Archive for the ‘Film’ Category
Some shots around Sydney
Developed an old roll of Tri-x and found some shots I took in and around the city. Alot of the shots are in the same area as an old set i did around Circular Quay with the Olympus Trip.
I shot this roll in my Bessa – a camera i haven’t been using lately. I seem to of gone back to my Olympus OM’s which i’ve found are with out a doubt my favourite cameras to shoot with. That’s no real secret though i guess.
Got a few rolls to put through the Mamiya RB67 which i cant wait to start using again. I’m going to finally bite the bullet and get a new scanner though for the 120 film.
Been a While
.. Since my last post.
Nothing exciting to report really. Been having trouble finding time for photography lately. Well, I shoot stuff, but at an extremely slow rate. I’ll bring the camera out and may only shoot one frame all day. I dont know what it is, but i’m having trouble finding anything visually interesting lately.
For some reason I also have 5 rolls of film sitting in various cameras half finished and another 3 or 4 rolls already shot and waiting to be developed. I’m just not in a hurry to see whats on them.
Saying that though, the other day I got an urge to develop some Neopan 1600 (not so interested in the photos themselves) as i’d never done it before ,so went out to buy some Microphen. At the last minute I changed my mind as i felt like bit of a challenge and decided to use my normal developer – Rodinal. Probably the worst developer you can choose for high iso stuff, but i figured i’d be able to minimise the grain by altering a few developing techniques. I think it worked, i was relatively pleased with the results. Sure they’re grainy, but I dont think any more than what i’d get from another developer, plus the grain is pretty sharp which is nice too.
The roll was an old one I had sitting around, and most were of photos I took on NYE, so things got a little “messy” near the end of the roll/night. I’ll just post one up for now as I haven’t gone through them all yet.
It’s now my mission to develop another roll this week. I need to get back into the routine.
Makeup
This style of photo is a new aesthetic for me.
I recently shot some 100iso Fuji Reala Superia on my half frame and it produced some impressive prints. However, my scanner seems to hate C41, and anything i scan looks flat and dull. That means im not going to bother trying to post them up for the time being. However, there were some shots i took in very low light that interested me even though they lacked the vibrancy of a proper exposed negative (i had to trick the camera into thinking that i had the flash on otherwise it wouldn’t let me take the shot). They’re dark, grainy and soft, but as an experiment I think they turned out nice, and create a sense of atmosphere or feeling for me. I hope to develop the concept a little further and get a whole set inspired by the shot/s below.
As usual, it’s probably best to click on the image to see it at full resolution.
Oh yeah, one more thing.. I’m waiting on something very special that’ll be coming in the mail soon 
“Instant” 35mm Film
Well, not quite “instant”, but pretty damn close.
I didn’t know this (maybe you did), but Polaroid used to make 35mm film that you could process at home without messy chemicals, in a matter of minutes. The system seems to of had some popularity at one stage, but like other Polaroid products, the profit margin must of been pretty small and the product was phased out.Several types of film instant film were made (all slide film) in both colour and black & white.
The system is based around a hand operated Autoprocessor. Into this you place your film and its matching processing unit (single use-comes with each roll of film). You then complete a series of winding actions and hey presto, you’re film is developed in about 2 minutes.
I saw a processing unit and 6 rolls of film going for less than $5 the other day, so thought I’d give it a go. The only thing is, the film had expired in 1984! I was more curious to see if anything would come out at all, and have a bit of fun.
I did get results, but as you’ll see, its pretty rough and insanely contrasty, but surpringly ok for film that coule be over 25 years old! I have a few rolls left, so might shoot them deliberately to bring the most out of the unique aesthetic. I’m kind of thinking of the movie “Metropolis”
Half Frame Fun!
Here are some shots from my first roll in the little Pen EF i just got.
Tried out some diptychs as it fits them on a regular single frame. Some obviously worked better than others, but it was still alot of fun. I’m quite surprised how well it metered and how sharp the lens is (when its actually in focus ofcourse).
Tri-x400 in Rodinal 1+50
