Tripoli Noir


This photo I took last night illustrates perfectly why I need a film camera. The D50 just can’t handle low light, and I don’t want to be spending a four figure sum on a camera which can when I can get one for the price of a round of drinks.

My Fed 2 is now en-route from The Ukraine, inshallah, (and coincidentally, the President of that country is in Libya, visiting the Colonel). I’m also bidding on eBay for an Industar-61 which is an amazing lens, being a standard 50mm prime, yet focusing down to less than a couple of inches. Also, as a back up, I’m looking at a Zorki and a Jupiter 8 which come as a job lot. I’ll be able to get these on my approaching holiday back home.

I was out last night in Tripoli with my pal Dan, and in discussion of a fantasy film, set here, scripted by Graham Greene, directed by Tarantino and starring Peter Lorre, I wondered whether it should be contemporary or historical. Dan thought contemporary, but with a noir look.

That got me to thinking about Tripoli Noir. This architecture and these the people after dark, shot in black and white on a Soviet rangefinder... The photos I took last night with the d50, nobody really took any notice of the foreigner with his camera. Yes, indeed.

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