Frugal Film Project 2025 - March

 March came around quick, but that's because I left February's roll a little late and I gave it a couple of weeks before venturing out and about around the Spring Equinox to take photos with my Kodak Retina 1a in Mesnes Park for my March roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project 2025.

Spring has definitely sprung here in Wigan, flowers are beginning to bloom with daffodils, crocus and snowdrops leading the way. Spring is a magical time as the northern hemisphere of Planet Earth wakes up from it's winter slumber and here I am shooting B&W film. Fear not, I will have colour photos to share at some point.

On the day I shot my film this month the sun was bright and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, it was beautiful. The Parks and Gardens staff had been busy mowing the lawns and planting early spring blooms in the beds they prepared over winter to add a splash of colour that's guaranteed to make me smile. I appreciate the effort they put in all year round to keep our public parks looking their best.

The sun brought out a lot of folk who were also enjoying spending some time in Mesnes Park and also a lot of folk who chose to walk through the park instead of getting a Bus and enjoy the fresh air and sense of hope that springtime brings each year. I was beginning to rue wearing my hoodie under my jacket as it was gloriously warm, a rarity at this time of year and getting warmer as the day went on.

My wander took me around the Park and eventually out and onwards to the construction site where demolition of the old College buildings has finished. The machinery operators were busy sorting the rubble and metals out ready for removal from the site. Just about all of it will be recycled with only a small amount of waste going to landfill as the site is cleared.

It always seems like a waste to remove a building and replace it with another, but from what I have been told, the concrete was at the end of it's life and it was cheaper to replace the building than repair it. Wigan will have a state of the art educational facility before the decade is out and I hope to document it as the construction work progresses.

I took the long way around back into the town centre, I have been stuck indoors a lot and need the exercise. I headed towards Wigan Hall and Santus Toffee factory where one last shot of the Uncle Joe's Mint Balls sign finished my roll and I rewound it, happy to have been able to shoot my March roll of Type 517 Cine Film in the sunny conditions it thrives in. I hope April is as kind to me as the spring equinox was.

I developed my roll of Type 517 Cine Film in Bellini Euro HC for 14 1/2 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, K&F Tripod, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

When I hung my film to dry my heart sank a little, it looked like I had massively over exposed my film. When it came to digitising and processing the RAW files, it wasn't nearly as bad as I first feared. I am still learning to how use this film and I was able to bring my photos to life in Affinity Photo 2 without any difficulty.

One thing I have learned so far is Type 517 Cine Film, based on Ilford FP4, has enough exposure latitude to forgive beginners mistakes and it was probably used in Colleges who offered courses in Cinematography. I am steadily learning how to get the best from it and so far I really like it. I hope there's more sunny days as we get deeper into spring and summer.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my March roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project 2025. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2025 - March