SMALL -FORMAT CAMERAS Figure 2-1. Georgia 0’ Keeffe and Orville Cox, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. I used a 3Smm Zeiss Con tax and 50mm lens to make this photograph. I was standing precariously on a slanting ledge and did not control the horizontal tilt of the camera. A conversation was in progress, and I waited for a moment of peak interest; the 35mm camera is ideal for such photographs. It is interesting to note that, although this photograph was made over forty years ago (in 1937) with the old thick emulsion film, it enlarges well and has excellent tonal qualities.
The modern small camera can function as an extension of the eye in “reaching out” into the world. The flow of life, the rapidly changing relationships of objects and realities, seem to come into an embrace with the photographer’s eye and imagination. This view of the world is far more fluent than is possible with a view camera. Yet it is this very fluency that is the greatest challenge of smallformat photography, for the photographer is called upon to assess the moving elements of a scene and integrate them into an effective still photograph in fractions of a second. The increasing degree of automation found in small cameras can serve as an aid in this process, since it permits greater concentration on subject and less on mechanics. But with some cameras, it is difficult to impose manual control even if you want to. The “average” photographer is expected to be content with the relatively high percent-
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