I scanned my final roll of pre-lockdown negatives a couple of days ago – a roll of expired Kodak Plus-X shot with my Yashica Mat 124G. They were all taken the day before lockdown was introduced in the UK, and I managed to get them developed by my local lab on the actual day of the lockdown (it wasn’t announced until the evening). All the subsequent rolls I’ve shot have been developed at home (as of this weekend I’ve now self-developed five rolls).

I’d strongly suspected that the lockdown would be coming and so had taken the opportunity to drive out and get some photos before movement was restricted. Concious of the fact that there was a growing pandemic, I nonetheless chose an area where I was cofident that there would be few (if any) other people around.

The outing also marked the last time I’ve used my tripod oustside of my house or garden. While I’ve taken plenty of photographs since the lockdown began, I feel that carrying a tripod on outings that are supposedly for exercise would be breaking the spirit of the thing. Consequently all photos taken while out exercising have been handheld shots that I could take quickly and safely – literally a case of: spot a composition; lift the camera to my eye; click the shutter; and done. All in the space of a few seconds. There are many more photos that would be possible with a tripod, but they will have to wait.

On the day that this roll was shot though, I had my tripod with me. What I neglected to bring, however, was a cable release! Thus I learnt on the spot how the Yashica Mat’s self-timer function worked. Quite well as it turned out – all the shots where I used it are perfectly sharp and correctly exposed.

Today’s picture is of a cluster of teazels framed against some background fields. I’ll publish more from this fianl pre-lockdown roll in the coming days.

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

Taken on 22 March 2020