Paper Lake
In the last few months I have been accumulating a small collection of lenses for an old Mamiya RB67 medium format camera. I first came across the RB when I took a class in wet plate collodion photography. If you are not familiar with the RB (which stands for rotating back), it is a beast of a camera. Weighing in at roughly five pounds, it has no battery and you cock the shutter (and raise the mirror) by pushing a large lever forward and down. If a Hasselblad is the Ferrari of cameras (chic and stylish), the RB67 is the FJ80 Land Cruiser (big, slow, and unstoppable).
The RB was made in Japan, and so it seems that most of the accessories and lenses to be found are still there. I buy virtually everything on eBay, and have many great finds from the Far East. One thing I have found is that without fail, the sellers are honest, fast to ship, and accurate in the product descriptions.
However, in two recent purchases, I received more than I had purchased. Inside each of these packages was a small handmade origami swan. I am sure the persons sending these could knock one out in a minute or two, but the act of saying Thank You in this personal manner was refreshing.
I could not bring myself to just throw the swans out, at least not without photographing them. And so it was that I set up a sheet of white seamless, one gridded light, and two paper swans. Of course I used the RB67, a 140 mm f/4.5 macro lens, and dug out a rare roll of Efke R100 film (one of the last to leave Czechoslovakia).
I didn’t really set out to create a story, but somehow one was unfolding. It was really sort of challenge to see if I could get ten photos (one roll in an RB67) with unique looks with what I had. I failed; I only got nine, and there are a couple that are somewhat similar. But it was a good exercise.
And thus was created a Paper Lake. All images are unedited.