Hasselblad 500 c/m!

I've had a bad case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) this year.  It started in January when my wife purchased a Polaroid SX-70 for my birthday.  From there, I've accumulated numerous film cameras and I'm up to a total of 15 different makes and models.  Some of them I haven't even shot yet.  It's somewhat of an addiction.  When you began diving into the world of film photography, you become aware of so many combinations to achieve your artistic vision.  Cameras manufactured decades earlier are still relevant and in good condition.  Most of them are in perfect working order or may need a simple CLA, but film can still be purchased and wonderful images can be created; all at a fraction of the cost of shooting digitally. 

I'm in my infancy of using 120 medium format film; mostly shooting the roll film through my Lomography cameras, the Holga and the Diana F+.  I've had great results, but I've been wanting to upgrade to a professional medium format camera.  There are a number of great models out there, but there was just something about the iconic Hasselblad 500 c/m camera that I couldn't resist.  Hasselblad is a name that's synonymous with quality and the 500 c/m was a completely interchangeable machine.  The iconic box shape is not the only thing intriguing about this camera. It's truly a professional kit with a variety of interchangeable options.  In addition to the lenses, if you don't like the focusing screen, you can change it.  You don't like the viewfinder, change it; you want to switch from black and white film to color film mid roll, change it.  It's a highly flexible system that produces gorgeously sharp 6x6 "square" negatives.  So, after seeing some of the results on Flickr and reading about this camera and it's surprisingly cheap price point compared to today's digital standards, I just had to get one.  I saved some money and perused eBay until I found a great deal from Columbus Camera Group.  I couldn't resist and I ended up winning the auction. 

It arrived a couple days later and actually handling this camera in person is better than I expected.  It's well built; it's definitely not like holding a Holga in your hand.  The camera is very particular and there are functions that I simply wasn't used to.  A great deal of reading and researching was required before I could actually take this camera on a test run.  After getting a good handle on the basic functions of my new Hasselblad, I was ready to take it for a spin.  Unfortunately, for such a great camera, the only roll of film I had to run through it at the time was a roll of Lomography Red Scale.  Not the ideal roll, but at least I was going to go shooting with this new toy.  I had to pick up a few of my images that were hanging in the Gateway Arts Council Spring Fling Exhibit, so I thought I would swing by Tawawa Park afterwards and run that first roll through.  I spent a couple hours wandering down paths and setting up shots.  This was only the second time that I used a light meter and I had to get used to seeing the image reversed in the viewfinder.  Regardless, it was a good time and I really enjoyed using the camera.  The sound of shutter is magnificent and to hear it is simply enough to convince me to continue using the camera.  After a couple of hours, I had finished the roll of film and I sent it off to my lab for processing.  I received it back within a week and I was a little disappointed.  While my exposures were pretty close, my shots weren't great and I just didn't get anything of outstanding quality.  My negatives also came back heavily scratched.  I had a bit of a freak out moment and thought something was wrong with my A12 back.  I searched all over the Internet and found that Lomography Redscale film scratches easily.  I couldn't be 100 percent certain that my film back was functioning properly until I ran another roll through.  The FPP Midwest Meet Up was coming up in a few weeks, which made for the perfect opportunity to shoot the Hasselblad again.

This time I was armed with a roll of Adox 50 ISO black and white film.  After the photo walk portion of the meet up, I ventured back out alone to do some additional shooting.  I shot the entire roll, focusing mainly on urban and rural decay type shots.  The roll came back from my lab without scratching and I was happy with some of the results.  While I have a lot to learn and I still have to get used to this camera, I know I'm going to love it.  I have a project that I'm going to be working on in August and I'll be using the same Adox film and the Hasselblad to complete it.  If the results are as promising as I know they can be, I can't wait to share it with all of you.  In the mean time, check out a few images from my second roll.  Enjoy!

FPP Midwest Meet Up / Mat Marrash Gallery Show

I've referred to a specific podcast that I began listening to in a few of my previous blog posts.  For those of you that don't know, it's called the Film Photography Podcast (FPP).  The podcast was founded in 2009 by Michael Raso and has been going strong ever since.  The podcast has spread to a website, Flickr group, store and an eBay auction site.  In addition, it's become a massive community of film shooters and film lovers around the world. 

In 2011, the FPP community organized a few meet ups.  The first one took place on April 16, in New York City.  A smaller meet up was organized later in the month at Toronto and in June, FPP founder Michael Raso and co-host John Fedele travelled across the pond to London for a UK meet up.  With all of these meet ups taking place, I was a bit jealous that I couldn't join in all of the fun.  The newest co-host of FPP, Mat Marrash, lives in Findlay, Ohio.  He had mentioned on the show that he was going to have his first gallery exhibit in July and I immediately planned on attending; especially since Findlay is only an hour an a half away from Troy.  I was absolutely elated when I found out that in conjunction with the gallery opening, an official FPP meet-up was being planned.  It was going to be attended by founder Michael Raso, FPP video man Joey, FPP Deputy Dan Domme, FPP frequent guest Lauren Bagley and of course, FPP co-host Mat Marrash.  So, I took the day off from work and headed to Findlay the morning of July 15.

I arrived shortly before 11 a.m. and was greeted by Lauren and her dog, Strudel.  After the rest of the attendees arrived, Michael taped a short beginning segment and we took off on a photo walk of downtown Findlay.  The first stop was Leslie Lazenby Hunsberger's Imagine That! store.  Leslie is a photographic technologist, specializing in photo restoration.  On top of that, she has an amazing collection of cameras and has a wealth of knowledge on all things photography and film.  It wouldn't be hard to waste hours talking to her about film stock, film cameras, techniques, etc.  She's also an astounding artist herself, which I found out after viewing a few of her Polaroid manipulations.  She was very friendly and welcomed us with opened arms and even treated us to a "grab box" of expired Kodak and Polaroid films.  I grabbed an expired pack of Polaroid 108 film and can't wait to see what type of results I get.  After Leslie's store, we stopped into The Baker's Cafe for a coffee break.  I got to chat with a few other FPPer's who attended; Dave Mihaly from Columbus, OH and Tom Schaefer and Chris Fecio of Buffalo, NY.  After our coffee break, we continued walking through downtown Findlay, shooting the new Kodak Portra that Kodak provided FPP with.  I shot Portra 400 with my Canon AE-1P with my 28mm wide angle lens.  Unfortunately, I had a small rewind issue and some of my film was exposed to the light, which produced a bit of fogging on some of the roll.  Other than that, I enjoyed the roll and if I have something I'm happy with, I'll display it in a subsequent post. 

After our walk of Findlay, we headed back to the Findlay Inn and Conference Center for pizza and Polaroid fun.  We had a few hours before Mat's gallery show, so I headed back downtown and shot a roll of medium format with my Hasselblad 500 c/m.  This was just the second roll I've run through this camera.  After I get the results back from the lab, I'll post a few images and give my overall impression of the 500 c/m thus far.  After my second round of shooting, I headed to Mat's gallery show.  He had a number of amazing portraits that he shot all on film.  He used a Hasselblad 500c and his Eastman Commercial 8x10 large format camera.  His work is absolutely stunning and will continue to be on display at the Lea Gallery until mid August.  I highly recommend checking it out.  Additionally, we also ventured upstairs to view Lauren Bagley's paintings, prints and illustrations.  They were also amazing and it's highly likely you'll see her illustrations gracing a children's book very soon.  After the exhibit, we headed to The George, a great book/coffee shop for a night cap.

Overall, the meet up was a great time.  Everyone was friendly and just as enthusiastic about film as I am, if not more so.  The FPP community is filled with a great group of individuals, and it's astounding that all of these individuals, some that have never met before, can get together, hang out, take photographs and generally enjoy each other's company.  It doesn't matter the skill level or the type of camera that you shoot; we all love film and we all love photography and that allows us to form a bond regardless of where we're from, where we live and what we do for a living.  Ideas are formed, tips are traded and work is exchanged and viewed.  This community is helping take artistic photography to a whole new level, while keeping film alive.  This is what a photographic community should be; I'm grateful that I'm part of something like this.  The Film Photography Podcast has helped me grow as a photographer and has helped inspire me throughout 2011.  I feel as if FPP has the potential to spur a further renewed interest in traditional film photography and I look forward to what the FPP future has to offer.  For those interested, I highly recommend checking out the podcast and all of the amazing work produced by the FPP community.