groping in the dark

Jeff Bridges and the Widelux F8

On Sunday, in a fit of spontaneity, Kari and I stopped at the George Eastman House. Kari wanted to take in their exhibit on tourism photography, but unfortunately, that exhibit had moved on. Instead, we found ourselves fascinated and mesmerized by the photography of actor Jeff Bridges. Using the Widelux F8, an unusual camera with no manual focus and no shutter that produces interesting panoramic-type images, Bridges has over the past 28 years been recording his experiences on various movie sets.

Most of the photographs were humorous, a few were stunning. Bridges has been creating books of his photographs from each movie set and giving them to cast and crew as gifts and has now published a book for the rest of us. He definitely has a good eye, but the real star of the show is the Widelux. The aspect ratio of the camera is approximately 2.4:1, very similar to cinema screens. The image is captured with a lens that rotates from side to side, exposing a wide strip of 35mm film.

I'd love to get my hands on one of these cameras, but a quick peek at eBay shows that the Widelux is in relatively short supply. I may have to check out one of the other swing-type panoramic cameras out there, such as the Noblex, the Horizon or, if I'm ever feeling insanely geeky, the Krasnogorsk FT-2.