Adventures in film

Travel photography is wonderful and gives rise to so many photo opportunities with people, cultures, streets and other more established tourist sights - but it is often quite reactive to situational events that you just so happen to capture. I’ve a yearning to get more creative with the photography that I’m doing.

Film lives
This has triggered something of a return to film. I’ve dug out my analog SLR from the drawer and replaced the batteries - the original Canon is back - complete with unfinished black and white film from I Don’t Know When. I had to Google film processing locations and was quite surprised to find that there is a place not far from where I work. Using the camera that I once cherished and cut my SLR teeth on now seems so simple, like a toy. The clunk and whir of the film winding on is pure nostalgia. And, actually, I loved that lens.

To add extra creativity to this burst of film activity, I have tracked down a couple of specialist retailers that sell “doctored” camera film. On its way are several rolls of redscale film, and another couple of special effects film. I can’t wait to get them loaded up and out onto the streets of London for some trial shots - I remember from my red lens filter before that you have to shoot a couple of stops up to get the exposure right so it will be a case of trial and error to get everything Just So - can’t wait to show how the shots pan out.

Here are some examples of redscale photography. And if you really get into it, it’s possible to make your own redscale film at a much cheaper price than the pre-packaged stuff - by just flipping a standard 35mm colour film around in its canister. If anyone has done this and has some tips, do let me know.

Medium format
The next adventure in film is taking it to the next level. I have acquired an ancient Yashica-44 twin lens reflex medium format camera from eBay. Possibly I was slightly impulsive when acquiring it and got over-excited by the prospect of this very cool-looking beast. It was only after investigation of its film format that I realised it doesn’t take the standard 120mm film that normal medium format cameras take, and instead takes 127mm.

Boll*cks.

Turns out that only two specialist retailers appear to sell this format in the whole of the UK, and it ain’t cheap. Nik & Trick sell it for around £12 a roll (plus specialist processing), and Analogue Wonderland offer it for a slightly higher price. So once again one is going to have to get creative and play around with the options:

1. Pay the price of the film

2. Try and load 120mm film on the spool with the help of a tactically placed elastic band on one end

3. Try and load 35mm film with the help of two tactically placed hairbands on either end of the spool

If anyone has tried this, please shout - I am going to need all of the help I can get… Watch out for the “creative” results…