Don't be afraid to try something old...

187/365 and SPT: Don't be afraid to try something old...
Originally uploaded by Way Ahead Photography

My shiny Spotmatic film SLR arrived the other day in the First Class post.

It is a wonderful machine, built in 1964, and entirely mechanical in operation, it almost feels alive in your hands, unlike its cold, lifeless digital counterparts.

When you wind the film and press the shutter, the feeling is akin to that of using a bolt action, "Old West" rifle... you feel... MANLY!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Luddite, I was in IT for 15 years! And I love my EOS, and it's earnt me a good wage so far, and I couldn't practically justify always shooting film, for all the portraiture and commercial work I do. People want digital images these days, not 10x8s...

But sometimes in the ever-advancing quest for speed, performance and perfection, we lose sight of things that are beautiful, meaningful and profound.

There is something very magical about shooting on a camera where you can't see straightaway if you got the shot or not, or fire off six shots a second. You start focussing less on the camera, and more on what's going on in front of it - you start to FEEL and PREDICT the shots rather than just think them...

Or as a wise man once put it:

"To take photographs means to recognize–simultaneously and within a fraction of a second–both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye, and one’s heart on the same axis."

Somehow it seems easier to achieve this with an old SLR... funny that!

This shot taken in the style of my fave 60s tog, who didn't just "try" cameras like this for fun - he didn't have any choice!

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."

(Ayn Rand)

Recently I've read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and have just bought and started Atlas Shrugged (which is an immense publication and should provide weeks if not months of happy reading!). Her writing blows my mind!

It's not so much that her words have inspired me to change, or have revealed a new truth. Rather they have underlined, and given voice to the thoughts and feelings I've had for as long as I can remember, about how messed up this world can get, and how I can overcome it and remain true to the person I was made to be.

This world does not like individuals. It does not like people who succeed by their own merit. It likes to build up heroes it can control, fake-heroes who can be praised for their weak efforts (for if their efforts were truly great, they'd be a threat to the collective!), then destroyed if they put a foot out of line.

But, to quote another great Randism, " "The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me!"

Why Am I Doing This?

"Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustable well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even concieve of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even that. How many times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless." (Paul Bowles - "The Sheltering Sky")

Sometimes you've just got to take photos for fun. If you ever lose sight of that, then it's no longer a passion. It just becomes another job...

Photography should be about capturing moments, stopping time and remembering that which is important. It should not be about earning money, or chasing fame and fortune. Sadly it's an easy trap to fall into in the world we live in where everybody wants to be somebody.

Security ramped up at local shopping Outlet

Popped into McArthurGlen Designer Outlet earlier, only to discover that they are really taking security seriously these days, with a very visible presence of armed guards...

See? This is why they tell you always carry your camera EVERYWHERE. You never know when a Stormtrooper might suddenly pop up!

There's one - set for flourescant....!!!

Feeling the loss...

Yesterday morning I was not at my best. I had had a fairly long sleepless night - my poor wife had been up and down with what we suspect to be food poisoning. As a result neither she or myself were at our best when the kids tumbled out of bed at 6.45 demanding food and attention.

Eventually I staggered to the computer and decided that as it was going to be a long day, looking after both the patient AND the kids, I'd do something useful - and set a backup of all my files running... I keyed in the cmd line (being an IT guy I feel clever and smug being able to use command line applications like Robocopy and in fact, there is no better backup program IMHO - as long as the user has a brain, and is WIDE AWAKE!)

After a good 10 mins (and a cup of coffee) I realised I'd been a very silly boy and mirrored my laptop's files over the hard disk in my backup drive, not usually a problem except I'd archived a bunch of 2008 photos to it (try several thousand...) and these were now deleted and partially written over. As you can imagine, I panicked...

Now before I get lots of posts suggesting ways to prevent this, or recover the files, bear in mind I was an IT guy for 15 years. I SHOULD know better. But - the bottom line is that we ALL make mistakes, and we ALL lose files sometimes. Backups are essential to minimise the risk of this, but sometimes, things just go wrong...

I accept this fully; I made a dumb, tired mistake - I should have wrote a little script that I clicked on each time -to avoid any dumb, tired mistakes... But I didn't.

As a result I lost some files. I managed to recover an awful lot using a wonderful free file recovery program called Undelete Plus, which I would have no hesitation in recommending, should you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of having deleted/lost files.

But here's the thing. I realised that most of the files I lost were worthless - RAWs I'd never need to process, or look at ever again. And of the more "valuable" ones - well - it made me realise that I can't bask in past glories forever, constantly playing with old "great shots" I took at rock festivals or other memorable events. As a photographer, as an artist, as a creative creation, I am only as good as the last thing I did. If I don't keep taking photos I am no longer a photographer (good or bad!). I *was* a photographer.

So in a way I'm quite GLAD I had this upset - it's made me think ahead, and "archive" my past achievements. Bring on the jobs, the magazines the degree - I'm ready!

And this time I'll be backing up my photos properly too!