IN THE PURSUIT OF SPONTANEITY
The 4. times 5.coupled rangefinder/ parallax camera project was greatly influenced by the ideals of 3 men.

First and foremost Henri Cartier Bresson who I feel was one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century and one of the most influential shooters in history, if he did not invent lifestyle photography he raised the bar to the zenith to the point that many of his images can be found in postcards shops arround the world, images of hope sent as get well cards or to remind us that we can stand taller, dance in the rain and smell the roses, his geometric composition can be considered as the bar for modern editorial photography and of incommensurable taste and grace.

Cartier Bresson believed that there should be a link between the photographers heart and his eye which he summarized by saying that with the eye which is closed you look inside and with the other you look out. he disliked staged photographs and said photographers should shoot accurately and quickly.

He also believed that the moment when you press the trigger which he called ( the decisive moment) was when all aspects of a situation would fall into place and

he was notorious for capturing images as they occurred rather than interrupting the flow which he believed would ruin all chance for spontaneity.

Robert Capa who was H.C- Bresson's close friend was another great influence and is considered the greatest war photographer of all times their styles were quite juxtaposed, and while they both covered world war 2

Capa had a much more in your face style , worked very fast and if he chose to ,he could be inches from your face and you would not see him or he could tell you to pose.

While their styles were very different these two men had a clear agreement , they used Leica because they were quiet fast and hand holdeable and they valued spontaneity over all else.

In 1947 they became two of the founders of The Magnum agency and for the first time photographers had rights to their images.

The third was my grandfather (A.Mazer) his early beach and street portraits in the 1930s with a 4x5 box camera were extremely candid and then he also adopted a leica and continued to use both .

The text below was influenced by their opinions and my own

Just like the length of time which a camera shutter or curtain stays open determines how much movement can be frozen, so does the time which transpires from the time you trigger a camera and the time when the shutter opens. That affects that what you actually chose to capture ends up in the film, they are two different things. If you see something it means it has already occurred and therefore, no matter what you do, all you can hope is to get as close to that by reducing the time before it is captured. Now you can say a second is a long time yet we all know that a picture of a speeding car needs to be photographed at a speed 500 times shorter. And a person moving usually 250 times less than a second. And as we never know how long an expression will last, the sooner it's captured the happier you'll be when you get the film back. If you take a camera that shoots 8 shots per second you may find that 1 of the frames is what you like and the rest aren't so much, obviously if the expression isn't there to begin with, or if you don't choose to capture a particular moment, then it doesn't matter.

SLR or single lens reflex cameras can have shutter speeds of up to 8000 of a second but that relates to how long the shutter stays open and can stop action to different degrees, but before the curtain even opens a very long time transpires during which the mirror is raised by a spring to allow the image to be projected onto the film. Many studies into how the human mind works show that different people perceive things differently, yet we all tend to assume this isn't the case. All you have to do is close one eye and look at something and then do the same with the other and you'll notice that the object appears to be slightly at a different physical position. This is caused by optical differences and eventually we choose either eye to look through a camera because we prefer this (safe distance ) from reality. Choice of telephoto versus wide angle lenses is also affected by this.

My grandfather was one of the most prolific portrait and celebrity photographers of his time in Argentina. From the early 1900's to 1965 he built the most successful and respected photography studio in Buenos Aires, and during this time he photographed some of the luminaries of the time, including Evita.

I was always marveled by the amazing spontaneity in his work and his peers of that era because they seemed to capture an essence of life which seemed to emanate from the prints. One could say that years ago things were more picturesque. That is true but it's also true that if we have become conditioned to showing "only our better side" in pictures because we've seen it all, the more reason that a creative photographer needs a tool that will allow him to capture whatever little and as much as people are now willing to give.


snapshot of my parents taken by my grandfather
at the Buenos Aires Airport with his 4x5 folding
at their return from the worlds fair

When I started to play with cameras in my early 20's I was using 35mm SLR cameras and even though I was getting good tech results I was shooting hundreds of rolls and being very upset when the film came back looking very professional, very well composed and exposed, but also very staged and very lifeless. My anguish and frustration had no end. I spent almost 20 years under this spell, convinced by the mass belief that SLR's offered the most advantages and somewhat satisfied by getting exactly what I saw in the finder I never had the courage or the willingness to try one of my grandfathers old box 4x5 cameras.

Recently while attending my nieces wedding, I was given one of my grandfathers old cameras and which I mockingly put to the test, my surprise was endless.

After shooting only 10 4x5 sheets all of them had captured the expression of the person that had motivated me to press the trigger at that particular moment, and I knew then for the first time that for 20 years a mirror and its slow action had kept me from capturing what I seeked.

The accurate 100% coupled parallax correction did not exist when combined with a true RF – what a drag.

I was very confused because my grandfathers camera produced great shots but was very heavy and impractical, had no true parallax correction for the 4x5 format for which composition was always a guess. So after 4 months of not being able to let go of this thought I decided to embark upon the creation of the world's first 4x5 camera that would have a single window combining an accurate rangefinder with a precise parallax system. The in lens shutter system would assure that the instant I pressed the trigger the film would see more of what I saw than with an SLR, yet ultimately that will depend on how long you take to decide to press the shutter after you see what you like. Total spontaneity exists.

It took 4 years to perfect but I got what I was looking for. But before I even dared to invest that time I made the final test – I started taking pictures of my TV both with an SLR and then with a rangefinder camera. The SLR shots were never the frame I liked and the rangefinder shots were either what I had seen in the finder or very close. If you share these feelings then perhaps this camera can make an interesting addition to your collection. Old habits are hard to break, but when photographing people spontaneity is everything and at a time when most roads in photography have been traveled many times those of you who came in late in the game or that still have a lot to say beyond composition, sharpness and exposure have this option available.

These comments are geared towards professional photographers or dedicated amateurs. This camera is intended for them, otherwise many products exist on smaller formats which can be useful for the purpose of pursuing spontaneity. And if you are neither a pro or a dedicated amateur the time variations I refer to are not that significant anyway. If you are having fun taking a shot of a friend you probably don't want to have to work at it and you are not competing and in that case if you are not a serious enthusiast, a more compact and automated medium or small format option is recommended.