Apologies for the delay in getting another post up. Since my return to New Zealand 3 weeks ago I've had my head down doing some serious data analysis and writing. If anyone would really like to read a blog post on statistical modeling of arthropod communities I'd be happy to oblige.
As you may recall, many of my images from my recent trip to Namibia were committed to slide film, and hence hadn't been posted. Finding somewhere to get slide film processed over there proved difficult-it seems slide film has been erased from the memory of all the camera shops I tried in Windhoek. I went into one camera shop and asked 'do you process slide film', to which the shop attendant replied 'yes, do you have your memory card here?' Righto.... I didn't spend long enough in Capetown to get it done on the way through there, so it had to wait until I got home. I got the film back from the lab last week, though haven't had a chance to have a good look through until tonight. With a few hundred images from my trip it's just like Christmas, and I'm getting to relive it all over again.
The nostalgia goes back beyond reliving my trip though. My decision to use film on this trip arose from a recent experience where I simply could not get the shot I wanted out of digital. No matter what I tried, nothing could make up for some undefinable character, some sort of elusive depth of character. It's the same phenomenon as music, whereby digital medium are supposedly superior to analogue, and despite the immense advantage of convenience held by the digital technology, records still hold their own and are enjoying a resurgence among audiophiles disillusioned by the digital age. Shooting the film was also an exercise in nostalgia. Before leaving I dug out my first SLR, a Pentax, and nothing flash by any stretch of the imagination. The whir of the motordrive after the shutter, the inevitable phenomenon of getting to the end of the roll just as an animal moved its head in the direction I'd been waiting for, trying to keep the dust out of the camera while changing film (not easy in the desert!).... and I loved every minute of it and will be doing it some more. Ah, nostalgia.
Hopefully you'll agree the selection of images below made it all worthwhile. All shot on fujichrome provia 100F, with a Pentax MZ50.
