Nemesis

This is the camera that intimidated me for so many years. The Pentax MG. It was originally my fathers.

Like its cousins vinyl and tape it was over run by the digital revolution.

It has been sat by me for years and kept saying "you'll never take pictures, you are too scared, you are ruled by fear."

It was right for a long time.

But I have created my own quiet confidence through digital and I am now thinking about going back and using the MG as an experiment. Call it a man versus machine thing. I am not being sentimental at all. I want to see what the output is like and explore the experience. I may get bored. I may discover a whole new genre.

This is heady stuff. It is completely manual. There is no LCD display. No instant gratification. No immediate post process edit. I will have to calculate aperture, exposure, ISO before I take a shot. Then I'll have to take a film out and send it away, (unless I enjoy this project and build a darkroom). Then I have to take any pictures that I like from analogue to digital so that I can share them. It could be a burden, or it could be a journey.

I am already thinking of projects to use it on, I am thinking about magic hours and golden light.

It feels robust and metallic. It has a lovely weight to it. It feels comfortable in the hand. It is mechanical.

But most of all I am thinking about going back to one of the things that used to frighten me.

It is still the same. I don't think I am.