Lucky Palindromes, When Left Equals Right and Right = Left

With today’s date being 1/20/2021 we find ourselves at a palindrome, wherein the numbers read the same from left to right as they do from right to left. I think that’s kind of special, and palindromes are considered lucky in some cultures, and so here I mark the occasion. It also got me thinking about photographing with my medium-format Hasselblad film camera. One of the things that I love about shooting with the Hasselblad is that the view from the ground glass is reversed from what the eye sees.

Here is a look at a fig tree branch as shown from the waist-level viewfinder of the Hasselblad:

Looking down at the Hasselblad’s ground glass

And here is how the fig tree branch looks viewing it straight on:

View of the fig branch looking straight on, January 2021

Not everyone with this type of camera is a fan of the horizontal flip, and there are plenty of prisms on the market that correct for the phenomenon, but I find that the shift is beneficial because it helps me to first see overall form. I like the change in perspective as it opens up a composition. For this reason I think of left/right reversal as being a bonus of using this particular camera, and I also like the idea of a palindrome date being lucky.

So, with that being said, I’m off to photograph some figs.

~ Happy palindrome day to you ~