One goal I have set for myself in 2022 is to become more proficient at Medium Format film photography. I got a taste of it in 2021 thanks to my dear friends Helene and Budgie who gave me an Agfa Isolette 1. It's a very basic folding viewfinder camera that appeared in the 1950's as Germany recovered from WW2 and it is very easy to use. I wrote about it in a previous blog you can read by visiting Trying Medium Format With An Agfa Isolette 1.
Last year I managed to shoot ten rolls of film with it including a roll for the Frugal Film Project once i got used to using the camera. I promised myself I would use it much more this year so I loaded a roll of Fomapan 400 into it, made sure the battery in my Vivitar 45 light meter was good and toddled off into town for a hour or two.
Sunshine is a rarity in Wigan during winter so when we do get a sunny afternoon it brings folk out, including Sundays. I was tempted to go to the Park, but I decided to capture some frames of the Market and The Galleries before they are demolished. Given the age of some of the buildings in the town, the Galleries and Market have only been up for five minutes and it's a shame to see them in decline. It's not so long ago that all the shops were occupied and the market was thriving.
It didn't take me long to shoot 12 frames of 6x6 and I headed home to develop it and see how my skills have held up. It has been a few months since I last used the camera and it was the first time I had used my newly acquired Vivitar 45 light meter that another dear friend donated to my ongoing quest to become a photographer. I really enjoyed my afternoon out and about with my camera, my Vivitar 45 light meter was a doddle to get used to and I was full of optimism about how the photos would turn out.
I developed the roll in Rodinal 1+50 which Fomapan film seems to thrive in, at least for me it does and soon had that feeling of anticipation when it was time to open the tank and remove my freshly developed film. That feeling on seeing decent negs as I unrolled the film will never get old. After hanging to dry for a few hours I soon had the frames camera scanned into my PC and processed using Affinity Photo and I am very pleased with the results. I managed to get them nicely exposed, but I do need to work on my compositions as there are a few things lurking in corners that I really should have got rid of before releasing the shutter. We live and learn.
Here's a few photos from my afternoon with my Agfa Isolette 1 folding camera. I am getting better at using it and working out shutter speeds using the Vivitar 45 really helped me on this photo walk. It was nice to be able to concentrate on one camera and one film, thankfully mother nature blessed me with a nice afternoon which was much appreciated. You can see these photos and more in an album on my Flickr account that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Medium Format With My Agfa Isolette 1
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