There's a trick to putting the original Canon FD mount lenses on the camera. On the original FD mount lenses, there is a mounting ring at the back of the lens that needs to be locked into position before mounting it onto the camera. So, swivel the ring til it locks. Line up the red dots on the camera and lens and give it a twist. Voila! I'm a photographic hero in a drugstore! Big deal. So I have a vast and intricate knowledge of vintage camera gear. That and a couple of bucks will buy me a cup of coffee. (Mmm..coffee...I'll be right back.)
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| My old Canon TX. Roughly the same vintage as the Canon FTB. They don't build 'em like this any more! Note the silver coloured ring at the back of the lens where it joins to the camera body. That ring has to be locked before mounting the lens to the camera. This camera was given to me by my good friend Kaitlynd, a very talented artist and designer. Check out her Instagram here. https://www.instagram.com/kaitlyndwaffles/ |
I come by this knowledge of old photo gear quite honestly. For a good chunk of time, early in my photographic journey, I worked for several different photo retailers in the dinosaur days of film. It was both a good and bad experience. Good, in that working in a camera shop is probably the best place anywhere for learning the nuts and bolts of photography. To sell photographic gear, I had to learn how each piece of equipment worked and also how specific pieces of gear applied to specific situations and processes. Hey, it's nice to know what you're doing. Bad in terms of not learning the anesthetics of the craft due to too much focus on equipment. To this day, I'm a self admitted gear junkie.
As I stated in a piece I wrote a while ago, ''You would be hard pressed to find a creative activity that relies more on technology than photography or filmmaking.'' https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2021/02/its-all-about-camera.htm However, having some really nice camera gear and the knowledge of how to use it, will only allow me to achieve some nice, properly exposed, sharp, boring pictures. There's
more to it than that. Ultimately, photography, at its best, can convey a vision, an emotion, a story or a personal aesthetic. It can evoke a visceral reaction to a scene or situation captured by the photographer. As the incomparable Henri Cartier Bresson said in a 2000 interview with American journalist Charlie Rose, ''Lucidity doesn't come with words all the time.'' https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=henri+cartier+bresson
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| Hanging flower baskets downtown. Summer is officially here. |
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| Morning Conversation |
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| Nith River Bridge |
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| Ladies By The River Cambridge, Ont. |
There are communicative aspects of photography that can't be learned in a camera store. They are the aspects of the craft that are currently my centre of focus. (Pardon the pun.) I've got the gear, I've got some skills. The question is, "Do I have the vision? " Time will tell.
...more later
As usual, if you like what you see here, feel free to like and share it on the medium platform of your choice.
Special Announcement: I know a lot of people who have an interest in photography. Everyone from full time pros with decades of experience to beginners just starting out. I've decided to add an additional blog post each month with the feature entitled ''Photographic Friends.'' It will include interviews with people that I've met on my photographic journey as well as featuring some of their work along with links to their websites or social media pages. I think it will be interesting to hear from other practitioners of the photographic craft and celebrate their work. Hey, it shouldn't just be about me all the time!
The first ''Photographic Friends'' post will be published on July 10, 2021 and will continue to be published on the second Saturday of each month after that. My regular blog posts will still appear on the last Saturday of the month. Stay tuned. I think that this is going to be a very interesting project!
