There is something thrilling to me about using a lens that the very first photographers in the world used, their photos, especially the ones known as Daguerreotypes, present the world in a soft and otherworldly way. They still captured the magic of paintings and drawings.
It is exciting to be holding the lens the first photographers in the world used, we are arrogant, we think nothing that was old could be as good as what is new, but when I look at the first photographs, I see a mystery and magic that I rarely see in my own modern photography.
This lens was invented in 1839, by Charles Chevalier and Louis-Jacques- Mande Daguerre, and for all practical purposes, the glass and the structure of the lens is the same one they created and used to invent the first practical photography. The Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 lens has no bells or whistles on it, everything about the photo is manual and dicey. I like this portrait of Maria a lot, it is soft and somewhat magical.
But I have a lot to learn about this lens and how it works.
I love my digital photography, but it’s literalness sometimes bothers me and makes me feel that my photos are sometimes cold. I took this portrait of Maria today and it is one of the three photos out of many that I liked. This lens is tough.
I liked the softening of the photograph and the fact that i can’t take a single picture for granted, I have to work hard on each one and really learn about light and focus and depth of field. I wish I had the eyes of a 20-year-old, but mine are stubborn and willing.
I have two weeks to decide if I wish to keep this lens or not, we’ll see what I am made of.
I have a lot of work to do with my new Daguerrotype Achromat 2.9/64 art lens from Lomography. This lens is especially difficult for me to use, it has no autofocus or stabilizer, or fixed ISO setting. Every photo is plunge off of a cliff and I will be at this for a long time before I get it, if I do get it.
Two yielded two or three promising images out of a couple of hundred. This photo of Gus did create an otherwordly look, a bit of magic.
I’ve signed up for a two-week trial of a radically new and different kind of art lens, the Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens.
In 1839, two brilliant optical pioneers, Charles Chevalier and Louis-Jacques- Mande Daguerre combined their inventions to bring practical photography to the world, the introduced the first photographic optic lens, their photographs took the world by storm, their lenses wrapped the world in an otherworldly glow, said critics and artists.
People thought their new lens brought a kind of magic to the world. A few months ago, the lens was brought back by the highly innovative Lomography company, which also made my Petzval 58 lens, which is also an art lens. I basically shoot with digital photography, my favored medium, but I am always looking for ways to bring the magic into my photographs and take pictures that are softer and less literal.
Lomography lenses came about as a Kickstarter Project, they were looking to expand the range of digital photography and challenge people like me to be more creative, digital cameras do most of the thinking for me, I can get spoiled.
The Achromat lens, like the Petzval, challenges almost everything I know about photography and taking pictures.
It has no electronics, no stabilizer, no autofocus, no computer. It is far less expensive (about one fifth the cost) than a Canon lens, but it is also much more difficult. Focusing alone is a major headache, especially when the goal is to be slightly out of focus, the point is the dreamy look that characterized the first popular photographic images.
I have to take the photo in much the same way that the first photographers did, except I can use color with my regular and very powerful digital camera.
This lens, like the Petzal, has a mount both for Canon and Nikon cameras. The Daguerreotype camera consisted of several moving pieces, it was essentially a wooden box with a hole where the lens was placed. Using light-sensitive properties of silver salts, it produced images on silver coated plates. It was the Polaroid of its day and millions of these lenses were sold.
Depth of field is one of the most powerful features of the Achromat lens.
I’m excited to try this.
My idea of creativity is to try and fail, try and fail some more, stay away from workshops and other people’s visions and dictates, and pursue my own until I find something that lifts me up. If you don’t fail a thousand times, you can’t succeed.
True creativity is an internal thing, I can’t buy it or ask someone else how to do it. What someone else sees and does has little or no bearing on what I can see and do. This photo opened my eyes to the possibilities of the Achromat and I love the idea of using a lens that is more or less in its original form..
Every photo demands a manual focus and also the insertion of a small metal plate to change the aperture setting. Most of the photos that I took today don’t work, which is hard on my ego (and my eyes), but today I went outside with this lens and walked right into our small apple tree in the pasture, just as the setting afternoon sun shone directly on it
The photo has that otherworldly feeling, that sense of magic that the world’s first photographs managed to capture. Like the Petval, this will take a lot of learning and experimentation and work. Today was frustrating, I must have taken 200 photos that were no good until I figured out the settings and focus for this one. I will keep at it and decide over the next couple of weeks if I want to keep this lens or send it back.
Sometimes I think I need the eyes of a 20 year-old to use this lens, but other photographers tell me to stick with it, it offers the dreamy quality and sense of mystery that I love to capture, especially when I am not taking animal pictures. So stay tuned, this lens scares me a bit, but I have this sense it was made for me, I will try to work through it. Thanks for coming along.
Maria is on a potholder tear, she is making her humble and very artistic potholders now, she is selling them as quickly as she makes them, they are $15 plus shipping, and she is not interested in raising the price she wants anyone who wants one to be able to afford one.
She is always exploring new art forms for the potholders, these – not yet finished – are new and different to me.
Her potholders are all signed and custom made from recycled or vintage fabrics and material, people send her these amazing fabrics from everywhere. You can e-mail her about them at [email protected] or visit her website.
Yesterday was Peggie’s 75th birthday, I went to the Mansion to bring her birthday presents, a soft stuffed panda, and a dog hand puppet, yet to be named. She loves stuffed animals and told me that’s what she wanted for her birthday. A week ago, we also brought her a portable room air conditioner.
Peggie is a great deal of fun, she has a ready smile, and loves to sing and do jigsaw puzzles. She also loves stuffed animals, when I caught up with her today, she was painting some stones. She is full of life and up for almost anything. She did a great ventriloquist routine with her puppet, she had everybody in the activity room laughing.
Peggie’s daughters visit her often and take her out often, she says she would love to take an ocean cruise with a friend sometime next year. I love taking photos of her face, it is so expressive, and always, always, full of joy.
Peggie loves to get letters, you can write her c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. She loves photos of animals as well.
A reminder that anyone can still enter the Mansion Animal PHoto Contest, one more week to go. It is open to anyone who reads the blog and/or sends letters and messages to the resdients.
The residents will choose the best three photos and award a prize, they want to give something back. The animal photo can be of your animal or anyone else’s animal. The photos will go up on the Mansion bulletin boards, the winners will be chosen after Labor Day. You can send the photos to Julie Smith, Activity Director, The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
