At the junction of Highway 23 and 24 north of Vulcan is an old garage. Deanz Garage to be precise. For obvious reasons this is a favourite spot, although I have other less obvious reasons to like this spot as well.
Arriving at the garage right before sunset gave some great shots on the digital camera, I had run out of film earlier. It was a great way to finish off the first short road trip of 2020!
I suppose now is as good a time as any to explain my position on gear. You’ll notice I don’t reference the specific type of brand of digital camera, I don’t believe any of that matters. I shoot mainly DSLRs and on my iPhone in digital, with a mix of rangefinders and SLR cameras when shooting film. The photographs speak for themselves I think.
I am working on some posts that feature some of the old film cameras I use, these old cameras all have their own personality that I like to use in different situations. The simplicity of the old cameras really speaks to me, there really is nothing else required to make a proper photograph than knowing the ISO (ASA) of the film and having the ability to set a shutter speed and the aperture.
The whole process, from loading the film, exposing the photographs, developing the film and finally making prints in the darkroom, to me that feels real.
I don’t see the same (or any) personality with digital cameras, the process isn’t as real as film, they all kind of handle things the same way in my experience, that’s not a bad thing, they all produce exceptional photographs, I just don’t have any interest in spending time on features that have been covered by other people in a million different ways.
The photographs in this post and many others include photographs taken on digital cameras, so clearly I have nothing specific against them, in fact I believe they help me in my film photography to an extent. Like helping get through a creative dry spell, I can try out a bunch of ideas and without much additional effort see what the look is. The instant gratification we have come to expect in so much of our lives.
Anyways, enough philosophy. Go make some photographs!
Enjoy these.
Dean.
