Orange Walk: Photographic Failure and Lessons Learned


This is the only exposure worth saving out of two rolls of film for the Orangemen's Walk. It's a decisive moment, at least, but a technical disaster. There was the problem of the Nikon F's meter, underexposing everything by at least 2 stops. And a bright sunny day meant his bald head was fine, but his face in deep shadow. Post processing gave me a not-bad shot, which could have been a good print with better technique. I'm not blaming everything on the equipment, I'd have to give myself a "must try harder" in the autodidact's  report card.

The whole Nikon F Photomic meter/battery farrago means - so far as I can tell - the meter is useless. I could replace with an eye-level prism, for a stylish looking non-metered camera, but photography for me now is about getting good quality prints, not looking stylish. So lesson one, the F won't cut the mustard. Lesson two, now I know why press photographers ALWAYS use a flash - this guy's face in shadow before post-processing told me that.

So the F's on eBay, and the F4 is en-route to replace it, together with an SB-24 speedlight, (designed for the F4). And so I get dragged into the photographic 1990s. The expired film collection is also mostly on eBay, and if I've done my sums right the whole upgrade should cost very little, if anything. The room for excuses is vanishingly small now. Selling a print before the turn of the year is the goal, the commercial proof that the line between amateur and professional has been crossed. That's my final exam.

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