Fuji GX680, FujiChrome 100ASA, Fuji Instant Film for Proofing… bit of theme there!
One thing I’ve had time to do, when collating images for this new website, is to look through the archive of transparencies, negatives, scanned images and digital files which have amassed over the years…
I mentioned last time that for a recent presentation I collected examples of images produced with over 10 different types of camera, both film and digital… and this image was taken with a favourite camera that I know many other photographers used at the time, and indeed also now fondly remember… the Fuji GX680.
It was a beast of a camera… not just for the quality of the 6cm x 8cm colour transparencies it could produce, the amazing Fuji lenses and the clever ability to incorporate lens tilt/shift… but for the fact it weighed a tonne! Well perhaps not quite a metric tonne but it was so heavy it almost never left the tripod… something the modern crop of digital camera’s probably only meet very rarely!
This client, Northumbrian Spring, bottled local mineral water for sale in both bottles and larger stills used by watercoolers… it was even for a time sold in Harrods Food Hall!
To freeze the movement of water you need a fast shutterspeed or a very quick “flash” of light… this shot was lit with flash lights that create a burst of light able freeze the bubbling water, the big colourful transparency captured all that detail… and the studio floor was a large plastic bath to catch all the water from the repeated attempts to catch the perfect pouring water. The background was a softbox covered in various blue gel filters picked to match the company logo and brand., and the plastic cup was the best one we could find from a whole packet they gave us to use… it’s all about the details!
And we then had to wait 24 hours to see the final result when the film came back from the processing lab… we had shot a test on Polaroid (actually I used Fuji Instant film but everybody asked for a “Polaroid!”) but only the final film held the magic… oh how times have changed!
I’ve decided to share more of these archive images, and perhaps some of the stories behind them, as part of my Instagram channel, so if you’re interested please do take a look.