Hi Dan, can you tell us a bit more of yourself ?
Um, not so tall, not so dark and not so handsome?
How did you get started in photography and specifically, when did you pick up RF photography?
Dad infected me, fed me Rodinal when I was young. He’s a prolific photographer so I guess I’m a cradle film baby whether I liked it or not. He had a darkroom in the old days where I spent most of my time taking apart his beloved super 8 (boy, I remember the shelling I got for that) and various RF cameras. Lost photography for many decades when I discovered girls and picked it up again when girls thought vintage cameras were cool. Lol….seriously, I’ve always been around RF but I’ve always also been an MF shooter primarily, but really only rediscovered RF a few years back. I blame ClubSnap, particularly Gommy and Hacker – they stirred up a sudden obsession with RF. Makes sense RF, getting too old to carry MF rigs….good for health.
What genre do you normally shot with RF?
Me? Well I like compositional work, not that I’m terribly good at it but like a sucker for punishment. I keep thinking my next lens or body will make me a better photographer…guess I’m trying to “buy” a better photograph with my abject lack of real talent.
I heard you are a regular Joe armed with a lethal weapon – a camera; do you still feel this way like you are the sniper , waiting for the kill ? Can you share with us on your approach to photography?
Haha, sniper, waiting for the kill….me…I doubt it. I reckon the camera is the ultimate Seeker of the truth, or at least film is – the negative is completely original and tells the entire story,warts and all. I guess you could call it a lethal weapon as often the truth can kill or set you free.
Let’s talk about RF.SG now. We know that RF.SG was founded by you in April 2010. We would like to know more about the vision behind this niche club and what motivates the idea of founding this club?
Oh dear, I actually started it as RFGA, RangeFinders Golfers Association after a lovely game with Wongsan and HookOnClassic. In it’s original genesis, it was just for fellow RF’ERs who had an interest in golf to get together, play some golf and obsess about RF. Somehow, it snowballed into what it is today. The vision remains simple, a community of RF users to come together and share our common passion in keeping this form of photography alive. Everyone is welcome, that’s our core philosophy. Now that it’s rolling, I’m hoping sometime in the future, we get some golf in…..haha!
Thus far, do you think RF.SG has serve its purpose ?
Oh yes, suddenly RF is in. Everyone is carrying or craving the RF experience. It’s cool and I hope it’s due in a large part to RF.SG. Somehow the timing was perfect and RF, all at once blossomed. Again thanks to all the prodigious talent in RF.SG, we have managed to inspire a whole new generation of RF shooters.
I jumped into the RF wagon only this year and missed the RF.SG official event at SAM’s Glass Hall last August 2010. How can we get a copy of the elusive RF.SG photo book ?
Go see our friendly neighborhood RF guru, Chiif ! Or you can contact us on our website.
One of my personal favorite shots from you is the “LV in Ancient Jerusalem”. Seems to be a bizarre and surreal setting at the same time, where 2 worlds somehow collided into the B&W dreamscape. Can you tell us more about this shot and how it came about ?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shotwideopen/5296882572/sizes/m/in/photostream/
The stars aligned for that shot. While on holiday in Italy, I had set about to recreate a vintage look by using vintage film (TriX) and a vintage lens (Fujinon 35/2). While bashing about Florence with my wife and family, we came about a Christmas pageant where the locals were reenacting a scene in ancient Jerusalem round the time baby Jesus was born. And it was all in front of very high end shops. So that was how the shot was born. It wasn’t planned, it just happened. The Fujinon 35/2 was key to the shot in setting up the mood and to further enhance the overall vintage feel I used old skool development methods as well.
That’s the thing about film and about RF, you never know what you get until you’re done with the entire process, from loading to shooting to development. It’s a process, very Zen, photography celebrates the spaces in-between like the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi and i guess that’s why I love this art form.
There’s a quote by Eric Kim, “Street photography is 80% balls and 20% skills.”. Any tips on growing the balls portion ?
By far, my loading is more around 95%-5%, so I am not the best person to give any tips. My preferred method is snap and run … run fast!Lol.
When was your last photo taken with a RF cam ?
Sometwhere in Central Park, NYC….it is still in the 15-20 undeveloped rolls sitting on my shelf. It’s no fun being an adult : no time to play…..
What is your current setup ?
My setup changes like my mind. Currently, for RF, the Leica MP, Cristar 50/2 and Neopan 1600. These days I am mostly on the Mamiya 7 and 43mm f4.0, my RF on steroids and my Holga 120TLR
Are you working on any personal photography project at the moment?
I have several going really when and if I have time to play. High concept – lo technology, using plastic cameras to document very serious subjects like death, politics and religion. The other is what I call the “exquisite corpse” – a collaboration between photography and painted arts. Where a photographer takes a shot and an artist interprets it onto a canvass and vice versa. To study how we see the world and what we actually see in our minds eye when it’s transposed across artistic mediums. Call it cross-overs in the visual arts.
My interest really lies in development and how to compliment the RF experience so I am also experimenting in keeping old skool development methods alive. My current developer of choice is PMK Pyro. One of the oldest developers in the world, pure liquid gold.
What, in your opinion, is special about RF that keep you shooting with it?
RF is holding a bit of history in your hands, by using an RF it immediately connects you to the giants of photography like HCB, Capa and Adams. Like transformers, there’s tons of gear!!!
If this is your last roll of film, what will you shoot ?
My wife, Joanne
Once again Dan, thanks for your time. Any advise for newbie shooting with RF ?
Not much from me really, I’m just a hobbyist, there are tons of better RF’ERs out there, all of them on ClubSnap. I can offer this though: f8 and be there. That’s the best bit of advice for any newbie. Don’t worry about fiddling around with all the settings, just set it at f8 and snap. Just the subject and you, let the world recede into the background. If ever you need help in bringing out the image through development, I am only an email away.
Dan’s Flickr
Photo copyright Dan Kwan . Interviewed by Martin Chua