“Winter Birds”

Zorki 4 / Fuji film

A classic Norfolk skyline, far out in the fens. In this house we have discovered a love of Rilke, and this brings him to mind:

“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away… and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast…. be happy about your growth, in which of course you can’t take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don’t torment them with your doubts and don’t frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn’t be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn’t necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust…. and don’t expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.”

It has been a long time since I wrote on here, I seem to have too many projects on the burner, to keep this current. But the plan was always to keep going and although I am not quite so fixated on chemical photography just now, I maintain a steady interest.

I pick up old cameras where I can. Today I found a Voigtlander Vitomatic IIa for £15, a tenth of its real value. This is a beautifully engineered 1960 rangefinder, and I am becoming much more in the groove with rangefinder photography than any other. Indeed, I recently bought a Canon II from a Moscow dealer. I have been thinking about getting a decent 1950s rangefinder forever, and while I liked the idea of a Contax, my little collection of beautiful Russian Jupiter glass has pushed me over into thinking in the direction of the Canon Leica copy.

Okay maybe a Leica III would be the way to go, but it costs maybe 5 times more than the Canon copy, which is (arguably) a better camera. So it’s £800 for the badge on the front, and that is not a great deal in my view.

I have a great stack of film to process. I have Ilford film from a Holga which I can process in the kitchen, but I also have several colour films from the Yashica and the Lubitel to send away to the lab.

So I will leave you with a picture taken on another Leica copy, the eminently worthy Zorki 4 with that amazing Jupiter 8, 50mm attached. It is a remarkable lens for the price of a bottle of vodka. Of course the quality of the subject is beyond compare and you won’t find one of these anywhere for any price.