My dual Beaulieu R16 rig (ex-Leibovitz crew) and the stoic legend of Björn Andersson.
Just looking at my shelf today and feeling a bit nostalgic. I wanted to share a piece of personal and cinematic history with you guys.
Back in 2018, I acquired this dual Beaulieu R16 ecosystem from the widow of Annie Leibovitz's late assistant photographer. It was the exact run-and-gun rig they used during some of their iconic documentary shoots. It felt good knowing that my purchase helped her out of some financial difficulties at the time, keeping the gear respected and the history alive.
When I first got them, they honestly looked like they’d been through a war—beautiful, heavy patina, a dead charger, and two completely dead battery cells. I knew there was only one person to send them to: Björn Andersson in Sweden.
Dealing with Björn is an experience. The man is the definition of cold, hard, Scandinavian professionalism. His email replies were literally one sentence long. "Received." "Cells repacked, minor fixes done. Pay here." "Shipped." No small talk, just absolute master-class work.
Here’s the funny part: I had Björn ship the fully serviced kits to my girlfriend, who was studying in Paris at the time, so she could hand-carry them back to me in China. Big mistake on her part, lol. Beaulieus might look compact, but they are dense, solid blocks of metal. The two bodies, the turret setup, the 12-120mm, and the heavy Schneider lenses weighed around 7-8 kg (15+ lbs).
She had to sacrifice packing her new clothes to fit these literal metal bricks into her luggage. She was absolutely furious when she landed. I had to treat her to a massive, expensive dinner just to survive the day. Worth it though.
It’s been about 7 or 8 years since that whole 2017-2018 era. Lately, I’ve pivoted to creating a new series of works, and sadly, I just haven't had the time to run film through these beauties. But every time I look at that Turret and the Angénieux zoom sitting there, it brings back all those memories of acquiring them, the emails with Björn, and my very angry (but amazing) girlfriend carrying them across Eurasia.
The following years I used it only once to make analog print. It was a tour recording the also legendary Chinese band the Tongue. I've attached the prints I did with it.
Analog gear just has so much soul. Anyone else holding onto heavy gear mostly for the memories attached to it?
