Leftover flowers

September 17, 2020 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

I’m still writing my camera review piece, honest! I’ve actually started it today and now have a few hundred words down on paper (well, a text file…). Finger’s crossed it’ll be here soon.

So in the meantime I’ll keep posting other stuff which, today, means a couple of photos of some flowers I bought my wife for our anniversary. When they were past their best and starting to wilt, I nabbed them before they got thrown out and took a few photos with my macro lens. As I didn’t want to mess around with a tripod and the rest of it, I pushed a roll of HP5+ to 1600asa so I could shoot handheld. While it’s not the first time I’ve pushed HP5+ a couple of stops, it is the first time I’ve developed the results myself. As usual, the Ilfotec DD-X has delivered results I’m more than happy with.

As they fade — I wasn’t sure about the left side of this one at first, but now I don’t mind it so much.

Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 30 August 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Out near Thorpe Salvin

July 21, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A bunch of photos that I made on a big looping walk from Thorpe Salvin a few weeks ago. I’ve posted several photos from the same walk in previous posts here, here, here, here & here.

These are all from the second roll of film I started during the walk, some expired Fuji Superia 100. It expired 12 years ago but has been cold-stored and it still looks great. I sometimes overexpose it slightly, but it looks good shot at box speed too, as can be seen in the photos here.

It’s a bit of a random selection of some of the things I passed while walking and I’ll post them as they come, without any commentary.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). The last shot was with my Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM lens.

Taken on 31 May 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Three poppies

July 17, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

I’ve had the day off work today as the garden fence needed painting. I’ve been at it all day and it’s still not finished (there’s a lot of fence!) and now I’m exhausted. As a result, I don’t have the energy to type anything lengthy, so here’s a photograph of some poppies I made about six weeks ago. Gotta love this expired Superia! 🙂

Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008).

Taken on 31 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Daisies?

June 16, 2020 fishyfisharcade8 Comments

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? 🙂

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

Taken on 31 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Monochrome wildflowers

May 26, 2020 fishyfisharcade6 Comments

Back to work today after four days off. No photography stuff today other than a bit of scanning.

The coronavirus situation in the country continues to apall with the shameless incompetence and double-standards at play in our so-called government. Apologies for mistakes are not a sign of weakness, they are a sign of strength. Respect is earned by those who accept and learn from their errors, not by those who obfuscate and pass the blame, no matter whether I support their broader views or not.

I wonder how long deceit, failure to accept responsibility and lack of accountability can last until something has to give? Sadly, I suspect a long time. There’s a tribalism in politics that has grown in recent years where groups of people hitch their allegiance to one wagon or another and refuse to get off, no matter the road it takes. It’s a terrible “us and them” situation that fosters the worst in people. I despair of it.

Anyway, this is a photography blog, not some political rant, so here’re some flowers.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 7 May 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Faking it

May 21, 2020 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

I made photos of a bunch of things in the house during lockdown. Some that looked appealing in the viewfinder resulted in disappointing photographs. Some, however, turned out pretty well.

The three photos today are of a small vase containing some artificial flowers (I don’t know if they’re supposed to represent an actual species of plant or if they’re just some kind of made up blooms – I know little about plants). Framing them against the out-of-focus yellow wallpaper has created a nice colour contrast.

Considering the fact that flowers are not something I readily turn to as a subject for photographs, I’m very happy with these – artificial or not.

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

Taken on 11 April 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Farewell 6×9

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

My brief foray into ownership of a 6×9 camera came to an end today with the camera being posted back to the seller for a refund. Will I dip my toes back into the world of large medium format negatives again? At this point I don’t know – while the seller has been very good about my returning the camera, the experience has made me a little more cautious about buying another folding camera online for the time being. I’ll perhaps stick to what I have (for a while, at least).

Some more photos from my Easter back garden session today.

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

Taken on 11 April 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

FP4Party

March 15, 2020March 16, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

I have three entries for this year’s FP4Party. All taken with my Holga 120N.

I didn’t hold a lot of hope for the roll I shot – I felt I was shooting stuff for the sake of it, so was very pleased to find I was very happy with some of the photographs. All three here were taken around the house while trying to finish off the roll – ostensibly the previous week should have been “shoot” week, and I did make some pictures on this same roll then, but work and the weather prevailed so I had the defer some of the shots – happily, I got some nice light on the day in question, even if I didn’t step foot out of the house.

I like the low key look I got, and the Holga, with it’s single-speed shutter and very limited aperture control, has once again delivered in spades.

Of the three, I like the first best. The second is nice, but I’m not sure about the composition – I think I should have moved the vase to the left or right to avoid it blocking the lamp standard. The third is nice too.

Holga 120N & Ilford FP4+.

Taken on 10 March 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Flowers in the greenhouse

November 8, 2017 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

After a couple of rolls of Fomapan 100, I decided to try some colour film in the Mess-Ikonta and, at the weekend, I paid another trip to Clumber Park and, again, ventured into the walled kitchen garden and glasshouse, where I found this nice little scene.

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektar.

Taken on 5 November 2017

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Expired Tmax 100 can be lovely!

August 31, 2017 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

As well as the roll of expired Tri-X that I wrote about yesterday, I’ve also recently shot a roll of Tmax 100 which expired in September 1994 (one of the other rolls I got at the car-boot sale). I shot the first few frames of the roll back on 19 August, mostly because someone reminded me that it was World Photography Day , and I thought I ought to at least take a few photos to mark the occasion (although I didn’t participate beyond taking the shots). As I didn’t have the opportunity to go out, I took some pictures of some flowers in a vase that were in the house. I took a couple of shots inside with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 attached to my F70, and then moved the vase outside and took a couple with my Sigma 105mm macro.

While I had reasonable hopes that I’g get some decent shots, I still expected the film to show signs of its age, so I was flabbergasted when I got the results – the tones, contrast, and fine grain of a film that should’ve been processed 23 years ago are absolutely gorgeous to my eyes. The only consideration I made to the film’s age was to shoot it at half box speed (50 asa) to compensate.

I’ve got a few other rolls of expired B&W film (although no more Tmax) and I’m now very much looking forward to seeing if they can render similarly pleasing results.

Here’re a few shots from the start of the roll (although I’ll definitely be posting additional images over the coming days and weeks as I like most of the pictures that I got).