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Nigel Allan

Nigel Allan

Member
This was one of the very first shots I ever took with an SLR with a borrowed Nikon FM . Bahrain in the Gulf was full of rich imagery and even a complete novice like me managed to get some interesting shots I couldn't have achieved back home in London. Now that I have a film scanner I am going back over my neg files and contacts and rediscovering shots I never felt were worth printing at the time. I like the feel of this now. I guess different things turn us on when we are 50 from when we were 21, although I took the shot so must have liked it at the time

1981Bahraingarage.jpg

Nigel Allan:
Bahrain Garage​


Bahrain 1981. Manual Nikon FM, 50mm HP5. Full frame, no crop or PP. Scanned from the negative. (sorry about the dust)
 
K

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Another excellent image from your earlier youth/film days, Nigel. This compares very well against some highly regarded work I've seen from 1970's/1980's Cuba street scenes. You're uncovering some personal gold from them thar negatives.


--- taking-off to broader philosophy ......
I am absolutely convinced that the self-consciousness associated with experience and gear wealth is often very deleterious to instinctive creativity and image reflexes, particularly for casual personal work. Internet photo sites tend to stoke this effect by hosting breeding grounds of gear lust and perpetuation of aesthetic clichés and silly digital technique.

I know that the more gear I schlep the worse my casual photography tends to be. I've become very self-aware of this phenomenon and, despite having an embarrassingly enormous inventory of camera gear, I've converted to the Holy Order of Minimalism when shooting casually.

Your back-story on this image being captured with a "borrowed Nikon FM" as "a complete novice" offers yet another testimony to my theory of the inversely proportional relationship between gear/experience and quality of results. Of course it's a pretty leaky theory that would never earn a doctorate. Experience with a camera, particularly with a particular camera, and having good aesthetic sense certainly does have great benefit. But there is much to be said for just returning to capturing what you see rather than worrying about creating aww-worthy images.

------ now landing at origin topic ....

Well done, Nigel. I'm eager to see some more of your 70's/80's film work.
 
Nigel Allan

Nigel Allan

Member
Ken Tanaka said:
Another excellent image from your earlier youth/film days, Nigel. This compares very well against some highly regarded work I've seen from 1970's/1980's Cuba street scenes. You're uncovering some personal gold from them thar negatives.


--- taking-off to broader philosophy ......
I am absolutely convinced that the self-consciousness associated with experience and gear wealth is often very deleterious to instinctive creativity and image reflexes, particularly for casual personal work. Internet photo sites tend to stoke this effect by hosting breeding grounds of gear lust and perpetuation of aesthetic clichés and silly digital technique.

I know that the more gear I schlep the worse my casual photography tends to be. I've become very self-aware of this phenomenon and, despite having an embarrassingly enormous inventory of camera gear, I've converted to the Holy Order of Minimalism when shooting casually.

Your back-story on this image being captured with a "borrowed Nikon FM" as "a complete novice" offers yet another testimony to my theory of the inversely proportional relationship between gear/experience and quality of results. Of course it's a pretty leaky theory that would never earn a doctorate. Experience with a camera, particularly with a particular camera, and having good aesthetic sense certainly does have great benefit. But there is much to be said for just returning to capturing what you see rather than worrying about creating aww-worthy images.

------ now landing at origin topic ....

Well done, Nigel. I'm eager to see some more of your 70's/80's film work.
Click to expand...

I am reminded of a comment David Bailey once made along the lines of "A good photographer will take great pictures with a Box Brownie" and saying that's all he needed to do his job. I would concur and I feel that many people get bogged down in overprocessing digital images 'because they can'. Simple works for me because the idea transcends the treatment.
 
Last edited:
R

Rachel Foster

New member
Ken Tanaka said:
I am absolutely convinced that the self-consciousness associated with experience and gear wealth is often very deleterious to instinctive creativity and image reflexes, particularly for casual personal work.
Click to expand...

I've been working on this myself, Ken. When I went out to shoot yesterday, I forced myself to leave the camera bag in the car and shot with the 24-105. I think the more lenses I get, the more I depend on the equipment instead of my "eye."

Nigel, I agree...wonderful image.
 
P

Prateek Dubey

New member
Nigel Allan said:
This was one of the very first shots I ever took with an SLR with a borrowed Nikon FM . Bahrain in the Gulf was full of rich imagery and even a complete novice like me managed to get some interesting shots I couldn't have achieved back home in London. Now that I have a film scanner I am going back over my neg files and contacts and rediscovering shots I never felt were worth printing at the time. I like the feel of this now. I guess different things turn us on when we are 50 from when we were 21, although I took the shot so must have liked it at the time

1981Bahraingarage.jpg

Nigel Allan:
Bahrain Garage​


Bahrain 1981. Manual Nikon FM, 50mm HP5. Full frame, no crop or PP. Scanned from the negative. (sorry about the dust)
Click to expand...

But this picture exemplifies something more than the equipment.It shows the confidence of making the shot, especially using film. Ilove the geometry of the shot, besides the motif.
 
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