The Blad shuffle, or why I hate the hairdressers
I got a Hasselblad this Christmas.
It’s an incredible piece of kit, but requires a complete new mindset to operate.
You have to think about lighting yourself, not rely on your camera’s inbuilt metering system (there isn’t even a battery in this awesome camera). You have to take time to frame the shot, and decide on the shutter speed/aperture combination. Manual focus too.
And there’s the mirror thing.
The waist level viewfinder is a joy to use - when you look through it you get a glimpse of the final photo, much more so than looking through a viewfinder in an SLR. In the Blad, things are three dimensional but at the same time you can see the finished image. Everything is perfect. In theory at least.
Until the moment when you realise that you haven’t framed it right. That’s when the fun begins. The image is reversed left to right so you have to know what you’re doing before you start waving the camera around to re-frame your shot, or risk looking like an idiot.
I can’t tell my left from my right. If I look at my hands I know the difference. I don’t need to do that ‘L’ thing with my left hand - I’m not stupid, I know my left hand is my left hand. But ask me if we should turn left or right at the next road junction and I haven’t a clue.
I was never much good at it, but learning to drive helped. Until I came to the Netherlands when a right turn - across the stream of traffic in the UK - became a left turn.
I’m the same with mirrors. And at that’s why I hate going to the hairdressers. I don’t know whether the hairdresser is on my left or my right, and when he speaks to me I can’t work out where to look to make eye contact. You’ll easily recognise me - I’m the with the eyes that are roaming wildly around the mirror before thy settle, rather self-consciously, on myself.
And out on the street you might come across me doing the Blad shuffle, a step to the left, no that should be right, tilt the camera up, no that should be down. It goes on and on.
I took 8 shots in the mirror to get this one, and this is the only one in which I’m looking at the camera. Ironically, it was the first shot I took.
I have a feeling that the Blad is going to teach me a lot about photography. And who knows, it might even help me learn to love having my hair cut.
[...] 1/52 To take full advantage of Flickr, you should use a JavaScript-enabled browser and install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player. F.decorate(_ge(’button_bar’), F._photo_button_bar).bar_go_go_go(2169142836, 0);F.decorate(_ge(’photo_notes’), F._photo_notes).notes_go_go_go(2169142836, ‘http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2347/2169142836_805e6dfa4d_t.jpg’, ‘3.1444′); View ronet’s map Taken in (See more photos here) ~In the mirror~ A new year of self portraits. Shot 1 of 8 tries. Read more on my blog. [...]
1/52 on Flickr - Photo Sharing! said this on January 5, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I used to clip a piece of paper with two arrows on the dash with ‘me’ and ‘them’ to remind me when I flipped back and forth a lot. Worst place was/is leaving filling stations need to concentrate to remember which side.
What an amazing new camera. My friend got a secondhand one and then rushed out to get a Billingham bag to carry it and a proshade lens hood - so beware the creeping accessories!
Looking forward to your progress/adventures! - I thought division bell (ho ho) was a great debut!
Best rashbre
I’m glad it’s not just me. I like the idea of ‘them’ and ‘me’!
It is an incredible camera. I still can’t quite believe I own it. I am trying to resist the temptation to buy lots of accessories, but a strap might come in handy.