Frugal Film Project 2022 - August

 For my August roll of Ilford HP5 I wanted a change from my local area. I enjoy taking photos in the town I call home, but with it being the summer holidays my wife and I had a chance to go for a day out with our Grandsons. It's tough to choose a place to keep a 5 and 10 year old entertained, but in Manchester there is the Museum of Science and Industry. You might think looking at old machines wasn't really kids stuff, but many of the exhibits have interactive features and there's a dedicated area where everyone is encouraged to try everything out, even old farts like me.

Getting to Manchester from Wigan is easy as there are regular train services between the two and a mid morning train soon had us transported to Manchester. It's a short walk from the train station to the museum and, thanks to booking in advance, we didn't have to wait outside. The tickets are free so it made sense to get some.

The Museum Of Science And Industry has beeen going through a multi million pound refurbishment over the last few years. The pandemic delayed the works by a year or two so not all of the exhibits are open yet, but there's enough to keep visitors engaged in Manchester's role in the Industrial Revolution.

Manchester has been a hotbed of science and engineering for a couple of centuries. Machinery that once worked in the many textile mills in the city were on display alongside some of the machines that made them. Equipment that was used to make some groundbreaking discoveries at the University of Manchester was on show too and there was a lot of concise information about each exhibit that also was available in audio.

The University of Manchester is the place where the worlds first electronic stored-program computer was built and it is on display in the museum. Graphene was also discovered at the University and it too is going to change the world, particularly in batteries that will make electric vehicles a lot cheaper. Graphene Aluminium-Ion batteries allow a full charge to take just a few minutes and transport you up to 1,000 miles or more.

The big attraction for kids are the interactive exhibits that allow kids of all ages to get involved and learn about basic science principles whilst having a whole heap of fun. This part of the Museum is very popular and was filled with families having a great time trying out all of the fun tasks. There was an exhibit where motion sensors were used to create sound based on our movement. There was a lot of dad dancing was going on alongside kids bouncing around like loons.

After our grandsons had been around each exhibit a few times we were all getting a little tired and we made our way back to the train station to head home. Our day out at the Museum of Science and Technology in Manchester was fun for the kids and my wife had a lot of fun talking to them about what the machines did and having a go at the various fun tasks with them.

I enjoyed taking photos of our visit to the Museum which proved to be a challenge indoors. I shot my roll of HP5 at box speed and several photos were shot at 1/30th of a second with my lens wide open. Yes, I know I could have pushed my film, but I forgot what iso I had set it at and didn't check until I had rattled off a few frames. When we got back home I was too tired to develop it there and then and developed it a couple of days later.

I developed my roll of Ilford HP5 in Kodak HC-110 dilution B for 5 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. A few of the frames looked very thin and I thought I was going to have to break out the DSLR scanning gear. I needn't have worried as my Ion Slides2PC 35mm scaner handled them with ease. I tidied the frames up with Affinity Photo to remove dust spots and scratches.

Here are a few photos of our day out at the Museum. I have to say ilford HP5 handled my hamfistedness rather well, I didn't have to do much post processing to them at all. Hindsight says I should have pushed the film to 1600 iso, but at box speed HP5 is able to handle low light better than I expected, especially when using a slow f/3.5 lens. As always I have put these photos and more in my Frugal Film Project album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

P.S. My e-zine "In The Zone" is available in my Ko-Fi shop, you can purchase it via the link below.

Frugal Film Project 2022
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