Fog, rain, and low light are the conditions most people pack away their cameras for. This photographer shoots in exactly those conditions on purpose, and the reasoning is worth understanding.
Coming to you from Ari Jaaksi - I Shoot On Film, this atmospheric video follows Jaaksi on a foggy spring morning in a park near his home, shooting on two cameras: his Leica and his Rolleiflex. He loaded the Rolleiflex with Bergger Pancro 400, a film that had been off the market for nearly a year before returning, and loaded the Leica with Fomapan 200, which he planned to push to ASA 400. Both rolls would be developed in Rodinal, a combination he says adds character that fits his style. The film choices aren't random — they're part of a deliberate approach to how the final image looks and feels.
The core idea Jaaksi builds the video around is the distinction between working like a sculptor versus a painter. A painter starts with a blank canvas and adds. A sculptor starts with a full block and removes. Jaaksi puts himself firmly in the sculptor camp: he goes to a location and asks what he can take away, not what he can add. Fog does that work for him automatically, stripping out background clutter and leaving only what matters in the frame. That's why gray, overcast, or foggy mornings aren't obstacles for him; they're the conditions he's actually waiting for.
What makes the video more interesting than a standard shooting vlog is a detail Jaaksi mentions almost as an aside: he plays a short piano piece as background music for the park footage, but he's placed a bed sheet between the hammers and the strings specifically to muffle the high frequencies. It's the same logic as the fog: remove the detail, keep the essence. That kind of thinking runs through everything he does here. He also shares a piece of gear advice near the end that flips the conventional wisdom on its head. Most people reach for their best camera when the light is good and conditions are ideal. Jaaksi does the opposite, and once he explains why, it makes complete sense.
The park footage itself is quiet and unhurried, and seeing the actual images that come out of a foggy morning with these two cameras and this development approach gives the philosophy something concrete to land on. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Jaaksi.
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