There was
a new kid on the block, a brash whipper snapper that goes by the name of Fisheye 2.
This little fellow punches above his weight with the quality of pictures he
produces. I'm not sure why I am surprised at this. I can only think that my
view of the toy camera market has been tainted by the snobbery of professionalism!
It is a brilliant piece of kit that allows a further string to the creative
bow.
Let's be
honest it is not my camera. My wife purchased it because she loves the fish
bowl effect it produces when printed. She also thinks that the double, triple
and many more exposures on a single frame are awesome. But the main thing is
ease of use. This can lead to a bit of a dispute over who took what, especially when both of us are using it at the same venue! The only rule, once a film is finished we agree that colour or monochrome film is loaded. My wife prefers colour but more black and white film has been exposed.
Basically it
is a point and shoot camera with a 170 degree field of view. With a couple of
important buttons the most important as far as my wife in concerned is the
little one on the back that allows the shutter to be re-primed for multi
exposures and the other on the top right front by the shutter release ( which i
think is the most important), this controls exposure the; L position locks the
shutter so it is not tripped accidentally; N is the standard setting of 1/100
sec @ F8 and B a bulb setting that allows long exposures.
I must admit
it's good to get away from all those decisions an SLR brings to the picture
taking process. Just concentrating on the composition is unexpectedly liberating knowing that if it
all go's wrong it is a minds eye fault and not a technical one! when it comes
to multiple exposures where serendipity influences the mix, some are far better
than others. Nevertheless always interesting. I felt that I had been
taken back in time to the excitement and wonder I experienced with my first
camera.
It was a
surprise when Elizabeth Roberts editor of
Black and White photography magazine got in touch asking if it would be
OK to publish some of these pictures in the portfolio section. An unexpected
boost to what has been a bad news year.
These
pictures were taken in and around Baton upon Humber area, over a number of
visits. They are a mix of pictures all made playfully exploiting the advantages
of the lens. I had not intended to create a series. It just so happens to be an
interesting part of the river Humber with its nature reserves, the bridge and
foot path that extends to the estuary.
Three makes
of film were used Agfa APX @100 ISO, out of date HP5 @400 ISO and out of date
Fomapan 200 @200 ISO all developed in ID11. The pictures have been printed on a
number of different photographic papers. The ones that appear in the magazine
are printed on silverproof matt. Developed in a mix of Moersch SE6 blue and
Ilford warmtone.
