March came by quickly! It doesn't seem like 3 months since we started this years Frugal Film Project and I actually shot this months roll of Kentmere 400 in the first half of the March. It makes a change from waiting until the last minute and I even had a plan. I have spent a lot of time exploring the local farm roads, footpaths and nature trails this year and I am beginning to struggle to find new stuff, so I decided to check out what is further afield.
My usual route only covered a small amount of the footpaths in the area and I wanted to go further afield and see where a couple of them went. I checked out a route on a popular mapping site and decided to give it a shot and see what I could find on route. I loaded a rol of kentmere 400 into my Agfa Isolette 1 and headed out on a day that wasn't persisting down with rain or snow.
It's said that March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb and that adage held up this year. March began with horrid weather that alternated between rain and snow and kept me indoors most of the time. I did manage to get out on a few days where it was dry, but overcast, and wasn't really conducive to great photos. I couldn't wait around for a sunny day and took my chances when I could. On this walk I also had my OM-1 loaded with Double X with me too in case I found anything worthy of adding to my submissions for a project I am involved with. I will speak more on that in the coming weeks.
The nature trails don't just go through the local woodland, they also skirt the north east side of the spoil heap left over from the Mining in the area that ended in the 1950's. Several of the nature trails follow the path of the railways that serviced the mines and this was one of them. It just runs straight for a couple of miles into Standish, a town in the north of Wigan Borough. I didn't walk the whole length of the path, just a portion of it that skirted the spoil heap.
I found a few compositions as I wandered along the path, but the light was challenging my skills. I was glad to have my Gossen Trisix light meter with me so I could at least try to get my photos exposed as best as I could with a camera that has four shutter speeds. 1/25th, 1/50th, 1/200th and Bulb. Where it lacks in shutter speeds it more than compensates with f/stops ranging from F/4.5 to f/32.
I was enjoying my walk along paths I haven't explored and I couldn't help but notice the age of the main farm road I wandered along, there's a part where it cuts into the hill it descends with the fields higher on either side, a sure sign this particular farm road has been well used for a very long time. There was also a few gnarly trees to photograph and passing ramblers saying hello as they made their way aong this well trodden path. In my youth I could have walked along these paths all day, but after a while fatigue started to advance it's grip on me and I couldn't wait to get home and rest after I finished my roll of film.
I developed my film a couple of days later in Kodak HC-110 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and hung it to dry for a few hours in my bathroom. I liked what I saw but managed to have one blank frame! I must have wound the film on twice as fatigue set in near the end of the roll, but the rest of my film was nicely exposed given the challenging dark cold dull and gloomy conditions. I digitised my film with my Nikon D610 and Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm macro lens and processed the photos with Affinity Photo 2.
The challenging conditions show up in this months roll of Kentmere 400, but by and large the exposure latitude of the film brought out what was described by a member of the Frugal Film Project facebook group as a "Sleepy Hollow" vibe. I will take that as it does look like I went back in time on a few of my photos and maybe you could imagine a headless horseman marauding along the lanes, much like the character in the films. Thank you Sacha.
Here's a few of my photos from this moths Frugal Film Project roll of Kentmere 400, you can decide for yourself if you think Sacha has got it right or maybe you see something else. Me? I see a tired Grav who took three days to recover from his walk, but it was worth it. As always I have placed these photos and a few more in my Frugal Film Project album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Frugal Film Project 2023
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