As everyone knows I’m a very fashion-aware person. I like to observe Fashion TV, get in touch with the latest trends and dress accordingly.

NOT! I think it is not about the looks, it’s about the practical aspect of the clothing. You have to have enough pockets to fit your living, they can’t restrict your movement in any way and if you catch fire, you have to be able to quickly remove all. Finally – they have to last forever. Right now I find my 1969 East Germany military pants are just the right choice, they really are, except for traveling. You get stripped in the airport for sure and when you visit Berlin you get a lot of stares from angry geezers (as happened on my trip to see Red Hot Chili Peppers live in Wuhlheide, Berlin 2006).

Anyway, all that does not stop me from stepping out of the box and seeing some fashion shows.  A friend studies in Euroülikool and they organize some shows to display the works of the students. I’ve been there about 3 times. I must say, I haven’t seen any practical things there, I would even say they sacrifice all to beauty. Some of the clothes stop your normal movement, why would you wear something like that? All and all, it’s nice to see how peoples mind fly totally different way on the same subject.

Now we come to the shot, my first “fashion shot” of a friends collection. She wanted some shots and I had 3 frames left in my Kiev 6C. We went outside and I was desperately looking for a great background for the shots – bang, there it is – an old Russian T40 tractor right there in the middle of the city. What are the odds for that? I took the shots but I think they look a bit lame. Firstly cause I’m not very good at telling people what to do. They did whatever they wanted on the shots. Secondly, the weather – boring gray sky, not enough light for smaller aperture etc. So, some middle-class shots.

Image: Piibe’s very patriotic collection for the summer of 2009

Equipment: Kiev 6C, MIR-38b 65mm f3.5 / Fujicolor Reala 100

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat_Kiev_6C_2009_4/

Oh yeah, I discovered a defect on my Kiev, if you look at the full set, you can see white splashes on the pictures, it indicates that my mirror does not flip up correctly when taking a shot.

Let me introduce you to my friend Von Sten who is well known as a graveyard photographer. He is the guy who suggested me my first film camera Sears TLS and after years of digital took me back to film photography. He equips me with films, hosts the development events and scans the negatives. He’s a great guy and friend with photography for a very long time. He’s studying photography right now and I like how he goes – while others represent their work as 10×15 digital image printout, while shooting medium/large formats, his works negative can be the same size and the final result A4, A3 or whatever. He experiments with all sorts of old cameras and related equipment, he has always something interesting coming out of his sleeve.
As I have to give back the Hasselblad to it’s owner, Sten lends me Kiev 6C medium format camera. Let’s see what comes out of that piece of equipment.
I’m thankful for all the help he provides and I suggest you check out his stuff @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/vonsten/

Image: The graveyard photographer after hard working day with 2 gravediggers. 

Equipment: Hasselblad 500 c/m, Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f2,8 / Kodak Professional 120

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat2008_4/ (mostly 2nd film from France)

Picture: Meet my friend Imm in one of his trademark positions. Can you resist a perfect cheezeburger?

Excuses: I see a lot of scratches on the images, I guess Photopoint didn’t handle the film carefully enough. The film was given to me rolled into 35mm film tube. How cool is that?

Equipment: Hasselblad 500 c/m, Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f2,8 / Illford 400 C41

Full set @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/mediumformat2008_2/

So, on one evening, when I was too tired to drive home I landed @ Piibe’s place in Kadrioru. With Kirke, they were minding their own business as usual and I decided to make a shot or two. Here you go.

The full set can be found @ http://www.tiblu.com/img/kadriorg2008.

And there is more, an animated gif for all you oldschool animation fans HERE!