This could be an archive Monday entry but I haven't really
followed through on that concept. Last Friday I had planned to shoot a new Dr.
Frangst image. Shooting a picture. Sounds simple unless your Gregory Crewdson.
To resurrect Dr. Frangst, I have to locate the pants, the
shirt, the glasses, etc. The coat isn't a problem. I have lots of lab coats
laying about and now have two with cyanotype, photogram designs that can be
employed as costume.
The view camera that's another matter. I have to load about
three holders for a total of six pieces of film. I have to make sure the
shutter is firing after a recent class demo went awry.
Perhaps the most vexing problem is the Fernauslöser.
What, you ask, is a fernauslöser? Translated literally it is a remote
trigger. Specifically for the project it is a 10 m long pneumatic cable that
activates the shutter on either my 12 inch Dagor lens or the 14 inch Ilex
Paragon.
Quickly before this blog descends into the specifics of view
camera dialogue...one small reason the Dr. Frangst project fell to the wayside
is der Fernauslöser. I switched, late into the second iteration of the
project, to a mechanical self-timer which negated the need for a pneumatic
cable release. I was getting tired of the bulb occasionally not doing its job
in tripping the shutter. Initially the mechanical remote did the trick but it
required a bit of attention. I was in earshot, I could hear the timer winding
down and I could also hear the shutter open and close.
I soon discovered that sometimes I couldn't hear the timer
or the shutter. Maybe it was an early sign of my impending tinnitus.
Regardless, the Dr. Frangst images became less and less a part of my output. I
think the use of the pneumatic bulb was key.
Friday, I spent a few hours breaking out the remote trigger.
I have two. The first one is a Kaiser with funny cartoons on each side of the
box. One depicts a visitor to a state park carefully driving over the bulb to
take a picture of himself in nature inside the car. The second shows two table
tennis players, one of which is about to step on the bulb and take an image at
the decisive moment of the match.
My other Fernauslöser is made by Rowi and is a bit
older. Perhaps late 40's or early 1950's. I am including a photo that graces
the instructions below.
For two hours I cajoled the bulbs and cables, finally
cutting off a bit here and some there and combining the two into a functional
remote trigger.
Look for more pictures in part two of this entry.
