EXERCISES IN MISREADING MYSELF –1

a bit techno weenie

In truth I bought it to get out of a rut. I now know that my mid life crisis camera -
Leica MP black paint 28mm lens - will never materialise as I was getting closer to being able to afford one until last year when they raised their price by more than $1000 and made it
truly a camera only doctors and lawyers can afford. I see myself – once again -
as a note taker and imagined it perfect for it. I also realise how illogical
this is as I came to this conclusion wandering the streets of Baltimore – a bit
safer than wandering the streets of Baghdad but I wouldn’t want to bet on it –
in my flânerie reverie. I cannot think of a place more stupid in which to flash
a camera that is more than the gross domestic product of some countries in,
say, Pigtown. I cannot see myself walking west along Route 40, MP dangling from
my neck and feeling safe. I treat Baltimore the way that most people told me to
treat Rio de Janeiro, problem is I felt safer in Rio. No matter I saw going
back to 35mm as a way of making images that don’t scream significance due to
format and difficulty of use. It also could be me, my stubborn trend again as
everyone seems to be using larger and larger formats and work becoming more and
more self-conscious. But is the Nikon FM2 is a form of slumming, while I like
the honest blue collar feel to it,
it is sort of like the original Volkswagen useful for just about
everything but there are newer cameras that do it better, it is too clunky it
doesn’t fit well in my bag, especially now when one’s bag carries all the
modern conveniences simply because they have been miniaturised. Notebook and
pen is replaced by laptop. I like the finite feel of film, compact enough so
that one can take a lot but not the infinite feel of a gigabyte memory card. I
can see my progress by the rewound film.