While it seemed that work travels were starting to be permitted again, I wanted to make it a goal of mine to do a short vlog of each trip. Something short and sweet, easy to digest stories per trip to practice my storytelling, and a way for me to practice shooting with and editing 4:2:2 10-bit color 4K footage.
Going up to Seattle for a video shoot with Microsoft felt pretty easy to vlog: the weather was rather nice, the trip was a short two days, and there were a couple of easy tourist spots that I could visit. The Space Needle, Starbucks Reserve, Taylor Shellfish Oyster Company, Pike Place Market. and the Thompson Rooftop Bar were the spots I was able to cram in the two-day period.
It was refreshing to travel again and it felt invigorating to be able to make a travel vlog in a different state since so much time had passed since I was able to previously able to travel, but that same motivation and energy didn’t easily carry over when I went to Portland the following week for PDXLAN.
Already struggling to find a story to tell in Portland, its weather during the time we were there did not help matters either. It was predominantly pouring for our entire trip, which meant sightseeing was hard to capture and I couldn’t think of anything interesting if it was a vlog that focused on food or eating around Portland.
We wound up in a vintage store south of Downtown Portland, which I began perusing through their record collection to see if there were any records that caught my eye. What I didn’t expect was for them to also have vintage film cameras for sale. I thought I could buy a lens that would have fit on my Canon AE-1, but my eyes eventually wandered over to a Rolleiflex.
The only place that I’ve seen a Rolleiflex before was online when I casually browse at cameras, and I was immediately tempted to purchase it right away until I saw the near $900 price tag attached to it. The price definitely gave me pause and considered whether to make such a purchase. There was a similar style Kodak camera available for sale as well, however around a $40 price. The difference was that on the Rolleiflex, the tag specified that the camera was in working order while the Kodak had no note about its functionality. Moments later, I would leave the store as the owner of four vinyl records and a camera manufactured in the 1950s.
Included with the camera came a roll of 120 film, Ilford Black and White ISO 400. Not knowing how to operate the camera or to load the film when I left the store, I spent a few minutes on YouTube watching tutorials and I luckily managed to load the roll properly.
We went around Downtown Portland to take the camera for a spin, but one thing I forgot was that I didn’t have a way to know if my image was properly exposed. I pulled out my Sony FX3 in my hotel and set some settings based on what the Rolleiflex is capable of (max f/3.5 aperture, fastest shutter speed of 1/500), and went out into the streets to shoot.
Another aspect of this camera that tripped me up was the fact that the optical viewfinder is reversed horizontally. Panning left made the image pan right and it made it more difficult to compose my image quickly. Focusing was also a challenge since it was difficult to see unless I was shooting something with a good amount of light.
Yet, there was something about photographing on something so foreign to me that was a breath of fresh air. Given the nature of film photography and the unavailability of modern features such as autofocusing or focus peaking, I was forced to be more methodical with every shot. This allowed me to look at photography with a very different mindset than I would have at work while photographing product photos, whereas I’d have to be extremely efficient with my time and churn out images as quickly as possible while maintaining a standard level of quality.
While I still am in shock that I decided to pull the trigger on purchasing a vintage camera without knowing any guarantee of its functionality, I’m glad I took the gamble as shooting on this Rolleiflex refreshed my interest in photography.
