The Antiques Store - Creare 1

This essay is about a change with my photography when I migrated from film to digital capture.  It is centred on a collection of images called a FOLIO, but presented as a video.

I had been invited to tag along with four exceptional photographers to visit and photograph an antiques store.

I arrived at the store prepared.  I had my medium format Mamiya 645 film camera, which was my primary camera at the time, loaded with black and white film.  I also had with me a new Canon digital camera that I had just bought two days before.

Of course, I started with what I was familiar with, my medium format Mamiya.  I had it set on a tripod and photographed with very long exposure times as the light was subdued in the store.  I had never photographed in such darkness as was in the basement of that store and soon realised that I had no confidence in whether or not the film was recording what I wanted.

Knowing that I could immediately check my results with the Canon, I put the Mamiya in my bag and was capturing successful images with the Canon.  I knew because of the wonderful feature of digital cameras—the immediate feedback via the rear screen on the camera.

About six months later I sold my Mamiya and gave away all my darkroom equipment to a professional photographer I knew who worked with young people, teaching them photography.  That program still runs, sponsored by the Whyte Museum in Banff.  It is called “Through the Lens:  Encouraging Creativity in Youth”.

This folio contains some of the first digital images I made.  I’ll always remember that visit to the antique store as a turning point in my life—not just with my photography, but my life.  After that moment, I knew how I was going to spend a large part of my creative time in retirement.

Here's my video of scenes I captured in that store.

Make sure your computer audio is turned on and, when the video starts, click on the 'full screen' selection.

THE ANTIQUES STORE VIDEO

PS.  You’ll notice the work CREARE appearing above and on the opening slide in the video.  That is the Italian word for create.  I will be using it on the Folios I’m planning, which I’ll present, from time to time, in this ESSAY section of my website…for now.