Highett Menswear

Mick Fagan
Posts: 412
Joined: 24 Sep 2015, 21:20
Location: Melbourne

Highett Menswear

Postby Mick Fagan » 11 Sep 2018, 21:50

I took this shortly before it was closing. The fella who owned the shop had run it for 43 years, I bought all of my socks and some other stuff from him for about 20 years. This shop was the only place I could get Australian made woollen business socks, which were about the best on the market.

Shot in December 2009. The white car in the background wasn't there when I composed and as I was about to the click the shutter, I stopped and re-swept the footpath as it was a warm summer day with wind constantly blowing leaves and stuff. By the time I had a clean footpath, the white car was there; I took the shot.

Uncropped, or at least only cropped by the V800 Epson scanner film holder.

Taken with my Shen Hao HZX-IIA 90mm f/6.8 90mm Linhof Schneider Kreuznach Angulon lens, which barely covered the 4x5" format. F/22, ½ second, no filtration Ilford FP4+

Mick.

09083_Highett_Menswear_90mm_F22_HalfSec_FP4_003_web.jpg

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: Highett Menswear

Postby Walter Glover » 12 Sep 2018, 17:54

To be honest, Mick, I see the car as adding to rather than subtracting from, the shot. But hey, that's just me.

Can't help but think of Barry Humphreys with this one. Not that I think for a moment that he might have sought his sartorial jollies there necessarily, but the wonderful lyrics from the era of Sandy Stone, et al: It's so wonderfully QUI-ET in HIGH_ET. Probably supported by exclamation of driving around the 'jung-oh' for an hour in search of a possie.

This is right in my bailiwick and it is what the comparative portability and resolving power of well crafted 4x5 excels at.

Love it.
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

Mick Fagan
Posts: 412
Joined: 24 Sep 2015, 21:20
Location: Melbourne

Re: Highett Menswear

Postby Mick Fagan » 12 Sep 2018, 19:44

I seem to remember, "Beautifully quiet in Highett", but it is decades since I've heard it played on the wireless. :mrgreen:

Not sure whether Sandy Stone had been born when he sang it, I think it was called the, "Highett Waltz".

I agree with you about the comparative portability of 4x5", one of the reasons I went with it.

I've used 8x10" monorail Toyo's in a studio environment, including a 4x5" reducing back. Actually used one with a 360mm lens and the 4x5" back, thought it was a hoot; then I took the reducing back off and used it for the same subject with the same lens. It was that good, it knocked my socks off; no wonder Maris is an advocate of the larger format.

As an all round format that allows me to chop and change lenses and bellows willy nilly, the performance of my Shen Hao 4x5" wooden folder camera is really good, not in the league of a Technikardan which I once came very close to purchasing, but portable, and rigid enough with enough rise/fall and rear shift available to keep me happy at a price I could justify.

I took this shot 9 years ago and made a wonderful 300mm x 400mm print for the owner of the shop, if I do say so myself, it was quite a stunning print; one of my better ones. The print looks better than this scan as I held the inside of the store when printing; one of my better negatives.

Thanks for your comments.

Mick.


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