Olympia SM3 - Playing With Form

I’ve mentioned on this blog several times that along with photography I also have a passion for typewriters; my Olympia SM3 being a personal favorite. I’m not a particularly good writer mind you, but I do spend a good deal of time journaling with typewriters and writing letters to friends. It is a fun way to pass the time and I think it creates more meaningful and memorable communication with people; something that is sorely lacking in this day and age of social media, memes, and texting.

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Olympia SM3 photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 120 film.

Generally speaking, I have great admiration for machines dedicated to a single task. Film cameras, typewriters, a well made compass, a useful pocket knife. There is something special and admirable about a device that performs a useful function, especially when it can perform that function through mechanical engineering alone.

Seriously, I could ramble about this topic for a very long time.

Put a couple of cocktails in my stomach and you’ll find me talking endlessly on the subject. Every so often my admiration for typewriters merges together with my love of photography. It honestly isn’t really much of a leap when you look at it from a visual perspective. Since a typewriter is meant to be used by humans, the form and interface are designed to be pleasing in a physical sense, despite the fact that it is made from metal and rubber. A typewriter is an extension of your ability to communicate. Using one show flow effortlessly from your brain to your fingers to the page in front of you. It’s no accident that the lines and shape of a typewriter are similar to those of the human body.

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Olympia SM3 photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 in 120.

Of all the typewriters in my collection the Olympia SM3 is probably my favorite. It is just engineered so well. Completely bulletproof and yet so elegant at the time. This is the typewriter that has a permanent place on my desk and it is the typewriter I use about 90% of the time.

It doesn’t hurt that it photographs beautifully.

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Nude Torso With The Mamiya RZ67

I would argue this image is one of my better examples of stand developing Ilford HP5 film. I managed to get a pretty good tonal range here despite the fact that my lighting was really harsh. As silly as it may sound, I lit this image using just a standing lamp that I had in my living room at the time with absolutely no diffusion. Most of the time that can lead to some pretty heavy contrast and while that is certainly the case here, I’m proud of the fact that I managed to not lose the details of the model’s skin.

This is a straight scan of the negative with no adjustments in photoshop what-so-ever. Not bad.

Camera was a Mamiya RZ67 using the standard 110mm f/2.8. Still one of the best lenses for studio work in my not so humble opinion. Lots of nice crisp detail with that lens while also having the latitude of something relatively fast for medium format.

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A Little Creative Isolation

We are living in interesting times. I’m not going to deny all the news about the Corona Virus scares me. It scares me a lot. However, rather than panic I am choosing to take some time and do the things that give me peace and fulfillment while at the same time keeping myself and others safe. This means getting caught up on undeveloped film and editing images that have been sitting on the back burner for way too long.

This image was made well over a decade ago when I was going through a brief period of time working exclusively with a digital camera. I was really broke, having just recently moved to a new state without a job or any real game plan. So I figured it was best not to spend money on things like film and instead just make the best of the equipment I had available to me. This meant a Canon 20D with the cheap as hell 50mm f/1.8. I actually loved that equipment combination at the time though these days it probably wouldn’t thrill me all that much.

I don’t own the camera or the lens anymore but this image has been sitting as a RAW file in my “Images to Edit” folder since the day I tripped the camera shutter. It feels good to finally get around to editing it and sharing the image here.

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