5 frames with Nikkormat FT3 in Meidling, Wien

Again, Vienna. There’s something about this city; it attracts me in a way that no other city does. The place is a dream come true for any photographer, be that medium of film or digital. For me, the beauty of the city is rendered best with film, but then again, I am not a digital user, so I would not even begin to presume.

For the last decade or so, every time I visited the city I was looking to photograph known and famous landmarks, such as the Hof, Schönbrunn, the old basilicas, and so forth. Rewarding as it was, I started to feel like this city is not just that; there has to be something else. I don’t know, another face or a different personality of this place. It has to be more than the Hof to Vienna.

So, this time I went and rented a hotel room in Meidling (Altmannsdorf), which is not the most fashionable side of the city, but It’s a nice neighbourhood in the 12^th Bezirk (sector). Not very far from Schönbrunn. A very nice place indeed, working class and such, with a very good transportation connections to the Innerstadt and whatnot. Very comfortable, my opinion.

For three days, I enjoyed walking the streets of this neighbourhood; I found it liberating, if you understand me. Free from all the hubbub of the central Vienna, free from all the tourists that flood the streets like there is no tomorrow, free from the difficult choices when one has to decide what and how to shoot a certain monument or whatever. Beautiful as the street/landmark/etc photography may be, in famous or well-known cities, it is not without some stress, at least in my case. So little time, so many places, right?

Anyways, back to Meidling, where I felt, I was saying, extremely comfortable about snapping around. Liberating, was the term I used. It’s not very different from where I live, people here are miles away from the tourist avenues. Time slows down, it seemed to me; people are going about their usual business, kids playing, shop owners are greeting their regulars, grannies with their nephews coming and going.

As said, life here feels like it slows down, and to me this is a real incentive to spend a few days (albeit for a short period) in a not-so-central, “normal” place, as it were. There was a time when I would’ve hate staying anywhere else but in the bullseye of a city, but those times are long gone. I love going out, walk for miles with my camera, have a nice cuppa on a small terrace while enjoying a few pages of my Terry Pratchett’s wonderful series, get to know people and chat with them about well, nothing really. But the experience is something that go hand in hand with my photography; without trying to understand the place, I feel like my photographs are less vocal, less accurate to the feeling of the place I visit. I do hope this makes sense.

About the camera: this Nikkormat FT3 has been in my collection for a good number of years now. It suffered some damage (cracked screen, dented prism housing, meter wobbly and not to be trusted, film winding issues). I have decided to have it repaired, and so Oleg Khaliavin made a brilliant job: he restored the meter which is now dead accurate, cleaned the heck out the entire camera, film winding is a purrfect pleasure. Along with my Nikon FM3a and F2, this Nikkormat FT3 is my go camera currently. Thank you, Oleg !

Film wise, I chose a roll of Rollei 80s and one of Kentmere 100 shot at 80 (the fourth in this series). Dev and scan by my own hand. I am really please the way the Rollei 80s came out, with the Kentmere 100 not a shabby job either. I do hope you feel the same.

Thank you ever so much for taking the time to read this, appreciated!

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