caught off guard

The fountain in Princes Square, Launceston, 2002-2003.
Probably taken with a Minolta XG-M, on Ilford HP-5+.

Abandoned

Holga 135, probably XP-2, possibly Fuji 400

Not really abandoned. Just early morning at the Seaport. I can't for the life of me remember why I was down here early enough to experience an empty car park. Perhaps work? Maybe.

I've always liked this shot, pointy rooves, nice even-ish mix of tones: no black-metal-blacks or blinging whites.

I miss summer...

I need to get some more Ilford Pan F 50. Just a shame that it takes two weeks for a film to come back from the lab here...

Ilford Pan (or, How I Tried To Copy Max Dupain)

On New Year's Day, my wife & I went with some friends to Coles Bay. I gave a roll of Ilford Pan F 50 a go. Some of the results were good.

I like the film. I think I'll be using it more often...particularly during the day when it's sunny. Allows me to make the most of wide apertures...

Ilford SFX 200

Today I picked up my first exposed roll of Ilford SFX 200. Today, I also found out that without a red filter, the film is just an expensive B&W film. However, I am still very pleased with the results, it's nice to use a "proper" black & white film - I've always liked Ilford's films better than mono films offered by Fuji & Kodak, but I guess that's all Ilford do, so they may as well do them right.

I probably like the top one best - I miss getting that silvery look of a well exposed black & white image which has the full compliment of in-between tones.

Tamar Island preview...

This morning I went for a walk at the Tamar Wetlands, my favourite urban wetland reserve. As well as taking the Minolta out for a spin - and more importantly, testing out Ilford SFX200 - I took a few photos on my mobile as well. These photos are never particularly good, but with a dose of basic levelling in GIMP, they scrub up okay. It does feel kind of odd using digital photos on a blog supposedly dedicated to my bloody minded determination to keep using film, but I consider these a preview of film-based shots to come. Perhaps not black & white, and without the extended red sensitivity, but ehhh...it's my blog, it is.

Mode: Acquire

Recently I've just been buying film, not shooting it. Apart from the brief hiccup that was International Commie Camera Day, I haven't taken a single photo, let alone had anything developed.

Anyways, in the latest instalment of my saga to give the local photography chain store a "go", my order of Pan F came in...in 120. Useful, seeing as I don't own a manual 120 camera. I doubt the Holga would deal with a fim so slow (or more correctly, I wouldn't have the patience to make it work). So it'll be another week or so now. Patience, patience. I did buy some Fuji Pro 400H to compensate, although I am still also waiting for the 800Z to come in.

Honestly, it would be much easier for me just to go to the Fuji Pro Shop in the UK, but the postage cost annoys me a bit. If I had someone to go halves with, I wouldn't hesitate...

International Commie Camera Day

The results are in for International Commie Camera Day 2009. Or more correctly, the film was developed and the negatives scanned.

I'm pleased with the results, considering it was my first outing with the Zorki. It's a nice camera, feels solid, looks superb, and is relatively quiet. It was almost a disaster on May 1st, as it was bucketing down with rain in the morning, and holding both a camera and an umbella proved too much for my sleep addled brain. However, the afternoon was quite sunny, and leaving 5 minutes early from work allowed me to take advantage of the light. And seeing as I'm reliant on Sunny-16 for shots with the Zorki, difficult light is best avoided if possible.

They seem to have come out alright...and I didn't forget to cock the shutter before messing with the speed.

A couple of photos from Strathmore, a property behind Evandale. Incidentally, this is where I was married 4 weeks ago. These shots are from the morning after our celebration (bear in mind this is not representative of where our wedding actually took place...that was in the garden area around the other side).

Ilford XP2, Minolta XG-M, 50mm lens. And, if I remember correctly, the first time I've used the UV filter. Whether it had any effect on the resulting film is difficult to say; some say UV filters are only good for protecting your lens from scratches. I have a weak theory that as we have higher levels of UV in our skies down here (thanks to proximity to the ozone hole), it's not completely unneccesary. But I have nothing to back that up.

--

Following this wonderful day, we spent three weeks in sunny New Zealand by way of honeymoon. I took 10 rolls of Fuji Reala 100, 2 rolls of Fuji Velvia 100, and picked up 2 rolls of Kodachrome 100 (which went unused). I think I have 3 rolls of Reala left. I'll be developing those in the next few weeks - more correctly, Stallards will be developing them, and I will be paying them - so I'll post the results as they happen. First time I've used Reala or Velvia, so it'll be interesting to see the results. The Reala I shot at 80iso on advice from a friend, the Velvia I shot at 100 as I've heard horror stories about correct exposure...and as I'm new to Velvia (and slide in general), I thought it best to stick with the safest path, and branch out if I feel like it later.

I'm excited to see how the Reala comes out, as I've had nothing but good results with the standard consumer-level Fuji film (Superia 100, 200, 400), and Reala is supposed to be the bee's knees of Fuji neg. Green is supposed to come out wonderfully vivid, so we'll see...Heidi kindly obliged by buying and wearing a wonderful green knit from Akaroa on our third day in NZ, I guess that will come out pretty amazinglier and stuff.