You can lead a horse to water

One of my favourite cameras is a Baby Box Tengor with Goerz Frontar lens. It takes size 127 film which is not readily available. Recently I purchased a few rolls of Efke R21 film that had expired during the 80’s. It came from Thailand and probably had been kept in its little metal canisters in the heat.

Notwithstanding these limitations, I determined to photograph one of the rituals required in agisting horses: ensuring that they have enough water to drink. I volunteered to help my partner Melody by filling the tank at the bore water tap, near the equestrian grounds, provided by the local town council.

The equestrian grounds are surrounded by bush and are run down. It is a largely working class area where people are able to afford horses, because it is distant from the big city, and most paddocks are within the sterile zones around local quarries. Horses are a cheap way to keep the grass down.

These days it is largely girls and women that keep horses, whereas boys ride motorbikes and play video games. You can lead a horse to water…

Truck and tank

Tap from the bore

Filling the tank

Tank on trailer

Tree and hitching post

You can actually lead a horse

The film was pre-soaked and stand developed in Adonal (1.100) for an hour. It was grainy and showed the impact of age, but it was a joy to use the Tengor. It has a sharp lens and only one shutter speed.