All art requires skilled technique. Photography is also highly dependent on technologies which have undergone radical shifts in the last twenty years from the hands on magic of silver and chemistry in darkrooms to the clean manipulation of pixels on computers.
Painters may discuss the merits of brushes and paint, and musicians the subtleties of instruments and amps, but photographers tend to be inordinately focused on technology. Technology does not create art and yet, as in any other art, different photographic equipment does indeed have an effect on its creation. So, with some resistance, I offer the equipment and techniques I use, some of which have stories attached to them.
Silver-Based Camera & Darkroom Equipment
Rolleiflex 3.5T, Planar - Early 70's
Mamiya RB67, 180mm used primarily
Gossen Digipro F2 & Pentax Digital Spotmeter
Peak Design tripod
Peak Design bags (great stuff and I don't get excited about bags!)
Lietz Focomat IIc - 6x9 autofocus enlarger
Omega D5500 4x5
Current work: Ilford Delta 100 in FA-1027, printed on Ilford Multigrade FB paper
1980's-90's: Mostly Tech Pan in TD-3 on Seagull FB
The Lietz Focomat IIc Enlarger Story
Leitz is well known for it's 35mm rangefinder cameras and made many enlargers for this format. The Ilc is unusual in that it can take up to 6x9cm negatives and also has an elegant autofocus system which operates on steel cams which are matched to two famously sharp lenses.
I purchased it when I was living in NYC from a retired TV repairman who bought it in 1960 for $700... equivalent to $7,300 today! I still have the original receipt. It was very important to him that it find a good home. While he was somewhat disappointed that I didn't have children at the time, I assured him that we were planning on it and would pass it on if they were interested.
Sure enough, my daughter, now a talented photographer herself, inspired me to set it up again. No doubt he'd be pleased.
DIgital Equipment
OM-5 or Lumix GX-85, RAW, 45mm used primarily
Lightroom for organizing and minor image adjustments on a MacBook Pro
Canon Pro-1000
