Hello / Bessa One-Year Project

[dirtystylus]

Hi everybody. I've been lurking on these boards for a while, until I had some output to share. I just finished a year-long project shooting with a Bessa R2A, Zeiss 35/2, and Fuji NPZ 800. I've posted the results at http://shutter.dirtystylus.com. Hopefully you'll enjoy some of the shots as much as I enjoyed taking them. I'll also be posting to the gallery here as soon as I figure it out. Comments are welcome of course - I sorta fell into photography and I'm still figuring a lot of things out.

My first rangefinder was actually a Canonet QL III, and I liked it enough to get the R2A (the Canonet is now with my brother). I've enjoyed using the R2A over the past year, despite the usual minor gripes: the strap lugs, the eyepiece rubber wearing quickly, and the slightly metallic shutter. It'll probably remain my main day-to-day camera even now that my project is over (although a recently-acquired M4 may steal some time once I get it cleaned).

Mark

 

[back alley]

welcome mark!

some nice shots, i will have to take a longer look at home.

joe

 

[kmack]

Comments are welcome of course - I sorta fell into photography and I'm still figuring a lot of things out...

Mark

Welcome.
Thanks, that is a good object lession for me anyway -- One camera, one lens, one film. From the looks of your site you don't have too much more to figure out.

 

[Fred]

Welcome, Some subtle composition, certainly the FedEx truck, I had to look at it a little longer than some of the others (a good sign). Some good colour saturation works well for the two kids cycles. You'll fit right in here.

 

[PetarDima]

🙂 🙂 🙂 Bravo! I like work like this!

 

[dirtystylus]

Thanks for the welcome and kind words, everyone. The project started as a bit of a lark at first, and every now and then I nearly broke down and got another lens (or body - that Zeiss Ikon was/is quite tempting). Still, I was glad for the self-imposed discipline - I noticed myself getting quicker and quicker with both camera and lens. I also learned that I had to force myself to get closer and closer to my subject when using the 35 (perhaps a 50 is closer to my ideal focal length).

I will say that it was a lot of fun to sift through all the frames on my computer, seeing patterns of color/composition/subject emerge. The 20x30in poster that I made as part of the project came back from Kodak and I'm quite pleased (it's funny how mediocre frames can sometimes look more interesting when part of a set).