Mamiya Press
The Original Mamiya Press S medium-format rangefinder system camera, made in Japan 1960.
Initially I was drawn to the interesting aesthetic of this camera. I was used to using a 6x6 so I thought it would be an extra opportunity to have a 6x9 and it was a very affordable camera to buy second hand. Despite it being designed to use by the press, it wasn't the most comfortable camera to carry around, it was heavy and I didn't find it gave me more benefits than my 35mm camera. Soon after I got it I got a Fuji 6x9 which was a lot lighter and had a better rangefinder system so was easier to focus, it was three times the price but worth every penny.
I used the Mamiya Press to photograph my series 'Resettlement', which studies houses in the Fens which were no longer habitable due to soil erosion, they were condemned and the owners were being rehoused by the council. Many of the people who lived in those houses had lived there all their lives, farming communities where houses were handed down from one generation to the next. The series captures their lives and histories through interior details in their homes.
I also used it to take some of the photographs from 'Prefab' and 'A View of the Fens from the Car With Wings', the series all from around the same period of time are interwoven, connections made by people I met in the Fens along the way.
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