Michael David Murphy, from While Seated, has been conducting a series of insightful interviews with notable street photographers at his text blog, 2point8. The latest is a discussion with Gus Powell.
“I have always liked the extras in the background of movies… that little bit of humanity playing out in a landscape and informing what happens in the foreground. I have wanted to make pictures that are without an obvious protagonist and that become interesting as photographs while being made from insignificant moments in real time.”
See more of Powell’s work at TinyVices and his own site. And be sure to check out the rest of the interviews.
Since first getting my Hasselblad over a year ago, my digital camera has been getting left behind more and more often. I’ve only got one decent lens for it (which the sensor crop makes even less fun), and unless I’m taking pictures for posterity (parties or other events where I’d want lots of pictures), I generally want anything worth taking a picture of to be on big, glorious film.
So when I bought a Hasselblad-lens-to-Canon-EOS-mount adaptor from Shanghai, I initially thought it’d be a bit of a novelty, but it’s a surprisingly useful thing to have. I took some comparison shots on a Canon 20D, using a 50mm CF T* , an 80mm C, and a 150mm CF T* Hasselblad lens, compared to a Canon 50mm f1.8 and a Sigma 70-300mm lens. The best EOS mount lens I’ve got is a Canon 17-40mm L, but I wanted to have comparable focal lengths so I had to use my less than stellar lenses; not exactly a fair match up (though the 50mm is pretty decent).
A couple old ones from a trip to jolly old.
I went to the Hayward Camera Show a couple weeks ago with Justin without any real intention of buying anything. I had recently picked up a 150mm lens for my Hasselblad 500CM, and a few other accessories, like a Hasselblad Lens to Canon EOS Mount Adaptor (more on that later), so I wasn’t really in the position of spending any more money. But I did bring along all my gear, planning on taking some pictures after.
As soon as I was through the door, vendors were asking what I was selling, what was in the bag, how much for your women, etc. I had been recently toying with the idea of getting a 50mm CF lens and selling my gigantor 40mm Distagon. The 50mm lenses are much more compact then the old cone-style 40mm lens, which at times was just too large and cumbersome to bother getting out. When I mentioned I had a very clean, recently serviced, old-style 40mm Distagon, one of the vendors got really excited. She offered me $750 for it (I paid just over $800).
Now, the 40mm was my first lens for my beloved Hasselblad, and some of my favorite photos were taken with it, so I wasn’t too sure I was ready to give up my first and favorite lens, especially since I hadn’t done enough obsessive research into a lens that would replace it (I wouldn’t be able to get by on a maximum wide angle of 80mm for long).
Then Justin found a sweet Foto Snaiper, and got me feeling like I needed to do something at the show, even if it meant walking out with LESS gear. I went back to the lady, with hopes of maybe getting more money out of the deal, then noticed she had a mint 50mm CF T*, in the original bubble-style case. She was asking $795 for it, and through some crafty bargaining (ie. begging and sniveling), I got her to trade my 40mm (plus my very perfect fitting Sigma lens case) for her 50mm, lens case AND $50, cash.
I’ve now got what I think will be my Hasselblad setup for a long time to come; a 500cm body, 2 A12 film backs, a 21mm extenion tube, a 50mm, 80mm, and 150mm lens, all of which fit in my bag now. Sweet.
From a while back…
