Thothspot VII-PAW project

« Home | People (week 18/06) » | Facepainting in the park (week 17/06) » | What is a PAW project? »

16.5.06

Existing light (week 19/06)

Volda University College (BK east entrance) at 1050PM, handheld and shaking.
Yashica Electro G, aperture f/2, shutterspeed 1/4?, Kodak BW400CN

Sculpture outside Volda University college pictured around 10.30 PM, handheld and no artificial light.
Yashica Electro G, aperture f/2, shutterspeed 1/8?, Kodak BW400CN

ANEKDOTE WARNING THIS TEXT IS FULL OF SIDETRACKS.

A lot has been said and written about so called availiable light or existing light... If you google around for a while you will find more or less convincing interpretations on the subject. In the real world light is always present more or less and therefor existing, but in the photographic world it means (normally) pictures taken under dim or low light conditions without the help of artificial lightsources i.e flashguns or spotlights. These kind of pictures are supposed to be more "genuine", I can`t help myself for smiling a bit :). Ok, I admit that I have tried to take pictures under circumstanses that normally will require a tripod/monopod or a flash to give a good result, and totally failed. "Good" is in the eye of the beholder, and this is not going to be a discussion about; What is good enough... So with an open mind? I set out late one evening to explore existing light. Friday 12th of May, was a rainy, cloudy and cold spring evening so it was perfect for my purpose. I brought out my new tool, the Yashica Electro G (an older sister of the GSN I used last week), loaded with some Kodak BW400CN, a black and white film based on color technology. (No don´t ask- google for C41 process). There has for decades been a discussion going on about the benefits of RANGEFINDERS vs SLR based technology. Besides Leica, Voigtlander and a few more, the battle is long time lost for the rangefinder technology and its followers. But back in the late 60`s and early70´s the battle of the consumer throne was still on. One of the benefits or myths if you like of the rangefinder cameras is their capability to take pictures handheld at much slower shutterspeeds than you can expect when using a slr camera. Bla bla bla... camerashake, bla bla mirrorslap bla bla dim viewfinder and so the story goes. Anyway, the Electro G is a rangefinder, so I was out testing existing light a late Friday night. The pictures posted this week is a mini presentation of that experiment. How well it was performed is a matter of taste, but I can say for sure that with my somewhat shakin hands, existing light is something that requires a tripod. It is on the other hand good to know that it is possible to take pictures under such circumstances, pictures that never would have been taken without a PAW project or the urge for testing a myth.