The Story Is it a Leica? Close enough. This is a Zorki 1 type e. This camera, produced between 1950 and 1956, was, at the very beginning, attempting to copy the Leica II in order to offer the Soviet people a cheap, reliable and luxurious camera. The intent to reproduce the Leica is evidenced by the first models […]
I had the honor to be featured on the ILFORD Photo blog. I have been using their films, papers and chemicals for quite a long time, and I am glad to see they do have a strong presence online and on social media. I wish that every 137 years old company could benefit from such a strong […]
The past weekend, the Seine climbed to 6.1 m (20 ft), which is considered as the worst flood since 1982. As many Parisians, I walked along the flooded banks, looking down on the dirty waters cleaning the trees, the signs and the stairs. Even though it was clear in everybody’s mind that it was definitely […]
Photos taken in April 2016 in Arromanches, Omaha beach and Bayeux, Normandy. Camera: Voigtlander Bessa R with Color-Skopar 35mm and Heliar 15mm lenses. Films: Ilford Delta 100 and Kodak Tmax 400, processed in Pyrocat HD
For an upcoming project — Do not worry, I will keep you informed —, I acquired a view camera for forty euros on eBay. No brand, no logo. It comes with 6 glass-plates holders. That is all the seller’s description contained. When I unpacked it, I expected to discover, under the protection paper, a stack of […]
A snowy adventure In 2015, I was explaining on this blog how I was always carrying my Minox 35 in my pocket, ready to capture the instant. In November, as the first snow was falling on the Pyrenees, I left Paris and went with my brother and a friend of mine to climb mount Valier. As […]
April comes around, and with it, its load of spring sun. People start going out and mixing up with all-weather tourists. Like cats, they sit in the sun and enjoy the pleasure of looking up and see a still pale but beautiful blue sky, instead of the usual uniform cement-like lid that rules Paris life nearly all […]
#1 A time machine camera 1930s, Germany. The economy is booming, and Dresden is an important European center for camera manufacturing. Since the 1850s, this eastern city easily became the German heart of photographic paper, and from then, of camera manufacturing. This remained until the 1990s. At that time, Welta, Balda and Certo offered a similar range of cameras: medium format […]
2010, on a Saturday evening. We drove, two friends and me, to the Petit Minou lighthouse, at the end of Brest Harbor, in Brittany. After that, we went separate ways. But the lighthouse, the waves and the cloudy sky were the beginning of it all. Nikon FM3A , Nikkor 180mm – Rollei ATP1.1
For over ten years, my father has been exclusively using one type of photographic developer: PMK (Pyrogallol-Metol-Kodalk). The only thing I knew about it was that it was highly toxic and volatile. Even its name sounded dangerous to me. That is probably why I unconsciently decided never to use it. And that is what I did… until now. […]
