Galleries > Staring
For the last couple of years, I’ve been working with a medium format film camera – a Mamiya C330 twin-lens reflex. These images represent some of my first attempts with this vintage equipment.
Our daughter, Kate, has been traveling the country for the last four years, working on farms from Maine to California. In the course of her wanderings, she has met many new people. As is her way, she’s invited them to our place and many have visited for varying amounts of time. We now count them as friends and all have indulged my need to picture them, patiently waiting as I set up and manipulate the equipment.
I’ve been a 35mm photographer for my entire career and have delighted in capturing the momentary blinks of my eye. Moving to the bulkier, more deliberate camera has been a challenge. I set up on a tripod, use a light meter, and have to wrestle with the mystery of parallax and the inevitable cropped heads. But the clarity of the lens and the broad tonal range of the film are something to behold, and I relish the slowed process of making these portraits. Less a blink and more a stare.