My Year a retrospective look at what I managed to accomplish in 2020

  At the back end of 2019 I had begun having thoughts about the direction my photography was going in. I was having fun with film and, having become a member of a fine group on facebook called The Negative Positives Film Photography Podcast, I was encouraged to make plans and take my photography to another level. I was at a point where I was in danger of slipping back into happy snapping and I had to "snap" out of it quickly or be doomed to being a "spray and pray" digital photographer forever. A film photography project was definitely in order.

 I have been enjoying shooting film over the previous 3 years and needed a challenge to help me improve my skills. I decided to learn to shoot and develop B&W film. It is not easy to maintain the discipline required to complete a year long project and even harder to get past that first step to giving it a try. I had tried developing film in my teens and had a bad experience with an accidental splash of developer giving me dermatitis. It took a couple of weeks to shift with steroid cream and was cleared up with no recurrence of it, but it gave me a three decade long mental block at the thought of trying it again. A good long chat with myself was definitely in order too.

 My first goal was to develop my own film. That was the one thing I wanted to accomplish more than any other. The 3 decade mental block was weighing heavily on my mind. I was treated to some amazing images that other members of the Negative Positives group had shot, developed and in many cases printed in their own home darkroom. Before 2019 had ended I began buying the necessary tanks, reels, darkbag and chems so I could make a start as soon as the new year started.

Another decision I made was to document my progress with this blog. It's easy to make plans to do something, rekindle an interest or learn a new skill, but it is another thing entirely to stick to it. I knew my education in B&W film developing would not be a quick dalliance, I had invested several quid collecting the necessary equipment and wanted to make it pay for itself with use. I also wanted to have a journal I could look back on and go through what I had learned. My stroke back in 2013 had left some lingering effects, mostly remembering stuff and my Dr encouraged me in my photography as a way of doing cognitive behavioural therapy to help my recovery. Documenting it would help enormously and face it, It beats going to meetings.

My first two rolls of Ilford HP5 didn't take long to shoot, I was genuinely eager to get them done and dusted and see what I had been missing all these years. Developing them was a nerve wracking affair, but seeing the negatives as I hung them to dry was so exhilirating. I had asked all the right questions as to how to go about it and watched lots of videos of other folk enjoying the process themselves, but it was Ilford who had the video showing how easy it was to use their Ilford Simplicity starter pack that got me over that first hurdle. To be honest I haven't looked back and I have a great sense of self worth at having got over that mental block and joined the ranks of the home developers around the world. I have done other things this year, but becoming proficient at developing my own film has been my biggest achievement.

Sharing that part of my journey here on my blog has also been something I never thought I would ever do. I have always had a short attention span, but when something grabs my attention for long enough it soon becomes more than just a hobby or a quick flash in the pan before I move to something else. There's only Music and Motorcycles that have give me the same sense of euphoria that I got with developing those first couple of rolls and both are a life long passion. Photography has now joined them and I will enjoy it for the rest of my days.
 
 2021 sees me embark upon a new project that will test my skills and give me the chance to be a part of a global effort at portraying my part of the world on film. It's called the Frugal Film project and I will speak more about it in the new year, It's a year long project and I have a feeling it's going to be fun. Until then, here are a few images I shot in 2020. I have definitely made progress this year, despite the challenging circumstances we have all faced. I even managed to squeeze in a few rolls of colour film as I discovered the joys of Kodak Ektar and Pro Image 100. It's been fun this year and I hope to continue having fun in 2021.

I wish you all health and happiness in 2021 and beyond.

Last Photo Walk of 2020

The last Saturday before Christmas is normally the busiest day of the year as folk spend the day getting the last of their christmas shopping and stock up on enough food and alcohol to feed and entertain a small army. With the Covid 19 Pandemic this year was not as busy as previous years, that was clear to see as most folk stayed at home. I had a few items to post before the first class post deadline on Monday and the last of the christmas presents for our grandchildren to collect, so I headed into town. 

I have got used to taking a camera with me every time I go out and on this day I wandered around Wigan with my Pentax SP500 loaded with a roll of Ilford HP5, it was also sporting it's Helios 44m-4, my favourite combination of basic Japanese camera and Soviet lens. I was hoping for a little sunshine for my last photo walk of 2020, but the only thing normal about 2020 was the grey clouds and showers we always get in December here in Wigan.

I took a couple of shots in the town centre after posting christmas cards for my family, but there just wasn't any festive displays to write home about. The christmas lights were on, but not visible in daylight and there wasn't even any buskers that have always seen this day as one of the most lucrative of the year. I had to go to the toy shop on the outskirts of the town centre so I made a decision to take a slow walk and grab a couple of shots of Wigan Pier as I passed by.

Thankfuly the rain moved to the west of town and as that was the direction I was headed, I missed the short sharp showers that blew through. I normally shoot Wigan Pier from the canal side, but this time I captured it from the road side. I have spoken of the ongoing refurbishment of the Pier complex in previous blog entries. The new signage is up and the finishng touches are all but complete, but it will be spring time before the grand re-opening is even considered for the venue.

My final couple of frames were spent on a great bit of sculpture that the garage at Seven Stars Bridge placed on his sign a few years ago. What do you do with scrap car parts that would have gone to the smelter? You weld some exhaust parts together and make a figure doffing his brake rotor hat to welcome folk to our town as they drive by. I wonder how many notice it as they pass by? Hopefully this little bit of recognition will give the metal chap a few more fans. People so often don't notice or even know about it, but he doffs his hat all the same.

Despite the dull weather I had an enjoyable walk to finish the year as it started, shooting Ilford film and developing it later that day. I have learned a lot this year and I will talk about it next time as I recap my year of learning to shoot and develop black and white film. Here are some of my photo's from my walk, I hope you enjoy them.

New Custodian

 There are times in life when things just fall into place without any serious planning. In my last couple of blogs I have spoken of why it makes more sense than ever to shoot film in the 21st century, this is based upon what I have learned since I returned to film photography in 2017. Film is still easily available, developing can still be done on the high street and getting your film scanned opens it up to digital editing and printing in the comfort of your own home. You can even still buy the equipment needed to build a darkroom to develop your film and print your shots for less than the cost of a decent second hand DSLR if you want to go down that route.

The Photography Gods must have read it.

I have been taking stock of my year of learning to shoot, develop and display my black and white film photo's. I am happy with it as I have learned so much about film photography and given my brain some much needed exercise too. Conversely I have also learned a couple of harsh lessons along the way about chemicals and their useful life etc. It is knowledge that will put me in good stead for the future and with that in mind, I began having thoughts about giving medium format 120 film a try.

The Photography Gods must have heard me.

I was contacted by a dear friend with an offer I could not refuse. My friend found a couple of cameras neatly stored in a box in a cupboard at his Mum's house. The cameras belonged to his grandfather and, as they were in good condition, thought I would probably enjoy using them.  The camera's are an Agfa Isolette 1 6x6 120 film camera and a No.1 Pocket Kodak Junior 6x9 120 film camera. I graciously accepted them and made a donation to charity, it's a win for everyone kind of thing. A few days later the camera's arrived and I carefully took my first look at them. 

The Photography Gods arranged a beautiful gift.

The 1950's Agfa Isolette 1 is in beautiful condition. My friends grandfather was an aerospace and marine engineer by trade and he looked after his own posessions as well as the aircraft and boats he maintained. I found that out when the Agfa opened smoothly on the press of the button. The bellows is in excellent condition and after a few moments of operating the shutter release, possibly for the first time this century,  I discovered the shutter speeds sounded good too. I have every confidence they will be reasonably accurate and loosen up with use. I then opened the back and quickly closed it again. There was an unused roll of Kodacolor II loaded and ready to shoot inside the camera. I have no idea how old it is, it could be several decades old or it could be just one decade out of date and I am tempted to shoot it and see what happens. 

The Photography Gods also arranged a challenge.

The 1930's No.1 Pocket Kodak Junior is also in excellent condition. The camera opened smoothly and the bellows are in great condition. Given the age of the camera, it is a UK only model sold from 1931-1933, I am going to be gentle with it and give the glass a careful clean before I even try putting film in it. I checked the shutter and it is working, but age and lack of use has made it a tad sluggish. I could probably happily shoot with it, but it's older than my Dad so I shall treat it with respect and arrange to have it given a professional CLA. For those who don't know that's Clean, Lubricate and Adjust.

There are lots of folk with camera's stored away, unused for years that, with the current Film Renaissance can be given new life, especially if they use 35mm or 120 Medium Format film. The price of film camera's are rising again and it is a good time to have a look for hidden treasures in cupboards and attics and give them renewed purpose. Maybe they are your own camera's left unused or maybe they belonged to an older relative. using them is an excellent way of re-connecting with fond memories of family members long since passed away. It's also an excellent way of ensuring the used film camera market remains bouyant for many years to come.

The only new film camera's on the market are fixed focus point and shoot plastic camera's that don't cost much, but you needn't be limited as professional grade film camera's can be bought for a fraction of their original cost and serviced by a new breed of camera technicians learning the art of precision engineering. The massive success of film photography in the 20th century is now it's salvation in the 21st and I am loving it. Here are the camera's I was kindly given, I will be using them in 2021 and beyond as my journey continues.

Agfa Isolette 1

No.1 Pocket Kodak Junior

Film Photography in the 2020's and beyond part 2

 In part one I covered the availability of film camera's and gear. In part two I want to cover the availability of film and developing supplies and methods of scanning and printing your photographs.

I am often asked "Oh, can you still buy film? The answer is always a smile and a hearty "why yes, yes you can!" Back in 2017 when I returned to film photography a well known discount store here in the UK was selling Agfaphoto Vista 200 for £1 a roll. I grabbed it whenever I could and will forever be grateful to them for that. Film can be, and often is expensive. This is especially true of the professional films from Kodak and Fuji. Ilford tends to be a little cheaper and the quality of their B&W film is superb, but on the whole Film generally costs between £5 and £20 per roll depending on what brand or format you purchase. I buy my film from Analogue Wonderland and Nik and Trick Photographiques, but there are a growing number of online stores that are selling film around the world as well as some that survived the digital revolution and still sell film to this day.

I was fortunate to be able to hand my Agfaphoto Vista 200 to my local Max Spielmann Photo Store, a survivor of the digital revolution who could still develop and scan my film and print my film photographs in one hour. The current pandemic has stopped that one hour developing service for the time being, but hopefully when conditions allow they will do so once again. I still entrust the staff there with my colour film, but the machinery is getting older and the software ever more obsolete as time goes on. This is a shame as the Fuji Frontier 3000 film scanner and developing machines they use are superb.

Home developing is still an viable option. You can still easily buy a film developing tank and reels to develop 2 rolls of 135 or 1 roll of 120 film in the comfort of your own home. You will of course need a dark bag to load your exposed film onto the reel and place that reel in your light tight developing tank. Also you may need accessories such as film clips for hanging your freshly developed film to dry and squegee's to remove excess water from your films. Another handy item is a graduated cylinder for accurate measurement of chemical dilutions. Paterson still manufacture all these items and they are very reasonably priced.

However, you don't need all of them, you can buy jugs from your local homewares store, a syringe from most chemists/drug stores to accurately measure chemicals and use ordinary clothes pegs to hang your film to dry. It's easy to develop film in your kitchen or bathroom using items you bought from a local store and timing the process using the stopwatch on your smartphone. Developing times are easily available for just about every film and developing chemical combination on the Massive Dev Chart website.

It can be scary when developing film for the first time, but once you get that first one done your confidence rises exponentially. One item you will need is good quality gloves. Film developing chemicals are nasty and can cause problems. Wear gloves, an apron and if possible safety glasses. Gloves also make a handy squeegee, just run your film between your index fingers.You can buy a developing kit from Ilford, the Ilford Simplicity Starter pack that gives you enough developer, stop and fix for two rolls of 35mm or 1 roll of 120 B&W film. I started with it and it costs around £20 including delivery to your door. The developing tank and dark bag I bought new and together they cost around £50. I use them regularly, I have shot and developed 80 films at the time I write this and that number is rising. I have saved a small fortune by developing my own film at home and learned so much in doing so.

There's no getting around the fact that darkroom printing is expensive. Yes you can get the equipment on ebay for a reasonabe price, but it does mean investing in yet more chemicals and making a room in your house totally light tight. The last thing you need when making prints in a darkroom is a stray beam of light making a mess of an image you may well have spent an afternoon perfecting. The alternative is firmly in the digital era, is easily done with no nasty chemicals and you can do it in your living room if you so desire.

There is a growing list of software, hardware and accessories available to make "DSLR Scanning" an easy task. This involves placing your film negatives in a holder over a light source and taking a photograph of the negative. You can then use software such as Negative Lab Pro to convert the negative into a positive and from there print your photographs on your home office inkjet or laser printer. There are also dedicated film scanners such as the Epson V700 and the Plustek OpiticFilm scanner range that make high resolution images of your negatives and use software such as Silverfast to make that negative a positive and optimise it for printing.

Then there's the cheapest option. A small 35mm film scanner that is plug in and play on your PC, takes a smartphone camera quality digital image of your film, converts it to a positive and saves onto your computer. I have an ION Slides to PC film and slide scanner that cost me around £20 in 2017. It gives me 5 megapixel resolution images that I can edit using Affinity Photo, a much cheaper option than Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and I can print them with my HP Envy 4520 home printer on glossy photopaper I bought from the aforementioned popular discount store for £1. I have sent some of my prints to folks around the world that I have made with this set up and have got great feedback from them about the quality. The purists may scoff, but I can afford this method and enjoy doing it.

Cost is probably the most important thing about film photography and it all depends on everyones individual financial reach. From top of the range Hasselblad systems to a basic point and shoot camera you can buy preloaded with film for £10, there is something for everyone. You can buy a decent autofocus SLR with a lens or a manual camera with a basic light meter such as my Pentax SP500 with a lens on the second hand market for around £50, a developing tank and dark bag for another £50 and enough chemicals to develop as many films as you can shoot in one year for another £50.

For less than the cost of a smartphone with a decent resolution camera or an entry level DSLR or Mirrorless camera, you can shoot film and develop and print it at home. It is such an immersive process that I genuinely get a lot of joy from. If this answer to why I shoot film helps you to decide to give it a try, my work here is done. There are folk out and about today that weren't alive when film was at it's height. It is deeply heartenng to see a lot of those folk buying a film camera to see what the fuss is all about and falling in love with it themselves.

Here are a few more of my images I shot on Agfaphoto Vista 200 in October 2017 that are much better than my first shots. They are the scans I got from Max Spielmann and show the progress I made. I spent 2017 just getting out with my camera and taking photo's. I studied each roll and I learned valuable lessons in that first few months that put me in good stead for the future.