#hasselbladflexbody

Anna-Alexandra by Elia Nedkov

Rocks and Sea by Zeb Andrews I think one of the myths that long exposures like this are capable of telling is that a place that was loud or dramatic or dynamic or tempestuous was instead calm and quiet and soothing. I like doing long exposure work quite a bit for a variety of reasons, but I admit sometimes that it bugs me just a little that the roar of the ocean and pounding of the surf are made to appear as if they were never present at all. A scene that looks calm and peaceful was anything but those things. But all photos (or photographers) tell stories. Everything we make could be (or perhaps should be) viewed as a form of fiction... or at the least of narrative. To some degree they all document something, but at the same time I think we tend to believe a bit too readily in what is presented to our eyes. In this image's case I like that the softness of a surf that was anything but placid is balanced by the rough and rugged volcanic rock. You may not be able to see the ocean's bluster in this image but you get a glimpse of its teeth at least. Hasselblad Flexbody Kodak Ektar 100 (started out in color, became b&w later) https://flic.kr/p/2nTAor8

Skylines by Zeb Andrews An image from the top of an Airbnb I stayed in a few weeks back. In one direction was an amazing view of the Space Needle, but I really enjoyed the view of the Seattle skyline seen on the opposite side of the rooftop. It gave me the opportunity to play with my Flexbody a bit more. Several years into owning this camera now and its way of seeing the world is still quite the surprise to me. I enjoy it. Hasselblad Flexbody Cinestill 50D https://flic.kr/p/2nJMLpy

Planes of existence by Zeb Andrews I am fond of the idea that you can be casually strolling along a sandy beach and unknowingly be a part of an artistic moment of creativity/beauty/whathaveyou. In short, every moment we exist is a moment we are participating in something outside of ourselves, or larger than ourselves, whether we are aware of it or not. Hasselblad Flexbody Fomapan 200 https://flic.kr/p/2ndsCF8

Successful failed expectations by Zeb Andrews There is something to be said about the intrinsic link between failure and expectation. It seems to me that a key component of failure is expectation. Try to imagine failure without expectation? It's tricky. Because in order to fail, you have to have somehow defined what failure is. And we do this with expectation in hand all the time, be it consciously or otherwise. This image is an example of just that. I set it up, had a shot in mind, calculated my exposure, sat on the tracks counting that exposure off mentally, got up closed the shutter and wound the film. All with an expectation of something. Part of that something was a vague notion of how I wanted the image to look. Another part of that something was the expectation that I calculated the technical aspects of the image correctly - focus, exposure, etc. Yet another part of that something was the expectation that the film would be processed correctly. And so on. You get the idea of how something like this is built off a chain of expectations, even when we don't necessarily think of those expectations. Then, when something doesn't go as expected, for example I somehow blew the exposure and overexposed the frame by several stops thereby producing a more faded, washed out image with a bit of a color cast. Well, that goes against my expectation of how I thought this would turn out. My initial reaction was, "Well, blew that one" and mentally began the process of writing this image off. It was just one photo after all and I make a lot of photos. Also, I am no stranger to "blowing it". I often tell people I could bury them with the boxes of throwaway sample prints from "failed" images that I have accumulated over the years. But then again, as I implied above, what is failure really, other than unmet expectations? And if that is really a key to failure, can failure not be converted to something else merely by either tweaking those expectations or simply by not handcuffing yourself to them. It is fine to have expectations, it is also fine to set them aside. After a day, and a second visit to this negative, I gave my initial expectations of this photo a rest and what was left behind was something that was neither expected nor failed. I don't know what it is, nor do I really need to. It is another image in my collection that has something that intrigues me, that has given me something to consider and think about. I used to remark to students that if a every photo you make teaches you something, are there really bad photos? Anyway, just some thoughts inspired by my misexposure in the making of this particular image. And no, I still don't quite know how I goofed this one up. But I am ok with that too. If I knew, I might want to do it again and that wouldn't be nearly as fun as when it happens incidentally. Hasselblad Flexbody Silberra Color 160 https://flic.kr/p/2mEBLRv

M7 & 35mm Summilux préASPH