Rob in Killarney Provincial Park, ON.
I became a photographer because I wanted to capture the moment, to put my vision to paper, and to see the world. You never lose that magical feeling of seeing your images enlarged and on the wall. One of the great failings of digital photography is that no one ever sees the images that are locked away in your computer. You need to get the image on the wall, or it doesn't exist.
I’m being dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age, but I’m still sticking with film. I’ve heard all the arguments about how digital has finally surpassed film, and I don’t quite believe it. But more importantly, I don’t care. I'll worry about 'going digital' when the last roll of Velvia comes off the line. In 50 years my transparencies will look just fine, and I'll be able to find them. Not sure I can say that about all the digital files that are accumulating on these hard drives.
I use a variety of ‘battery free’ film cameras, such as the Rolleicord and Yashica TLRs. I’m having a lot of fun with a great little Horizon S3 swing lens panoramic camera which uses 35mm film. My favourites are still the Fuji 6x9 rangefinders, and lately I've gone back to the beginnings with a Crown Graphic 4x5. My most recent toy is "the Tank", a Noblex Pro 06/150 that shoots a true panoramic format on 6x12 rollfilm. When you see a 4x5 or 6x12 transparency on the light table it just jumps out at you. Whatever you use, put it on a tripod, and take your time. When you only get 6 to 8 images per roll, you need to get it right.
As they say, it’s the carpenter, not his toolbox. So what I use doesn’t really matter. I find that film is much more methodical, and requires that you pay attention, and know what you’re doing. I believe that taking your time creates the better image. As much as possible, I'm getting the final image on film without relying on Photoshop to 'fix it later'. Having said that, once the image is developed it gets scanned and stays digital from there. So I’m open to change, I’d just prefer to avoid it if I can.
I hope you enjoy these images. Little by little the archives are being digitized and are making it online. Come back again from time to time and see what’s new.
I became a photographer because I wanted to capture the moment, to put my vision to paper, and to see the world. You never lose that magical feeling of seeing your images enlarged and on the wall. One of the great failings of digital photography is that no one ever sees the images that are locked away in your computer. You need to get the image on the wall, or it doesn't exist.
I’m being dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age, but I’m still sticking with film. I’ve heard all the arguments about how digital has finally surpassed film, and I don’t quite believe it. But more importantly, I don’t care. I'll worry about 'going digital' when the last roll of Velvia comes off the line. In 50 years my transparencies will look just fine, and I'll be able to find them. Not sure I can say that about all the digital files that are accumulating on these hard drives.
I use a variety of ‘battery free’ film cameras, such as the Rolleicord and Yashica TLRs. I’m having a lot of fun with a great little Horizon S3 swing lens panoramic camera which uses 35mm film. My favourites are still the Fuji 6x9 rangefinders, and lately I've gone back to the beginnings with a Crown Graphic 4x5. My most recent toy is "the Tank", a Noblex Pro 06/150 that shoots a true panoramic format on 6x12 rollfilm. When you see a 4x5 or 6x12 transparency on the light table it just jumps out at you. Whatever you use, put it on a tripod, and take your time. When you only get 6 to 8 images per roll, you need to get it right.
As they say, it’s the carpenter, not his toolbox. So what I use doesn’t really matter. I find that film is much more methodical, and requires that you pay attention, and know what you’re doing. I believe that taking your time creates the better image. As much as possible, I'm getting the final image on film without relying on Photoshop to 'fix it later'. Having said that, once the image is developed it gets scanned and stays digital from there. So I’m open to change, I’d just prefer to avoid it if I can.
I hope you enjoy these images. Little by little the archives are being digitized and are making it online. Come back again from time to time and see what’s new.
© Rob Pethes Photography