Stairway to Heaven

On my first trip out into the field with the Hasselblad, my friend and I decided to see how the 6x6 format worked on architectural images.  We had shot several images of nearby buildings using both the 4x5 and the Hasselblad during "magic hour".  As darkness fell, the lights in the foyer of this large theatre were turned on and we rapidly moved our equipment to this location.

Since I was still learning my way around the Hasselblad, I had not yet developed an intuitive knowledge of what each control did and where it was located.  The darkness added to the confusion.  In my haste to set up the camera, instead of pressing a button that I thought opened the cover for the waist-level finder, I pressed the one that releases the camera back.  What a sickening sound it was to hear the brand-new film back hit the concrete and bounce several times.  Fortunately, this particular back was the newer model that has the plastic piece added that holds the darkslide.  The plastic portion took the brunt of the impact and only a slight roughening of one corner resulted.

Camera: Hasselblad 503CW

Lens: Hasselblad Distagon 150mm f4 CF

 Film: Ektachrome 64

Development: Normal