Category: Film

It was about a month ago when I last mentioned Film. Well, here I go again!

In this very digital age, where even reasonably priced cameras can make really good photographs, and the all singing,  all dancing mobile phones work wonders, it seems quite strange that a growing interest in film seems to be flourishing.

Well, perhaps it’s not so strange after all.

Despite the fact that developing a roll of film and scanning it to CD will cost you a small fortune, there is still something fascinating, perhaps even wildly romantic, about loading a roll of film into an old camera.  Some say it’s that grainy, uniquely filmy effect that people are searching for.  But let’s be honest, quite pleasing ye olde filme effects can be achieved with ease using camera settings, Gimp and a whole host of other programmes and apps.

I believe it’s that yearning for the antique that seems to be in vogue at the moment. Why light a candle when there are numerous LEDs offering a similar quality of light. Why fiddle around with vinyl records when an MP3 player performs brilliantly. Why go for a spin in a veteran car when a new car with all those lovely features is no doubt far more reliable and economical,  and of course who on earth would want to go on a journey in an old, smelly, oily and grubby steam train when the new trains are quicker and far more comfortable – well, me for one!!

Perhaps I have succumbed to the lure of the antique and perhaps that’s why I plopped a film in my Yashica T5 a while ago,  and enjoyed every minute pointing and shooting with it.  Who really cares why the good old film has once again captured my imagination – but if it has, and your imagination has been captured too – let’s just enjoy it.

Once upon a time there was a photography shop in Zurich that never failed to catch my attention. I used to ride past it on the way to work quite regularly,  and the windows were full of fascinating stuff – enlargers, developing stuff, paper cameras… you name it they would have it. But the shop never actually appeared to be open.

Imagine then my excitement last year when I read that the shop was closing and there was to be a closing down sale “flea market”.  For various reasons I didn’t actually attend, but I did read a couple of interesting articles in the newspaper about the history of the business and decided to capture this historic event on film.

That was almost a year ago. Since then the shop has reopened      http://www.ars-imago.com/    and sells all sorts of film related stuff.  I plan to visit the shop within the next few months or so, but in the meantime I did back their new product…. more about that soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I didn’t actually make a note of the exact date, I believe it was mid November last year when the Ilford HP5 plopped snuggly into the Yashica T5 and I began to look longingly skyward for the rain to come.

My idea was to use the fairly weatherproof point & shoot camera to capture a few very “soggy” images, to stroll about town as the heavens opened and to capture the rain sodden scenes in all their glory.

With dark, menacing skies and the first spots of rain making their presence felt on the pavements, my expectations for the first photo shooting were very high. Alas the sun won in the end, and the ground was hardly damp by the time I shot the first photo.

Photography in winter is always a bit of a compromise I suppose. When I was walking the streets with camera at the ready it was either too dark or too dry. As I looked wishfully out of the office window it was raining buckets and the lighting was absolutely perfect.

Despite all my little problems, the unique feeling of once again shooting with film after so many years was most rewarding. Not just snapping away with complete disregard of materials or cost, but carefully choosing one scene, framing it artistically and then pressing the button – those were the days.

In an ideal world art shouldn’t be reduced to financial means, but having picked up my film this week I couldn’t help but notice that for the price of about 25 films (incl. developing, printing and scanning to CD) I could buy myself a nice new Nikon D7000 or a Pentax K5.

I will of course be using this argument to convince she who holds the purse strings that by not shooting off another 25 films I could easily afford a nice new DSLR after all 😉

On the 36 exp. film about half the photos complied with my very soggy requirements. Too many were not sharp enough, perhaps because I hadn’t used the camera for years or perhaps because I was simply too excited about this retro phase to hold the thing steady.

I only used one film for this project, but I do have another roll waiting patiently in the cupboard. Whether to load it in the T5 or perhaps fire up ye olde Pentax once more? That is the question!

To view all the rain drenched photos take a look at:

http://www.harding.ch/Gallery21/main.php?g2_itemId=1346

Update 25.08.2013:  A second film has now been developed and so, in an effort to tidy up the Gallery a bit, I have moved all the ‘Soggy Pics’ images into an album called ‘Black and White Film’. The Photos referred to in this Post are all those with the phrase ‘Yashica_T5_HP5’ in the title.

 

As mentioned in yesterday’s posting, it looks like being a weekend spent largely out of doors. With this in mind I thought I’d quickly just post one little picture this evening.

Before everyone reaches for the keyboard, I know…… the photo appeared on this very blog yesterday. However, by colouring it sepia I think it looks somehow more homely.

The grain, by the way, is natural film grain.

In case anyone’s interested as to why the pictures have suddenly become smaller, well, it’s because I happened to view the blog using Internet Explorer and noticed it was squashing my pictures. So, before spending hours sorting the problem out, I decided to use a smaller display format. Just click on them to view normal size if you like.

 



Well, the big moment arrived a day or two ago. Greedily I tore open the film envelope and marvelled at the partly forgotten images captured during the last five months.

An unbelievable, almost indescribable feeling in these days of instantaneous technology.

Here are just a couple of pictures to put me in the nostalgic mood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If our weather prophets are to be believed, we should be having a very summery weekend which will mean limited time in front of the monitor and lots of time in the garden and who knows, perhaps even the official opening of the barbecue season!