December 127 Day - deadline in one week

Just a quick reminder that the deadline to submit 127-format photos you made on December 7, 2020 to the 127 Day Exhibition is next Sunday, February 7.

If you've already submitted, thank you!

If you haven't, and you have 127-format photos from that day, I hope you'll consider sending one.

I'm looking forward to seeing your 127 Day photos!

Tomorrow is 127 Day!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27, 2021, is 127 Day!

127 Film Photography will feature 127-format photographs made on January 27, 2021, in a special online exhibition. You're invited to participate!

No fees, no competition, just a friendly virtual community joining together to make 127-format photos on January 27, 2021.

To show your work,

1. Take 127-format photographs on January 27, 2021.
2. Send one of your 127-format photographs taken on January 27, 2021 to 127 Film Photography. Please email one jpg file, 500 pixels wide, to 127filmformat ~at~ gmail.com, by February 7, 2021. (This allows two months to get your film developed and scanned).
3. In the subject line of your email, type "January 2021 127 Day."
4. In the body of the email, please include the copyright symbol, your name, the title of the photograph, location, camera and film types, and your website address (or other link to your work). In that order. Please follow this example EXACTLY (you don't have to use initials if you prefer to be known by your full name!). If you want to direct people to an Instagram page, please use the URL for the page, not an "@" handle (which will not work as a link). 
   

©J. M. Golding, The birth of thought/the thought of birth; northern California, USA; Kodak Brownie Fiesta, Kodak Verichrome Pan expired 3/60, http://www.jmgolding.com

  

All types of 127 film format* are welcome, whether the film began its existence as 127, or you used 35 mm film in a 127 camera, or you respooled 46mm film, or you cut down 120 film to 127 size ... or maybe you have a technique that I don't know about yet - if so, please tell me so I can share it with others who love this format (with full credit to you, of course - or perhaps you'd like to write an article for 127 Film Photography about it!). Photos made on 127 film in a different size camera are welcome too.

127 Film Photography will publish all photos received (as long as they are in 127 format and do not contain images of nudity, violence, or exploitation).

I look forward to seeing your 127 Day photos! 
 
Good light and happy photographing!


*Sorry, digital photos in an aspect ratio similar to 127 film (or any other digital photos) do NOT qualify.

One week till 127 Day!

127 Day is only a week away - Wednesday, January 27, 2021. It's time to take your film out of your fridge and load your 127-format camera.

127 Film Photography will feature 127-format photographs made on January 27, 2021, in a special online exhibition. You're invited to participate!

No fees, no competition, just a friendly virtual community joining together to make 127-format photos on January 27, 2021.

To show your work,

1. Take 127-format photographs on January 27, 2021.
2. Send one of your 127-format photographs from January 27, 2021 to 127 Film Photography. Please email one jpg file, 500 pixels wide, to 127filmformat ~at~ gmail.com, by February 27, 2021. (This allows a month to get your film developed and scanned).
3. In the subject line of your email, type "January 2021 127 Day."
4. In the body of the email, please include the copyright symbol, your name, the title of the photograph, location, camera and film types, and your website address (or other link to your work). In that order. Please follow this example EXACTLY (you don't have to use initials if you prefer to be known by your full name!). If you want to direct people to an Instagram page, please use the URL for the page, not an "@" handle (which will not work as a link). 
   

©J. M. Golding, Silently they landed; northern California, USA; Yogi Bear camera, Rerapan 400, http://www.jmgolding.com

All types of 127 film format* are welcome, whether the film began its existence as 127, or you used 35 mm film in a 127 camera, or you respooled 46mm film, or you cut down 120 film to 127 size ... or maybe you have a technique that I don't know about yet - if so, please tell me so I can share it with others who love this format (with full credit to you, of course - or perhaps you'd like to write an article for 127 Film Photography about it!). Photos made on 127 film in a different size camera are welcome too.

127 Film Photography will publish all photos received (as long as they are in 127 format and do not contain images of nudity, violence, or exploitation).

I look forward to seeing your 127 Day photos! 
 
Good light and happy photographing!


*Sorry, digital photos in an aspect ratio similar to 127 film (or any other digital photos) do NOT qualify.

 

 

The Kochmann Korelle (3x4) by Charles J. Katz, Jr.

     When shooting a vintage camera, one might well remember something of its origin story. An old Leica brings to mind the courageous business decision made by Ernst Leitz to place the “Barnack camera” into production despite the misgivings of many in his company. Handling an Olympus Pen F one remembers that this was the first 35mm half-frame SLR in the world and that it came from the brilliant designer, Yoshihisa Maitani. One can list many other examples of vintage cameras that evidence engineering genius, business bets that paid off, or design elegance, but there is one old camera that I own that evokes something else altogether for me when it is in my hands.

     Whenever I am out with my Kochmann Korelle 127-film format camera, I find myself thinking more about the life of Franz Kochmann and the times in which he lived than about the camera itself. 

     Kochmann was born in 1872 in southern Poland.  He came from a family of prosperous merchants who owned a distillery business and a hotel.In 1913, Kochmann moved to Dresden and established various businesses there.  He became keenly interested in avant-garde art with a special receptivity to the German Expressionists. Eventually he owned a distinguished art collection that included works by Oscar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Ernst Kirchner, Ernst Barlach and Ludwig Meidner. He was especially close to Meidner and Nolde.

     Dresden in those years was the center of the German camera industry. It included a large number of camera manufacturers, optical companies, and photographic supply providers. Kochmann joined this group when in 1921 he founded a company named Franz Kochmann Fabrik photographischer Apparate. The Kochmann company produced various well-regarded folding and reflex cameras in different formats for both amateurs and professionals. The Reflex-Korelle models were especially prized. His Enolde brand was named in honor of the painter Emil Nolde. 

     It was not to last for Franz Kochmann. After 1933, when the Nazis took control of Germany, Kochmann, being Jewish, was subjected to considerable restrictions and intimidation.  Eventually, his home, much of his art collection, his company, and his remaining assets were taken from him. The company continued on, reorganized under government control.  Kochmann and his family narrowly avoided the Holocaust by escaping to Holland in 1940 where they stayed out of sight for the duration of the World War II. After the war, Kochmann worked a bit in the Dutch camera industry but he never regained his former stature. Sadly, he died in 1956, the victim of an automobile pedestrian accident.

     Holding my Kochmann-Korelle made in 1932 takes me back to those cultured and creative days in Dresden soon to be overcome by hatred, violence, terror and death. I feel like I am holding on to what was good then, and that it is my obligation to remember and to carry on today the good in photography and in life.

 References

Schulz-Bennewitz, G. (2018). “Franz Kochmann:  A Lost Jewish Collection from Dresden,” in Riedel and Wenzel (Eds.), Ludwig Meidner:  Expressionism, Ecstasy, Exile. Gebr. Mann Verlag.

Mike Eckman (2018, February 20). “Kochmann Korelle 6x6 (1933),” Available online: https://www.mikeeckman.com/2018/02/kochmann-korelle-6x6-1933/

 - ©2020 Charles J. Katz, Jr.