Adventures in film (continued)

It’s been a fun few weeks as far as photography is concerned.

Old, grainy baby photos

The initial results of my film forays are in. Probably the greatest pleasure has been retrieving the old black and white film that was sitting in my camera for 9 years or more. As my son prepares to move to Big School, it’s lovely to find “new” images of him as a baby.

REDSCALE FILM
This 35mm film I bought from Nik & Trick (see previous post). It was the first film I’d loaded in to the camera in years, so part of the learning curve was getting used to the camera’s idiosyncrasies again.

I remember using a red lens filter years ago and having to over-expose the image to get any real sense of picture. The first couple of shots I took on an overcast day, and even with the overexposure the dark was shapeless and devoid of detail. Two stops would definitely have been better.

The shot could have benefited from more exposure

The next day I went out was bright and sunny with excellent cloud cover - perfect for redscale photography shots. Mostly one stop over-exposure was enough, but in darker areas such as in the shade of the Hyde Park Pavilion, it could definitely have benefited from more.

Now I have “cut my teeth” on redscale, I have a couple more options to play with. I have another roll of pre-rolled film to shoot - and I’ll choose my landscape more carefully, armed with my current knowledge. The other option I’m going to play with is playing around with coloured lens filters, to see if I can get the same effect on normal 35mm film or even on digital - without paying for the cost and hassle of film.

See the redscale photos here >

REVOLOG PHOTOS
Revolog is a brand of film that makes novelty effects (some might say gimmicky, but what have you got to lose other than a bit of money?). I bought a couple of rolls of different types here and here.

Obviously, taking the photos is as easy as taking any other type of film - you can’t see what you’re doing in the moment anyway. But in terms of the results, I much preferred the versatility of the Revolog film - though I still shot a little overexposed, the film was much easier to handle and the success rate of the shots was higher and especially in darker areas of the images. It is however more unpredictable in terms of the results you’re going to get - as you don’t know if a splotch of green is going to be to the left or to the right of the image.

This film is so much easier to shoot with, without so much decision making between light and shade

But of course, novelty film or no novelty film, it’s all a bit pointless if your composition is up to nothing. And this is one of the downsides of film: because the roll is in your camera, it blocks you doing anything else with it until that load is complete, so you end up taking slightly silly pictures just to finish up the roll. This said, I’ll definitely use this film again at some point in the near future: #filmisnotdead

See the Revolog photos here >

Next time I’ll talk about loading the Yashica 44, and other medium format fun things.

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…