Yashica Portraits
The Yashica Portraits are shot on film using a vintage YashicaMat 120G camera. The camera, about the size of a brick,
looks like a relic in todayâs digital age. Itâs one of those old boxy
cameras you look down through, with 2 lenses in the front. More
specifically, itâs a twin lens reflex medium format camera. There are
several traits that make it unique and well suited to these portraits.
The first, as mentioned, is that it requires film. Film devotees insist
there is a different look and feel from digitally captured images.
I agree, but itâs subtle. More importantly, for me, it isnât the film
itself that makes these portraits unique, rather the process. Film is
finite. Digital is infinite. Film slows down the process. The second
attribute of this camera is the focus. The camera requires a close
up adaptor for the majority of these portraits. The adaptor requires
me to get very close to my subject. So close, in fact, my subject
and I can reach out and touch each other. This creates an intimacy
between subject and photographer that doesnât exist with a
traditional portrait lens and camera set up. Intimacy and pace
command the look and feel of these portraits.