Frugal Film Project 2022 - October

As I return from a short hiatus after the death of my Dad, I wanted to get back on track and continue my commitment to the Frugal Film Project by getting out and shooting my October Roll of Ilford HP5. I loaded up my Pentax SP500 and decided to shoot it at 800 iso as it was a dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy day in Wigan. I headed into town to further document the changes that are happening as the redevelopment of The Galleries has picked up its pace.

A wall has gone up around the site to protect workers and the public from harm. Building sites are dangerous places to work, the last thing you need is a member of the public getting hurt. A little thought has gone into the partition wall to help the public navigate around the site. There are also photos showing the history of the site.  

Prestigous royal visits are depicted side by side with Wiganers shopping in the old Market Hall and The Galleries through the years. There are also pictures that show what the site will look like once it is completed in a couple of years time. It hasn't stopped local residents commenting on the wasted money spent on the development as there was "nowt wrong wi' th' old un!" You've got to love Wiganers, they tell it like it is.

The work has begun in earnest to refurbish the Market Gate section of The Galleries in order to move the Market there. Market Gate was the first part of The Galleries to close when the financial crisis of 2008 began to decimate businesses and shops closed at an alarming rate. It never recovered and it's ironic that the section that has been empty the longest will be the only survivor of this once vibrant shopping destination.

The pain in the backside about the closure and redevelopment is the once busy route between the town center and the Market has been closed and shoppers have a long walk around the redevelopment to get to and from Wigan Market. It seems even longer when it's persisting down and I got very wet whilst wandering around to take photos.

I took shelter in one of the shops to try and dry off a bit and reappeared after the rain abated to finish my film off before heading home. I developed my roll of Ilford HP5 shot at 800 iso in Kodak HC-110 for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and hung it to dry in my bathroom. I scanned it with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and cleaned up the spots and scratches with Affinity Photo.

Here are a few of my favourite shots from this months Frugal Film Project roll of HP5. The weather was crap, but I was glad to be getting out again after a short break. I have placed these and more in my Frugal Film Project 2022 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2022

Kodak Ektachrome - Goodman Zone Z1

My photography has shown a lot of improvement in 2022 and I put that down to my Goodman Zone Z1 slowing me right down. Yes Mr Bartosek, it truly has. I have said previously, and no doubt will say again in future, that my Goodman Zone Z1 has made me think a lot more about my photography. t's not the lack of automation that is slowing me down, it's the hybrid aspect of this wonderful camera that is doing it for me.

It's a medium format camera and uses 120 medium format film, but I have to treat it like a large format system right down to having a dark cloth and focus screen. I have had a lot of fun learning to use the camera over the course of the year. With my progress in mind I recently took a leap of faith and shot my very first roll of Ektachrome 100 with my Goodman Zone Z1.

As my skills have improved I needed a challenge to help drive that progress further and I felt that it was time to try something new. First I shot Infrared, which I shared with you all here on my blog. The success of that experiment gave me confidence I was heading in the right direction. However, I had only shot B&W film with my Z1 and felt a move to colour film would be fun to try whilst the sun shone brightly here in the UK.

Analogue Wonderland, an excellent film retailer here in the UK, announced a summer contest based around Kodak Ektachrome. The premise being to shoot Ektachrome and show what Summer means to you. I thought about it for a while, well at least 3 minutes, and bought one roll of Ektachrome to pop my Slide/Colour Reversal Film cherry.

The summer of 2022 has been a long and dry one which gave plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy some colour film photography. My love of black and white photography and the lack of Kodak ColorPlus has seen my interest in colour film very much reduced, but the contest sparked my interest and I shot my roll of Ektachrome during one of my leisurely walks around the local nature trails and farm roads.

I chose a few compositions I was comfortable with and also a couple that I wasn't really sure would be suited to Ektachrome. There's not a lot of colour out in the sticks during summer, the wheat crop had been harvested early and the wheat field had begun to turn green again. I also found a large patch of brambles that was festooned with Blackberries. I really wasn't sure I had succeeded with this challenge, but my fears where allayed when I received my film back from Analogue Wonderlab a couple of weeks later.

The colour saturation of Ektachrome is as life-like as it gets for me. The juxtaposition of the greenery and the blue skies of summer complimented each other perfectly in my humble opinion and I could see why people enjoy using it. This film was brought back by Kodak after a public outcry amongst the film community concerned about the lack of colour reversal film when Kodak pulled the previous iteration from the market. 

Have I nailed every shot? Nope. I ever so slightly missed focus on a few frames and there's a couple of risks I took that turned out not to be the best idea I had on the day. I did learn a lot though. I learned that metering is crucial when using Ektachrome, or any other colour reversal film for that matter, especially in medium format. Taking the time to meter each scene paid off with decently exposed images.

I almost nailed the focus, there are a few soft focus shots on this set, but that's ok. My eyesight isn't great anyway and I do need to improve my focusing with my Goodman Zone. Should I choose to shoot more colour film with it, which is probably going to happen, I will continue to work on it and take as much time as I need. 

Overall I am pretty happy with my first roll of Kodak Ektachrome. Slowing myself right down and taking the time to try to get it right paid off I think. Here's a few of my shots and, as always, I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. The only thing stopping me from using it again at this time is the price. It's not a cheap film to buy, nor is it cheap to have developed, but it does look absolutely stunnin' and I probably will use it again in the future. I hope you enjoy them.

Kodak Ektachrome 

Frugal Film Project 2022 - September

 September has been a tough month for me and my family, my Dad passed away after a short illness and we are all devastated at his loss. I almost didn't go out to shoot my roll of Ilford HP5 for September, I even posted an apology on the Frugal Film Project facebook page. I just wasn't feeling up to it, my photography mojo had taken a back seat to the shared grief my family and I have been going through.

I have been going through my back up rolls that I shot previously to keep my blog going. I shot one solitary roll of ColorPlus that I shared last week, hoping it would make my Dad smile as he enjoyed seeing the photos I shared here on my blog and on my social media accounts. He never saw them.

It's a bittersweet realisation that Dad will never see my photos again. I almost didn't go out this month as looking at my camera set my emotions off again, but I fought through the tears, loaded a roll of Ilford HP5 into my Pentax SP500 and headed out. I had to renew my Driving Licence which meant a trip to the Post Office and I decided to see what I could find on the way home.

With my licence renewed for another decade I set off from the supermarket where the Post Office is located and headed into town via the Wigan Pier complex. I haven't been there for a while and a walk along the canal would give me time to gather my thoughts and put the events of the past few weeks into perspective.

The tow path wasn't particularly busy, just a few folks enjoying a walk or a bicycle ride, and I found myself talking to my Dad as I made my way along the tow path. For some reason I felt at ease and I soon found my rhythmn. The light was a bit hit and miss, but that was ok, I was glad the sun was shining through gaps in the clouds and making my Sunny 16 method very easy. By the time I had made it to the town center I had finished my roll of film and headed home.

I developed my film in Kodak HC-110 dilution H, 1+63 from concentrate, for 11 minutes and soon had it hanging to dry. I could see the negatives looked like they were nicely exposed and I left the film to dry overnight. I scanned the film into my PC with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and to be honest that's as far as I got before my emotion took hold again. 

Here are a few of my photos from my September roll of Ilford HP5.  As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2022 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. This weeks blog is dedicated to my Dad, I know he would have enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

Frugal Film Project 2022

Autumn 2022

 There's a definite change just beginning in the woodland near my home, the trees are beginning to change colour as Autumn arrives here in the north. I decided to shoot a roll of ColorPlus with my Minolta X-700 and Vivitar 28mm lens to do a quick reconnaissance to try to gauge how long it would be before the Maple trees turn bright red. The autumnal equinox has passed and there's a chill in the air each morning that shows us the seasons inexorable change continues.

I wasn't looking for any specific shot as I walked the local farm roads, I just wanted to observe, but I still managed to shoot a 24 exposure roll of ColorPlus, my favourote emulsion from Kodak. My photography mojo has been on hiatus of late but Autumn always makes me keep an eye out for the blaze of colour that is beginning to make it's presence felt here in Wigan.

There are subtle changes as some trees begin to change, but Maple trees always make one last display to tell us winter is approaching and we should prepare for the cold months ahead. The trees in my local woodland remind me of traffic lights in that respect. They spend the sumer a lush green, then they turn amber and the Maple trees are the stop light. They tell me summer has passed and autumn has marked the end of a year of growth and rejuvenation. It's their time to sleep and reset in preparation for another year ahead.

I developed my ColorPlus in the last of my Cinestill Cs41 developer for 8 1/2 minutes as my developer was almost exhausted and soon had my film hanging to dry in my bathroom. I scanned it with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and removed dust spots and scratches using Affinity Photo. I will post a review of the Cinestill Cs41 colour developing kit soon.

I didn't expect to get any top quality images on this walk, but there's one or two that I quite like and here they are for you to enjoy. I have placed them and more in an album on my Flickr account you can view using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Autumn 2022

Embrace The Grain Podcast - Wide Angle Challenge

 A few blogs ago I spoke of a day out with my Grandson who was trying Film Photography for the first time whilst taking part in the Embrace The Grain Podcast Wide Angle Challenge in August 2022. I was carrying my Minolta X-700 with a Vivitar Close Focus 28mm f/2.8 lens that day and shot a roll of HP5 alongside my Grandson who also shot a roll of HP5 in my Pentax MV and Hoya 28mm f/2.8. My reasoning being we use the same film at the same iso and see our film developed in the same tank. If you haven't read my blog where I talk about my Grandsons first roll of film you cand find it here.

Another Photographer In The Family

When I got my Minolta X-700 from my most excellent friend Beej, it came with a selection of lenses that included a Vivitar 28mm f/2.8. I am quite partial to 28mm lenses and I had wanted to give this lens a run out for a while, but had kept putting it off. A day out with my Grandson for a photography challenge was just what I needed to see how it performed.

Vivitar was a "Badge Engineering" brand that began in the early 1960's and grew into a respected third party brand serving the budget conscious members of the photography community. Vivitar commissioned Japanese manufacturers to make equipment for them and put the Vivitar name on it. A swift check of the serial number on my Vivitar 28mm lens told me it was made by Komine, a very respected Optics manufacturer in Japan. There is a website you can visit via the link below that tells you how to check the serial number on your Vivitar lens to see which manufacturer made it.

Knowing that Komine had made my Vivitar lens gave me a quiet confidence that my photos would be decent providing my backside was in gear and I concentrated on getting the best out of it. Wide vistas and close up shots with creamy bokeh were on the mental list of things to try with it. I was also helping my Grandson find compositions as we talked on our photo walk. I still had half a roll by the time he finished his roll of HP5. He wasn't hanging about, but I was happy to let him get on with it.

I managed to finish my roll of HP5 before we got back home and later that afternoon I developed our Ilford HP5 in Kodak HC-110 dilution H with a little help from my Grandson during the rinsing stage. We hung our film to dry in the bathrom and I was able to see my film was looking good alongside my Grandson's first roll of film. I scanned it later that evening with my Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and removed dust spots and scratches with Affinity Photo.

Here are a few of my photos from my Minolta X-700 and Vivitar 28mm f/2.8 lens. I am very happy with how they turned out and I was able to get some nice close ups with it that showed off the lens' superb creamy bokeh when shot wide open. As usual I have put them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

P.S. My e-zine "In The Zone" is stil available to buy for £3 from my Ko-Fi shop via the link below. Your support helps me enormously and is very much appreciated.

Ilford HP5 - Minolta X-700 - Vivitar 28mm f/2.8
Vivitar Lens Compendium
"In The Zone" Ko-Fi shop 

Photography in an Instant

 Film photography is a measured, timely process. We take our time shooting the film we chose in our preferred location or with folks to sit for portraits. We develop it ourselves or send our film to a lab who diligently develop it for us and make prints before posting them back to us. The invention of the Minilab enabled us to have our film developed, scanned and printed in one hour, some high street Photo Stores can provide this quick service to this day. However, the quickest format before the Digital Revolution was undoubtedly Instant film.

Earlier in 2022 Papa Shitty Cams at the #ShittyCameraChallenge on Twitter announced #InstantRegret, two months of instant film fun throughout August and September 2022. The idea was to buy an Instant Camera and some film and share the photos we took during that time. This was gleefully set into motion by several people, including yours truly, who bought cheap instant cameras and film and had fun with them. I had never used Instant Film before, even when it was at the height of its popularity in the 1970's and 80's. I decided to take part and pop that cherry.

My first purchase was a Fuji Instax Mini that uses small format instax film. I have to thank my pal Dave on twitter who loaned me the camera first, then sold it to me for a reasonable price once I had amazed my grandchildren with the Magic Camera! Fuji Instax film is excellent, it takes a few minutes for the image to appear and once fully developed gives a nicely focused image with excellent colour saturation. It really is "Point, Shoot, Print!" I was really enjoying this camera and had to buy it so I could entertain my grandchildren even more as they visited us over the summer.

My thoughts soon turned to the Polaroid Instant Camera, and I purchased a Polaroid 636 Auto Focus from the bay of evil for not a lot of cash and some Polaroid film. The original Polaroid corporation went bankrupt in 2001 and was arguably the first casualty of the Digital Revolution. I can see why as Instant film is not the cheapest way of enjoying photography. Cameras are cheap, but for the limited number of exposures per pack, the film is pricey. I bought one pack of colour and one pack of black & white to see how I liked them.

I have to say I like the B&W Polaroid film better than the Colour offering. With colour I was left with a line at the top which wasn't quite developed properly on every shot. I don't know if it's a quirk of the process or there isn't quite enough chemicals to develop a whole frame. This is also noticeable with the B&W instant film, but it isn't as glaring as on the colour version. B&W photography yet again hides our sins much better and I am pleased with how the B&W turned out.

The next problem was digitizing my instant photos and Digital Reproduction Photography was the way to go. That's "camera scanning" to you youngsters. I had done some quick scans using my home all in one printer and scanner, but wasn't totally happy with how they turned out. I set up my Nikon D700 on my tripod and using natural light from my window to illuminate them soon had all my instant photos photographed and ready to edit using Affinity Photo. I kept my editing to a minimum and here are a few of my efforts for you to enjoy. I have also put them in an album on Flickr you can view in full resolution using the link below.

I think Instant film is now a regular part of my photography and it only took a lifetime for me to try it out. Do I have #InstantRegret ? Yes and No. I don't regret taking part in the challenge as it was a fun way to introduce myself to Instant Film. I do regret the challenge comes to an end at the end of September 2022. I'm going to continue, but not with the Polaroid. I'm going to stick with the Fuji Instax Mini. It's better quality makes it stand out as the one to have and it's a little cheaper than Polaroid's offerings.
 

Instant Film 

Frugal Film Project 2022 - August

 For my August roll of Ilford HP5 I wanted a change from my local area. I enjoy taking photos in the town I call home, but with it being the summer holidays my wife and I had a chance to go for a day out with our Grandsons. It's tough to choose a place to keep a 5 and 10 year old entertained, but in Manchester there is the Museum of Science and Industry. You might think looking at old machines wasn't really kids stuff, but many of the exhibits have interactive features and there's a dedicated area where everyone is encouraged to try everything out, even old farts like me.

Getting to Manchester from Wigan is easy as there are regular train services between the two and a mid morning train soon had us transported to Manchester. It's a short walk from the train station to the museum and, thanks to booking in advance, we didn't have to wait outside. The tickets are free so it made sense to get some.

The Museum Of Science And Industry has beeen going through a multi million pound refurbishment over the last few years. The pandemic delayed the works by a year or two so not all of the exhibits are open yet, but there's enough to keep visitors engaged in Manchester's role in the Industrial Revolution.

Manchester has been a hotbed of science and engineering for a couple of centuries. Machinery that once worked in the many textile mills in the city were on display alongside some of the machines that made them. Equipment that was used to make some groundbreaking discoveries at the University of Manchester was on show too and there was a lot of concise information about each exhibit that also was available in audio.

The University of Manchester is the place where the worlds first electronic stored-program computer was built and it is on display in the museum. Graphene was also discovered at the University and it too is going to change the world, particularly in batteries that will make electric vehicles a lot cheaper. Graphene Aluminium-Ion batteries allow a full charge to take just a few minutes and transport you up to 1,000 miles or more.

The big attraction for kids are the interactive exhibits that allow kids of all ages to get involved and learn about basic science principles whilst having a whole heap of fun. This part of the Museum is very popular and was filled with families having a great time trying out all of the fun tasks. There was an exhibit where motion sensors were used to create sound based on our movement. There was a lot of dad dancing was going on alongside kids bouncing around like loons.

After our grandsons had been around each exhibit a few times we were all getting a little tired and we made our way back to the train station to head home. Our day out at the Museum of Science and Technology in Manchester was fun for the kids and my wife had a lot of fun talking to them about what the machines did and having a go at the various fun tasks with them.

I enjoyed taking photos of our visit to the Museum which proved to be a challenge indoors. I shot my roll of HP5 at box speed and several photos were shot at 1/30th of a second with my lens wide open. Yes, I know I could have pushed my film, but I forgot what iso I had set it at and didn't check until I had rattled off a few frames. When we got back home I was too tired to develop it there and then and developed it a couple of days later.

I developed my roll of Ilford HP5 in Kodak HC-110 dilution B for 5 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. A few of the frames looked very thin and I thought I was going to have to break out the DSLR scanning gear. I needn't have worried as my Ion Slides2PC 35mm scaner handled them with ease. I tidied the frames up with Affinity Photo to remove dust spots and scratches.

Here are a few photos of our day out at the Museum. I have to say ilford HP5 handled my hamfistedness rather well, I didn't have to do much post processing to them at all. Hindsight says I should have pushed the film to 1600 iso, but at box speed HP5 is able to handle low light better than I expected, especially when using a slow f/3.5 lens. As always I have put these photos and more in my Frugal Film Project album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

P.S. My e-zine "In The Zone" is available in my Ko-Fi shop, you can purchase it via the link below.

Frugal Film Project 2022
Buy "In The Zone" e-zine