Back in June, it became apparent that my wonderful foldy Kodak 6×9 had developed light leak – most likely from the bellows. Not uncommon and usually the ultimate demise of these kind of cameras. After thinking it was some leak during development, another 2 rolls of film sacrificed later and I was resigned to its (perhaps not untimely) end. I had scanned the rolls out of curiosity, but kind of just left them. They were developed in pine, had quite a heavy grain, and given I was trying to photograph the bog cotton I was frustrated I had lost 3 rolls to this endeavour and had no images. Then I looked again today, by chance.
I think revisiting images is important, whether that’s digitally stored or printed and filed away. Because now, I can see in these images dancing light, ghostly realms, celestial figures and a playfulness that tricked me into dismissing them initially. Again, it’s a profound reminder of the joy of film photography. The unexpected and the unplanned. The un-imitable effect of a moment of clashing light.
I’m not overly sad about the Kodak – it served me well and lived a long life (much longer than mine so far) and may still be repairable (electric tape ‘paint’), but the 6×9 format is something special. I sought out a bellow-free medium format, and as a result I became acquainted with an epic Fujica G690 (Texas Leica). Silver linings everywhere.
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