Yesterday afternoon I was shooting in Kensington Market again. The streets were closed to all vehicular traffic, making for a great atmosphere. A belly dancing show was taking place, surrounded by photographers, as in the image below. Sometimes it’s as much fun to watch the audience!
(Canon 7 35mm rangefinder, Leitz (Leica) 90mm/f4 Elmar lens,
Ilford Delta 400 film, developed in Kodak Microdol-X developer, 1:1 for 15.5 minutes at 20 degrees)
This is my second hand-tinted print where the colours are somewhat surrealistic. It is model Keira, taken in Kensington Market, where the colours are already a bit surrealistic, to my eye.
Today’s image is from what was likely the last Kensington Market project involving models and the use of bleached/reclaimed negatives from Fuji FP100C instant film. I love the large swath of purple in the image, and model Caroline’s expression, hair, and choice of wardrobe were great for the setting.
Today it’s back to Kensington Market, for another image created by taking the negative from a Fuji FP100C print and bleaching off the black back coating and then scanning it. I’m really hooked on the vivid colours (especially reds and blues) that result from this process!
This post isn’t about the image but the interaction. I was on a shoot in Kensington Market yesterday, with the Polaroid around my neck getting plenty of attention. The photographer in the image below walked up with a smile on his face, and a DSLR around his neck. We talk for a bit, and it turns out he has a beautiful Pentacon 6 Medium format camera.
(Polaroid Land Camera Model 100, Fuji FP-100C Instant film)
I really like the smile I on this street musician; it makes me smile back 🙂
(Polaroid 100 Land Camera, Fuji FP-100C Instant colour film, scan of reclaimed negative)
I was out with my Polaroid camera today, and on three different occasions I was stopped by a smiling passerby, asking questions about the camera: how old it was, where do I get film, etc. It was like being out walking one’s dog, as a means for initiating conversations with strangers (and as an introvert, I often find this very difficult to do!). I have also gotten the same reaction when out with a Rolleicord Twins Lens Reflex.
If a goal of photography is connecting with people, then these vintage cameras help me fulfill that goal!
(Street busker shot in Kensington Market 22 July, 2012, Polaroid 100 Land camera, Fuji FP-100C instant colour film)
Today’s image in Kensington Market was taken with my Yashica Mat LM 120 format Twin Lens Reflex camera. On one hand it was quite inexpensive, and has an amazing lens. On the other hand, the shutter/film advance mechanism is balky, so that the film advance often sticks until I jiggle the camera or mutter incantations. This is the one camera I have where keeping a headless chicken in the camera bag (to wave in front of the stuck film advance; when all else fails there is always voodoo).
I swear that in a past life this camera was a cat (Will I work? Yes. No. Yes. No. ….)
Kensington Market in Toronto is one of my favourite places in Toronto: colourful, eclectic, but a bit gritty and rough around the edges. It is certainly not a pretentious or snooty part of town! This past Saturday I went down with three cameras, including a Nikon SLR with a 17mm super wide-angle lens, loaded with slide film (Fuji Velvia 100). The slide film was cross processed (developed as a color negative), resulting in interesting colour shifts and high contrast. I was quite happy with how the set turned out.
As a follow up to the last post, here is one of the colour images from the shoot with Keira at Kensington Market. Although black and white is my “mother tongue” when it comes to photography, there are times when the language of colour is the only thing that will do, and I believe this is one of those times. I love the pink and blue neon sign with Keira’s auburn hair, both glowing, and capped off with a touching expression.
(Nikon FE, 105mm/f2.5 Nikkor lens, Kodak ISO 200 Colour Negative film, processed using JOBO C-41 kit, post work done with NIK Color Efex Pro 3)
My Third Eye 