Tag: Expired

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Further expired Ektachrome photos

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A few further shots from the roll of expired Ektachrome I posted about yesterday.

This first shot has had the most tweaking of the ones presented here today and it still has more residual purple tones than the others. I had to take care to not reduce the colour of the foxgloves while removing the tint.

Ferns and foxgloves

The next shot is of the Wilkin Hill Outdoor Centre, or rather the former outdoor centre as it appears to have been abandoned for quite some time. It does appear to have a new roof though, so perhaps it’s under development.

Outdoor Centre

The final two images are of Agden Dike, one of the main water sources that feeds Agden reservoir. The expired Ektachrome has performed remarkably well on the first shot, giving a broad range of tones with only a few issues on the brightest sunlit silver birch trunks in the background.

In the shade by the water

The last photograph here is probably my favourite from this roll. I’m unsure if someone has placed this branch and fern into the river (it looks wedged in by rocks) or if it’s actually a small tree-stump that a fern has colonised. Whatever the case, it looks like a miniature palm tree. I’m pretty happy that I was able to focus accurately with a narrow aperture and up-close with the Zeiss’ uncoupled rangefinder focus. It isn’t a problem on more distant subjects and with the wider apertures I normally choose with this camera, but manually transferring the focus from the rangefinder to the lens in a shot like this takes care, and I’m glad to have gotten it pretty much on the nail.

The world's smallest palm tree

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektachrome E200S (expired 2003).

Taken on 22 June 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Surprisingly nice expired Ektachrome from 2003

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A few photos today from my hike around Dale Dyke reservoir that I posted about a few weeks ago. I mentioned in that post about taking the Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 on the hike along with the Yashica Mat 124G. I’d loaded it with a roll of Ektachrome E200S that had expired back in 2003. I can’t remember where exactly I’d gotten the film from now, but I had no idea as to how it had been stored. I shot the first of the rolls with my Holga back in October last year. That roll had a severe purple cast. I was able to remove it to a large extent but it left nasty purple speckles in the shadow areas. While I would be shooting this second roll in a camera with more control over aperture and shutter speed, I was still not holding out high hopes for the film.

On a walk to a reservoir

I decided to over-expose it a little given it’s age. Normally I follow the 1-stop per 10-years of expiry rule of thumb, but I’ve heard that E6 film works differently to colour negative film in this regard, so I decided to shoot it at 80asa. My mistake here was that I’d forgotten I was shooting a roll of E200S, and not E100, so I was in actual fact over-exposing the roll by more than a full stop. Thankfully, this worked out ok and probably produced better results than my original idea.

Bridge to the dam wall

When I received the developed transparencies there was still a noticeable purple cast when I scanned them, but colour correction in the scanning software, plus some further work in Lightroom managed to remove the bulk of this. There’s still a hint of purple to the results, and the deep shadow areas have a little purple speckling, but it’s barely noticeable when compared to the first roll I shot through the Holga. On the whole I’m really pleased with the results I got and it’s encouraged me to shoot some more of the E6 film I have in the fridge.

The three shots here were hand-held.

Rhododendrons by the reservoir

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektachrome E200S (expired 2003).

Taken on 22 June 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Daisies?

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I made a few photos of these flowers. They were beside the footpath I took on a walk a few of weeks ago – this one with the Holga, and a few others with my F80 and a macro lens. I’ve yet to have the F80 shots developed as I still have a couple of frames left on that roll, but I suspect they’ll look quite different to this Holga photograph which has given me a somewhat unexpected, but nontheless pleasant, low-key result.

Although I’ve titled the post (and photograph) “Daisies”, I’m not actually sure if that’s what they are. While the look of the flowers is the same, and the colours match, these are far larger than the daisies that sprout in our garden if I’ve not mowed the grass in a while. I’m sure they must be some relation though. Great Auntie Daisy perhaps? 🙂

Daisies

Holga 120N & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 31 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Another gate? Don’t mind if I do…

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Keeping the theme going, here’s another gate shot – this one from my walk in the Moss Valley and shot on expired Shanghai GP3. In contrast with yesterdays photograph, this one was incident metered  and the difference can be seen quite clearly – the gate is well lit, but the shaded area under the tree has fallen mostly to shadow.

In fairness, my simplistic two-reading average method that I used on the shot shown yesterday might not have held up as well here as this gate was in full, bright, sunlight (and the photo has already had some work to drop the highlights), so might have been noticably overexposed had I used the same technique.

Gate in the sunshine

Yashica Mat 124G & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 23 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Cottage by a meadow

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It’s Friday evening again and I have to say that I’m very thankful for that fact. I’ve had a very busy week at work once again and am really looking forward to relaxing a little over the weekend. Hopefully I might get out to make some photographs – I have around six frames of 135 Ilford XP2 sat in my F70 that I want to shoot, certainly, which can then be sent off for developing along with a roll of Kodak Gold I finished a couple of weeks ago.

The weather doesn’t look particularly great on either day this weekend, but I can live with that – although boring flat grey skies or torrential downpours might put me off. I shall wait and see I suppose. If all else fails I’ve got a huge pile of photobooks to catch up on.

Today’s picture completes a hattrick of consecuitive shots from the same roll of Shanghai GP3 that I’ve posted photos from the past couple of days, this one being the last one on the roll. The backing paper had bled through on this one (and a couple of others), most notably in the sky,  so I’ve fixed it in Photoshop (although it was a bit of a quick’n’dirty job if I’m honest).

At the bottom of the meadow

Yashica Mat 124G & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 23 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Gateway to a field

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Following on directly from yesterday’s photograph, both in title (although this one’s a tad less evocative…), subject matter, and in timing – today’s photo being the next frame on the roll.

One of my ambitions this year is to make a book (or more likely a zine) of some of my photography. I’ve thrown my hat in the ring for a zine-swap with a group of other photographers where we each produce a zine and then send a copy on to everyone taking part, so we all get a nice little selection of each others photography in physical form. I’m still at the stage of figuring out both a) what subject to choose, and b) how the hell to make a zine. I have a few months yet though, so still time unless I get to too much procrastinating.

Anyway, what I suppose I’m trying to say is that perhaps a selection of photos of gates, fences. and stiles might make for a nice collection of photographs. Stuff like yesterday and today’s photos.

Gate

Yashica Mat 124G & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 23 May 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Freedom part deux

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The insect screen that hangs over the back door catches the wind pretty easily, and so it did while I sat on the back garden one day back in April. I liked the way the fluttering tassles looked against the blue sky so decided to take a photo. Obviously, as soon as I got my camera in hand this meant the wind dropped and I had to stand in place for five minutes before they blew into the air again.

This shot isn’t perfect – it has a significant vignette for some reason, and very few sections of the tassles are in focus, but I like the summery feel it has.

Blowing

Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Lloyds Pharmacy 200 (expired 2008).

Taken on 11 April 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Expired Film Day 2020 – I won a prize!

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Back in mid-March I posted about my entry into this year’s Expired Film Day competition. I’d entered three images shot on a roll of Kodacolor Gold dated 1989. All three photographs had been made during my visit to Magpie Mine.

A couple of days ago I was alerted to the fact that one of my photos had won in one of the categories – the Lab Rat’s Choice award! I’m not sure that I’ll be able to use my prize as it’s a free dev & scan of a roll of film. In itself this is a nice prize, but as Old School Photo Lab (who kindly provided the prize) are based in New Hampshire, USA, and I’m in Yorkshire, UK, the cost of mailing a roll of film for development will likely outweigh the benefit of taking them up on their kind offer.

Whether I manage to claim a prize or not, I’m nevertheless flattered to have had my photo win in one of the categories.

By way of connecting todays photo to the words in the post, here’s a picture taken of the same location, on the same day as my winning entry. This one shot on a different camera and film though.

Scale

Yashica Mat 124G & Fomapan 100.

Taken on 16 March 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

To edit, or not to edit? To photograph, or not to photograph?

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Another photograph I made on my final pre-lockdown roll of film today. It’s a photo I like a lot, but it’s one that, from an aesthetic perspective at least, could probably do with some editing. I’m talking primarily about the twigs at the left of the frame and the light stalks of grass at bottom-right, but also possibly the modern turbine (although I do like the juxtaposition, I’m not so keen on the placement of the old and new structures). I don’t mind removing distractions from my photos – although I never add anything in – but I’m also conscious to not completely change the reality of what was observed. Based on this, the twigs and grass are probably fair game, but I feel the wind-turbine is maybe a bridge too far.

Ideally, I would try to avoid distractions such as the twigs when taking the shot, but this particular composition has a very limited vantage point and reaching over to move the twigs would likely involve a fall or a nasty laceration from the barbed wire atop the fence through which I made the picture. Perhaps I’ll try again one day though.

In other news, our government in the UK has announced some loosening of the lockdown measures that will come into force this Wednesday. The key one for me as a photographer is that it is now allowed to drive to an outdoor location for the purpose of leisure as long as social distancing is observed. Although there was no mention of photography specifically, sunbathing and picnics (albeit only with members of your household) were both given as examples, so I’m pretty confident that photography would be ok.

While I like the fact that I can now venture further afield for purposes other than exercise or essential shopping, I’m not convinced that this is a good idea where reducing infection rates from the coronavirus is concerned. While I’m quite happy to just go for a walk around some agricultural land where I’m unlikely to encounter any other people (or can easily distance myself if I do), I fear that it will give free licence to masses of people who will now see it as ok to travel to the seaside, to beauty spots, and to other “honeypot” locations, meaning that these places will become potential hotspots for the virus to spread. Even if everyone maintains a two-metre distance, there will still be the need to use toilets and other facilities where there will be multiple opportunities frof conamination.

I’m not sure if, given my concerns, that my going out for photography – even to a place that is likely going to be deserted – makes me a hypocrite?

Generations

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Plus-X (expired 2008).

Taken on 22 March 2020