Frugal Film Project 2026 - Donkey - July

I left Donkey until the final day of July and went for a walk in my local countryside. After a walk around the park and town centre the day before, I didn't fancy heading further afield. I was still getting to know my new toys and had a couple with me, but on this day I prioritised my Frugal Film Project roll of Kentmere 400 shot with Donkey, my Minolta Dynax 4. 

After the heatwave of the previous weeks, it was good to have a good breeze to cool me down as I made my way along the farm roads and footpaths. The sun was high and shining brightly, but it wasn't a clear sky. There was enough clouds to provide some definition to the sky when out in the open.

I was looking for shapes and shadows in the trees and seeing if I could find some backlit foliage as I made my way along the footpath. I did revisit some familiar compositions, but also tried a few new ones that caught my eye. Shadows of leaves on the trunks and branches, all got investigated and photographed. 

I was enjoying my walk when I got to the end of the new path and took my last shot of my July roll of Kentmere 400. Donkey behaved impeccably and it was good to slow down and explore a little more of the trees and shrubs along the path. My Frugal Film Project commitment was quite literally "in the bag!" I couldn't wait to get home for that well earned cuppa.

I developed my July Roll of Kentmere 400 shot with Donkey the following day using Bellini Euro HC, 1+31 dilution B, for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry with my Compact roll. Tigger didn't get his claws on them, thankfully. I digitised my film 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 Studio.

I keep saying it, but late model plastic auto focus 35mm SLR's are hard to beat for great results. I'm not the only one using a Minolta for this year's Frugal Film Project, there's a couple of us and they really are decent cameras. I didn't have to do much in editing to make my photos presentable and they speak for themselves. 

I had a very enjoyable walk with Donkey to shoot my July roll of Kentmere 400 for the Frugal Film project 2026. Here's a few favourites and I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2026 - SLR album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2026 - SLR - July