Archive for the ‘Film’ Category
Back into the swing of things
Only have a couple shots to put up for the moment.
I shot a roll of TriX400 at 800iso. Normally thats fine, but i developed it in Rodinal, and the grain wasnt very nice in some of the shots, which isnt helped by my scanner which is on its last legs. It was the first roll i’d taken in a while and got a few shots that i like.
Actually, there was a whole series that i really liked, but i wont be uploading them here just yet.
The shots below were taken at my Dad’s graduation show, he just finished a Masters of Art. I’m very proud of him as he’s never actually studied at uni before, but did so well they’re asked him back to do honours. I’ll make another post later on detailing his work a little more.
These were just a few random shots taken on the night. Nothing amazing, but i have to get into the swing of things again.
First roll from the new camera
Well i finally got around to developing the first roll from my new Bessa today.. What a bloody disaster.
For the first time ever i had trouble loading the film onto the spools. It kept getting stuck, and would crease and bunch up.. I started to loose patience so decided to chop the film randomly in half and load the rest of the negatives on the other spool. By that time i was thinking about chucking the whole film out. I wasnt in the best of moods. But i eventually stopped having a sook and put the Fujifilm Acros in Rodinal at 1+50 for 14 minutes. It turned out ok i think, not perfect though. Temperature was about 16 degrees which probably didnt help.
I went back to the Opera House again. I know its touristy, but i think its one of the more interesting structures in Sydney. I really likes it’s angles and curves and scale. Its very unique. I’m going to keep going back there trying to shoot some non touristy compositions.
Oh, and i had the 35mm on for all (except the last) of these shots.
Here’s a few more taken in the city:
Now this last shot was taken with a Russian Jupiter 8, 50mm f/2 lens from 1962. I only took a couple test shots with it, but wow im impressed. I’m really surprised how nice it looks wide open at f/2. It has really nice bokeh and bit of a natural “glow”. I think it’ll take a little while to get used to it, as it can render some areas a little bit too grey. But i’m going to keep practicing to get the best out of it. It’s by far the most unique looking lens i have. Oh and it cost me nothing which is extra nice 
I’ll be using it with some colour film also.
Europe Rescanned
Have been stuck inside doing assignments all weekend, but managed to find one distraction i couldnt resist.
I stumbled on some old negatives of mine when i went to Europe with my family years ago. I was in year 10 or 11 at the time, and just started a photography class at school. The only real reason i did the class was because we had to choose an art subject and i didnt want to have to draw or paint… Yeah, um, i dont know how i’ve ended up studying graphic design now..
But anyway, the class quickly became my favourite and i would borrow a camera from school every weekend. When my parents told me we were going overseas to visit relatives i immediately thought about photo opportunities, so i arranged to borrow a camera from school.
These were the days when i didnt care about what camera or lens i was using, i dont think i ever actually knew, i’d just pick up whatever was available and loaded it with film. That was another thing, film, i couldnt care less what it was. I’d just load canisters with whatever was in the bulk loader at the time and try to squeeze 40 shots worth of film on them 
I quite like the thought of not worrying about the camera im holding or the film in it. It’s almost a more “honest” way of taking photos. Not stripping quality back for the sake of getting a “lomo” look, or going out of your way to use a manual camera to have “full control”. It was purely about capturing an image. Finding the shot with whatever you have in your hands.
It all sounds nice until i remember a few things. The lens i did use for alot of shots was the biggest piece of shit. The left side was out of focus compared to the right so closeup images suffered pretty bad. The film advance lever wouldnt always engage too, so i’d get overlapped images, or just weird spacing in between shots on the film. Then i remembered how i use to put the negatives in the holders when they were still wet. Some shots that would of been half decent are now covered in dust that has dried to the wet negative..
I like to remember a more “romantic” view of taking pictures when i was younger, but i think it’d be hard to completely go back to the way i used to do things.
I’d like to think i enjoy the entire photography process more, as opposed to just the shots themselves.
Well, thats how i justify the money i spend on cameras atleast… 
Here are some of the shots that werent covered in dust. This set was taken in Italy. I quite like them even if they arent perfect. It also helps to have something interesting to take a photo of too.
Uncharted Territory
Well, that’s a bit dramatic actually..
The other week i got some Fuji Neopan SS (100iso) as it was super cheap, and i’d never heard too much about it. Felt like trying something different. I decided to shoot a test roll this wee as i couldn’t really wait to use it on something special, i just wanted to see what it’d look like. I was half way through the roll when i noticed something wrong. My camera was set at 400 ISO =/
I initially got annoyed with myself, but then thought it’d be a good opportunity to try and push process the film a little (i’d never tried it before). So i shot the rest of the roll and started looking for some recommended development times. To my astonishment there were hardly any… Well, there were dev times for 100ISO, but nothing for 400.. I started looking at times for other developers but found hardly any info at all.. Thinks weren’t looking good.
After hours of searching i thought i’d just give it a go making an “educated guess”… Actually, it was more of a plain old “guess”.
Somehow, it worked. As you’d imagine i was pretty happy about it all. Actually, it produced some of the nicer results i’d got.
Here they are. Fuji Neopan SS developed in Rodinal at 1+50 @ 21C for 18 minutes, pushed to 400 ISO.
I dont know what happened with this shot, but thought it looked kind of interesting anyway..
Red Filters, Flares, and Ghosts
Just some shots from the other day. Tried some 400 ISO HP5 out this time, i quite like it. Developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 11 mins. The damn flare killed the second shot, should of expected it though. The shot with the flowers was taken with an old red filter i was testing out. Oh, and check out my ghost photo at the bottom :p
OMG A GHOST! :p
