A Review Of My Journey In 2021

 2021 has been a challenging year for everyone around the world, our microscopic nemesis has seen many countries enforcing strict lockdown rules to try and bring it under control whilst getting as many people vaccinated as possible. As you can imagne this has affected every photographer as we like to get out and about. Keeping my wife and family safe has been the most important thing I have done all year, but that doesn't mean to say my photography has suffered. On the contrary, I have improved a heck of a lot and achieved the goals I set myself for the year plus one or two extra's. TL; DR It was awesome!

At the start of the year I began my participation in the Frugal Film Project 2021, a year long quest to shoot frugal film in a camera costing no more than $50. This year we spent 6 months shooting B&W and the other half shooting colour film. I chose Fomapan 200 for the first half of the year and Kodak ColorPlus for the second half with my Olympus 35RC that cost me £35, or around $47. I'm glad I took part in this project as It made me get out and about and learn how to use my 35RC and appreciate the qualities of the film I chose. My December roll of ColorPlus will be revealed in my next blog thus bringing my FFP 2021 to a close. I had so much fun I have signed up for the 2022.

I learned how to develop colour film using the C41 process and finally nailed the last mental block I had with developing film. I have spoken about my mishapo with developing chemicals when I was in my teens that gave me a mental block from developing film. I think I can now say that wiith encouragement from the good folks at the Negative Positive Podcast, the Frugal Film Project, Embrace The Grain Podcast and the Classic Camera Revival groups on facebook, I have put that block firmly behind me. ECN-2 next?

I have also learned the art of "DSLR Scanning". This is a modern use of "Repro Photography" used for duplicating slide film. My Nikon D700 and D90 have been great tools for this task. I have been looking back over my film archive and choosing a few shots to see how I could reproduce them and make them better than the scans I made with my cheap Ion Slides2PC scanner. The difference is like night and day. If you haven't given this a try yet, all you need is a digital camera, a macro lens, a tripod, a negative holder and a light source. Reversing the shot in the photo editor of your choosing is a simple task and so rewarding when you get it right.

The cameras I have used the most this year have been my Olympus OM-1, OM-2 and 35RC. The Olympus OM-1 has long been my dream camera and to be able to achieve that dream back in 2019 was very satisfying and I have yet to be dissappointed with it. I bought both the OM-1 and OM-2 from an estate sale and, after getting the OM-1 serviced, I have really enjoyed using them. I try to use my cameras in rotation, but I have definitely been getting fully aquainted with the wonderful OM System this year.

When you carry two or three cameras with you the less weight the better. Olympus OM cameras are almost the perfect street photography set up as their size makes them discrete and folk tend not to notice them when I'm out and about. The perfect street photography camera is definitely my 35RC. It's small, has a very quiet shutter and when using the auto setting makes life very easy.

28mm has become my go to focal length this year, I have a couple of them with different mounts and I really enjoy using them. My most used Olympus lens was definitly the Zuiko 28mm f/3.5. It's not the fastest lens in the Olympus Zuiko range, but it is definitley a great accompaniment to any of the OM cameras. My Hoya 28mm HMC f/2.8 lives on my Pentax MV1 and, whilst not the sharpest prime lens in my collection, it delivers the goods time and again. My favourite 28mm lens has to be my Tamron Adaptall 2 28mm f/2.5. Some folk scoff at the Tamron Adaptall range, but there are a couple of hidden gems amongst them that are starting to attract a premium price. The 28mm f/2.5 is one of them.

My most used zoom lens is definitely my Tamron Adaptall 2 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 CF Macro. Tamron's Adaptall 2 range of lenses is a great way to acquire a decent range of lenses for every SLR camera you own, especially if you're not blessed with a lot of cash. I have been using my 28-70 on my DSLR's this year and had a lot of fun with it.

Another thing that happened this year was getting a couple of articles published on casualphotophile.com an excellent photography website filled with lots of reviews and articles of all things photography related. I wrote about Nikon's excellent AF-D range of lenses that are not being supported by the new Z mount range. I lamented about a perfectly good range of lenses effectively being rendered obsolete for not having autofocus motors built into them like the later AF-S lenses.

I also wrote a review of a new brand from Kosmo Foto to add to it's Kosmo Foto Mono 100 B&W film. Agent Shadow 400 is a B&W film sourced from one of europes longest running film manufacturers and it's a great film. Stephen Dowling at Kosmo Foto ran a successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign to bring this new brand to the market, which I backed before being offered the chance to test the film and wax lyrical about it. I will be receiving my film and the Graphic Novel that accompanies it sometime in the new year and I'm really looking forward to it.

Here are a few of my favourite photo's from 2021. I had a great time this year, despite the challenges of the pandemic I have learned a lot and really enjoyed my photography in 2021. Whatever 2022 has in store for me, it will be with a camera by my side that I face the year ahead with quiet optimism. Thank you for visiting my blog in 2021, I wish you a very Happy New Year and hope 2022 brings you health and happiness.

Ferrania P30, they can't make this film
fast enough to satisfy demand

Ilford HP5. I failed at Tri-Chrome
but nailed this with a Red Filter

Medium Format Success.
Fomapan 200 - Agfa Isolette 1

Ilford FP4 first off the roll I cropped to square

My favourite Tree shot with
Ilford HP5 and an orange filter

Top of my most viewed images on Flickr
Fomapan 100 shot with my FED 2

Kodak ColorPlus shot at 100 iso

Autumn colour on Kodak ColorPlus

Kodak ColorPlus shot at 100 iso

Kodak Gold shot with my OM-1
and developed at home 

Kodak ColorPlus at 100 iso
OM-2 - Zuiko 28mm f/3.5

Expired Max 200, Max Spielmann's
own brand of film expired in 2009

Revisiting a film through DSLR Scanning.

I have been a little stuck for time to go out and enjoy my film photography lately. If it wasn't the weather keeping me indoors, it was a really horrible winter cough that had my wife and I laid up for a week. With our microscopic nemesis still mutating and causing havoc we thought it prudent to stay at home until we got rid of it. This was a pain, but necessary as we wanted to visit family to deliver Christmas gifts before we got locked down again. It also gave me a chance to revisit a film I shot back in 2019 and see how my DSLR Scanning skills have grown.

The 2019 August Bank Holiday weekend here in darkest Lancashire was bright and sunny for a change and I was invited to join my friends at a Bike Rally and be a photojournalist for the weekend. The event was a small affair with my friends at Avernus Motorcycle Club where much ale was drank and fun was had. My DSLR took care of the photojournalism shots, but I also took my Pentax SP500 with Industar 50-2 lens and a roll of Kodak Tri-X. Black and Chrome was shouting for a yellow filter and as my Industar lens came with one I had some fun.

This was my first experience at using Tri-X. I'm an Ilford guy at heart and as Mobberly is an hours drive away from my home I support my local film manufacturer. That doesn't mean I can't experiment and I bought a couple of rolls of Tri-X just to see what the fuss was about. The hottest day of the year without a cloud in the sky was challenging to say the least, but I hoped for lots of sparkles and crisp reflections as I made my way through the line of bikes in the parking area. 

I developed the film a few days later, scanned it with my Ion Slides2PC scanner and I was a little underhwelmed. Maybe I expected too much from this film that every film photographer I spoke to raved about. I certainly should have been a little more open minded and I let the film sit in my folder for 2 years. Then I began DSLR Scanning and decided to revist my first roll of Tri-X with new eyes.

Two years is a long time in photography, my skills have improved a heck of a lot and my appreciation for the various films I have shot has changed too. Thus it was with Tri-X, helped by using a far superior method of scanning than a phone camera in a box. I was able to get better images and had more control of the contrast by processing my Raw files in Affinity Photo. I like these photos a lot better now and here are a few for you to enjoy. I have placed them and a few more shots of bikes I photographed over that weekend at other events in my DSLR Scanning album on Flickr that you can visit via the link below.

I'm taking a break for the festive season so I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope 2022 brings you health and happiness.

DSLR Scanning

Film Photography Project 2021 - November

Autumn was a riotous display this year, despite the apparent lateness of the leaves falling, there was all shades of green, gold, and orange gracing the trees in Mesnes Park, Wigan. For this roll of Kodak ColorPlus 200 I wanted a nice sunny day with hardly a breeze and plenty of colour to shoot. Mother Nature answered and gave me a beautiful afternoon towards the end of November with exactly the conditions I asked her for.

I decided to have yet another change of camera and took the opportunity to bring a founding member of Team Grav out to play. I loaded my roll of ColorPlus into my trusty Pentax SP500 with Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2 lens attached. I came back to film in 2017 with this camera and lens combo and it has rewarded me many times since then for my efforts using both B&W and colour film. I had been wanting to use it for the project since day one.

When I arrived at the Park I was treated to several of the trees showing autumn colour and I got straight to work hunting compositions. I began with a couple of shots where I was far away from the trees I wanted to photograph, but soon decided to get up close and see if I could coax some of the legendary Helios swirly bokeh into my compositions.

It was a joy to be using my Pentax SP500 again, it felt like I had only put it on my shelf yesterday as I began this months shoot. It is such a simple and straightforward camera to use, the lightmeter is still pretty accurate after almost 50 years and that reassuring clunk of the shutter told me instantly I had made the right choice of camera this month. I was very much at home again.

Sadly all good things come to an end and I had become so engrossed in what I was doing that my final frame crept up on me. 36 frames go quickly when you're having fun and I put my camera in my bag, hopefully with a few decent images on the film. I didn't develop my film at home this month, I took it to my local Max Spielmann Photo Store who always do a grand job of developing and scanning my colour film.

Here are a few of my photos from my Frugal Film Project November roll of ColorPlus. I had a lot of fun shooting it and I have put them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2021 Colour Album on Flickr which you can visit by using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2021 Colour