Monday 4 January 2010

Punta la Nau, Mallorca


No, I didn't lean out over the cliff face with my camera to take this. Not with my partner making spontaneous and shrill panic calls and holding the kids's arms so tight that their hands were starved of blood. With the retreating calls of a certain and spectacular death echoing in my my ear (she went back to the car) I held the Rolleiflex over the edge at 180 degrees and pointed it down, composing through the viewfinder in front of me. This is one of the many advantages that TLR cameras have. The idea originated from German army photographic observers in the first world war who wanted to be able to take photos without having their heads shot off, so a man named Reindold Heidecke designed a camera based on the principles of the periscope. (Info courtesy of Ian Parker's Complete Rollei TLR User's Manual)

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