My favourite camera - Dianne Minnicucci

Our series of favourite camera guest posts continues with this homage to the Yashica 635 TLR.

I have always loved film cameras, I am fascinated by light and film and I love the way that film cameras have the ability to capture the contrast within images. It is easier to control just how much light, or how little is captured by using film. I also love the texture of film rather than digital; I love the grain.

I have being using medium format for a few years now. It is daunting using one for the first time as you have to handle them completely differently. You need to hold the camera at waist level and the knobs and dials are on the side. After seeing the work of Vivien Maier, who also used a twin lens reflex to capture her images of everyday street life, it made me pick up the camera again to experiment. I had to shoot a few rolls in order to get used to the controls but I haven’t looked back. I love this camera.

This is a Yashica 635 camera, the lens is a Yashikor 80mm f/3.5 in Copal-MXXV shutter with speeds 1-1/500. It really helps me to create an image. The viewfinder is at the top, which allows you to look at the image in a unique way as looking down allows you to look head on. The square format encourages me to frame the images and knowing that the lens will capture what I see is a great guide. It is easy to adjust the aperture and speeds according to the available light. I can also be creative with the aperture with some fantastic results. I can allow less light than I would with 35mm as the frame is larger at 6 x 6. It is possible to take images without advancing the frame. Taking double exposures is easy. Sometimes I make double exposures accidentally - I believe in happy accidents so I am always content with the results. Sometimes there are other irregularities which look great, such as when the film has not wound on properly resulting in the double exposure being at the end of the image or with the light flare when too much light has entered the camera for some unknown reason. These ‘mistakes’ can only happen with film and make it much more interesting to look at. The camera can also be adapted to use 35mm film with a special kit so it is versatile, although I continue to use 120mm film. This summer I will spend a week using 35mm and cant wait to see the results.

This camera has allowed me to ‘construct’ images as it takes time to make photographs. It has forced me to first look around at the image without the camera and to think carefully about what it is I want to capture. I can then think about how I want the light to appear as it is possible to have more control over your images using film and especially with this camera. It has also helped me to gauge the distance I need to be from the subject either to capture the whole scene or just and interesting section. 

This is the only camera which I would take with me to a desert island.