Autumn and its unpredictable weather has given me a few opportunities for film photography this year. I enjoyed shooting a couple of rolls of Proimage 100 but I hate running out halfway through a walk so I always take my trusty Nikon D700 out with me too. The Nikon D700 is a critically acclaimed DSLR that has been owned and loved by many a photographer since it was introduced in 2008. It has also been slowly depreciating in price and in early 2019 I managed to save up enough cash to buy a second hand one with a low shutter count from Wex Photo Video here in the UK. It is a decision I will write in my memoirs as one of the best I have ever made. If you are looking at buying a decent second hand/used full frame Nikon DSLR, look no further than the D700. You can read all about it in my previous blog entry dated 8th June 2020.
I was enjoying an afternoon walk along the local nature trails and footpaths, especially the colours that nature regales us with at this time of year and looking for shots I knew my D700 would excel with. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon with blue sky, some clouds and plenty of autumn leaves to provide that contrast between the green grass and blue sky. The field where the horses spent the sumer is quiet now the horses are in their stables for winter, it gave me the opportunity to walk the path through the field rather than around the outside, it's also a shorter route. The distance it gave me made a big difference to see the wonderful colours on the trees and I started exploring angles and compositions.
I spent quite a long time making my way along the path as this was a perspective of the trees and hedgerow I had not studied until now. I spent a large portion of time this year enjoying seeing the insects feast upon the wild flowers and do the vital cross pollenation for the various flora in exchange for sweet nectar. To finally put some distance between myself and the trees came at the right time. One particular part of the hedgrow was hard to ignore as it was a riot of orange, brown and russet.
My D700 may be a dozen or so years old and only have 12 megapixels to play with, but that sensor has a fantastic dynamic range and truly made the autumn leaves come alive. I would stop every few yeards and get lost in the vista before me. Soon I had reached a small pond that provides a welcome home for aquatic life and could explore some reflections. This cloudy day gave me a chance to study a composition and slow down as I waited for the sun to appear in one of the many blue holes and bathe the scene in autumnal light. I began to rue not bringing enough colour film with me and rejoice at being able to capture it on my DSLR. How's that for ambivalence!
Both formats can happily co-exist and compliment each other if you give them a chance. Just about everyone carries a camera with them these days as the smartphone has come to dominate our lives and decimate the camera market. The advantage of digital is you can see the result of your digital photography immediately. However, the beauty of film has always been the antici....... pation. I enjoy both in equal measure and I hope to do so for many years to come.
Here are some photo's I shot with my Nikon D700 and AF Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 D lens, I edited the RAW files using Affinity Photo. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did producing them. You can see more on my Flickr page titled Autumn
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