Mannequin in a Storefront Window

Having been going through my catalog of photographs from these past few years and adding keywords to them, I’ve noticed a trend: one subject I’ve been drawn to in my street photography are storefront mannequins. I’m not sure if they are convenient stand-ins for a shy photographer who wants to include people in his images. Whatever the case may be, I find that they often make interesting subjects.

On a grey and foggy morning last month, I got out on a walk around town and snapped this photo of a mannequin in a local wedding dress shop:

There’s something about this image where a number of elements all came together: the elegance of the dress, the reflection of the tree in the storefront window, and the darkness of the shop behind the mannequin (the shop was closed when I took this image), which makes the white of the dress pop with nice contrast. I purposefully chose a fast lens aperture setting to emphasize the mannequin and blur out the other elements as much as I could.

The film I had in my camera also played a role. I’ve been drawn more and more to Ilford FP4 Plus, a slower ASA 125-speed film that has a long history (check out this writeup on Blue Moon’s blog for more). FP4 Plus has a classic look that I find quite compelling.

And another thing: that particular roll of Ilford FP4 Plus was the first roll I put through my new (to me) Nikon F “Apollo” camera body:

I recently bought it from my friend and fellow blogger who writes wonderfully thoughtful pieces and shares them at fogdog-photography.com. He’s written that he has a sentimental attachment to his camera gear. I feel the same way about my own gear.

This new addition fills a certain gap in my Nikon F collection. I wanted something that would give me that distinctive Nikon F shooting experience but that would also stand up a bit better to the rigors of use than my other two Nikon F bodies are able to do. The two features that I sought may be small, but they are significant: a plastic-tipped film advance lever, which makes for more comfortable operation, and toughened neck strap eyelets that feature steel inserts.

I’ve complained and have always been a bit paranoid about carrying around my older Nikon F bodies out of a fear for wearing out their soft brass eyelets. See this page for an illustration of what can happen over time. Thanks to its updated design, which Nikon added to the Nikon F in its final few years of production, I feel a bit more confident about carrying around my Nikon F “Apollo” camera body.