We are back from our holidays on the beautiful Isle of Muck, and I haven’t done a great deal as yet with the photos! The weather was… typically West Coast… so there are a couple of good images and a lot of grey ones! But it was a good break nonetheless!

What we did have, however, was a lot of time to think… plan… and daydream. I have a long term plan to get some kind of a boat at the moment and that is something I want to work towards over the next year or so… nothing fancy… nothing flash… just something functional and solid for now whilst I find my feet. I want to explore more of the islands, and in particular those that can’t be reached without your own transport!

More pressing, however, was the desire to get much deeper into the “Fine Art” world of photography, and also architectural work. To do so I want to set myself apart from others working in the field at the moment, which is dominated by computers and digital cameras! So analogue photography is something I am very keen to get back into – back to my roots – kinda! You see, I grew up working with 35mm and have operated with it in some of the harshest environments on Earth over the years, and whilst 35mm is convenient and generally really good stuff (and a fantastic place to learn the art of photography) it isn’t really high enough quality for “art”.

So medium format then? Well… yes… and no. Medium format systems are a big step up from 35mm, but I think that in many ways my digital equipment can match it. Which is great for my commercial work, but moving into something more specialist needs something… larger.

So large format then? Well… yes… kinda. I love the large format quality, but it isn’t the most portable and for where I want to go I don’t want to be limited to either the standard format or be forced into heavy cropping. I want something different. Something wider.

So today, whilst feeling very much under the weather with a bit of a lurgy/post eating something that didn’t agree with me, I decided to act on a long held dream to go big and to go wide. I have been scouring the internet for ages trying to find just the right gear and hitting a bit of a dilemma – everything was either too old, too low quality or too plastic. And most of it was ragingly expensive. But then I stumbled upon a Chinese manufacture making panoramic 120 bodies that shoot a variety of formats – 6×12, 6×14 and 6×17 (which is what I was after). And they were making these new camera bodies from metal! What’s more they were supplying the camera in a kit with 2 used lenses and 2 appropriate lens cones for about the same price as a plastic fantastic home 3d printed body and a couple of second hand lenses from the local dealer. It also has a ground glass focusing screen, the ability to shift the lens (which is great for architecture), a remote release (essential) and even an optical view finder. Yes… it was sitting in someone else’s eBay basket, but had been there for 2 days. My tax bill was paid (last minute!) and I still had enough funds to press the Buy it Now button. No messing with offers. No chance for the other party to decide to buy it. Job done.

It’s going to be a good 10 days/2 weeks until it arrives – but I have picked up a hot shoe light meter to help me out with the transition and 5 rolls of 120 Kodak Gold film to cut my teeth on – it’s generally good stuff, forgiving and with nice colours and tonality, if a bit of a retro 1980’s/1990’s vibe (I think I had a couple of rolls of it in the Amazon back in ’95 alongside my vast amount of Velvia 50, Kodachrome 64, Portra 400 and Ektachrome (which I think was 200 but could well be wrong).

The learning curve is going to be HUGE. It’s a new format of camera, a new format (to me) of film, new lens types (large format leaf shutter things) and with 4 exposures per roll, and £20 to process, it won’t be cheap! But the payoff could be HUGE!

So watch this space, I will share some results once it arrives as I start to learn the ropes! I am hoping my 5 rolls of Gold will be enough to get the basics sorted out!

For now though… this is the beast!

Now I need to find a case for it all!