My Journey Into Photography: Frugal Film Project 2024 - April

April came around and it was the final day of the month before I was able to get out and shoot my 35mm roll of Kentmere 400 black and white film in my Olympus OM101. All the fun and frolics with cameras seemed to be done for the time being and I headed out for a wander with no real plan in mind, just to see what I can find.

I headed for my local woodland and nature trails and had fun photographing the trees as they are growing their new spring foliage. It's nice to see the trees wake up and go from being sleeping giants to wide awake and full of the joys of spring. Insects have been enjoying munching on the green leaves and sipping the nectar from the flowers, which of course helps the nesting birds build their strength ready for raising this years chicks.

I enjoyed having a wander in the spring sunshine and soon had my April roll of Kentmere 400 shot with my Olympus OM101. However, it had been beeping at me and I was pretty sure it meant the batteries were on the way out. I had spares with me just in case and I kept my eye on my frame count. 35, 36, 37.....38. Oh-oh! I began having suspicions and decided to rewind the film, just as a precaution. I hit the button and 2 seconds later the auto rewind stopped.

B%$$%£&S!

I headed home in case the film had snapped or something and to get a fresh roll. I put my camera in my dark bag and opened the back. The film had rewound. Time to RTFM*.... Turns out the beeping noise wasn't the battery indicator. It was telling me I hadn't loaded the film properly and it wasn't winding it on.

B%$$%£&S!

I retrieved the leader with my handy leader retriever and the lack of any curliness told me all I needed to know. Auto Load does NOT auto load all the time. With a few hours of daylight left I loaded the film again, correctly this time, and retraced my earlier walk. And to prove my bad luck, the light had gone from the great conditions I enjoyed on my first walk and yes, I kicked myself all the way round the woodland.

When I got home after my second walk of the day I was well and truly exhausted, but happy I hadn't missed the deadline through a stupid thing happening to a stupid boy who didn't load the stupid thing properly. I needed a lie down. Insert Captain Mainwaring meme here.....

I took a lttle time to recover and a few days later developed my film using Kodak HC110 1+47 dilution E at 20 celcius. Thank the deity of your choosing that it has images on it! Once dry I scanned it using my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light source. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

This years Frugal Film Project has been nothing short of a comedy of errors and if I had any hair, I would surely have pulled it all out by now. If it aint a duff camera, it's a lost screw or a film not loaded properly and it has seriously tested my patience. Good thing I already have happy pills....

Here's a few of my favourites from my April roll of Kentmere 35mm B&W film for the Frugal Film Project 2024. This year has been a labour of love, frustration and grim determination to succeed in the face of mechanical shenanigans and weather so foul it caused Noah to get his carpentary tools out. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 35mm album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I'm going to lie down for a while....

Frugal Film Project 2024 - April - 35mm