35mm · Film photography · Photography

Further afield

fishyfisharcade

Today was the first time in almost two months that I’ve driven out to do some photography. The lockdown rules here in the UK now allow travel for exercise or other lesisure activities (but with social distancing enforced – you can only go alone or with members of your household, and you still need to remain 2 metres apart from other people you encounter wherever possible).

Despite so many places now being potential destinations, the location I chose is only a few miles from home. If I didn’t mind a long hike, it’s actually within walking distance in fact. Nonetheless, being able to drive there and then enjoy a walk was a definite pleasure.

I set off quite early, and parked the car at eight am, and the entire walk took me around two hours. During this time I encountered one other walker, two dog walkers, one jogger, and a couple of farmers shooting pigeons. Social distancing was easily maintained, and there were far fewer people around than if I’d visited the footpaths closer to home.

I also saw a deer, which was nice.

I took a couple of cameras with me. Firstly, the recently acquired Zeiss 6×9 folder that I shot the other day but which I believed to be faulty. I wanted to shoot another roll to confirm that this was the case before requesting a refund. Secondly, my Yashica Mat, which has just come back from being serviced, and so I wanted to give it an outing.

Snail in the heather

I’ve not developed the Yashica pictures yet, but I’m hopeful that there will be some nice photographs amongst them. The roll from the Zeiss was developed when I got home and scanned a short while ago. I didn’t have any great expectations from the photos as I didn’t spend too much time composing them, expecting them to show the same issues as before. The scans confirmed my fears, with the pictures afflicted by the same out-of-focus problems on the left of the frames. I’ll perhaps post one or two of them if I upload them though.

It’s disappointing, as I’ve been thinking of picking up a 6×9 folding camera for some time and, given the superb quality of images from my 6×6 Zeiss folding camera, I had similar expectations. Sadly, it’s not to be this time.

I’m looking forward to seeing my Yashica Mat photos though!

Snail shell

Todays’s photos are another trio from my Easter weekend in the back garden. A couple of shots of a snail shell I found perched in some heather, and one of a bag of leaves I’d swept up earlier in the day. This latter photo is one that I fully expect most people to dislike – it is, after all, just a bag of rubbish – but there’s something about it that caused me to make the photo in the first place – I think it’s probably the warm colours of the dead leaves framed by the black plastic of the bag. I dunno though, I like it whatever it is. 🙂

After the sweeping

Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Kodak Gold 200.

Taken on 11 April 2020

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Published by fishyfisharcade

6 thoughts on “Further afield”

  1. These are some beautiful close-up shots you made on Kodak Gold. That first one is especially striking, with its shallow depth of field and rich colors. Is your lab back open or have you started developing color film at home too!? If these are lab scans, I must say, your lab does way better work than most labs I’ve tried, which tend to produce scans that are way too saturated/high contrast by default and have sharpening cranked up to truly inexcusable levels. Your photos here are what Gold should look like. Seriously, these are excellent.

    By the way, I’ve also enjoyed the closer, in-focus, more detailed shots of the Magpie Mine structures and the surrounding landscape you’ve uploaded recently. That really does looks like a wonderful place to burn through some film, color or B&W.

    Sorry to hear your new Ikonta has issues. That’s a bummer. It is, however, one of the reasons I’ve avoided old folding cameras with bellows. It just seems like damage to the spring mechanism and rails that could result in the lens being out of alignment with the film plane would be too great a risk with them. All it takes is slight force being accidentally applied to the camera in the wrong way once, causing an imperceptible bend, and that’s that. If you set out to find a replacement, hopefully you’ll have better luck with the next one.

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    1. Thanks P. The lab I use for B&W or E6 stuff is still closed at present, but I send C41 to a different place because their colour scans are cheaper (and I scan B&W at home myself). This lab is still open, although I’ve heard they’re not taking new submissions at present because they have a huge backlog! I’m pretty happy with the scans I get from them, but may have to try somewhere else while they’re busy.

      I’m disappointed about the Ikonta, but at least I can return it for a refund. I’ll probably be a little more wary of buying another now (or maybe just stick to the 6×6 format that I already have covered). Or maybe a Fuji GW690 at some point! 😀

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      1. Yeah, the lab you sent this roll to really does appear to do nice work. Hopefully they’ll get caught up or you’ll be able to find another lab that does equivalent work for around the same price.

        Haha, I too would love a GW690. Sadly, that’s way out of my budget. I’m at least glad you’re not out your money on the Ikonta.

        By the way, I got my Canon Sure Shot Max in! I have yet to put a roll of film through it, but everything appears to be working correctly, so I’m hopeful.

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