35mm · Film photography · Photography

Splashes of colour and light

As those of you who visit my blog will no doubt realise, I have a preference for black and white photography over colour, with most of my shots on here being the former. That’s not to say that I don’t like colour photographs though. It’s just that I don’t seem to be (in my own opinion anyway) as good at taking them as B&W shots (and, for all I know, I might not be very good at B&W either! 🙂 ).

I do shoot colour at times though (especially digitally, where I’m trying to get better at landscape stuff) , and will continue to do so, not least because I have over 40 rolls of 35mm colour film sat in the freezer. When it comes to colour I tend to favour abstracts and small vignettes of larger scenes (although I’ll do the snapshots and chocolate-box scenes too if they present themselves). I have a book by Dutch photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen (122 Colour Photographs) which is full of pictures in a style that I tend to favour. The photographs in the book date to the 40s and 50s. The book is only available as a facsimile edition at present (unless you can lay your hands on an original copy), but it’s full of lovely images. A Google search gives a good idea of the sort of thing I mean.

Anyway, here are a small selection of shots taken on a walk back in December. I definitely think that sunny days work in the favour of these sort of photographs.

FILM - Works

FILM - EP

FILM - Bandstand interior

FILM - Three flights

FILM - Resin

FILM - E II R

Pentax P30T, Rikenon 50mm f/2 & Kodak Colorplus.

Taken on 9 December 2018

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Frozen

I got up early and went out to catch the sunrise in the Peak District last weekend. The place was blanketed with a thin layer of snow and it was a crisp and cold morning(-1.5C). I shot several colour photos on digital, but took the Yashica Mat out with me and shot a roll-and-a-half of black and white too, including this one.

FILM - Frozen

Yashica Mat 124 G & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 2 February 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

See you later ol’ fella

We had to say goodbye to our cat, Luigi, last night. He was 19 years old, so had enjoyed a pretty long life for a moggy, but his health had been failing over recent years. He was pretty much totally blind and deaf, and was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure last year. He’s been on a special renal diet and daily blood pressure medication for the past few months but over recent weeks had started to lose a lot of weight and suffer from stomach upsets.

We took him to the vets yesterday probably expecting the worse, but also hoping for the best, but the diagnosis was that he had contracted a secondary digestive illness, possibly IBS or lymphoma. While steroids can be given to help relieve these, this isn’t possible for a cat with renal problems, so there was nothing to be done.

We love him very much, but didn’t want him to suffer, so agreed with the vet that it was time to say goodbye.

Farewell old buddy, we have so many happy memories of you. You were loved and will be missed so very much. 😦

FILM - Old fella

Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Tmax P3200.

Taken January 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

O’er the top

After a morning of bleak (but wonderful) fog, the Sun suddenly broke through the clouds as I was driving home, and I quickly stopped to get a photograph. As I pulled over another car stopped on the opposite side of the road. At first I thought this would ruin my pictures, but after the guy got out, I saw he was there to tend to the animals in the field. After doing this he followed the track up to the top of the hill and I managed to get a really nice silhouette shot. The second shot is of the group of sheds where the animals presumably shelter and their food and so-forth is stored. The sky was lovely and I used an orange filter to catch some detail.

FILM - O'er the top

FILM - Sheeptown

Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400.

Taken on 20 January 2019