They call it isolation

We watched Three Days of the Condor the other night. The 1975 movie with a cute Robert Redford and a gorgeous Faye Dunaway. She is a photographer in the movie; he is a book translator, CIA researcher. At one point when they are in her apartment, he comments on her black & white photos being lonely.

I have been thinking about this very statement since then. Sure, many b&w's are lonely. Most things that photograph remarkably well that way are metal, steel: bridges, benches, etc.

Then again, for me, b&w creates a sense of other worldiness. We do not see in b&w, so the perspective on an image is stunning.

It is also lovely utilized to enhance the texture of an object or even a surface, such as a face or a petal, even fish.

So I am not sure if lonely is the right notion. Black and whites can hone in on a sole impression. Maybe that is what he really meant. Or maybe just like with a poem, it is the observer who denotes the interpretation.

Still functions

Saw some Etsy sellers today selling old cameras today. There are some really classic ones for sales, even some really desirable ones, too. A very clean Polaroid Land Camera with the pretty brown leather on it + carrying case. I have a collection of old cameras, and sad to say, most are in a box. I bought them for decor, but loved when I could still shoot with them. Need a medium format camera? Shoot an old Kodak brownie from early 1900s. Takes 120 film. I have some shots I took in Florida with one, they are all rough and rusty in their look and feel.

Some of the other cameras were not that old. Not sure if I personally would call a Nikon N70 a "vintage" camera. Can still shoot with it. But to each his own. I even entertained the idea to sell mine, too, but not sure if it is worth it for only $10 or $20. I suppose I could use that to jump start my own Etsy page. I would rather get my images up there. Who knows. If only there was more time in the day.

But this brought to mind something unique. If these cameras still function, aren't we in essence tossing out the potential for art in exchange for knick-knacks? What do photo students shoot with now? Remember when everyone had a K-1000? Mine was the Canon AE-1. And as I have mentioned, some of my favorite shots were with that. Oh, and let's not neglect the way my Minolta Hi-Matic (when it functioned) shot black & whites. Oh so crisp. That camera was meant to shoot b&w. No matter how I try to manuever photoshop and lightroom to adjust my shots to get it to appear b&w, it never looks the same. I am sure part of that is user error(if you want to call it error). It begs that question though.