Bonding with beasts

24th September 2015

 

I avoid photographing my family, peers, lovers and close friends. I find it challenging in a mundane sense. I don’t want to ‘know’ them as subjects and feel I already know them too well to unravel any further truths. However my dad is a bit different. He intrigues me and I rarely see pictures of him – we have much to learn about one another. Dad is great teacher, he is patient, curious and always jumps at a chance to create something new or solve a problem.

I unleashed my beautiful 5 x 4 and together we spent half an hour figuring out how to open it.  Round two involved loading the film in the smallest changing bag of all time. My fumbling hands felt like giants’ claws so I can only imagine what my dad experienced when he loaded the rest of the box. We headed for the garden and I submitted to the fact that obtaining a decent image on my first attempt was unlikely and concentrated more on the upside down and back to front puzzle in front of me. Using a large format camera is something I have wanted to do for so long. However my level of patience is pathetic. I was worried I’d surrender too easily.

I concluded that yes, it is slow, yes it is infuriating, but so was using my Hasselblad for the first 3 months – now its like an extra limb. So I’m determined to persist.

OAO x