Then last May, one of my favorite photoblogs, T.O.P., published this entry. That was all the encouragement I needed. I took to the streets armed with my stepfather’s 1972 Kiev 3A. Not a Leica, but a rangefinder camera, still; I got used to its technical deficiencies and after a while actually came to like them. They push the photographs somewhat into the realm of Lomography but I don’t mind the least.

Shooting with an old rangefinder is quite a different experience from using a DSLR, . . . → Read More: Tel Aviv in B&W]]> For a while I’d been thinking about trying to take photos with an old film camera. Having started with digital right from the beginning, I had never done this before. I wanted to rid myself of the electronics, the blinking lights, beeping sounds, glowing screens and automatically calculated exposures, and get down to the bare essentials: recording light on a film surface with a purely mechanical device.

Then last May, one of my favorite photoblogs, T.O.P., published this entry. That was all the encouragement I needed. I took to the streets armed with my stepfather’s 1972 Kiev 3A. Not a Leica, but a rangefinder camera, still; I got used to its technical deficiencies and after a while actually came to like them. They push the photographs somewhat into the realm of Lomography but I don’t mind the least.

Shooting with an old rangefinder is quite a different experience from using a DSLR, not only from the point of view of the photographic process itself, but also in the way you interact with people when you hold it in your hands. A DSLR armed with the customary heavy zoom lens looks menacing. The Kiev, as I found out, elicits mostly smiles. Walking around with it is as much an exercise in interacting with people as it is an exercise in photography proper.

I haven’t shot many rolls so far, and the experiment is still ongoing. Here’s a selection from what I have at the moment. Click the photo for a slideshow.

Tel Aviv. Click the photo for more.

Neve Tzedek

Suzan Dalal center

People and mirrors in southern Tel Aviv.

Oh so true...

Southern Tel Aviv.

Even sculptures sleep. Neve Tzedek.

Drinking wine on a lazy Friday afternoon. Neve Tzedek.

The neighbour's home in early morning.