getOBphoto

What's with the knobs? Like all photography in my life, it began with a Canon FT camera. An SLR that my father bought for himself circa 1970 when he was 29 and had gotten his PhD. Twenty years later and I'm taking my first steps in photography, using that camera. It is entirely manually controlled, with a light meter to guide your settings. So - knob for setting shutter speed; ring for aperture. Now I own and use these three odd-knob cameras. What is the thing with them? It most probably has to do with design - and I mean in the aesthetic/graphic sense. I like to see the knob on the front of the body. It looks good. And I suppose it's the rebel in me - wanting something slightly askew; out of the ordinary.   But of course it has to do with ergonomics - I can easily control it with my index finger on the Chinonflex and on the Leica CL.   This camera is not as easily handled. The Canon L2 has two control wheels for shutter speed. The one on top is for is for 1/...

Ever since I got my Fujifilm X-Pro 1 in the winter, I've loved using it. Suddenly I realized, after having to discard my Canon FX for suddenly jamming mid-stride, and it leaving the rubber eye piece unused, that was what the X-Pro needed to feel complete. But no way it would fit an entirely different (non-rectangle) mount.   I took the rubber eye piece off the Canon viewfinder mount and eventually, in my boxes, found an old TLR filter lens that as well as fit the thread mount for the X-Pro 1 viewfinder, kept the rubber eye piece in place. After removing the filter glass that was it. Eye piece of cake! The metal ring is not even close to my eye when looking in it. It is slightly wobbly, but that also makes it easy to turn when tilting the camera for portrait format.  

I've been a bit sad about not being able to take pictures with my 35 mm lens on my Fed 2 - the camera has an only 50 mm view-/rangefinder.   The other day I made a finder out of a cheap compact camera viewfinder. I fitted it on a flash-shoe-fitting-something that's made for an unknown purpose but suited my task perfectly.   Now my Fed is wide-angle ready with a large viewfinder originally for a 30 mm Pentax. The donor.   Frankenstein's monster. Doing its job. Focusing in the left window - framing in the right one.

I participated in Malmö Fotomaraton, which is a 12 hour photo contest where you get to illustrate 12 themes in 12 hours. Great fun! Theme 1: "Malmö Fotomaraton" 2: "Hard/Soft" The third theme was "Abstraction", but that photo is lost, along with number eight, as my memory card suddenly broke down. So I couldn't participate in the end, submitting my pictures. It was a really fun day, though! I'll definitely do a second Photo Marathon. 4: "Fixed" 5: "Something to talk about" 6: "Courage" 7: "Screwed" 9: "Easy/Light" 10: "Truth" 11: "Sunset" 12: "It's the thought that counts"

The other week I caught on film some competitors from the cycling competition Hisingen Runt in Gothenburg. Here are some early scans.   I used my Canons; Demi C and L2 with ~70 mm and 35 mm lenses respectively.

In the past week, I've had the opportunity to take pictures with the great camera Petri Color 35. It is a compact camera with a rather singular focusing system. The viewfinder. Distance/zone-focus scale at the bottom; exposure indicator to the right. Top: Flash socket and rewinding arm. Below you see wheels for aperture setting and shutter speed control. On the left side is the (black) wheel for focusing. The lens has no focus ring. The ring on the lens sets ASA/ISO value. The back and bottom of the camera is removed when loading film, as on my rangefinders Fed 2 and Leica CL. The camera having a short rest at a coffee shop in Malmo. I've used a colour roll which is to be developed in the coming week. Exciting!

This is my fuel for this morning's writing marathon. A cup of hot Caffè Americano and the famous crescent pastry. The writing stint was prompted by me reading the new collection of rare texts and short stories by (Moomin creator) Tove Jansson 'Bulevarden' (the Boulevard), published in Swedish 2017 by Förlaget M Oy AB, Helsinki.   Inspiring read! Afghan refugee. The Old Jewish Cemetery in Gothenburg. Neighbouring the Cemetery Old Jewish Cemetery

Paris in May of 2012. Hommage á Christer Strömholm Pictures taken with an Olympus XA.

In the earlier days of digital small was the norm. Is this the new trend, or is it just temporary? The Fujifilm X-Pro digital rangefinder to the left is from 2011 and the Canon L2 rangefinder is from c:a 1960.   The X-Pro is 8,5 cm high, the L2 is 8 cm.

More runners. What to learn from this excursion? Shade from a tree making the pictures more interesting would have been nice. Don't arrive too late to find a few good spots. Take more vertical pictures.