Tag: Fomapan 100

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Crossing the Loxley

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This photograph was the first shot from the roll of Fomapan 100 that I posted about yesterday. The scene looked lovely in the morning sun when I arrived at Low Bradfield around 8am, so I plonked the camera on the tripod, framed up the shot, and fired the shutter. When I returned back to the village a few hours later after my circuitous walk there were quite a few people in this area and the shot would have been more difficult as a result.

There are several ducks in the scene. Can you spot them all? 🙂

Crossing the Loxley

Yashica Mat 124G & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 22 June 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Low Bradfield to Dale Dyke reservoir

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I had a day off work last week and decided to go for a hike and make some photographs. I took my Yashica Mat 124G loaded with a roll of Fomapan 100 (plus a roll of HP5+ in case I needed more shots), and the Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 loaded with a roll of 2003 expired Ektachrome E200. I carried the cameras and other bits in a shoulder bag and the tripod in my hand. There aren’t any of the Zeiss shots included here bacause a) I haven’t had the developed negs back yet and, b) they might be rubbish as I suspect I might have overexposed them all!

I decided to drive to Low Bradfield, a village on the northern outskirts of Sheffield. Above (and below) the village are a series of reservoirs – Strines; Dale Dyke; Agden; and Damflask. My walk took me up the valley to Dale Dyke reservoir (famous because it catastrpophically failed in 1864, killing 244 people in what was known as the Great Sheffield Flood), then across the valley bottom below the dam wall. From there I climbed the northern side of the valley and dropped down to Agden reservoir on the other side, following the eastern edge of the water and descending back to my starting point. The total distance is a little under 8km.

All the photos featured here are from the first half of the walk – from Low Bradfield to Dale Dyke. There are others from this sequence that I’ll probably post in future.

This is the second shot on the roll. It’s on the first footpath I took out of Low Bradfield.

Forming part of the wall

A structure close to the edge of the reservoir, possibly some sort of pumping station or water testing facility.

A place in the trees

A view across the spillway bridge and the dam wall with the northern side of the valley in the distance. The spillway bridge is a nicely decorated iron affair and I’ve seen some attractive pictures of it. However, as it wasn’t obvious as to how I would find a suitable vantage point, and as the spillway was dry, I didn’t take any photos of it apart from this one.

At the dam wall

A series of stone steps that descend down to the water at the base of the spillway. I used a wider aperture here to narrow the depth of field (most of the other shots – apart from the last – were shot at f/11 – f/16.

Descending through trees

The next  is of the calm waters a little downstream from the base of the dam wall where low hanging branches dip down towards the water. The result wasn’t quite what I envisioned, but there’s something about those leaves at the top of the frame that I find really attractive.

Branches reflected at water's edge

I’m still getting the “dust” problems with the Fomapan 100 that I mentioned previously  here. This roll used water as a stop-bath which, while making some improvement to the situation, hasn’t resolved it completely, so it still took quite some time to clean up these images in Photoshop. I’ve not had issues with lab-developed Fomapan 100, so I’m wondering if it’s something else in my developing process, or perhaps an iffy batch of film?

Yashica Mat 124G & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 22 June 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Uninspired

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I had the day off work today and had planned a trip out into the countryside. Alas, the weather had other plans and the day was one of those with a solid sheet of blank grey sky. To make matters worse it also kept raining. Not proper, people-with-umbrellas rain though, but the fine, almost mist-like, rain that just hangs about in the air and gets onto every surface – especially cameras and the front elements of lenses!

So I changed my plans and drove into town instead. Today would be my first trip into the city centre since the non-essential retailers were allowed to open their stores last Monday (and only the second time since lockdown began in March!). Although early, I’d expected more people and traffic that there was – having seen pictures of crowded streets and shops in the media, I thought there might be something similar afoot – but there were very few people about. More than my previous, pre-shops-re-opening visit, but still not many – not even many people travelling into work. The largest groups of workers I saw were construction workers, of whom there were a significant number apparent around town.

Today’s trip was different to the last though in one simple way – I was uninspired. Whereas on my previous visit last weekend I saw photographs everywhere, today I saw few, and the ones I made (I shot around half a 36 exposure roll of HP5+) felt for the sake of it rather than anything I expect to be good when they are developed. Usually, shooting a full roll of film is no problems, but today I left defeated.

It was the first outing for my newly acquired Olympus OM-2 too and perhaps getting to grips with the slightly different fuctionality when compared to my familiar OM-1, had an impact on my photograph making. I’m hoping I might get to finish the roll over the weekend (and I have an extra day off on Monday too) and that the next outing will see me in better spirits.

Today’s photographs are from the dust-spotted Fomapan roll of doom that I’ve spoken about in recent posts. It took me ages to get rid of all the speckles, so I hope someone likes them. 🙂

A gap in the crops

Rainy day lane

Yashica Mat 124G & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 6 June 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Dust-spotting pain

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I mentioned yesterday how I’d spent ages dust-spotting some Fomapan 100 negatives. A number of people replied to the post, so I thought I’d give a bit of a follow-up today.

I’ve now completed the chore. Well, on the photos I intend to upload, at least. It was an absolute pain in the backside. It would seem that I’d clear all the spots, only to then notice just as many secondary spots, and each image took a good half-an-hour at least of clicking away to remove them – and even then I’m sure there are many that I’ve missed. But I think I’d gone past caring by that point!

As I’ve not had the same problems with dust spots on any other rolls recently (I always dust the work area carefully before scanning and, while some dust always sneaks in, I rarely get lots of it), I began to wonder if it was something to do with the either the film specifically, or perhaps my development. All my home developed films have been processed in Ilfotec DD-X, then Ilford stop-bath and rapid fixer. The developer is always freshly prepped for a one-shot use and, while the stop-bath and fixer get re-used, they should both be fine for a little while yet (they’ve had around 10 rolls through them). A roll of HP5+ that was developed after the roll of Fomapan shows no signs of the same problem.

fomapan 100 problem
An example of the issue. This is an enlargement of one of the frames that shows clearly the speckling of white spots.

So I decided to look at the last roll of Fomapan 100 I shot – this was a couple of months back – and found that it too had the same issue with dust. I decided to search online for “white spots on Fomapan 100” and it led me to a few places where people would report similar problems – sometimes going so far as to describe it as a “Milky Way” effect. I’m not sure I would go that far, but I got the gist. One post had some example pictures whic matchen mine very closely in terms of the spotting problem. It seems to be an intermittent issue.

I’ve now come to the opinion that I might have a bad batch of Fomapan 100, which is a bit of a pain as I bought ten rolls of it! I guess I’ll have to try another roll and see what it gets me. While the film is still useable, the post-processing required to get rid of the spots is not something to be relished.

Oh well, there are worse things happening in the world, so I’m sure I can live with this minor inconvenience.

Here’s one of the shots from the roll that has had a lengthy clean-up applied.

Down through the field to the railway line

Yashica Mat 124G & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 6 June 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Monochrome wildflowers

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.

Wildflowers

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

Taken on 7 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Multiple exposure

fishyfisharcade4 Comments

A few weeks back I wrote a post about how I’d messed up with my Bronica and made an accidental multiple-exposure (it really doesn’t feel that long ago – I could have sworn I wrote the post a week back at most!). Anyway, the gist of it was that I’d accidentally switched the multiple-exposure lever on instead of the mirror lock-up when taking a long exposure. This resulted in me unknowingly making several exposures on the same frame of HP5+.

I had low hopes for the result and expected it to be a complete write-off. However, it isn’t… Surprisingly, the photograph has turned out interesting (in an obviously imperfect way).

The main subject is the signal box in the village that I’ve photographed on a number of occasions before. However, the other shots have resulted it being overlaid with foliage and cobwebs. It now looks oddly reminiscent (to me, at least) of something you’d find in Stephen King’s story, The Mist, where a secret government experiment opens up a rift to another dimension. From it flows a mysterious mist and within it are…things.

Anyhoo, here’s the photo in question.

Multiple

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

Taken on 6 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A quarter pint of cola

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Do you ever have those times where the creative urge just strikes? Times where you need to make a photograph even though you can’t go out and there’s nothing much to photograph indoors but your eye catches something and you just think “Yeah, that’s a picture.“? Well, today’s photograph is from one of those times.

I’m not sure whether I was just in a trigger happy creative flush, but something made me get the shot. The subject is a half-full glass of (flat) cola sat on the cabinet where my printer sits (and which has some books and other gubbins perched atop it too). The glass has been through the dishwasher on multiple occasions, and it shows. What was once clear is now permanently etched by the washing process, leaving a finery of scratches across its surface. I think it was these bright marks highlighted against the darkness of the beverage that made me think there was a photograph waiting to come out.

The Bronica and the 75mm Zenzanon have made for a sharp image and the Fomapan 100 (this is the first roll of this emulsion I’ve home developed in the DD-X I use) has produced lovely tones. It’s probably not a photo that anyone would ever want on their wall, but I’m quite struck by it for some reason. Mundane for the win once again.

Quarter-pint of flat cola in a scratched glass

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

Taken on 27 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

Musings on the pandemic and lockdown and celebrating VE day

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This week I heard that my aunt’s father died from Covid-19 infection. He was resident in a care home where ten more people including a member of staff have died after contracting the virus. There are apparently over a dozen others in the same facility showing signs of infection. Because of lockdown restrictions, his family were unable to visit other than to look in from a window, and so he had no direct contact with his loved ones when he passed away. The funeral will have restriction on attendance, and there can be no church service. They are obviously heartbroken. What would already have been a very difficult experience is made all the more terrible by the conditions in which it has taken place.

He was a WWII veteran, having fought through Western Europe from D-Day until he was injured by enemy fire in Holland, wherupon he returned home to recover. Now he has died during the current pandemic.

As the lockdown in the UK has been in place for over six weeks, and as the incubation period of the infection is up to fourteen days, this means that he has become infected since the lockdown began. At some point, most likely unknowingly, someone has come into contact with a contaminated surface or an infected person and had brought the virus into the care home where it has spread amongst the residents and staff. This fact illustrates why social distancing and proper hygiene is so important if we are to get the situation under control. The high number of deaths due to Covid-19 in UK care-homes is a tragedy.

Earlier this week, government sources gave hints that there would likely be a lifting of some of the lockdown measures announced this weekend, and some hints were given as to what these might be. The mainstream press had a field day. Headlines were written in a way that all but implied that the lockdown would be coming to an end. This, along with the VE Day holiday seems to have resulted in a considerable number of people suddenly relaxing their commitment to the lockdown rules to hold street parties. While many of these street parties were clearly described as being held in such a way as to maintain social distancing rules, it has become quickly apparent that this fell through in many cases with people mingling together like the virus has gone away. I’ve seen footage online of people having group singalongs and even a whole street of residents performing the conga. While they did appear to be two metres apart, I’m not sure this constitutes a necessary activity, even if it was 75-years since the war ended.

My fear is that we will now see a spike in infections in the coming weeks, just as things were starting to get a little better. I can only hope that more WWII veterans (and indeed anyone else) does not become infected or killed by this virus as a consequence of people’s desire to get out and celebrate. It will be a terribly irony if further survivors of WWII lose their lives as a result of people celebrating the end of it.

I don’t really have a picture to illustrate the words in my post, so here’s another from my pre-pandemic outing to Magpie Mine.

Stay safe everyone.

Track, puddle and mine remains

Yashica Mat 124G & Fomapan 100.

Taken on 16 March 2020