Progressing.....Backwards

Rick Waldroup

Active Member
The title is just a play on words.:)

Back in the 70's, I worked for several newspapers and magazines and shot mostly Nikon 35mm cameras. I shot 35mm rangefinder cameras for most of my personal work.

Then, sometime in the 80's, I switched gears and became an architectural photographer (the money was much better than press work), and I moved to medium format and large format cameras. I mostly used a Toyo 4x5 system, and for even larger work I used a Wista 8x10.

Then, I changed direction again and moved back to press work in the early 2000's. I went back to shooting Nikon's, but this time they were DSLR's.

About 5 years ago I was really getting tired of lugging around the heavy Nikon gear and sold everything and invested in the 4/3 system. After a couple of years of that, I sold all of that gear and finally moved to the micro 4/3 system. And this is what I am currently shooting now.

While there are some limitations as compared to shooting the Nikon gear, for the stuff I shoot now, the micro 4/3 system is just about perfect. I simply had to learn how to work within the few limitations I encountered when I first moved to the micro 4/3 cameras.

My entire system now fits in a relatively small shoulder bag and for street and documentary work, this system performs admirably.

Lumix GF-1
Lumix GX-1
Lenses - Panansonic 20mm 1.7, Panasonic 14mm 2.5, Olympus 12-50 zoom, Olympus 45mm 1.8, Holga 25mm f8, a Wanderlust pinhole lens, a C mount TV lens, and finally a Panasonic 45-200 zoom for some reach. I do not carry the big zoom with me all the time, as I shoot mostly with wide angle lenses.

I also have the new Olympus bodycap lens on order and it should be arriving any day now.

I just a acquired a Sony voice recorder which I now will be carrying with me and will be using for a new project involving street photography.

I have a Vivitar flash that I do not carry with me all the time, as I rarely ever use flash anymore and in a pinch I can always use the built-in flash on the camera bodies.

Throw in a few odds and ends- a notepad and pen, my Kindle, spare batteries, memory cards, etc....and I have managed to put together a kit that fits in a very slim, lightweight Lowepro Photo Runner 100 bag.

The entire kit weights about 8 pounds. For that much gear in such a small bag and for that weight, this is simply the best solution I have found for what I currently shoot.

I do not pine for the days at all when I shot larger, heavier gear. Not one bit.....:D:cool:
 
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Yes, I would never leave home without my Holga.....;)

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Heavy gear is a burden to creativity.

Heavy gear is .... well, just heavier. i would say if heavy gear is a burden to a person creativity then maybe it's their creativity they need to look at.

I don't see the large format guys struggling to produce top quality work

Nice write up btw Rick
 
You are a surprising man. You tell me that I need to look at my creativity, tell me I'm wrong, and then say I'm Getting personal".

I'm happy to meet you face to face to see why I obviously offend you. Perhaps I'll understand you if we meet. Maybe I'll find out what a really nice guy you are. I'm sure I will.
 
Nice write-up Rick and interesting. I know there are several, but there is one street photographer in particular I can think of who uses µ4/3 cameras to great effect. I have a GH2 and both Leica M and Nikon to µ4/3 adapters as well as one native Panasonic lens (14-140mm) and one native Voigtländer lens (25mm f1:0.95) but to be honest I have never really used it to shoot stills - maybe I should. It was bought as a 'second' camera to support our main video setup (also µ4/3).
 
You are a surprising man. You tell me that I need to look at my creativity, tell me I'm wrong, and then say I'm Getting personal".

I'm happy to meet you face to face to see why I obviously offend you. Perhaps I'll understand you if we meet. Maybe I'll find out what a really nice guy you are. I'm sure I will.


read it again Laurence, I never questioned your creativity at any stage, neither did you refer to your own creativity ... if you had said that heavy gear is a burden to YOUR creativity i would not have answered it as your creativity and what works for you is your business and nothing to do with me. so once again please read it again before you accuse me of anything
 
I don't think any offence was meant by any of the parties here but it does raise some interesting points. I often fantasise about having the things I see, in the way I envisage them, somehow magically transformed into still images that I can hang on a wall. And I think, wouldn't it be wonderful to be unencumbered by a camera. And then there are times when the device I have with me somehow influences the images I make. I have a close friend working in Sweden who uses his dSLR to scout for images and then goes back with a 10x8" camera to capture the image he has envisaged. He circumvents the hassle of carrying a heavy outfit around by pre-visualising with the aid of a dSLR. As you all know, much of my personal work is captured using a 35mm RF (mostly digital at the moment) and I rarely carry extra lenses with me; I like the restriction that this brings if that makes sense. I find that when I shoot MF or LF however, that this changes the way I approach a subject. The weight and inconvenience are somehow secondary to mood/mode/whatever that it has put me in.

I'm planning a trip to Dungeness this winter to shoot in B&W on LF (5x4"). Although I have been there many, many times before, I have never shot with LF there and I am sure it will change the way I see the place in some ways.

As I said, it is interesting how these things interrelate.
 
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