Website Updates /  by Nathan Jones

Desks and Chairs, Langara College, April, 2024. (Leica R8, 28 mm f/2.8 Elmarit, Fomapan 100, Kodak D76.)

Over the last several weeks, I have been making a conscious effort to dedicate time every day to the practice of photography. Whether it be by taking photographs, developing film, scanning negatives, retouching digital images, editing collections, or reading about the craft, I have found it essential to make consistent progress, however slowly, in order to maintain an abiding sense of myself as an artist. I use this website and blog to document that progress, primarily for myself.

In addition to the art of photography, I am also keenly interested in its techniques and tools. A longstanding preoccupation with the latter is the impetus for my collecting and writing about cameras. After many years of resisting the idea, I am no longer reluctant to admit that I am as much intrigued by cameras as I am by photographs. The photographic hobby would be much diminished for me if I were to focus on the art at the expense of the tool; in my mind they are inextricably linked.

My technical and hands-on reviews of film cameras are by far the most popular pages on this website. By comparison, my photographic portfolio receives little attention. The disparity does not bother me: the photographs are intended primarily for me—a kind of conversation I am having with myself about who I am as an artist—while the reviews are a public service. I find joy and excitement in the creation of both visual and textual works.

During the last three weeks, or so, I have:

Two Landscapes in Black and White /  by Nathan Jones

Southern Ontario, 2009.

Rolleiflex Automat 4, Zeiss-Opton 75 mm f/3.5 Tessar, Fuji Neopan 400 (L) and Fuji Acros 100 (R), Kodak D76.

Here are two landscapes in colour.

Vancouver Cityscapes and a New Lens /  by Nathan Jones

Over the Easter long weekend, I made several attempts to photograph the setting moon at dawn from the clifftop of our vacation property on De Courcy Island. I haven’t developed that roll because I have run out of C41 colour negative developer, so I don’t yet know how the images turned out. However, I suspect that I will be disappointed—and not only because the sole film I had at the time was the lacklustre Fuji 200. As I made the photographs, I found myself lamenting the lack of a longer lens to bring the moon “closer” and to flatten the image. As all film photographers know, eBay is both a blessing and a curse, and no sooner had I returned to Vancouver than I found myself browsing the site for a 135 mm lens as a step up from the 90 mm focal length that I used on the clifftop. My “new” 135 mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R arrived from Japan earlier this week. The cityscapes in this post are among the first of the photographs that I have made with it.

I am pleased with the sharpness, contrast, and linearity of this lens. I am looking forward to using it to make more photographs of the city, particularly at night.

The photographs of False Creek were made from the roof of the parking lot on Lameys Mill Road, while the long views of downtown Vancouver from the east were shot from the bridge over the skytrain tracks on Clark Drive at 6th Avenue, near the cruciform East Van sign.

All of the photographs in this post were exposed on Fomapan 100 black-and-white film (shot at ISO 80) using a Leica R8 mounted with the 135 mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R lens focused to infinity. In all cases the camera was mounted on a tripod. Exposures were made at f/11 and ca. 1/45 s.

Two Landscapes in Colour /  by Nathan Jones

Long Beach, Tofino, 2022.

Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss 80 mm f/2.8 Planar, Kodak Portra 400.

Here are two landscapes in black and white.