of his most famous images was taken with a Box Brownie and a home made improvised viewfinder, however some choice has to be made, so I’ll start off with a Leica D-Lux Typ 109, the limited zoom will give me some choice over a prime lens and for me it benefits from having an aperture ring I can control manually.
See you on the other side for a journey I might find a little rough and not finish, or change tack or gear part way through.
Barrie
PS I’m sure I’ve lost my reason after many lonely months in my isolated cottage.