Tag

mechanical camera

always take a backup camera

By | photography, street photography

In the middle of photographing a Spanish support demonstration in Amsterdam my film jammed in the high speed mode. I will avoid technicalities, but I wished I had one of the less sophisticated types with me at that moment. Not knowing what to do for an instant since I only had the one camera, I decided to open the back and – to the amusement of an onlooker who hadn’t a clue, but saw my irritation – radically removed the almost completely exposed film… All for nothing so far! Okay, have to go on, and checking the emptied camera at a quiet spot away from the action showed no obvious problems other than a torn film, so I started anew. Taking pictures of the demonstration again with a camera that worked again without a problem soon brought back my inspiration and I shot 4 films before it started to rain lightly. I had an appointment elsewhere around this time and I walked away from the demonstration. In the hectic Amsterdam crowd while crossing a few streets I took some more people shots in passing, protecting the electronically driven camera with my jacket from time to time. The rain then became more persistent, and soon I was more busy wiping the camera than taking photographs. Nevertheless I managed to finish another roll, and decided to take a mechanical camera as well next time (especially when there’s a rainy weather forecast!) so I would have a spare that can take a shower or two as well.