About Deptford Visions

who | what | then | now | why | use

Who

I am a web designer professionally and a photographer through choice (but sort of professional in the sense I have made money from photography… but I still need the day job lol).

Self portrait 2009

I’m based in Deptford, London, UK and have a strong sense of location, an affection for the area specifically, and a love of London in general.

Why skinnyvoice? e.e.cummings has a lot to answer for ^*.

who | what | then | now | why |  use

What

This photoblog was originally set up to record my experiences in (re) learning how to use my film cameras. Despite the blog title, there are also many photos from Greenwich, Blackheath and elsewhere. Anywhere I have a camera really, but mainly based around Deptford & SE London.

After a full year of using film almost exclusively I’m letting plurality back into my life and using digital again too. Film & digital photos can easily be filtered using the categories found on the menu above (eg all 120 format film here).

The year of film was an incredible learning experience. Learning is the key, especially with regard to developing film. I get more proficient as I do more, but the bar was low to start with. It took six months of trial and error to finally decide on Kodak Tri-X and Ilford FP4+ as my 35mm films of choice. Likewise Rodinal to develop the FP4+ and Kodak HC-110 for Tri-X.

Half way through the year I turned everything on its head because I fell big-time for medium format photography using 120 roll film and vintage cameras. That soon settled down to a preferred choice of FP4+ 120, usually at EI100 in Rodinal for between 15-16 minutes and HP5+ 120 @ EI 200 in HC-110 dil ‘H’ for about 8 minutes.

As a result I barely used 35mm for the second half of the year.

And now I have a 4×5 pinhole and a box of Fomapan 100 to go in it. Aaaah! What next?

Some unashamed geeking in here too…

who | what | then | now | why |  use

Then

Photography began as a hobby in 1979 with my first serious camera, a Pentax MX and a std 50mm lens.

Amsterdam 1981. Squatted veterinary hospital we were living in on The Haalemmerstraat

I bumbled along until 1984 when I lost all of my gear and couldn’t afford to replace it. It kick started again in 1996 with a gift of a brand new (all manual) Nikon FM2n with some Nikkors including a 24mm f/2.8 AIS, Micro-Nikkor 55mm, 105mm f/2. I fell in love.

I became interested in digital as it converged with my web work in 2001 (remember <1 megapixel cameras anybody?). I had access then to a Nikon D1 and it blew me away. Progressed to a Nikon D300 when it came out (through various iterations of the Nikon D* cameras).

However, I also continued to use film cameras through the ‘digital age’, primarily a Ricoh GR1v, plus a Nikon F4s and the FM2n as well as a couple of Holgas (6×6).

who | what | then | now | why | use

Now

I use digital because I have to. I use film because I want to.

Swinging in St Alfege Graveyard, Greenwich 2009

In 2008 I acquired a pair of Leicas, models IF & IIF, LTM (thread mount) bodies long since eclipsed by the Leica M mount cameras. There is something exquisite about these ‘Barnack’ cameras (so named after Oskar Barnack their inventor). Easy to use they are not, but paradoxically they are an ergonomic dream. It is a truism to say that they ‘just fit the hand’ but they do. Beautiful engineering, mine probably work as well today as they did when they came off the production line decades ago. Possibly better because I’ve had them cleaned, lubricated and adjusted by Malcolm Taylor – Leicaphile and engineer extraordinairre. ‘Repair guy’ simply doesn’t do him justice, his knowledge is awesome and he is very generous about sharing it. I could listen to him for hours (and anybody who has talked to him knows there is a distinct possibility that you will).

The Leica IIf was born in the same year as me and was irresistible, with a 35/3.5 Summaron, 50/2 Summarit and an Elmar 90/4 (from 1936 – somewhat older than me even). I have brightline finders for the lenses and the kit is an inspiration to me. I absolutely love it and it even got me back to developing my own films again. I have also come to realise that I prefer rangefinders to SLRs. They suit my style photography. Hopefully a distinct style will evolve.

From a practical point of view, doing street photography with an old rangefinder is a completely different experience than using modern DSLRs. Very few people feel ‘threatened’ by the rangefinder. In fact, many people, on spotting the Leica, actually come and talk to me! Sticking a D300 with a Nikkor 24-70/2.8 in people’s faces tends to bring out the worst. People still talk but usually from a distance and angrily. Hardly surprising really as the UK populace is currently being conditioned to assume professional looking equipment on the street means you are either a terrorist or peadophile.

I’ll be writing about this threat to freedom and photography and its wider issues in this blog, don’t worry. It drives me f*cking nuts when I get stopped – and I have a press card for what its worth, so I get more ‘freedom’ than others without.

Stop already!  This is an ‘about’ page, but you get the idea…

I have some reluctance now when I have to carry several kilos of digi gear around with me for an assignment. Though oddly, the similar weight of the Nikon F4S and its accessories doesn’t bother me. Tis a brick and has survived conflicts. You could brain somebody with it and still sell it on as a mint condition copy lol.

My main 35mm camera at the moment is a Leica M6 TTL which used to have a CV 35/1.2 Nokton living on it until I replaced it with an ‘affordable’ Leica Summarit 35/2.5 which in my humble opinion ROCKS despite the naysayer Leica snobs. It is a great lens. However, I then found a 1989 Summicron 35/2 IV for a good price and I was even more bowled over… I give in gracefully. The ‘Cron is everything people say it is and the hood seems to control flare OK (The Summarit deals with flare very well, but then I’d expect that of modern coatings). The Nokton is wonderful too and I use it when I need the wider aperture. Great combination for the 35mm lover.

Lurking in the background is a Kiev 4a rangefinder (imported to the UK in the 1970s with one careful owner. It is a good copy from a time when FSU quality control was dismal) and a couple of Holga 120s, one modded to take 35mm film. Also some Lomo cameras like one that takes four images at once. Yay, I’m a sucker for toy cameras too.

Summer 2009 I acquired a Rolleiflex 3.5F and a number of folding 120 rangefinder cameras… and the medium format ‘rot’ set in.

In fact I now use five Rolleis (the 3.5F, a 2.8F, 3 Automats and a Rolleicord) together with a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta. I just love the 6×6 format… And can you have too many Rolleis? My pride and joy is an almost mint Rolleiflex Automat Model 1 Type 1 uncoated Tessar from 1937.

And even bigger… 6×9 format with the Fuji GW690III and the Bessa Voigtander RF. The negs are to die for.

I can feel Large Format photography is out there waiting for me too. If so, it will be a progression through the pinholes. I have a Zero 2000 6×6 and have just acquired a Zero 4×5 with three sections which will allow 25mm, 50mm and 75mm effective focal lengths. The first two sections on 4×5 are seriously wide!

who | what | then | now | why | use

Why

I try to capture the errr, spirit of what I’m seeing, so I include photographs that are are not technically perfect.  Mmmmm. Lo-fi photography alert! My excuse.

Abstract expressionism sometimes has a lot to answer for.

And recently, it seems the CIA may also have had something to answer for in this respect too, allegedly slush-funding/bunging the buying of American artists’ work in the 1950s to ponce their market value and status and put a dampener on that ungodly commie art from Russia (lol). You can’t make it up. Myself, I’ve often wondered how Cy Twombly got such a rep but apparently some works of his hang on a hidden wall in Langley or wherever these people operate from. And the real pisser is that it worked! Twombly’s work is worth a fortune now.

But back on track, if I knew how to take a good picture, I’d do it every time. Somebody said that, not me.

I like narrative, so documentary, street and photojournalism interest me more than ‘fine art’ photography.

New Year 2006, London

I’m also fascinated by the meaning of photographs too, in the meta-sense of how we see what others have photographed.

Paul Hill’s book ‘Approaching photography’ is recommended. It concentrates on what is produced, not how it is produced. It examines the ‘language’ of the photograph, ie how we ‘read’ them. We (I) take much for granted and this was an eye-opener (poor joke) for me at least. I can feel a bunch of semiotics coming on now too, though not Barthes (shudder).

who | what | then | now | why | use

Copyright, use and contact

If by some chance my photos could be useful to you please ask for permission to use them. I am really not happy about them being used or captioned inappropriately. Get in touch with me via the contact link in the menu above if you wish to use any of the photos.

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