Pictures Along The Shores Of Santa Cruz
For many years I lived in the small surf town of Santa Cruz California. I got my college degree at the University of California in Santa Cruz and continued to live there for a few years after I graduated. It’s a relatively small town, about ninety minutes south of San Francisco and is noted for its close proximity to the ocean, amble taquerias, old school beach boardwalk, and a population of laid back people. Even though I live in Oregon now, I like to go back and visit whenever I can.
Not long ago I went down for a visit and of course brought my camera with me. The beaches north and south of Santa Cruz are dotted with majestic coves and inlets that actually make photographing nudes and figure studies quite easy, especially if one goes out on a week day. Park your car along Highway 1 at just about any point, walk a few feet, and you have a whole playground of natural wonders to play in.
Clearly I was quite spoiled for a lot of years.
For this session I thought it would be really fitting if I used my Mamiya C330 TLR. It’s a camera I honestly don’t use that much these days, preferring instead to work with my Hasselblad, but back when I lived in Santa Cruz and was a poor college student, the Mamiya was my primary workhorse. I used the Mamiya C330 for well over a decade almost exclusively with everything I did on a serious level.
To this day I still think the camera holds its own to any professional grade equipment. It may be a heavy beast, and a bit awkward to hold at times, but it gets the job done and the results are nothing short of lovely. In fact, looking at these images I’m reminded of why I liked this camera so much for so many years. The quality of the lenses are sharp, but not so sharp that they look clinical.
There is a subtle organic quality to them that matches really well with the cracks and textures and patters of the cliff wall being used as a backdrop here.
I was working with Vivian Cove for this session which was fitting considering she currently lives in Santa Cruz. It’s one of the things she and I have bonded about over the years. That, and our mutual love for Nick Cave. I mean really, when you have those two things in common, is it really necessary to even talk about anything else?
I won’t deny, it makes it hard to focus on work and when she and I work indoors, in an environment we don’t have to make photographs with haste out of fear a stranger will come wandering by. We tend to talk more than make actual photographs. Even in the outdoor environment of the beaches along the California coastline, we were laughing and joking around between even click of the camera’s shutter.
The only film I had with me was a healthy stash of Ilford FP4 in medium format. I won’t deny I sometimes struggle with blown out highlights when I use FP4. I’ve honestly never quite understood why. I figure it must just be the way FP4 interacts with my developer Rodinal. It was an overcast day when I exposed these images and even still, some of the highlights are a little too blown out for my taste.
I was making a physical print of one of these images a few weeks ago and I had to bring the contrast down quite a bit more than I usually do. Not a terrible thing mind you, more just surprising on a technical level.
Camera: Mamiya C330 TLR with 80mm f/2.8 lens.
Film: Ilford FP4 in medium format.
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