Historic Waterloo Village - Part 1 -Photo inspiration outing after outing

Being a New Jersey based photographer I am fortunate enough to have many historic destinations to visit and photograph that are generally within a 2 hour or less driving distance. From Cape May to High Point, destinations such as Batsto Village in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Fort Hancock in Sandy Hook, Liberty State Park, Allaire State Park, Millbrook Village and Princeton University to name just a few. This of course is just scratching the surface, there are so many historic and scenic destinations to visit and photograph and I do have my favorites. One destination is Waterloo Village, a 19th century canal town located on the Morris Canal in Sussex County New jersey. 

Waterloo Village - 19th century canal town located in Sussex County - NJ

So being one of my favorite destinations, how do I find inspiration to photograph this location as well as some of my other favorite locations after I have visited them time and time again? Well there are few things I can do to change my perspective and keep things fresh. The first thing I could do is take the same camera or cameras that I used on my first visit and in this case it would be my Pentax K1000 equipped with a 50mm normal lens and my fixed lens compact Rollei 35S. Both are high quality 35mm film cameras with very sharp lenses capable of extremely sharp high quality results, and simply go back with these cameras, but this time choose a day when the weather conditions are different than that of the first outing, or in areas like NJ with four different seasons, choose a different time of the year. That can easily change the overall look to the surroundings creating a whole different feel to a familiar subject.

Different times of year can have a big affect on how you may approach a subject.

That's just a simple suggestion to start off with. I could also go back with my interchangeable lens camera and use a different lens. Using a wide angle lens vs a normal or telephoto lens changes the angle of view as well as the perspective of the image creating a whole different look to the same subject. The above photo on the left was taken with 31mm wide angle lens and the one on the right with a 100mm telephoto lens, and even though taken at a different time of year and different viewpoint, it gives images a tighter and more compressed look than the wide angle lens. Using a camera with interchangeable lenses can definitely help in keeping repeat visits interesting and fresh.

Another change of pace that can keep things interesting is to use a different format or style of camera.

Another way in keeping things interesting, especially for us film photographers, that will also not break the bank by any means, are the crop of the inexpensive plastic cameras available these days . These cameras come in in different styles and formats and have a huge following. Cameras that are categorized by some as toy cameras like the Holga 120n, a medium format camera that produces square images instead of rectangle ones. Then there's the extremely interesting Lomography Sprocket Rocket, which produces panoramic images like the photo shown above, sprocket holes and all. There are also cameras like the AgfaPhoto reusable full frame 35mm camera that produces a standard 4"x6" rectangle photo, but with it's own special look.

Holga 120n	Sprocket Rocket	AgfaPhoto Reusable 35mm

Besides the physical difference and shape of the photos they produce, all these plastic camera have a lot in common. That being, they are all very basic with very few adjustments, if any at all, and that they all have simple plastic lenses. These simple plastic optics have their own special attributes usually producing and image where the center of the image is sharper than the edges producing photo that has dreamy look and feel to it. There are a great number of photographers, myself included who love to shoot with these cameras denouncing the name toy that can sometime be attached to them. There has been an incredible amount of beautiful photos taken with these simple plastic tools.

Taken with the 6x6 medium format Holga 120n

Taken with the 35mm Lomography Sprocket Rocket

Taken with the AgfaPhoto reusable 35mm film camera

There is yet another camera choice that can change the way change the way I approach my favorite photo destinations. That is creating photos with the use of a lensless camera (aka) the pinhole camera. Another aspect of film photography that I have really come to enjoy and appreciate immensely. It presents a major change of pace and a whole different way of previsualizing your subject. In this case I'm using a camera that almost always requires a tripod or some method to hold it still as well as using extremely longer exposure times in order to capture an image. This really slows down the whole process and also allows one to create images with a softer dreamy appearance.  It is a whole different world and another way of keeping the art of photography fresh and interesting, and quite inspiring. Burnout can be real bummer when we can't find that spark to go out an create photographs, so using different tools can really help to inspire and move one thru that dreaded artistic block.

My beautifully made simple wooden 120 multi format pinhole camera. As basic as it gets.

Using a tiny pinhole instead of a lens, my camera can capture images in 3 different centimeter sizes - 6x6, 6x9 and 6x16 panoramic - 6x9 is my preference.

I've been to Waterloo Village at least 5 times in the past two years and using different tools and techniques really keeps me going back time and time again, keeping things interesting and fresh and keeping it all about the art of capturing images on film regardless of the tools, it's the end results that counts and the enjoyment and pleasure of the ride getting there. So that being said, if you would like have a peak at the collection of photos that I have taken at Waterloo Village please click on the links or photos below. Enjoy :-)

View more photos from Waterloo Village

View more photos from Waterloo Village

Click on the links above to if you would like to view more photos that I have take a Waterloo Village and as always, thanks you so much for viewing my blog :-)