Latin America series...continues. | Kevin Dowie Photography

Latin America series…continues.

My Latin America trip in 2005 took me through the Yucatan Peninsula region of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and on to the Galapagos Islands. Travelling into the Galapagos necessitated going through Quito, I stayed in the Ecuadorian capital for a couple of nights before the flight into the islands. Whilst there I took a wander around the centre of the city during the evening using the Mamiya medium format camera to capture a few images. Being in low light and using 400 ISO film meant that I was using slow shutter speeds 1/4 second to 1 second being typical. In the first shot the camera was mounted on a tripod, you can see the effect of the slow shutter speed on the moving people who are recorded as a blur, an effect I kind of like.

The second shot, if memory serves me correctly, was at 1/4 second and was hand held. The wide angle lens has given some distortion to elements of the building which I’ve only partially succeeded in overcoming in post processing. As a rule of thumb a shutter speed of at least 1/30 second would have been required to give a reasonable result with the lens used. As it was I braced myself, and the camera, against a nearby railing, held my breath and squeezed the shutter button as smoothly as I could to get the desired result. The use of the tripod at that location at that time wasn’t practical.

Quito, Ecuador

Mamiya 7 mk 2 with 43mm lens, Fuji NPH 400 film.

Quito, Ecuador.

Mamiya 7 mk 2 with 43mm lens, Fuji NPH 400 film.

From film to digital.

This trip was the last trip I did where my photography was film based. I carried the Mamiya medium format rangefinder camera and three lenses and shot 6×7 colour negative film. I also carried the Pentax SF7 with 2 lenses, a 28-80 mm zoom and an 80-400mm zoom. I had resisted the move to digital to that point for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I had made quite an investment over the years in film based photographic gear and secondly, at the time I wasn’t convinced that digital offered any compelling advantage over film.

It was on this trip that the decision to change was effectively made for me. In all the years of travelling, I’d never been threatened with violence nor had anything stolen from me. It was whilst in Mexico one evening, in a small town where “nothing much ever happens”, that I was taking the short walk from a restaurant to my lodgings accompanied by a fellow traveller, when 2 shadowy figures emerged from the darkness and attempted to steal our belongings. I was carrying the SF7, with the 28-80 zoom attached, slung over my shoulder and one of the men grabbed the camera and tried to run off with it. I reacted by holding onto the camera strap and a tug of war then ensued over the camera. Being just a little bit aggravated (understatement) I threw a punch at the would be thief who then let go of the camera and ran off into the night empty handed. Unfortunately whilst this drama was playing out, the second offender succeeded in stealing my companion’s handbag containing her passport, cash and god knows what else. No one was hurt.

In the course of the struggle, my camera hit the ground smashing the lens and ruining the auto focus capability of the camera as well. All this and I’m days away from visiting the fabled Galapagos!

As a result, my photography was restricted to using the rangefinder camera and the SF7 manually focused with the 80-400. I’d intended using the rangefinder as a “landscape” camera but as it turned out also used it for closeup wildlife subjects and general subjects as well.

They say every dark cloud has a silver lining? Well the silver lining in this case was that it pretty well compelled me to update my gear and this meant going digital. By the time I started in digital, the technology had progressed to the point where it not only rivalled film quality but clearly exceeded it. It has meant punishing my credit card at times to acquire the necessary equipment, but I don’t look back to my film days with any regrets. ……KD