I’m still months behind with posting pictures, so it’s still got a somewhat autumnal feel here on the blog, including today’s post of this strikingly coloured tree on the gradually-reverting-to-nature Renishaw Golf Course.
Something good that happened today…
A piece of work that I’ve been procrastinating over for the last few days suddenly took shape today. It’s not finished yet, but it’s in good shape now, so that’s good.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
The field in today’s picture had been freshly ploughed (although this corner at the edge is more churned, I think). The rich brown of the turned soil contrasted nicely with the scattered orange fallen leaves that littered the surface. I don’t think the shot would have worked without the pylons.
If you want to see what the field might look like as springtime arrives, I have a shot from the same location here.
Something good that happened today…
I went to the cinema to see Captain America: Brave New World after work today. I’ve been steering clear of any reviews and opinions as much as possible (although I had seen a few people mention that these weren’t favourable) because I wanted to form my own opinions without being swayed by others. I sometime wish for the simpler times where the entire world didn’t feel the need to be seemingly harshly critical of almost everything.
I enjoyed the film. It’s not the best MCU movie, but it’s far from the worst, and I had a solid couple of hours of solid entertainment, which is all I really want from this sort of film.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Another picture taken in close proximity to those posted over the last couple of days.
This is a bit of a “tripod holes” scene, and you can probably fine a large number of alternative (and probably better) photographs of the same location. It sits beside one of the main paths leading through Padley Gorge so, unless you take the path on the other side of the gorge, you can’t really avoid it.
Still, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I’ve cropped in a little to remove some additional brightness where the grey and overcast sky was visible through the branches at the top of the scene.
Chamonix 045n-1, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/90 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Today’s picture was taken just a stone’s throw from the one I posted yesterday, but shot a year later. Thankfully the Kodak Ektar sheet fil, already expired by a few years when I loaded it into the holders, has stood the extended wait quite well, especially as it was just sat in my office and not refrigerated during this time. I wonder if we sometimes get overly concerned about the longevity of film if it’s not cold stored? I expect that, unless you’re in particularly adverse conditions, it will fare quite well at normal room temperature in a temperate environment.
Chamonix 045n-1, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/90 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I remember thinking at the time that I might as well just pull the sheet of film from the holder and throw it in the bin, such was my certainty that I’s messed it up beyond salvation. In the end, I decided to leave the sheet in the holder until I shot the remaining three sheets I had loaded on some other outing. It took almost a year before that next outing with the 4×5 Ektar came around.
Tempting fate somewhat, I returned to the same location – Padley Gorge – although the weather wasn’t particularly inspiring, it being a typical UK dull and overcast autumnal day. Nonetheless I decided to shoot the remaining three sheets I had loaded into my film holders. This being the first time I’ve shot colour 4×5 film, and as I don’t have the chemicals or equipment I’d need to develop the film at home (as I do with black and white), I had to find somewhere to send the film to be processed. I also had to locate a spare film box that I could use to send the sheets (they need to be sent in a light-tight container, usually a double box with a lightproof bag inside). It ended up being a month before I managed to post them out to the lab I chose, then another week to get them back.
When I saw the negatives, the original badly exposed shot looked a little thin, so I was expecting a bad result. Imaging my surprise when the picture you see below appeared from the scanner! It’s the best of the four sheets by far, I think. Yes, I’ve done some post-processing to make it look its best, but nothing too dramatic, and I’m extremely happy with the result. If you click the photo you can see the full-size version on Flickr, with all the lovely detail that a large format photograph provides.
There’s a lesson here about not giving up on things, even when they seem a lost cause…
Chamonix 045n-1, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/90 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Despite my hopes and promises of doing one of these posts each month, I seem to have failed miserably when it comes to doing so – the last post in this (very occasional!) series was back in November 2022.
I did shoot another roll of expired film last summer but I was unhappy with the results and ended up converting the pictures to black and white. While they looks pretty nice after the conversion, these posts are aimed to be about keeping to the original results from the film used with a minimum of post processing. Converting to monochrome was a step too far.
No such worries with the next roll though, some 120 format Kodak Portra 400NC that expired in 2007. 2007 doesn’t feel like that long ago but it was prior to the global financial crisis and is fast approaching twenty years ago!
Portra 400NC was discontinued by Kodak in 2010, when the current range of Porta films (160, 400, and 800) was introduced. Kodaks description of 400NC was: “Offers fine grain, low contrast, and colors and skin tones that look real and natural in a variety of lighting situations.” There is a brochure online on Kodak’s website which covers the full rang of (as was) Portra films from this period. There’s a strong hint that it was aiming for the wedding photography market…
I don’t photograph weddings and, even if I did, there’s no way I’d risk a seventeen year old expired roll of unknown provenance on such a once-in-a-lifetime event. For the sort of subjects I normally photograph however, I was willing to take the risk.
Despite the limited number of shots, I decided to shoot it with my Fujica GW690 6×9 medium format camera, giving me just eight potential pictures from the roll. The first outing was to my favourite seaside haunt of Mablethorpe. Normally when I visit Mablethorpe I will wander around all day making photographs. However, this year, I took my dad along for a day out, so knew from the outset that I wouldn’t be shooting as much. In the even I only used three frames on this outing, and one of those was a misfire when the camera was in my bag! I’ve since started to avoid winding the film in the GW690 after taking a shot to prevent this expensive mistake from reoccurring. Unfortunately, the Mk I GW690 that I own doesn’t have the shutter button lock that the later models do.
So the first two shots from the roll were of beach chalets / huts that stand along the beach promenade. The weather on the day was bright, but a layer of thin high-level cloud, robbed the light of contrast. Nevertheless, for outdated film the results were pretty good.
The second batch of shots – the remaining five on the roll – were shot one misty morning at Rother Valley Country Park. While I find the park a little uninspiring due to over-familiarity, cold misty morning usually provide some nice pictures, and this occasion bore that out.
The first shot is a little dull perhaps, but the light was nice. It’s just a suburban street I walked on my way to the park. You can just make out the mist hanging over where the lake is in the middle of the shot though. There’s a line of pylons that run between the houses and the park. The towers are out of frame, but the powerlines themselves can be seen.
The next shot is one of my favourites from last year, a beautifully autumnal scene of a small maple tree, it’s leaves turning but not yet fallen, nicely separated from the background by the mist. I’m not sure if the colours are true to life, but they look gorgeous, so I’ll take that as a win.
The mist was already burning off under the gaze of the morning sunshine when I took the next picture. A simple landscape scene of the lake with the boating centre on the far bank. There’s still enough mist left to provide some pleasant atmosphere to the photo though.
I took another photo very similar to the one above which had a couple of swans in the frame, but the one above is the best, I think.
The last shot is another lone tree, but this time I shot directly into the light. It’s not as good as the other tree picture, but I do like the way the tufts of dew and cobweb covered grass are illuminated at the bottom of the frame. The lens of the GW690 shows no signs of flare, even in this challenging scene.
So, apart from a wasted shot, this was another expired film success. When I shoot old colour film I’m not really expecting accurate colours, just pleasing ones, and this delivered on that.
Overall outcome: Success!
Expiriment #5 coming soon (Yeah, I know…)…
Fujica GW690, Kodak Portra 400NC (expired 2007). Shot at 160asa and lab developed for box speed.Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I lieu of having anything else to talk about today, here are a few more pictures of autumn colour from last year. I doubt any will win prizes for their scenery, but the light was nice for each of them.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.
I stopped the car when I saw this scene. It’s just some dry weeds in a field beside the road, but the colours against the autumn blue sky screamed out to me. I’m not sure what the floodlights in the distance illuminate, but I deliberately included them because they added a sense of mystery, or at least they did in my mind.
It’s another one of those photos that I just like without really being able to define why.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.
Not far from where I live there are lots of remnants of the coal mining that was once a major industry in the area. Some of these are gradually becoming subsumed into the landscape, but some are more apparent such as the bridge seen in today’s pictures.
I went out on this day with the hope of getting some autumnal colours lit by the setting sun, but as I walked the sun dipped behind a bank of cloud on the western horizon and the bright glow disappeared. I thought about heading back home but, having been caught out in the past by a sudden resurgence of good light when it was too late to take advantage, I decided to wait a little longer.
After a while the sun descended below the cloud and cast some dim but pleasant light across the scene – enough to cast shadows from the bridge’s ironwork. I didn’t hold any great expectation for the photos, but I was pretty happy when I saw the scans emerge. The colour is more subtle than it might have been had the sun been un obscured, but the warm tones work really well, I think.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.
I was going to say that this post features the last of this year’s crop of autumnal pictures, but I have a few more on a roll of 35mm Kodak Gold still to be uploaded, so there will still be a few more to share (although I expect it will be after Christmas before that happens, unless I move them up the schedule).
The two pictures here were taken near the village of Barlow in Derbyshire, not too far from Chesterfield. I’ve driven past the lone tree pm a few occasions and noticed that it has a handy public footpath running through the field beside it. Whit it was the main reason I got out of the car with my camera, I think I prefer the first shot of the woodland, which has a nice selection of autumnal tones against the slightly hazy blue sky. The lone tree is ok, but I think there is a better photograph to be had.
I’ve managed to shoot (almost) a couple of rolls of 120 Ilford HP5+ this weekend during an overnight trip to York with my wife to visit the Christmas market. I’m not sure how they will turn out – I rarely make my best pictures when I’m out with someone else, and always feel like I’m rushing or missing things. I’ll hopefully get a chance to develop them soon though, so we shall see…
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Steel City Snapper photography 