Frugal Film Project 2022 - September

 September has been a tough month for me and my family, my Dad passed away after a short illness and we are all devastated at his loss. I almost didn't go out to shoot my roll of Ilford HP5 for September, I even posted an apology on the Frugal Film Project facebook page. I just wasn't feeling up to it, my photography mojo had taken a back seat to the shared grief my family and I have been going through.

I have been going through my back up rolls that I shot previously to keep my blog going. I shot one solitary roll of ColorPlus that I shared last week, hoping it would make my Dad smile as he enjoyed seeing the photos I shared here on my blog and on my social media accounts. He never saw them.

It's a bittersweet realisation that Dad will never see my photos again. I almost didn't go out this month as looking at my camera set my emotions off again, but I fought through the tears, loaded a roll of Ilford HP5 into my Pentax SP500 and headed out. I had to renew my Driving Licence which meant a trip to the Post Office and I decided to see what I could find on the way home.

With my licence renewed for another decade I set off from the supermarket where the Post Office is located and headed into town via the Wigan Pier complex. I haven't been there for a while and a walk along the canal would give me time to gather my thoughts and put the events of the past few weeks into perspective.

The tow path wasn't particularly busy, just a few folks enjoying a walk or a bicycle ride, and I found myself talking to my Dad as I made my way along the tow path. For some reason I felt at ease and I soon found my rhythmn. The light was a bit hit and miss, but that was ok, I was glad the sun was shining through gaps in the clouds and making my Sunny 16 method very easy. By the time I had made it to the town center I had finished my roll of film and headed home.

I developed my film in Kodak HC-110 dilution H, 1+63 from concentrate, for 11 minutes and soon had it hanging to dry. I could see the negatives looked like they were nicely exposed and I left the film to dry overnight. I scanned the film into my PC with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and to be honest that's as far as I got before my emotion took hold again. 

Here are a few of my photos from my September roll of Ilford HP5.  As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2022 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. This weeks blog is dedicated to my Dad, I know he would have enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

Frugal Film Project 2022

Autumn 2022

 There's a definite change just beginning in the woodland near my home, the trees are beginning to change colour as Autumn arrives here in the north. I decided to shoot a roll of ColorPlus with my Minolta X-700 and Vivitar 28mm lens to do a quick reconnaissance to try to gauge how long it would be before the Maple trees turn bright red. The autumnal equinox has passed and there's a chill in the air each morning that shows us the seasons inexorable change continues.

I wasn't looking for any specific shot as I walked the local farm roads, I just wanted to observe, but I still managed to shoot a 24 exposure roll of ColorPlus, my favourote emulsion from Kodak. My photography mojo has been on hiatus of late but Autumn always makes me keep an eye out for the blaze of colour that is beginning to make it's presence felt here in Wigan.

There are subtle changes as some trees begin to change, but Maple trees always make one last display to tell us winter is approaching and we should prepare for the cold months ahead. The trees in my local woodland remind me of traffic lights in that respect. They spend the sumer a lush green, then they turn amber and the Maple trees are the stop light. They tell me summer has passed and autumn has marked the end of a year of growth and rejuvenation. It's their time to sleep and reset in preparation for another year ahead.

I developed my ColorPlus in the last of my Cinestill Cs41 developer for 8 1/2 minutes as my developer was almost exhausted and soon had my film hanging to dry in my bathroom. I scanned it with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and removed dust spots and scratches using Affinity Photo. I will post a review of the Cinestill Cs41 colour developing kit soon.

I didn't expect to get any top quality images on this walk, but there's one or two that I quite like and here they are for you to enjoy. I have placed them and more in an album on my Flickr account you can view using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Autumn 2022

Embrace The Grain Podcast - Wide Angle Challenge

 A few blogs ago I spoke of a day out with my Grandson who was trying Film Photography for the first time whilst taking part in the Embrace The Grain Podcast Wide Angle Challenge in August 2022. I was carrying my Minolta X-700 with a Vivitar Close Focus 28mm f/2.8 lens that day and shot a roll of HP5 alongside my Grandson who also shot a roll of HP5 in my Pentax MV and Hoya 28mm f/2.8. My reasoning being we use the same film at the same iso and see our film developed in the same tank. If you haven't read my blog where I talk about my Grandsons first roll of film you cand find it here.

Another Photographer In The Family

When I got my Minolta X-700 from my most excellent friend Beej, it came with a selection of lenses that included a Vivitar 28mm f/2.8. I am quite partial to 28mm lenses and I had wanted to give this lens a run out for a while, but had kept putting it off. A day out with my Grandson for a photography challenge was just what I needed to see how it performed.

Vivitar was a "Badge Engineering" brand that began in the early 1960's and grew into a respected third party brand serving the budget conscious members of the photography community. Vivitar commissioned Japanese manufacturers to make equipment for them and put the Vivitar name on it. A swift check of the serial number on my Vivitar 28mm lens told me it was made by Komine, a very respected Optics manufacturer in Japan. There is a website you can visit via the link below that tells you how to check the serial number on your Vivitar lens to see which manufacturer made it.

Knowing that Komine had made my Vivitar lens gave me a quiet confidence that my photos would be decent providing my backside was in gear and I concentrated on getting the best out of it. Wide vistas and close up shots with creamy bokeh were on the mental list of things to try with it. I was also helping my Grandson find compositions as we talked on our photo walk. I still had half a roll by the time he finished his roll of HP5. He wasn't hanging about, but I was happy to let him get on with it.

I managed to finish my roll of HP5 before we got back home and later that afternoon I developed our Ilford HP5 in Kodak HC-110 dilution H with a little help from my Grandson during the rinsing stage. We hung our film to dry in the bathrom and I was able to see my film was looking good alongside my Grandson's first roll of film. I scanned it later that evening with my Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and removed dust spots and scratches with Affinity Photo.

Here are a few of my photos from my Minolta X-700 and Vivitar 28mm f/2.8 lens. I am very happy with how they turned out and I was able to get some nice close ups with it that showed off the lens' superb creamy bokeh when shot wide open. As usual I have put them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

P.S. My e-zine "In The Zone" is stil available to buy for £3 from my Ko-Fi shop via the link below. Your support helps me enormously and is very much appreciated.

Ilford HP5 - Minolta X-700 - Vivitar 28mm f/2.8
Vivitar Lens Compendium
"In The Zone" Ko-Fi shop 

Photography in an Instant

 Film photography is a measured, timely process. We take our time shooting the film we chose in our preferred location or with folks to sit for portraits. We develop it ourselves or send our film to a lab who diligently develop it for us and make prints before posting them back to us. The invention of the Minilab enabled us to have our film developed, scanned and printed in one hour, some high street Photo Stores can provide this quick service to this day. However, the quickest format before the Digital Revolution was undoubtedly Instant film.

Earlier in 2022 Papa Shitty Cams at the #ShittyCameraChallenge on Twitter announced #InstantRegret, two months of instant film fun throughout August and September 2022. The idea was to buy an Instant Camera and some film and share the photos we took during that time. This was gleefully set into motion by several people, including yours truly, who bought cheap instant cameras and film and had fun with them. I had never used Instant Film before, even when it was at the height of its popularity in the 1970's and 80's. I decided to take part and pop that cherry.

My first purchase was a Fuji Instax Mini that uses small format instax film. I have to thank my pal Dave on twitter who loaned me the camera first, then sold it to me for a reasonable price once I had amazed my grandchildren with the Magic Camera! Fuji Instax film is excellent, it takes a few minutes for the image to appear and once fully developed gives a nicely focused image with excellent colour saturation. It really is "Point, Shoot, Print!" I was really enjoying this camera and had to buy it so I could entertain my grandchildren even more as they visited us over the summer.

My thoughts soon turned to the Polaroid Instant Camera, and I purchased a Polaroid 636 Auto Focus from the bay of evil for not a lot of cash and some Polaroid film. The original Polaroid corporation went bankrupt in 2001 and was arguably the first casualty of the Digital Revolution. I can see why as Instant film is not the cheapest way of enjoying photography. Cameras are cheap, but for the limited number of exposures per pack, the film is pricey. I bought one pack of colour and one pack of black & white to see how I liked them.

I have to say I like the B&W Polaroid film better than the Colour offering. With colour I was left with a line at the top which wasn't quite developed properly on every shot. I don't know if it's a quirk of the process or there isn't quite enough chemicals to develop a whole frame. This is also noticeable with the B&W instant film, but it isn't as glaring as on the colour version. B&W photography yet again hides our sins much better and I am pleased with how the B&W turned out.

The next problem was digitizing my instant photos and Digital Reproduction Photography was the way to go. That's "camera scanning" to you youngsters. I had done some quick scans using my home all in one printer and scanner, but wasn't totally happy with how they turned out. I set up my Nikon D700 on my tripod and using natural light from my window to illuminate them soon had all my instant photos photographed and ready to edit using Affinity Photo. I kept my editing to a minimum and here are a few of my efforts for you to enjoy. I have also put them in an album on Flickr you can view in full resolution using the link below.

I think Instant film is now a regular part of my photography and it only took a lifetime for me to try it out. Do I have #InstantRegret ? Yes and No. I don't regret taking part in the challenge as it was a fun way to introduce myself to Instant Film. I do regret the challenge comes to an end at the end of September 2022. I'm going to continue, but not with the Polaroid. I'm going to stick with the Fuji Instax Mini. It's better quality makes it stand out as the one to have and it's a little cheaper than Polaroid's offerings.
 

Instant Film