Analog/half-frame
I told a friend last Saturday that I would finally post on my journal this week. It’s now Friday afternoon, and I still don’t know what to write. I only found the courage to sit down at the keyboard after reading this:
“Every time I start a new post, I never know for sure where it’s going to go. This is what writing and making art is all about: not having something to say, but finding out what you have to say. It’s thinking on the page or the screen or in whatever materials you manipulate. Blogging has taught me to embrace this kind of not-knowing in my other art and my writing.”
This comes from a blog post by Austin Kleon, whom many of you may know as the author of Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work!; Keep Going; Steal Like An Artist Journal. I am a subscriber to his newsletter, and this week he celebrated 20 years of blogging and writing, so I am inclined to respect his perspective on writing for a blog or journal. You can find his blog at https://austinkleon.com
Kleon also shared a quote from Marc Weidenbaum, marking the 20th anniversary of his own blog, Disquiet.com:
“Don’t leave writing to writers. Don’t delegate your area of interest and knowledge to people with stronger rhetorical resources. You’ll find your voice as you make your way. There is, however, one thing to learn from writers that non-writers don’t always understand. Most writers don’t write to express what they think. They write to figure out what they think. Writing is a process of discovery. Blogging is an essential tool toward meditating over an extended period of time on a subject you consider to be important.”
I hope I can follow that advice and write about what matters most to me — photography.
Last weekend I attended Analog Saturday at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, held on the first Saturday of each month. The group mainly was regular attendees — a friendly, enthusiastic mix of analog photographers. Presentations included several mid-20th-century U.S.-made cameras, one with a rotary shutter and both featuring a complex array of dials, buttons, and levers.
Another attendee shared her experience at a workshop on the Mordançage process. The clearest description I found came via ChatGPT:
“Mordançage is an alternative photographic darkroom process that alters a silver gelatin print. It’s both destructive and creative: the chemistry bleaches, etches, and can cause the darkest areas of the print (the blacks) to lift off the paper in delicate veils.” That description doesn’t capture the labor involved or the beauty of the resulting images.
(I’m not sharing names here to respect participants’ privacy.)
That same Saturday, September 6, was also Worldwide Half-Frame Photography Day. From the official site (https://half-frameday.com/): “Worldwide Half-Frame Photography Day is all about having fun celebrating this great format!”
Two local photographers organized a half-frame photowalk to celebrate Worldwide Half-Frame Photography Day. The meetup point was just blocks from the RICPA gallery, and several of us joined. Given the limited awareness of half-frame cameras, the turnout was impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to join again next year.
Speaking of half-frame cameras, some of you may remember that I had sourced an Olympus PenF camera from Japan earlier in the year, the very first half-frame camera designed by the legendary designer Yoshihisa Maitani. The camera and lenses are celebrated for their compact size and quality. Despite this reputation for quality, these cameras and lenses are now over sixty years old, and mine developed a problem with the film advance — a known issue with these cameras. I had postponed sending it off for what would surely have been a costly repair, and recently an opportunity presented itself.
With a bit of horse-trading and kindness from friends, I ended up with an almost brand-new Fujifilm X-Half camera. Strictly speaking, it isn’t a true half-frame camera. Analog 35mm cameras produce 24×36mm images, while half-frame cameras use 18×24mm, doubling a roll’s capacity to 72 shots. The X-Half doesn’t match those dimensions, but it does echo the experience, especially with features like in-camera diptychs (two images combined into one).
I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to experiment, but the images below are my early attempts at using its diptych and mirroring functions.
That’s more than enough for one post. Thanks for reading!
