ICM Photography Challenge #8, September 2024: Through the Viewfinder ICM

ICM Photography Challenge #8, September 2024: Through the Viewfinder ICM

I can honestly say that I approach my photography with a sense of fun. Whether it's Intentional Camera Movement, multiple exposures, or glitching and circuit bending, the aim in my photography is to have a good time and I think that the most ridiculous thing I have ever created to take/make photographs has been the Contraption. I actually have two Contraptions now, but I'm sure the first question you are asking is, the what?

Just over a decade ago during the noughties, my favourite period for digicams, TTV was born. An abbreviation of 'Through the Viewfinder', TTV photography is just that, photographing a subject on one camera viewed through another camera. As a technique it was really popular for a few years around 2010 then as a fad it quickly died down as photographers moved on to new things.

I discovered TTV photography from some long-forgotten YouTube video but became quite captivated by the idea. Of course, my first challenge was deciding on a suitable viewing/taking camera combination. To take the photograph you can use any digital or film camera, but the viewing camera is often a vintage TLR or pseudo-TLR camera with a lovely bright viewfinder. 

By far the most popular camera recommended for TTV was the Kodak Duaflex, but at the time I could never find one within my price range. Instead I found a cheap Ferrania Elioflex pseudo TLR. The shutter speeds were way out of whack, but that didn't matter for TTV. There was also 'some' desilvering of the mirror, but this beastie did have a large, bright viewfinder and a couple of test shots with a smartphone suggested that I was onto a winner. For the taking camera I chose a Nikon Coolpix S8000, a 14MP digicam from 2010 that I picked up for 10€. I checked that this would work with the Ferrania and reassured set about building the Contraption. 

Put simply, the Contraption is a light tight box that holds the viewing camera and the taking camera in place. You can make a Contraption out of anything, from thick card, plastic or tubes, whatever. I made my Contraption with 5mm black foam board (known as K-line over here in Portugal), securely taped together with duct tape. I built a shell around the Ferrania with holes in the front to allow the lenses to poke through and a hole in the top for the taking camera.

The combination was really easy to use. With the Nikon set on macro mode the digicam focuses perfectly on the screen of the pseudo-TLR and you can get some really nice results. There's even the by-product of putting people who see you in a good mood as they wonder what on earth you are up to wandering around with a big black box. Although there was some 'desilvering' of the Ferrania mirror the results came out really well, in fact I really like what the spotty mirror brings to the images.

After some time with the Ferrania/Nikon combination I wanted to build another Contraption and was delighted to come across a Kodak Duaflex. I wanted to pair this with a digicam that was Shitty Camera Challenge compliant (that is, 8MP or less) and settled with the Nikon Coolpix 5900, a fabulous little 5MP digicam from 2005. In this case the viewing part of the Duaflex was in much better condition and after a good clean the bright viewfinder was like new. The Coolpix 5900/Duaflex was actually a really good combination and the addition of a filter thread to the front of the Contraption was a great help when I tried to combine TTV photography with a little Intentional Camera Movement (ICM).

My first experiment with the Duaflex/Coolpix Contraption was to take photographs of a cycle race that passed our house. This worked really well but I found that the Coolpix, which was fixed to the top of the Contraption with duct tape, had a nasty habit of moving around. I therefore took the irreversible step of gluing the digicam to the top of the camera.

My second outing was to the woodlands behind our house, and this time I actually tried some Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) and produced some lovely results. I was therefore keen to try this again, but sadly when I went to take out the Contraption the Nikon Coolpix was dead. At first I thought it was the battery,  but it was fully charged and yes, the digicam was deceased. Back to the drawing board, but I hope that you enjoy these few samples.

If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the 'Snapshot' WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com@keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.

#ThroughTheViewfinder, #Kodak, #Duaflex, #PseudoTLR, #TTV, #Contraption, #ICM, #ICMPC, ICMPC, #IntentionalCameraMovement, #Motion, #Blur, #Abstract,