Well I never thought I would do it … and I even said I never would do it … but I did it.

A while back I wrote about my acquisition of what many consider the King and at a minimum, the Crown Prince of enlargers. What other than the Leitz Focomat 2C and 1C … the Leica’s of enlargers!  And I mentioned that my mighty Devere 504 with its diffusion color head wasn’t going to be going anywhere. More recently I penned a somewhat detailed user comparison with points to be considered when thinking about these noble machines.

I finally realized I had a difficult and complicated dilemma on my hands with three world class enlargers sitting on my work bench.  While there certainly was enough room for all of them, I felt cramped when printing. On the other hand, the Devere was like an old friend. I knew and understood it and didn’t have to think much about it when in use, except that it was my able helper. Always there when I needed it … always dependable. It also allowed me to use my Zone VI Compensating Enlarger timer with the color head, making everything so damn easy!  It really was the bee’s knees!  But here’s the thing … the bee’s knees was standing in the way of me using the Focomats, and if it remained in place I would probably only use them sparingly at best, and maybe hardly at all.

The easy solution would be to remove it from the darkroom and store it elsewhere. I tried that before and it didn’t last very long. I just couldn’t bare knowing it was sitting by itself, maybe even gathering dust. I couldn’t do it to myself or to my old friend! There was only one answer. Sell it. But not just to anyone. Only to someone I knew and respected … someone who would give it a good home and use it as it was meant to be used.

And that’s what I did. Turns out a colleague in Monalog that had purchased my Focomat V35 was interested. So I offered him a fair price with all the accessories and two extra enlarging heads I never used. I know I could have got more, but it didn’t matter. The price was agreed to and a couple of weeks ago we carried the Devere up the stairs, out the front door, and loaded it into his car.

I hope I did the right thing. Now I don’t have a choice but to use what many consider the King and Crown Prince of enlargers. I even located what may be one of the only surviving glass negative carriers for the 1C from Glennview in Chicago, and it should arrive sometime this week.

It’s like moving from the old neighborhood. You make knew friends. You never forget the old ones and maybe even get together and see them again. My Monalog colleague has offered to sell me back the Devere if I ever want and I can always come over for a visit. But now it is time to make new memories.

Stay well,

Michael

I recently saw a YouTube video pertaining to my lifelong stereo hobby/obsession. The person was discussing his audio system and pointed out his very expensive speakers. When he heard them the first time he simply had to have them and subsequently pulled the necessary cash out of his retirement account to fund the purchase. He’s in his late seventies and the point was life is short … if it will make you happy and you can do it … do it. He did and has never looked back. Would he get similar enjoyment with lesser speakers? Sure, but that wasn’t the point.

It’s the same thing with cameras, lenses, and enlargers. If you’re convinced you need a current production Leica M camera with a 50mm Apo Summicron and can afford it, then why not?  Especially if having it will motivate you to make pictures and give you pleasure in ownership. Will it make you a better photographer? No. Will it allow you to make a better picture than a cheap and cheerful old 35mm Pentax, Minolta, Yashica, Canon, etc.? No, but that’s not the point either.

The point is … especially if you’re of a certain age … and in the words of Miles in the classic American movie Risky Business … “Sometimes you gotta say “WTF” (Author’s note: this is a family website!), make your move.” I’ve mentioned this seminal concept before and can’t recommend it highly enough … in photography … and life.

Just make sure you use whatever you get; don’t be a fondler.

Stay well,

Michael

According to Wikipedia, “Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of “friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also known as the six handshakes rule.”

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a thread on one of the forums and reached out to a fellow traveler with a technical question about the Focomat 2C. He quickly got back to me and after a few private messages we shared email addresses and subsequently agreed to a Zoom. What a wonderful time I had! My new friend lives in the UK … and how about this … he happens to know my other photo buddy I recently met who also lives in the UK … and they live near each other and hang out together!!!  I had a follow up Zoom with my other friend in the UK and we’ve decided to all get together virtually in the near future. Sometimes the Internet can be a force for good!

My new friend invited me to attend a Zoom meeting of an informal group of photographers known as Zen. Very deep for sure. Actually, they’re named after a café in Vancouver, British Columbia where a few of them started to get together every week to kibbitz. They expanded to the US, UK and elsewhere, so now they meet weekly online!  On Friday I attended their meeting. Turns out I knew one of the members, Tom Abrahamsson’s wife Tuulikke of Rapidwinder and Softie fame, through phone calls, emails, and back and forth communications through this site. And how about this for a second time … another Canadian member of Zen had sold his Focomat IC enlarger to a broker in the US, who in turn sold it to me. Based on a few introductory remarks I made, he somehow guessed I was the one who bought it!! Damn!!

So, go figure … what’s the likelihood of all this? Six degrees of separation for sure!! As the song says it’s a small, small world after all, but I think it’s a small, small photographic world after all!! At least it seems to be for me these days. I’ve met some great people I would have never found and  have broadened my photographic horizons. I couldn’t be happier!!

Happy Holidays and my best wishes to you and yours.

Stay well,

Michael

As I previously wrote a little while back, I’ve been working with a diverse group of thirteen and fourteen year-old’s after school. A few had digital cameras, but most just used their mobile phones to make pictures. They didn’t talk very much and when they did they almost seemed to be whispering … polite but shy.   There were no grades and class didn’t cost anything, so they didn’t have to come if something else was going on or if they didn’t feel like it.  I got that.  Nevertheless I wanted to succeed with them and perhaps make a small difference in their lives. We did a number of activities including a photo walk and looking at other art, and I exposed them to resources that could continually inspire them as they went forward.  At the same time they were asked o make some photographs that would hopefully be printed digitally at home or at the local drugstore.

We started out with eight kids, but every week a different number showed up. Sometimes they brought prints, but usually they displayed what they did on their phones. Sometimes they did their “homework” assignments and sometimes not. I was always prepared to present something if they didn’t or there was some extra time to fill. I kept pushing on with whoever came to class.

On the last day when they were going to present their final group of pictures with a short written essay only three showed up. I sort of expected that so I wasn’t too disappointed. And I came prepared just in case I needed to fill some time. I brought pictures from a project I had done along with an accompanying essay to show and read if need be. Good thing I did.

But here’s the thing … those three kids either brought some prints or had a group of pictures on their phones that were a coherent whole.  And one of them who basically never spoke, out of nowhere decided to show us a number of really good drawings and paintings she had made. She photographed them with her phone and passed it around for us to see. When we had looked at art she made pictures of the paintings. Now I knew why. Ok, so she showed more drawings and painting than photographs.  Who cares … something made her decide to share her work with us!

I hope I got three kids to begin see the potential for photography … and other art … in their lives going forward.  One of the other kids said he wanted to make pictures then use them to create paintings.

Maybe I asked for too much and maybe that intimidated some of them. Maybe my expectations were too high.  Nevertheless, I’m satisfied with the outcome. Touching three kids that never made any meaningful photographs before, or causing in some small way one of them to show work she never shared before made it all worth it.

Stay well,

Michael

Two great photographers recently passed away within a week of each other. Elliot Erwitt and Larry Fink died on November 29^th and November 25^th. For the unfamiliar, these were two incredible photographers that also lived life on their own terms. I’m not going to go into the history of their long careers; you can find that all over the web. If you don’t know about these great photographers you need to learn fast!

Last year I bought Erwitt’s spectacular huge book Personal Best. As I’ve mentioned in a previous entry, it contains almost 446 photographs he personally selected as his best and favorite images from a lifetime of creative work. If you are serious about photography it’s a book you simply need to have! Sadly I don’t own any of Fink’s books; getting one had been a neglected item on my to do list.  But perhaps of greater importance, I got a chance to meet Larry several times during the last two years.  At the at the opening of Monalog’s first exhibit and that of his own show, both at the Stirner Modern Gallery, and at Nazareth Area High School, where he was working with the students and I was doing a class. A truly great guy, and FYI, the kids really loved him!

Here’s the thing … where will the Elliott Erwitts and Larry Finks be going forward when we need them. In today’s upside down world a little Elliot Erwitt would go especially well. We need some humor in our photography … and in life. Erwitt gave us that in spades! Here’s a quote: “I’m not a serious photographer like most of my colleagues. That is to say, I’m serious about not being serious.”  I like that!

So two more titans of photography who happened to be regular guys are gone. Sad. We need more top notch photography in today’s photo art world and frankly a lot less ego from those who simply can’t hold a candle to Erwitt and Fink.

I know there must be some good ones out there following or wishing to follow in their footsteps, I just haven’t seen very much of late. Who knows, maybe there are some young photographers about to take up the mantle, or whose work is waiting to be discovered like Vivian Maier … hopefully while their still alive!

In the meantime, I am grateful for Elliot Erwitt and Larry Fink and for all they gave us.

Stay well,

Michael

Last week after … well awhile … I finally made the first prints with my Leitz Focomat 1C and 2C enlargers. It seems forever since I first got them, but these beauties were just standing by until I first sourced and received all the missing bits, then figured out how to set up their pesky but brilliant autofocus systems, and finally got caught up with all my printing for the year with my admittedly easy to use Devere and Zone VI compensating timer. Now it was finally the moment of truth!

You might recall from an earlier post that I had removed my beloved Devere from my darkroom in order to force me to get on with using the Focomats. My neighbor helped me take it out, consigning it to a storage room elsewhere in the basement … removed but not too far away.

Out of sight, out of mind … right?

So how did that go? Using the Devere is like slipping on an old pair of comfy shoes or your favorite sweater. In no time it was back and put to use.

I agree that using the Devere this long is a lame excuse, but I knew it so well and my comfort level with it made me back off from trying something new while printing so many pictures under some self-imposed deadlines.

Okay, enough! Friday was my target. I decided to make things easy for myself by reprinting one recently made picture with each enlarger. My goal was to make close enough approximations in order to gauge how much I liked the work process compared to  that with the Devere, how the results matched up with the Devere and a Schneider Apo Componon HM lens, and finally a sense of how much I might miss using the Devere.

Here are a couple of key items for comparison/consideration:

Devere – Defusion light source.   Focomats – Light source in large domed housing(s) having a matt semi-silvered interior, directed onto the negative via single (1C) or double (2C) focusing condenser(s).

Devere – Color head allows for tiny incremental changes in contrast.  Focomats – Built in filter draw above the lens allows for use of Ilford or Kodak VC filters available in one half grade increments.

Devere – Manual focus using two large wheels for coarse and fine focusing located under the baseboard.  Focomats – Autofocus.

Devere – Allows the use of the second generation Zone VI compensating exposure timer with dry down function; enabling contrast changes “on the fly” without the need for making additional test prints.  Focomats – Does not allow for the use of the second generation Zone VI compensating exposure timer, but still benefits from the first generation Zone VI mechanical timer with dry down function; using different filters to adjust overall contrast requires new test prints.

Devere – uses Schneider Apo Componon HM lenses.  Focomats – uses the last and best Leitz enlarging lenses for 35mm (IC) and medium format (2C); the 60mm lens on the 2C is not a contender.

Devere – Uses glass negative carriers for best film flatness.  Focomats – Uses glass negative carrier (2C) and an anti-newton ring glass pressure plate to hold down one side of the negative (1C).

So let’s start with the 2C.  The beautiful glass negative holder allows for use of a variety of masks. I used the one for 6×7. Autofocusing was a dream. A test print was made using the grade 2 filter to match what I had done with the Devere print, exposure determined, and a work print made. Easy.

Now for the 1C. Not so easy. The negative I chose was at the end of the filmstrip and trying to get it to line up properly in the negative carrier prior to lowering the anti-newton ring pressure plate turned out to be a major pain in the rear. I’m sure I will get the hang of it for those instances; if I don’t I might have to resort to using a tiny piece of tape to hold the edge in place. Other than that everything went the same as with using the 2C.

Both prints benefited by using the built in dry down feature in the Zone VI timers.  The prints were washed and then placed on screens to dry overnight. The next morning I went downstairs and compared the Focomat prints with those made with the Devere.  The paper used was the same … Fomabrom Variant III … but there were differences. While the Devere prints were made using the color head equivalent to grade 2 (10 units of magenta) they looked a little different. Overall the Focomat prints looked crisper and perhaps a little clearer if that is possible, while not exhibiting any of the harshness of those made with typical condenser enlargers.

So what’s the takeaway of this first go around?  Giving up changing contrast on the fly will be something I’ll miss, as inserting and removing filters from the filter drawer is certainly not as convenient. But the autofocus is the bee’s knees!  The Devere is a tremendous and reliable enlarger, a real workhorse … the Focomats are well … they’re the Leica’s of enlargers!  Not the easiest or the most convenient to use … but … you know the story.

Stay well,

Michael