Number 5

Cameras, Pt. 2: Wabi-Sabi

 

Wabi-Sabi is the acceptance of transience, imperfection.

 

Creating an interesting or meaningful image is more important than creating a technically good image. Sometimes, technical imperfections are the very soul of “interesting” or “meaningful.”

“The best camera is the one that’s with you.”

—Chase Jarvis, Seattle-based photographer, educator
 

This is not a snarky or dismissive remark which can be made to anyone who asks a question about photographic gear. It’s a philosophical point aimed to encourage creativity from anyone and everyone who has “any” camera in hand…be it a smartphone, a point and shoot digital, a disposable film camera…

Even the best gear is useless if one can’t achieve satisfying results or doesn’t enjoy using it.

 

This image of Seattle’s Space Needle was inexpensive to make, captured on black and white medium format 120 film with a (then) $24 Holga.* Often called a “toy camera,” the Holga 120n is constructed almost entirely out of plastic. Aside from a few screws and a spring to control the shutter, Holgas are made up of sloppily molded polystyrene. Even the meniscus lens is made of plastic. Photos made with such a camera must surely be trash. Well, no. Not necessarily. The 12-exposure, 120 format black and white film, developing and scans cost $28…yes…more than the camera!

The physical print was made by Parabo Press. Good photographic prints are surprisingly affordable…pennies, really. Gallery-quality prints are, by comparison, expensive…but the increase in quality is notable and worth the money. Most of the time, most of us of us just need the former.

Of all the photos I’ve made in the last 13 years, this is a favorite. It stands as a testament that gear doesn’t matter nearly as much as the person behind the camera…or the person standing next to them.**

"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept"

—Henri Cartier-Bresson

Bourgeois: materialistic and conventional philosophies and attitudes.

 

Sharpness, or focus, has its place in photography. But, the story is the thing. Many great photographs are somewhere between slightly out of focus and utterly blurry.

Support my creative efforts here.

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* In an attempt to create an affordable, every day camera for the Chinese masses, the Holga was created in 1982 by Hong Kong photography engineer Lee Ting-mo. You can find them on the internet for about $40.
** Walking about at Seattle Center, I was looking for a different take on the oft-photographed Space Needle. Nancy spotted this “framing” shot through the trees.