Frugal Film Project 2024 - August - 35mm

 First I have to tell you that I missed the deadline of August 31st for my August roll of Kentmere 400 shot with my Olympus OM101. However, I was allowed 14 days grace to get it done and I didn't need telling twice. I have mental health issues stemming from traumatic times in my life. Sometimes I can get through August relatively unscathed, but this year it slammed me and I was unable to do anything other than take the hit until it passed. PTSD is not something I enjoy having, nor is it going away. I will always have it, I have learned to live with it and that's all I'm going to say about it.

September came along and I started feeling better. Two of my daughters have their birthdays at the end of August-beginning of September, along with two Grandchildren, my Brother from another Mother and Sister from another Mister and it cheered me up enough to head out around town with my Olympus OM101 loaded with Kentmere 400 35mm black and white film. I actually took 2 shots in August and really needed to finish my roll.

I wasn't photographing anything special. I took a few of the old Wigan and Leigh College buildings being demolished to make room for a new building and it's interesting to compare the development of the college over the years. Wigan and Leigh College has gone into partnership with the University of Central Lancashire and the new development will be in support of that partnership.

Who would have thought an old mining and market town would become a university town. It was at Wigan and Leigh College I gained my English GSCE 30 years ago which, in a bit of a circuitous way, led me to this blog. I enjoy writing and it has helped me through some tough times over the years. Photography was the icing on the cake. I never dreamed I would have as many friends in the Photography community as I do in the Biking community and I appreciate those friendships enormously.

My theme for the second half of this roll is "windows". We see them every day and many folk, me included, don't give them enough attention. Most people just get on with their day and don't notice them, but here in darkest Wigan we are blessed with a wide range of architectural styles that follow the history of the town as it has evolved.

The Mock Tudor buildings hark back to the true Tudor buildings that once graced the town before the demolition crews pulled them down and up went the "modern" buildings in the late 19th century. The 20th Century saw various revivals of Georgian and Edwardian styles before the town was hit with the 1960's concrete brutalism of the Civic Buildings.

More recently the stye has seen large glass walls, brick facades and large, rectangular windows to maximise natural light. I finished my roll at Makinson Arcade and headed home, glad to have finally got my mojo kind of running again and I actually looked forward to developing my film.

I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 in Kodak HC110 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. Once dry I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Here's a few of my favourites from my August roll of Kentmere 400 shot with my Olympus OM101 and 50mm f/2 lens for the Frugal Film Project 2024. Despite it being a suitably autumnal day with plenty of gloom, I got some decent shots and I think concentrating on one thing for the second half of my roll has done me some good. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2024 - 35mm

One photo that was actually shot in August!