Blog

The photographic blog of Sean Wood (aka motionid)

Kodak Autographic Brownie

 

A recent comment on a Tokyo Tower photo I took a while back prompted me to write this post. I shot the photo with a early 1900's Kodak Autographic Brownie no.2 using a Fuji Polaroid back. The camera originally took a different kind of film that is no longer made. After checking the camera I thought I might be able to get away with using 120 film but could not work out a way to modify the original camera back without destroying it. And given the camera is actually not mine and kind of on permanent loan I figured that would not be a good idea. So I though perhaps I could connect a Polaroid back to it. After checking the size of my Hasselblad back with the camera it looked like the idea was going to work. But I needed to find a back that did not have a little window (like the Hasselblad or Mamiya) but had the film area fully exposed when the dark slide was out. A trip to the local camera store immediately paid off. I found myself a Fuji back in the junk bin for ¥525 which was quite lucky because I didn't want this little test to cost me and end in failure. I figured the easiest way to connect the back to the body would be with electrical tape and that once I had proved it would work I'd figure out a more permanent solution. After reading on line and discovering that the aperture would be around f/9 at it"s widest I took a shot and hoped for the best. The image you see above is the result I got. I was quite surprised at how the image turned out. You will see from the other images below how I modified the camera and the controls it offers. F/9, f/19, f/22. T, B, 25th, and 50th of a second shutter. And a viewfinder that is very cool and at the same time very hard to use. Feel free to share your old camera mod stories in the comments area below.

 

Lens fun

So just for fun I asked several people, including my friend Stephan, for a photo. I usually use the Hasselblad and have tweaked my settings so I can use the 80mm lens to take close-up head shots. I was, however, surprised to see the result when I developed the film. I wasn't expecting him to look so different. And I always thought that the 80mm lens on the Hasselblad was a 50mm equivalent on a 35mm SLR. What a difference a lens and a bit of fiddling with the settings makes. Stephan prefers the digital shot. Probably because of how different the lens makes his face look. I actually like it more. Most likely because it's difficult to replicate the look. In any case I'm surprised to see how well the film version turned out when putting it side by side with the digital one. More of these to come.

Abandoned

A trip to Malaysia late last year had me jumping fences in between conferences to shoot these amazing abandoned houses. They can be seen everywhere and are usually locked away behind tall fences. If you find yourself there one day, just go easy while finding your way over the fence and back.

Polada

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This past weekend I was invited to an exhibition of Riku Wada san and Sayako Ishida san. They had both travelled to different places in the world (iceland, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina to name a few) and used Polaroid cameras to take pictures of their travels. By plan or by accident they managed to create a really amazing series of images. Because of the nature of the medium, the colours were all very consistant right across the world and the subdued yellowish tones suited the subject matter. In fact, had they used any other type of camera they would not have achieved close to the quality, consistency or look that they got with the polaroid.I'm hoping they make a book of the shots. They are too good to waste on just a one time viewing. The shot above was taken at the exhibition and is a globe they make with pins stuck into the places they travelled to. This was taken with a Hasselblad with a polaroid back and Fuji 100c film. And, as fate would have it, I got a happy accident. The resulting blue spots is a result of the film not being able to handle the overexposure of the light.

Tokyo stations at night - cont.

Taking a break for medium format I went back to shoot with the rangefinder for a while. These shots are a mix of 35mm and 50mm all shot at night in various locations but on the subway and the JR.

Kawasaki on film

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Industrial area somewhere in greater Tokyo So I finally finished the roll and got the film shots I took at Kawasaki developed. Here is the film vs digital. I'm not sure if you can see it here (even at a large size) but the film appears to have more depth than the digital shot which just seems flat. In any case I like the square format a lot more.

JR staff portrait

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This past weekend I spent the day changing all my chemicals to new ones. My fix has now changed back to Kodak and is slightly more concentrated than before. The jars that hold the 1 gallon A and B solution needed to be scrubbed and chiseled at to remove the years of build up of gunk at the bottom.As a result of all this work my negatives look amazingly clear. It's easy to let quality slip as chemicals start to slowly die and it's difficult to notice until it's too late (or not at all in my case for a while).

Late afternoon

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Spent on afternoon earlier this year at Koga san's cafe. He wasn't around at the time and no one knew who I was but that was the beauty of it. This great little space in the middle of nowhere I'd been before. The light in the late afternoon is magic and the food is excellent. I'm hoping to go again with a few friends next time for some food and beer to kill a late afternoon / early evening. Recommend you check it out if you get a chance.

Walled shadows of Nara

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In an effort to keep a balance between a holiday and taking photos I too my digital camera and a Holga to Nara. Using Brett's trusty 1000 year old Velvia (that apparently had a speed range between 100 - 1000) I managed to squeeze about 3 semi usable shots out of the roll (not the films fault. Bloody f8 at 100 ASA!)I'm happy with the result. For some reason I value this a lot more than the 500+ digital shots I took that I have not posted.

Industrial nowhere

As an escape from obligations looming, I packed my messenger back with about 10kg of camera gear including a tripod and set off for an industrial area of Tokyo. I'd been close to the same place a week before trying to figure out the best way to get there. Most of the evening was spent tracking down interesting scenes to shoot. No doubt I'll be going again at some point in the near future to capitalize on an evening spent cycling a good 50km trying to get pictures. I took the Hasselblad and the Canon in an attempt to capture atmosphere and get instant gratification and while I'm ok at holding a shot at 4th of a second I didn't want to do a 50km round trip and risk a shot being blurry, hence the tripod. While riding around I found myself at the end of a very long walled road with only the guarded entrance to an industrial complex and a very lonely bus stop. With not a soul in sight (except the guard at the end of the road) I set up my tripod in the middle of the road to take a few pictures. Out of the walls came people to the bus stop. By chance I'd picked probably the only moment in the evening when the bus would arrive. I'm interested to see how the Hasselblad image turn out. I leave you with a few more pictures from the outing.

Shibuya panoramic reflections

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Inspired by one of Jon's shots (You always give credit. I hate the way people take an idea from somewhere and pretend it's theirs).I thought I'd see what happens when you put your panoramic camera in a puddle while it's raining. I'm going to claim the colour version now before someone rips me off and does it before I've developed my film (like it hasn't already been done a millions times). More to follow at some stage when the film is ready.