Back in the USSR

The Soviet made Kiev 60 6x6 camera

A Russian made camera in North Yorkshire. Hmmm. Its odd how things can just turn up and in a shop that I have never visited before but there it was....a Kiev 60 6x6 medium format camera in near perfect condition. It was found in a local charity shop of all places, sat on a seat, in its box with a few bits a pieces including filters, a teleconverter, light meter and a carry case. Price £70. Bargain i thought after a quick look.

The first thing you notice is it's size. It is a massive camera - very similar in size to the Pentax 67. The image to the left shows it up against my Nikon F3HP. The second thing is its HEAVY. Its an all metal construction with a distinctly solid feel to it that reminds you of soviet era tanks. Soviet cameras were built to last and unlike many modern cameras, you get that solid construction feel - the only drawback is the weight. The lens is an 80mm f2.8 Volna-3 that has a clean and simple construction. It looks quite a good lens and i look forward to viewing the test image results for sharpness and clarity.

The camera instruction book states that the camera was manufactured in 1992 but the design of the camera seems to reflect an earlier period; maybe the 1960's or 1970's. Soviet camera design has always been misunderstood as being outdated, which to some extent it was, but soviet cameras were designed to function purely as tools. If the camera takes good images, why fix it if it already works! Technology can fail so keep it simple. Rather refreshing in the current 'upgrade everything' world of today.

Most modern cameras rely on batteries to operate which is great if you are near to a shop that stocks them. The Kiev 60 doesn't. The shutter is mechanical and goes from B to 1000/sec. The camera can take film speeds from 6asa through to 3200asa and there is also a flash adapter to help with lighting. The Kiev's TTL uses batteries for light meter readings but i think I'll use my accurate handheld Sekonic lightmeter when using the camera.

The thing i like the most about the camera is the viewfinder which will be great for framing portraits and landscape shots. It's quite a dark viewfinder to look through compared to modern cameras but adaquate for viewing subjects under most lighting conditions. Will i use the Kiev 60 on jobs? ahhh......no.... but it will get used for some personal projects. I will be posting the results from this remarkable camera on the blog soon.

Twelve o'clock high

The control tower at Thorpe Abbotts overlooking the airfield

At the beginning of the 1949 film ' Twelve o'clock high' , a former officer of the USAAF returns to his old airfield where he served during world war II. The memories come flooding back as he sees the old runway and remembers his previous life. As he is thinking back, the camera pans up and passes over the clouds, and a formation of B17s come into shot, the deep bass sounds of their Wright Cyclone radial engines acting like a soundtrack- the viewer is back with him in 1942.

I always think of that film when i visit Thorpe Abbotts and see the 100th Bomb Group museum. If a place could store memories, the museum would be a vast bank vault full of peoples thoughts, stories and recollections. This tower and airfield must have seen the full swath of human emotions from love to despair and yet, in 2007, it is a place of peace and tranquility. A place to remember.

The museum still gets one or two veterans who flew from Thorpe Abbots but old age often means it is sons, daughters, nephews etc who make the journey to see where their relatives flew from. For some visiting veterans it must have been a very strange experience indeed. Many took off from the airfield one day in 1943, ‘44 or ‘45, were shot down and made a prisoner. At the end of the war, the stalag prisoners went straight home. The next time they saw the airfield - fifty years or more had passed.

Memory leak

Fakenham Market, Norfolk - July 2007

Photographers rely on computers for a great deal of their work from viewing images to publishing them via the web. Because the computer is so important, i've always some sort of spyware and anti-virus software to help protect my system. A computer virus or spyware attack can devastate a machine and render it useless; this is a double whammy to photographers if they lose their precious digital images too.

Recently i updated the anti-spyware software and found, to my amazement, that after i had updated from version 1.5 to 2.0, i got a 30% increase in processing speed. It seems that the 1.5 version had a memory leak the size of Alaska, so most of my processing power was leaking away.

I'll be keeping a watchful eye on ALL my software updates from now on!

Darker meaning

One of the more interesting traits of photography is how the interpretation of images can be altered by time, personal perspective or events. Time is usually a big factor in how an image comes to be viewed but some photographs attain a deeper and darker meaning to reveal an even more disturbing truth.

An excellent example of this can be found at a United States Holocaust Memorial museum online presentation of photography taken by a serving SS officer at Auschwitz. Karl Hoecker served at Auschwitz from May 1944 - January 1944 and documented the life of the officers who ran the death camp. To Hoecker, these images were probably a keepsake, a reminder of happy times with comrades but for the modern viewer, the images take on a far darker meaning.

Many of the people in the photographs became infamous for their crimes; the notorious Dr Joseph Mengele ( seen in the centre of the top image), Camp commandants Richard Baer and Rudolph Hoess ( extreme left and right) were all key participants in the holocaust, and yet they are viewed by Hoecker in these photos as fellow officers, maybe even friends. The horrors they have perpetrated are nowhere to be seen in the benign and relaxed photos but you still feel like you are viewing evil itself.

The remarkable collection of images can be viewed here

The story behind the photo album is covered in this New York Times article

Rust in peace II

Another shot taken from the 'rust in peace' series of photographs. The images were shot using a Bronica ETRS loaded with Fuji Velvia 50 transparency film.

Rust in peace

Abandoned tractor in overgrowth - Norfolk

This image has been on my computer for some months. The photo was taken a few years ago near a place i was staying in Norfolk, not far from Norwich. Alongside a road sat a collection of vintage Fordson and Massey Fergie tractors just left to rot. Nature had taken hold and covered most of the machinery with a near complete blanket of ferns. That was way back in 1999; i'd like to think they have been rescued and lovingly restored but they are probably still sat there today, rusting in peace. What a waste!

A sneaky peak

As i said in the last post, I'm currently building a new version of my main photography website. It's been long overdue but i could never get a design that i liked .... until now!

Here is a sneaky look at the main page. The text isn't finished but the images and general layout are complete. I always find it difficult to write about myself and my work so the text may take some time to finish.

A few ideas have been popping into my head and one of the more radical ones is a series of podcasts giving tips and advice about photography - from using photoshop to taking a great portrait. I'm also working on a podcast talking about myself as part of the photographer profile section of the website. I'll be discussing my work, influences, equipment etc.

The new website and podcasts will start in October.

In the works

Takeoff from Burham Thorpe airfield, Norfolk

I've finally got a design for my new website and its full steam ahead to get the site built, up and running. Hopefully it should be ready in the next three weeks complete with new galleries.

This new website incorporates the blog and a sales area for my work which i aim to expand over 2008. An important addition to the website for 2008 will be online contact sheets for clients to view shoot results on the same day - they can also view during the shoot.

As i commented in a post a week or so ago, its business review time and one item to dissappear in 2008 are the phone book adverts. Put simply...they just don't work! I've had a yellow pages ad since 2002 and this year i went into the BT book. With both books the cost came to just over £800. For that sort of investment i expect a good return and these ads just haven't earned their keep- they will not be renewed for 2008! For anyone starting in business i would just say, think twice before purchasing an advert and monitor the ads you buy very closely. Ask clients how they found you and note it down. Nine times out of ten it'll be because of a recommendation...not because of an advert.