When I read the rules for the Eroica California, I knew that it’s “pre-1988” equipment rule would also, without question, pertain to my choice of photography equipment as well. In my opinion you can’t go to an event showcasing old school cool with a modern, plastic body digital camera. Well, other people can, maybe, but I can’t.
I don’t shoot much digital, and have owned a wide variety of film cameras in the last 3 years. But my current stable of equipment doesn’t have anything from the right period of time. Which brought my mind back to a camera I’d had in my possession very briefly, an Olympus Pen FT, the pinnacle of Olympus’ half frame series of Pen cameras. I loved the aesthetics and feel of that little camera, as well as the images it took. I sent out some texts and emails to enquire about the availability of that very same camera I’d used a year and a half ago. It was available. In short order it, along with a 20mm f/3.5, 38mm f/1.8 and 100mm f/3.5 lenses, appeared at my door. I loaded a roll and spent 2 days shooting 48 images, mostly experimenting. There area couple of more rolls to be developed, but the results are promising!
The Pen FT, being a half frame camera, accentuates film grain. To my mind, that's a good thing.
Daylight street photography is a place in which both the 20mm and 38mm lenses shine.
The Pen series was the labor of love for legendary industrial engineer Yoshihisa Maitani. Maitani created three of the most revolutionary camera designs ever, all for Olympus: the OM 35mm SLR series, XA series of ultracompact rangefinders and the Pen series of half frame cameras. Overall, Olympus would sell a mind boggling 17,000,000 of their Pen cameras before they were discontinued. When the Pen F SLR was released, it was aimed right at the serious, Leica using photography crowd. So much so that Olympus used legendary documentary photographer W. Eugene Smith for their advertisements! It was the same size as the Leica LTM cameras of the time, but had a massive array of accessories and lenses. Also, unlike the Leica, it was generally affordable.
In my first Eroica California article, I wrote, “For me an even bigger highlight is to bust out a sweet old camera from the 60’s or 70’s and pretend I am Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa or Eugene Smith!”
Which begs the question…what to shoot with this lovely little camera? While the Eroica California will have plenty of colorful characters, beautiful bicycles and gorgeous scenery, those are all pretty light fare. I mean, let’s face it. Being able to dress up in costume, albeit a functional one, and ride a vintage bicycle through vineyards is a luxury. Nobody’s world will end if, when they wake up on Sunday, April 12th, they find that the Eroica California was cancelled. The world will continue, food will still be on their table and a roof will still be over their heads.
There is, however, one good story that’s a part of the event. The Eroica California is supporting a really wonderful organization, Hospice SLO. Hospice SLO is a volunteer based non-profit that provides free support services to patients who are in home hospice care, as well as for their friends and family. Started in 1977, they serve over 6,000 people a year in California’s Central Coast region. While the Eroica itself is a luxury event, Hospice SLO has very real, very far reaching, effects upon the well being of those it serves. I will be doing my very best to use the little Pen FT to tell the stories of key Hospice SLO caregivers, why they volunteer for such emotionally difficult work, and what they’ve taken away from it into their everyday lives. If I can manage to do that, everything else that happens at the Eroica California will be icing on the cake.