Some time ago a kind visitor left a really interesting comment on one of my photo on Pbase, it was one featuring one of the back then just introduced Barcelonian tram trains, with their futuristic and sleek look.What that user pointed out was the camera I used for it, a 1950s Agfa Isolette III folder (in fact the same model that opens this same blog), and how ironic it was that something more than 50 years old was used to take such a futuristic shot. Probably the designers of that camera never thought their 'childs' would be taking snapshots of a back then so distant future...
I had a similar episode last week, when I took my 'last' camera for a walk around the Barcelona Born Market zone. The camera was the one opening this post, a Voigtlander Bessa-I 6x9 folder featuring the highly desirable Color Skopar 105/3.5 lens. I spotted this one at the first Sant Boi flea market, and I really think I got a cracker here, not only the lens first class, but the camera was also in tip top working condition and with spotless glass, not an easy find at all.
What I really found fun while taking these shots is how people reacts when they see somebody pointing them with such an... odd looking artifact. One thing is for sure, they don't take you seriously AT ALL, and that allows for some interesting approaches that would probably awake suspicious looks if done with a, let's say, more normal looking camera :)So, again, a 50 years old machine gets connected to our daily futuristic present. As if it had been sleeping or frozen for that time and then suddenly was found inside a buried time capsule and put again to work.
And by the way... if you never tried and you have the option... medium format just rocks ;)
Very nice quality to these images, Oscar. A quality obtainable only by an older lens. Very nice.
Gorgeous look to these images, Oscar. The light on the three individuals talking on the street is wonderful.
Ray (RayPA on RFF)
I've had the same experience, especially with the Baldax and the Great Wall: one looks like an historical relic and the other is just plain strange. People don't fear them; I think they see them as slightly pathetic and incapable. Tsk. Little do they know! :-)
Thanks both! It's true Lynn, unless somebody is really suspicious about almost everything, it's difficult to get a bad face when pointing your subject with such a fun looking thing :)