Contents
Profile of Photographer Kiichi Kitahara
About my Photography Career
When I was in elementary school, I was interested in astronomical observation and had my parents buy a telescope.
At the same time, I started taking astrophotography using the “Pentax SP-F” and “Super Takumar 55mm F1.8” lens, which were my parents’ single-lens reflex camera.
The astrophotography at that time was very simple, using a high-sensitivity black-and-white film such as Kodak “Tri-X” or Fujifilm “Neopan SSS”, and fixing the camera on a tripod for long exposure.
At that time, more than 40 years ago, when film photography was at its peak, there were camera shops all over the city, and I was able to request the development and printing of film.
However, since it was already in the heyday of color film, each camera shop manually developed and printed black-and-white film.
As a result, I often didn’t get the photo I wanted, so I started to develop the film myself.
When I was in elementary school, most of my pocket money was spent on purchasing developing supplies.
When I was a junior high and high school student, I got my first camera, the “PENTAX ME Super” and “SMC-PENTAX M50mm F1.4” lens, and started taking general subjects instead of astrophotography.
The main films used for shooting were Kodak “Tri-X” for black-and-white film and Kodak “Kodachrome 64” for color film.
At the age of 18, I started living alone, bought the “Contax 167MT” that can be used with Zeiss lenses, the “Planar T * 85mm F1.4” lens and several other lenses, and photographed overseas such as Mexico and Guatemala.
At that time, most of the films used for photography were Kodak “Kodachrome 64”, which is a color reversal film.
Thirty years ago, when I was about 20 years old, I started using Leica cameras.
I used three Leica camera bodies “Leica M2”, “Leica Minolta CL” and “Leica IIIf” and four Leica lenses “Summicron 35mm F2” “Zumarit 50mm F1.5” “Summicron 40mm F2” “Elmer 50mm F2.8 “.
I used those cameras and lenses to shoot the streets of Tokyo and overseas such as Australia.
The films used for shooting were Kodak “T-MAX100” and Kodak “T-MAX400”. The developer also used the dedicated Kodak “T-MAX Developer”.
Around this time, I was making a simple darkroom at home, and I used the enlarger “LPL ENLARGER 66-S” to print photos mainly on RC paper.
I continued to shoot black-and-white film with Leica until I was about 30 years old for about 10 years, but with the rise of digital cameras, I naturally moved to digital cameras.
At that time, the digital camera I was using was the digital single-lens reflex camera “Sigma SD15” and several lenses, and the compact digital camera “Ricoh GR Digital”. I still use these two.
As the camera entered the digital age, my hobby of camera photography gradually declined, and the way I perceive photography changed from “what I enjoy as a hobby” to “what I use in my work.”
Camera equipment currently in use
It’s been about 20 years since I left film photography.
After that time, I never imagined that I would be absorbed in film photography again.
Moreover, probably because the amount of information is larger now than at that time, I am working on film photography with a significantly improved level of knowledge about development technology and zone system.
The film camera equipment I am currently using is as follows.
- Two Pentax LX camera bodies
- SMC Pentax 24mm F2.8 lens
- SMC Pentax M28mm F2.8 lens
- SMC Pentax M40mm F2.8 lens
- SMC Pentax M50mm F1.7 Lens
- SMC Pentax M100mm F2.8 Lens
- Pentax PC35 AF film compact camera
- SEKONIC L-438 View Spot Meter Exposure Meter
- Sekonic L-228 Zoom Meter Exposure Meter
All of them are old equipment, so I got them all second hand.
The enlargers currently in use are as follows.
This is also a cheap price and I got it second hand.
Recently, it has become mainstream to scan photos taken on film, convert them to digital, and enjoy them as JPG images.
I don’t have a film scanner, and I use the “Sigma SD15” I bought a long time ago with the “Nikon Slide Copy Adapter ES-1” for digital duplication.
I think that this “digitization of film images” is the biggest difference from when I was doing film photography more than 20 years ago.
The wonder of analog photography in the digital age
By digitizing the film, I no longer have to make contact prints, and I no longer have to do step-exposure print tests when printing on photographic paper using an enlarger.
This is because I am creating exposure seconds data for each “tone curve” of RAW development software (Photoshop).
If the tone curve gives an appropriate “picture” on the computer screen, I can immediately determine the number of exposure seconds, such as “00 filter ◯◯ seconds exposure” and “5 filter ◯◯ seconds exposure”. (It’s my own method)
I consider printing on baryta photographic paper to be the final finish, so I think it’s great to be able to digitize the film.
For example, if you print on 11inch x 14inch photographic paper, which costs 4 $ per sheet, and if you fail 9 sheets, it costs 40 $ to complete one photographic print.
I can make a convincing straight print with up to 3 sheets of photographic paper.
This can be said to be “the wonderfulness of analog hobbies in the digital age.”
And now, we are running a project called “The Other Side of Tokyo Japan” to take pictures that are not published in tourist guidebooks, etc. with a 35mm film SLR camera and black and white film.
We will post photos on this site one by one, so please take a look.