Color is the Subject – Some Success with Color Transparencies

Over the past 50 years I have had periods where I was immersed in photography. First it was B&W darkroom printing, then a long period of color work, a brief time with digital, and now I am focused on B&W film with mechanical cameras. Long ago I had some success with color, meaning that I was able to compose with colors, rather than have colors be a distraction. I have recently tried some color film again, including the reintroduced Ektachrome, but my initial results have been uninspiring. Perhaps I am composing with an eye accustomed to black and white? It does not help that we live near Seattle, where days of bright sun are limited. I am finding that Ektachrome and color negative film are rather sensitive to light temperature, requiring brilliant or “golden hour” sun to produce the hues and saturation I see with my eyes.

A few years ago, I was asked to exhibit my photographs in a local café and bar. I dug out some color slides, or transparencies, from 1980 and 1981. I liked the compositions, so I had them printed on 12 x 18 inch (30 x 45 cm) paper stock. I have a few of these slides to show today, now using my Epson V550 flatbed scanner, and refraining from any post-scan editing. The fuzzy black borders are from the cardboard slide mounts.

When I snapped these photographs, my wife and I lived in a fine old apartment in San Francisco’s downtown. I was surrounded by visual artists. My wife was a medical illustrator who also painted in her free time. We had friends who painted, and for more visual stimulation, we were a short walk from galleries and the modern art museum.

My wife and I shared a Kowa SET-R: a leaf shutter SLR she had used since her college days. While this was an economical camera, the match-needle meter was accurate, and the shutter made a wonderful sequence of mechanical sounds each time it was fired. I thought the 50mm f/1.9 lens was sharp enough and certainly better than my camera handling skills. Mike Eckman has an excellent review of this camera here. After many years of use, the leaf shutter on the Kowa failed. It took it to a shop where a camera repairman refused to work on it, offering disparaging remarks on the quality of our beloved Kowa.

I worked most mornings and evenings, so that left afternoons free for me to walk in the city. The Kowa gave me a reason to leave our apartment. Without a camera, I would have seen very little of my neighborhood. I felt I was acquiring some visual skills with these walks as well.

I was encouraged to use slide film. Transparencies were considered to be the professional film format at the time. I watched my wife make transparencies of her paintings and drawings, learning that this was the format for any submission of serious work. I enjoyed the color reproduction of slide film. When transparencies were projected onto a screen, it was similar to seeing light through a stained-glass window.

Kodachrome and Agfachrome were sold with the manufacturers’ development included. Ektachrome was sold like it is today: without development. I had mixed results with independent processors of Ektachrome, so I began asking for it to be sent away to Kodak’s labs.

San Francisco had a wealth of interesting subjects to photograph. I captured storefronts, cafés, markets, boats, walls, windows, and other street scenes. As I spent time with the Kowa and transparency film, I began to compose photographs based on color as the subject: images defined by colors rather than light and shadow.

Some Kodak Ektar negative color film sits in our refrigerator, waiting for the sun to poke out from the cloud cover. We might see some sun next week…

Share this post: