Frugal Film Project 2026 - Compact - September

 I got back into the swing of things early with my September roll of Kentmere 400 shot with my Hanimex 35RAS, and I really enjoyed myself too. There's nothing like a good fundraiser to help lift a person out of the doldrums and on Sunday 6th September patrons of The John Bull Chophouse gathered in numbers to enjoy a day of music and celebration of our beloved Pub. Naturally I took my Frugal Film Project 2026 camera with me and shot possibly the fastest roll of Kentmere 400 I have ever had the pleasure of using.

My main duty on the day was capturing digital photos, which you have seen in my previous blog of Bullstock, but there's something special about capturing the event on film. I had already picked my subjects for the roll and got to work, making my way through the crowd and photographing the shiny happy people. 

Five minutes it took me to shoot my September roll of Kentmere 400 with my Hanimex 35RAS and friends there were genuinely happy to see me shoot some film on the day. I appear to have gained a reputation for enjoying black and white film photography and it would have been silly not to do so at Bullstock. With the deed done and the film rewound, I put my camera away and continued enjoying the event.

I developed my September roll of Kentmere 400 a week or so later as I was well and truly done in after Bullstock. I couldn't move very much for a few days, but it was worth it to see so many friends I haven't seen for a while since giving up the booze some 15+ years previously. I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 with Bellini Euro HC, 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to 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 Studio.

This roll of film made me appreciate why the manufacturers introduced 250 shot film holders for 35mm cameras back in the day. It's incredibly easy to rattle through a 24 shot roll when you're having fun, but I can imagine how easy it must have been to capture sporting events without having to change cameras and have an apprentice to reload for you. Now we have digital with enough computing power and storage space available that we can shoot 1,000 frames with ease, but the lure of film will always be strong with me.

Here's a few favourites from my September roll of Kentmere 400 shot with my Hanimex 35RAS at Bullstock, the last event to take place on Believe Square in Wigan Town Centre. It was good to capture the event on film and I have placed these photos and more in my Fugal Film Project 2026 - Compact album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2026 - Compact