I had a bit of a surprise today, several test prints I had printed in 1995 fell out of an old box of prints I had shipped here last year! One of them has been scanned and posted here…
The images were originally shot on a MF (medium format) camera – the Mamiya RZ67 PRO II. I still have it – though it’s locked in a travel case and chained to a radiator with a motorcycle cable. Though I have not used it in over 4 years my emotional attachment won’t allow me to get rid of it… so it just sits, like a forgotten collection of LP’s.
Anyone who has ever worked in a studio environment will tell you that the Mamiya was simply the best camera ever developed… Though my Hasselblad friends won’t be happy to hear that as they will claim their small ‘blad’s’ were the best.
Regardless of the camera, we can all agree that there was something special about medium format and large format images. To get these cameras to function took time and even thought! Seems unbelievable just how much work it all was in comparison to today’s ‘phd’ cameras!
Anyhow, I can’t help but feel sad about how traditional photography and printing has gone the way of the typewriter and tube amps. The art of printing is disappearing while a new art form of digital manipulation is growing. And I won’t get into how today’s cameras are so technologically advanced that anyone can buy one and call themselves a photographer.
One day, I will finally take out my old Mamiya, shoot some film and smile when I look at the negatives… and for a little while I will no longer feel like I am attached to a computer …
by kurtvinion
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