Skip to main content

In the Shadow of the Season - on Photography in Winter



I live in a cold dark place.

No, not really. But the summer season (spring, summer, autumn) is markedly different to the winter. Once the temperature drops below 8-10°C being outdoors is a pain. The time of the year between mid-october and late april means getting outdoors is a project - dressing for it if you're going to spend some time outside is a hassle. And you will suffer if you mess up.



Being a photographer who makes photographs in the winter time takes some dedication. You can see what kind of photographer I am by leafing through my negatives: One or two rolls exposed between October and March. Add another twenty for the summer months.



A few years ago we went the farthest north I've ever been in the world: Jokkmokk. In the middle of Sami territory. It was late January and the temperature dropped to -20°C at times. I figured that the cold would suck out the power from my digital camera in notime. What to use, then? The most analog and cogs-and-levers-camera I had was the Zenit 3M SLR. I figured nothing could freeze up inside that piece of machinery. And nothing did. It was the film that gave. Close to the end of the roll the sprockets gave in. Most probably the film got brittle from the cold.



I love the photos I got from the Zenit during that week.







I have to say that these photographs are the exception to the rule. In wintertime I rarely photograph. Well, I less frequently venture outside of heated environments for longer times.

I recently started a new day-job. If I get to stay on in the new year I will bring a camera to work to photograph landscapes. The job entails spending long hours in the car, so if I bring a suitable kit I can take my (photo-)breaks in the snow-covered landscape.




Thanks for reading my blog! Don't hesitate to comment or check out my Instagram at #ourbooksmalmo. Visit my Etsy shop getOurBooks where there are cameras and photography equipment aplenty to choose from.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chaika Leica

Well, here's a Chaika 2M that I bought from Alex Helios via Instagram.  It's a great full manual viewfinder half-frame camera. The wheel on the top is for shutter time selection, from B to 1/30th to 1/250th of a second. The square button on the front right of the camera is the release/exposure. The lens mounted on the camera in the picture is not the original Industar-69. The Chaika is a rare model compact camera since the prime lens is detachable. What is more is that it has M39 screw mount. But - like with the Paxette M39 system - you can't get focus with a lens from another M39 system. Unless you adapt the lens or - in this case - the camera (mount)! The Chaika mount is easily detached from the body by loosening four screws. If I want to mount the Leica thread mount M39 (LTM) lenses on the Chaika - which is my goal with this mod - I have to add 1.3mm to the mount. That is what is needed to change the camera's flange focal distance (FFD) from Chaika system to L

Leaving a House - Departure from My Childhood Home with a Lumix GF2

My father left his house for a much smaller apartment this summer. My and my brother's families helped with some of the transition, and I documented parts of it with my Panasonic Lumix GF2. My father's house was where I grew up - from my 6th to my 19th year. He lived there for 43 years - 1979 to 2022. The light in this house was always amazing. Its situation on a western leaning hillside offers playful beams of light or reflections during every stage of the day. Little brother (me, 49), big brother (52), dad (80). Visit my  Etsy shop  for cameras and related stuff,  the  facebook group  on modding lenses and cameras or my Instagram account  ourbooksmalmo .
  These great cameras show up everywhere in Europe. Flea markets, second-hand shops, car boot sales, you name it. AGFA cameras were sold for decades, in many models, much like the Kodaks. I've had the pleasure of using two of them. And I own three. The magic shutter buttons! The AGFA Compact. It's an auto exposure compact camera with manual focusing! The lens retracts when you shut the camera off. AGFA Silette LK which has full manual exposure control and a built-in light meter. The lens is super duper sharp with pleasant out-of-focus areas. It does not have a rangefinder. Nor does the... ... AGFA Optima 335 which has auto-exposure and manual focusing. The aperture numbers you see are for flash photography with 1/125th of a second fixed shutter. I will not write much about these my cameras now, but will in the future. The Compact isn't working properly, so I am in search of advice on how to repair it. It (auto-) winds the loaded film to its end, without giving me an opportu