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B To put it simply, I like making images on paper. Undoubtedly there are endless genetic and philosophical justifications for that and any other obsession, but art is long and life is short. I just like making images on paper. Left to my own devices, I would most often prefer to shoot transparencies in 6x6cm medium format. I suspect my attraction to the square image is due to the fact that the shape is inherently neutral. No horizontal or vertical vision imposes itself on the viewer; the composition is purely in the image itself. Besides, this format offers a great compromise between portability and image quality. I also shoot a digital camera for convenience and a 4x5 view camera for quality. My favorite camera is an 1893 Pony Premo, a 4x5 of mahogany and red leather. I still take it on trips, but with a "modern" lens only 60 years old.
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My first photograph, taken with my first camera at the impressionable age of 10. The camera was a Kodak Brownie Starflash, using the late and lamented 127 film format. But in 1958, the date of this photograph, it was popular and affordable. I still have the camera. The head barely visible on the pillow belongs to my brother. The rest of him is buried beneath the huge feather duvet in this Lucerne, Switzerland hotel room. |
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