House (and lack of photography) reflected

June 4, 2022 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

We have a long weekend here in the UK thanks to the annual spring bank holiday being moved to Thursday (it’s usually on a Monday), plus the extra bank holiday we got yesterday to commemorate the Queen’s platinum jubilee. I’m not particularly fussed about the jubilee stuff but expected that I might use the extra time off work to get some photograpy done. As it stands though, I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired to go out (not helped by the dull weather that we currently have where I live), so have spent the last couple of days just loafing around the house watching TV (mostly Australian Survivor on Amazon Prime – I’m not a fan of reality shows at all, but really enjoy Survivor and The Amazing Race for some reason. It’s just a a shame we can’t see the US version by normal means here in the UK) and playing videogames.

I feel a little guilty for this, but sometimes it’s nice to just veg out and not put any pressure on yourself. I’ve still got enough new photos sat waiting to be published to keep the blog going for at least a couple of weeks of daily posts, plus plenty in the archive in the event I run out (which I don’t expect to), so that impetus is lessened for a while. I had planned on going out today if the sun had shown itself – I had an idea of an area I might photograph – but it will have to wait.

Fujica GW690 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired 2003). Lab developed.

Taken on 30 April 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A-maze-ing

May 23, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I visited the village of Ashford-on-the-Water last month. It’s a quaint little place full of picturesque cottages, and old church, and attractive scenes where the River Wye flows through. This was the first time I’ve visited the place since a school trip back when I was probably about ten years old (on a residential week at the nearby Thornbridge Hall).

This house caught my attention with it’s maze-like pattern of miniature hedges in the front garden.

Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 19 April 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Houses, roofs, benches and an urn

May 15, 2022 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

The coming days will see a series of photographs made with my recently acquired Olympus OM-1N (a replacement for my faulty OM-1. You can read about how I came about it here, should you wish).

The camera appeared to be in full working condition, but needed new light seals, so this was its first outing after I’d replaced those. As I didn’t want to chance a roll of something expensive on an untested camera, and as I have no cheap bought-for-£1 Agfa Vista Plus left, I used the cheapest, but fresh, stuff I had to hand – some Agfa APX 100. As far as I’m aware this is just re-branded Kentmere 100 these days (although I think it used to be re-branded Fomapan 100 previously). The last time I shot some of this I developed it with Ilfotec DD-X and got some quite overdeveloped negatives (probably my fault). This time I decided to use some Adox Adonal instead and got better results.

My old OM-1 had been converted to meter properly with a 1.5v cell, but this OM-1N still expects a 1.3v cell. I do have Wein cell that I could use but, again, as the camera was untested I didn’t want to crack open an expensive battery so I used a 1.4v zinc-air battery instead. I’m not sure how much this will have affected the metering but, on the whole, the shots came out quite well exposed with perhaps a little over-exposure present. The good news is that the camera worked perfectly.

Posted here today are three shots from the start of the roll. More to come this week.

Olympus OM-1N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Agfa APX 100. Adox Adonal 1+25 6mins @ 20°.

Taken on 15 April 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Out with the Holga part 1

April 29, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

On the day I tried out my first roll of the new Kodak Gold 120 variant, shot with my Yashicamat, I also took the Holga with me. I still had a couple of rolls of the “bad batch” Fomapan 100 (the one that liberally sprinkles little white specks on the resulting pictures), and it seems a good fit to shoot it with the Holga as, while I don’t want to use faulty film with the camera, it is great at covering up such defects due to its uniquely rendered images. I also have quite a stash of film at present and aim to try and get through some of it this year.

This was the first time I’d used the Holga in over a year – the last time was for some snowy shots back in January 2021 – and it’s easy to forget how much I like the pictures it produces. While this roll didn’t produce twelve bangers, I still got several I was happy with, and so I’ll post them here today and tomorrow.

I developed the roll in some of my remaining trial bottle of Adox Adonal (Rodinal in all but name) and used a 1+24 dilution which gave a pleasingly short 4 minute developing time. I’m pretty happy with the way they’ve turned out.

Holga 120N & Fomapan 100. Adox Adonal 1+25 4mins @ 20°.

Taken on 10 April 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The road to Elsecar

March 13, 2022 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

I took quite a while to get the composition how I liked it for this photo. Not a long time, but longer than my usual “there’s a photo! click” method. I saw there was a picture to be had but there were distractions / potential interest points at either side of the frame, so I spent a few minutes moving left, right, backwards, and forwards to get just what I wanted into frame – all the while being conscious that I was stood in a road and that cars might be approaching from my rear.

The right of the frame had a parked car which I wanted to avoid in the shot, but the left had some interesting street furniture that might have added to the photo, plus it showed the curve of the road at the side of the house to better effect. Unfortunately, positioning myself to get the stuff at the left in frame also meant that other unwanted things crept into view as well, so in the end I went for this version.

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 20 February 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Running out of new photos

December 17, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’m really eking out the shots from this roll. The number of photos I’ve made over the past three months has been minimal compared with what I’ve done previously, and I’m about to run out of new stuff to publish soon (in the next few days in fact). I’ve talked about this before, but have always managed to get some more in the can before that happened, but this time it will be pretty tight and I might have to fall back on the archive.

I start the best part of two week’s leave in a few days time though, so I’m hoping that I can get out and do some proper photography and fill the tanks a little. We shall see.

My new laptop arrived this morning. Thanfully this one a) isn’t filthy and, b) actually works. It’s currently restoring my backed-up data so I’m hoping I’ll be largely back to normal operations by the start of next week (just in time to go on leave…). As is always the case, while I’ve been getting the new machine set up, the weather outside has been (not frightful) lovely and it would have been a great day to head out with the camera. This afternoon the clouds closed in and we now have mist as the evening draws in. Part of me is tempted to go out and do some nightime photography, but I have to cook food for everyone today and I doubt I will still feel like going out when that’s all sorted. Got a day out tomorrow though, so maybe I’ll get some pictures then…

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

More laptop woes

December 16, 2021 fishyfisharcade5 Comments

My replacement laptop arrived today. It didn’t work. And so the saga continues.

The replacement machine arrived this morning and I made the swap for my old, faulty laptop. I was somewhat dismayed when I saw the replacement as it was covered in scratches and other cosmetic marks and I commented on the delivery man that it looked like it had been through the wars. Still, I need a working machine and I had no option but to make the swap. The first thing I did was to give the case a good wipe down with some disinfecatant wipes. This removed the majority of the surface dirt, although not the scratches. Then I opened it up.

The inside was disgusting. It looked like a laptop that someone had used as an ashtray, or perhaps left it open in a dusty shed for years. It was absolutely filthy. Again, I gave it a thorough clean with disinfectant wipes before then giving the whole machine a further scrub with some isopropyl alchohol to remove the remaining crap. Eventually it was in a reasonable state – although still far from the like-new condition that I’d managed to keep my old laptop in. It really makes me wonder how some people look after things so poorly?

Once cleaned, I took it up to my office to start the process of getting it connected. The first problem I noticed was that it didn’t have a VGA output. While I know time has moved on and such things are passe now, it did mean that I had no way to connect it to the older of my two monitors. The second problem was more significant. Upon powering up the machine I was presented with a message informing me that the power-supply did not have sufficient wattage to power the laptop. This meant I had to call the service desk once more to find out how to proceed. You can only imagine my delight when I was told that they would have to swap out the laptop and PSU as a pair for another machine! I now have to wait until tomorrow for another replacement to be delivered, but with the added annoyance that I spent half-an-hour of my own time cleaning a filthy machine that I’m now going to hand straight back. I’m not a happy person about this.

So, moaning over, I suppose I’d best post a picture on my blog that is supposedly about photography. It’s another from the Clumber Park outing and this one is perhaps my favourite from the roll.

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Behind an open gate

December 10, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I liked the look of this house as I walked past. I’m not sure that it’s used as a residential property as it’s in the bounds of Clumber Park, a National Trust property, so it may be used for administrative purposes.

The building is enclosed by a tall fence so my view was limited, but as I approached the gate began to open to let a van make its exit, so I quickly grabbed this shot. I’m a little disapointed that the white van at the rear of the building is in shot – if I’d taken a step to the left I’d have avoided it’s inclusion.

The photo (and most of the others on this roll) were made back in early November on the same day that I shot the roll of Ortho Plus from which I’ve already shared picture. It was about a week before we lost Stan, so this roll has sat undeveloped in my office for tha last few weeks. Normally I’d develop it myself, but I wasn’t in the mood so took it to my local lab instead and paid for the privilege of someone else doing it for me.

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Another well lit house (and the increasing cost of film)

October 30, 2021 fishyfisharcade5 Comments

This might be a bit of a theme over the next few days – photos of houses that is. I’m down to my last few frames of scanned, un-posted photos, and all of them are of houses (except for one of a fire station). I have finished a roll of HP5+ today that’s been in my XA3 for a while, so if I can get that developed tomorrow, then that should give me a bit more fuel in the tank before resorting to the archive.

It doesn’t seem that long that I was four or five rolls of un-scanned photos in front!

I was disappointed to see that Kodak have announced further price increases. Kodak’s films are already expensive, with things like Portra and Ektachrome pretty much off my shopping list already, but the proposed rise of “at least” 20% will blow my desire to buy them completely out of the water. This will put a 5-pack of something like Portra 400 at somewhere in the region of £60-80, and I expect that even stuff like Colorplus and Gold will be prohibitive – settling into the price ranges that the professional films were at a few years ago.

I’ve still got a decent stock of color film in the freezer, at least enough to keep me going for the next year or so based on the rate I shoot it at, and I tend to favour B&W photography anyway, and there are still a good number of reasonably priced black-and-white films available at present (here in the UK at least), and my preference is for Ilford’s films for B&W anyway. It’s a shame about these increases though – I want to support Kodak, but I’m not sure my wallet will allow it.

Running out of shots
I need some fuel for the blog
Best get to shooting!

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Lomography Xpro Chrome 100 (expired 2012)

Taken on 16 September 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Corner house

October 29, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The light on this house was gorgeous as I passed by so I made a photograph (and similar pictures of a number of other buildings on the same street). Sometimes nice light is all you need and the photos just present themselves.

It’s a handsome looking house, although I’m unsure as to it’s age – I expect at least a hundred years have passed since it’s construction though. It’s a shame about it’s twin next door which is boarded up and an ashen grey colour. It’s been boarded up for several years as far as I can recall.

Old house in nice light
Better kept than it’s neigbour
Which needs TLC