Launch Status Check: Pollux [Intro]

Portra 400, 500 C/M, Planar 80/2.8

 

Instant last minute decision! Happy to join the Club.

Returned to film in early 2013 and teamed up with a Nikon F4. Mixed results. The frame format was perfect then, but I had other pictures in mind – there was a link missing between the visualized image and the shot. The motivation returned with a 500 C/M and when I learned to process Black and White film and also with simpler cameras in 135-format, such as the Pentax ME super with a 35/2.8 or even the unsteady Nikon EM (which works with my wider lenses). As much as I love to leave the house with a Nikon F5 I also enjoy getting some good shots done with light gear: the Pentax took me back to the merits of simplicity.

These days I started out printing the photographs in Black and White, a satisfying experience. My biggest concern though is the accuracy a photographer needs when competing with dust on film. Let me put it this way: I do not suffer from a fixation to keep everything clean. And in Berlin there’s plenty of dust around. Somehow I learned to keep the negatives clear from it but in future I shall learn how to repair the prints of dust marks.

What I aim for in 2016:

• Photography is my diary in a way, avoiding stereotypes is mandatory
• Getting pictures which mean something to me and
• Getting pictures that tell about it to others
• Visualization
• Producing satisfying prints
• Finding the right motifs for my last rolls of Neopan 400
• Getting the lightning right in the studio for Tri-X
• Finding people to portrait with 400H
• Getting decent results with low ISO films like PanF or Adox CMS20
• Keeping the joy alive

I hope the 52rolls project will help to reflect my aims and results better and more systematically. I am looking forward to use the smaller cameras more, because they are easier to carry around.

Dealing with photography in good company is something I will certainly enjoy.

Pollux on 52rolls:

• Launch Status Check: Pollux [Intro]
• #1.0 Neopan 400 & Rodinal
• #1.1 Silvermax
• #1.2 The White Stripes
• #2.0 Fade To Grey
• #2.1 Pushing Silvermax
• #2.2 Know Your Gear
• #2.3 What Took You So Long?
• #2.4 Diary Shots
• #2.5 Compact 28 + Ultramax
• #2.6 On 400H
• #3.0 Hard Boiled
• #4.0 Film Noir
• #5.0/5.1/5.2 Remain In Light
• #5.3 My Personal Holga
• #5.4 The Exhibition Cam
• #5.5/5.6 Portra and 400H
• #5.7 A Peculiar Roll (1993)
• #5.8/5.9 Great Photographer, Wasted Film
• #6.0 Diary Shots, 135mm on the F4
• #6.1-#6.3 Purchasing New Material, Celebrating
• #7.0-#7.2 Concert
• #8.0 Helicopter
• #9.0 Tres Cosas
• #10.0 One Shot per Roll
• #11.0/11.1: Parklife (Nikon F2) 
• #12.0/12.1: Silvermax, F2 (24mm) + F5 (17mm + 210 mm)
• #13: Diary with a Point & Shoot
• #14: Medium Format: The Rangefinder of ’51
• #15: Memories of Friendship
• #16: [Pollux]: Epilogue