My New Toy

About a month ago I got a package in the mail that I was absolutely stoked for. I ordered a Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera (which to those of you who are not photographers is basically an old school film camera) and a nice fast 35mm lens. I've had it for a few weeks now and developed and scanned my first two rolls of film with them a couple days ago at my school's dark room. My first photo was, of course, a self portrait with my new camera! 

The Zeiss arrived a day before TIFF so I made a few photos of my photographer friends starting with my friend Sonia. This was after she photographed Oprah and Mariah Carey. She was actually really excited but I got her when she was feeling the effects of a week of non-stop shooting.


This is a classic Pimentel photo. I had a lot of fun with him and everyone else on the WireImage team as always.


I watched Chris' street photography video a few days before TIFF started so when I saw Mario at our hotel, I walked up to him and told him I just saw him in it. He was really fun and I'm glad I got to meet him. Here he's checking his phone after we talked for a bit while waiting for the "Whip It" premiere to start.


While waiting for a TIFF opening event to start, I grabbed a drink from a store and saw this guy hanging out. He saw my cameras and called me over and we talked about changes in weather and his dog. I think his name was Ron.


I saw this scene while going home late at night after a full day of shooting. I think this must have been around 1:30am. I didn't talk to him though, I was determined to catch a train!


I walk by this mirror almost every day. Had to make a photo with the Zeiss.


Once TIFF was over I started going to my classes and brought the Zeiss with me every day.


I like the juxtaposition between the text on his t-shirt and the environment where he is in:




I attended a lecture by a photographer to write a school paper on. I wasn't the only one that fell asleep during it. Handheld @ 1/4th of a second.


Some friends from school, Hannah and Jason:



I went street shooting with Jason one night. We chose China Town.



I wonder if this guy knew there were two people photographing him.






Went to the AGO:


Got lunch with my friend Kunaal in a food court we used to always go to during high-school:



And of course ... saw my girlfriend, Vanessa. Geeking out a bit here:


And at her res:

I'm loving this camera. It's so perfect as a camera I can take with me everywhere. I also love that it's film because it really allows me to get indulged in the art of photography not only because it's a historic process but also because I am developing it in the dark room and really involving myself in the process of creating photos. I'm really happy with the quality of photos it makes and it's, of course, really small and quiet. I've already shot a few more rolls with it since I developed these first two and can't wait to see how those look. 

Comments

[Pat!]

great photos man
and congrats on your new toy :)

[Ajovah]

Great pictures Arthur.
Seems like a really nice camera.

[severin]

do you do these "watermarks" yourself ?

:P

haha... i'm sorry

[Sebastian]

That's the street I like:

a) friends - the people you know are those you can portrait the best
b) sleeping people - nothing wrong with some tranquility here and there
c) shot from far enough away - after all, the surroundings tell a story, too

All that combined with super grainy negs with water marks makes it a uniquely personal and individual series. Good work!

[Maarten B.]

They look great and I like the grain! Have fun!

[Arthur]

@pat: thanks man. nice to hear from you!

@ajovah: thanks - it's definitely a great luxury to have a great camera with me all the time.

@severin: yeah, you like them? it makes it art dude. no really - the photo store i went to didn't have any photo flow the day i picked up the chemicals to develop the rolls but i was really curious to see the results. i have to do a final wash one more time, but for the purpose of seeing how they look and posting on a blog? it doesn't matter if there's some water marks. and this was my first time developing film ever so i'm still learning.

@sebastian: good for you dude. even though you're a dick in how you said it, i agree with certain things. it's about practicing. i don't mind the grain. i like your photos of mops, trees and flowers by the way. you really pick the most interesting and hardest things to document. really though, that swing series is fucking cool, i'm not gunna lie - but you know that cause i posted a comment.

@marteen: thanks man. i do too! :)

[Couvin Charles-Henry]

Absolutly amazing work, I'm really fan of what you do, and the way you think about photography.

I made a little text about you in a french blog/ free magazine for young parisians, to present you and your career !

http://we-r-the-city.tumblr.com/post/203465243/chris-week

Best wishes for future.

I wish one day to succeed like you in photography.

Charles-Henry

[Sebastian]

Just takin the piss :D It's note like we'll all come up with Wingogrand portfolios in a day ;) .. I know I sure won't, as you said it I'm more the bricks & flowers kind of guy ^^.

Grain's fine with me, matter of taste, looks ok. Stains are not as cool, if it's you who processed try some wetting agent in distilled water, let them hang a bit before you turn on the dryer and don't dry at too high temperature. It's not like I'm a dark room pro, but at least that works for me. If it's not you, I'd kick that guy who took your money for processing the negs ^^

[Arthur]

@couvin: merci beaucoup. i'm really glad you like my work. thanks for the corrected link via email by the way! i appreciate you writing about me! best wishes to you too, bro.

@seb: exactly. it takes time man. and practice. there's nothing wrong with that.

the stains are my fault - it was my first time developing film and the photo store ran out of a wetting agent but i was so curious about the results that i just did it anyways. i'm gunna do another wash with the wetting agent to remove them. thanks for the tips man. you're not as bad as i thought! :P

[Noons]

Good stuff, Arthur. I love my ZI since the day I got it, years ago, from a bloke who "thought r/fs were nice but didn't like it after all". He went on to his Hasselblad, while I've been enjoying the ZI ever since.

Focusing on mine was off, two images never became one at infinite. I tweaked it and it's nearly OK now. Unfortunately Zeiss support here in Australia is abysmal and I simply refuse to ship the camera to another country for service. Local distributor wanted a fortune to fix it, I'm not a charity.

Came across some very good instructions on how to fine tune the r/f. Plus a few tweaks of my own: not all M-lenses have the same thickness of focus cam, that doesn't help either. Voigtlander lenses are the least troublesome.

Meanwhile, having fun with the camera. It's just the perfect size and weight for me. Nearly made me forget my Nikons... ;)

[Arthur]

@noons: thanks man. :)

that's very sick that you did those tweaks yourself! brave man!

you're totally right that it's the perfect size and weight. and volume! :P

i'm gunna go look at your zeiss work right now, very curious!

[Luca]

nice shots man!! the Ikon seems to be very very nice... I have got an old old Yashica... so far from Leica and Zeiss stuff!

[Richard Polom]

Great work man! I’m so glad I get to see you shoot film... and with a RF camera :) Its funny because when I saw the watermarks it actually made me feel nostalgic about my photography courses like *cough* 15 years ago... It was actually part of my graphic design program. Anyways there was this cute chic with me in the darkroom and we used to wonder about those stains on our negs. See you brought me back some good memories... watermaks are good bro!

Take care! And great shots again!
Richard

[Olivier]

To avoid stains, I used to wash my films in demineralized water (very cheap, can be found in any supermarket, usually sold for ironers), hang the film with a little piece of metal at the bottom - to keep it straight - and very very carefully drag a piece of clean chamois leather (wet with demineralized water, then wung) on both sides (yes, both sides, but carefully).

After that...I left my films dry in my bathroom (closed, to avoid any air movement and potential dust).

Never had any stain, scratch or stuck dust with this method.

Hope this helps

(sorry for my bad english)

[Aldo]

such a shame about the watermarks, the grain is actually quite nice, part of the beauty in film... and the photos are great mate!

[Firass Al Jundi]

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2009/09/29/segments/141587

An interview with Robert Frank on an upcoming exhibit on his work called Looking In.

[denmark]

these are great shots man.. thanks for sharing... i wish i have something like that.. the rangefinder i mean... i wanted a zeiss ikon zm, or even just the voigtlander stuff.. but they are pricey and i just cant afford it.. lol..

peace man..

[Humans_are]

Nice photos Arthur.
That one of the guy at the produce stand is sick!