A cold day out with the Mamiya 645 Pro TL

Mamiya645 Pro TL

MAMIYA 645 PRO TL

  The Mamiya 645 is a medium format beauty.  It takes a shot roughly the same dimensions as a 35mm only about 2.7 times larger.  It has a capability of shooting 120, 35mm, panoramic and polaroid proofing.  I had shot with a couple of other novelty MF cameras but this is one of my first pro-level MF cameras.  I started with the original 645 (by the looks of it, probably the very first one out of the factory) and quickly upgraded to the ProTL.   Equipped with the Mamiya-Sekor 80mm lens I went back to my favorite venue and snapped off some shots.

   I figured I have been on a pretty steady run shooting black and white 35mm and having some pretty good results considering my rookie status with film developing.  I had some 400TX Kodak B&W film laying around so I loaded it up and got to work.  The Mamiya 645 unfortunately doesn't have any metering capabilities, so unless you own a hand held I recommend bringing along a camera with a similar lens and a reliable built-in meter; I brought my trusty Canon AE-1 35mm with the 80-100mm.
   My original idea was to only shoot double exposures, and just experiment with dark space and exposure times while trying to construct a running theme each photo.  However, I was quickly distracted by the evening light and frantically started taking single exposures with out checking my meter- actually getting some awesome results.  Despite being ridiculously and unseasonably cold weather, I wandered from Johnny Mercers Pier up to the Blockade Runner along the beach and back (a distance of only a few miles-shivering the entire way)  In all it was a nice evening walking the near desolate streets of Wrightsville Beach incapable of dealing with what I refer to as cold and most in more northern states refer to as Spring.

homemade scanner

  Perhaps the most embarrassing thing about the day's events is my method of scanning my negatives.  Once developed and dry I took my desk lamp directing it though a support frame of books and boxes...then set up my tripod with my Canon50D & 100-400mm Telephoto across the room and shot photos of the negatives.  It seems to work "OK" after I got the kinks all worked out. So until I can get my hands on an alternative, less than ghetto, method; this will have to do...and yeah, Im pretty resourceful!

   This was the first time I had developed MF film from this camera, so once I inverted the scans and cropped them down I noticed the frame has a unique characteristic on the edges, so I decided to crop around the film markings and leave them in.  Does anyone know what this edge is called or why it is there?

   

A COLD DAY OUT

   As I stated earlier, my first objective was to shoot double exposures like the one above.  This one isn't a great example of what I was going for, its a bit over exposed and kind of goofy; basically its a proof of concept hopefully be addressed again in a better light (get it? yuk yuk).

  This one is absolutely my favorite, I have a big thing for sail boats.  I think sailboats make some of the best subjects for photography, they are capable of appearing graceful in motion as well as majestic in silence.  Most times I can't help but take a picture when I see one sitting in water- its really kind of a problem I have.  This one was out in front of the Blockade Runner in Banks Channel.  It was getting pretty dark so I left the shutter open for a couple seconds.  Im aware the shot is incredibly over exposed but I really like the dream-like softness of the edges and the overall simplicity of a boat on the horizon.

   While setting up for a shot of the pier (located behind the frame) I noticed a couple paddle boarders getting out of the water, so I swung around and shot the two trudging out of the ocean.  Like in this photo I lost a couple frames because the negatives were touching on the spool during processing. (shown in the bottom left in the image above; top left and bottom right on the image below)  This is first hand evidence why the developing process requires an incredible amount of patience, these scars were easily caused by hastiness.  The below image is the same sailboat as before, this time shown in its more natural light.  By shooting with a wide open aperture and only a 1/30sec exposure the vessel and nearby docks were silhouetted against the water and sky... I bet this would look really rich in color!

   I personally hate when photographers take portraits of themselves, I think it is cheesy.  However, in reality it seems when I have an idea or just want to try something new a lot of times I am the only subject available.  There also can be something said about setting up a shot and executing it properly from in front of the lens.  In this situation I had a single exposure left on the roll and a couple Canon Speedlites at my disposal....Yes, I looked right at the flash at the last second-- blinding myself.  In the end it seems the cheesiness wasn't escaped in this photo.