Harman Kentmere 200 – Dour apocalyptic mood

While I was shooting the Kodak ColorPlus 200 on my Pentax K1000, I was also shooting Kentmere 200 on my Ricohflex Dia. That medium format camera is the most recent camera addition to my film camera collection (coming up on close to a year, I think), is a TLR, and has an 80mm lens.

I’ve posted about it and its pictures before. It’s a quirky camera that squeaks when I advance the film, had a housing screw come loose during this shoot (didn’t cause a light leak) and, if I turn the film advance knob the wrong way, will lead to overlapping exposures.

It’s also really easy to do double exposures on.

Too easy, as all of my double exposures have been accidental.

These shots from it put me in an apocalypse frame of mind.

Cracked concrete, overgrown weeds, desolate isolation, the feeling I’m being watched by hostile eyes as I walk around snapping pictures.

I’ve noticed lately that I’ll see something, a theme will come to mind, and then I shoot it.

Could this mean I’m developing an artistic mindset?

Or at least an artistic approach, even if the art itself isn’t fully there?

I like to think so.

Due to the dry, isolated nature of these shots, as well as their proximity to a major interstate highway, I call these The Desolation of Smog:

Not seen: the abandoned shopping cart (saw that after taking my photos) or a brave girl and her dog going for a walk as I wrapped up. f11, 1/200sec

Cracked concrete and a (temporarily) empty highway behind it. f11, 1/400sec

Every time I see this pseudo-abandoned car, it looks more and more worn down by the elements. f16, 1/50sec

I think the biggest, and possibly the scariest, takeaway I’ve gotten from these photos, is that the lack of sharpness is either due to the camera or my eyesight, and given some of the slightly fuzzy shots from my other camera, I am forced to conclude it’s probably my eyesight…

Although the fact that all my photos are slightly blurry in the WordPress editor but less so in the final result doesn’t exactly help.

I used Sunny 16 for exposure and, as always, it mostly works.

Next up: some more photos from this roll, a few shots from my 35mm Phoenix II roll, and my first pictures from the Kodacolor 100 that just came out.

You have been warned…