Today’s picture was taken just a stone’s throw from the one I posted yesterday, but shot a year later. Thankfully the Kodak Ektar sheet fil, already expired by a few years when I loaded it into the holders, has stood the extended wait quite well, especially as it was just sat in my office and not refrigerated during this time. I wonder if we sometimes get overly concerned about the longevity of film if it’s not cold stored? I expect that, unless you’re in particularly adverse conditions, it will fare quite well at normal room temperature in a temperate environment.
Chamonix 045n-1, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/90 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I remember thinking at the time that I might as well just pull the sheet of film from the holder and throw it in the bin, such was my certainty that I’s messed it up beyond salvation. In the end, I decided to leave the sheet in the holder until I shot the remaining three sheets I had loaded on some other outing. It took almost a year before that next outing with the 4×5 Ektar came around.
Tempting fate somewhat, I returned to the same location – Padley Gorge – although the weather wasn’t particularly inspiring, it being a typical UK dull and overcast autumnal day. Nonetheless I decided to shoot the remaining three sheets I had loaded into my film holders. This being the first time I’ve shot colour 4×5 film, and as I don’t have the chemicals or equipment I’d need to develop the film at home (as I do with black and white), I had to find somewhere to send the film to be processed. I also had to locate a spare film box that I could use to send the sheets (they need to be sent in a light-tight container, usually a double box with a lightproof bag inside). It ended up being a month before I managed to post them out to the lab I chose, then another week to get them back.
When I saw the negatives, the original badly exposed shot looked a little thin, so I was expecting a bad result. Imaging my surprise when the picture you see below appeared from the scanner! It’s the best of the four sheets by far, I think. Yes, I’ve done some post-processing to make it look its best, but nothing too dramatic, and I’m extremely happy with the result. If you click the photo you can see the full-size version on Flickr, with all the lovely detail that a large format photograph provides.
There’s a lesson here about not giving up on things, even when they seem a lost cause…
Chamonix 045n-1, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/90 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I already posted a picture of this yacht when I was uploading “on location” during our holiday, but the photo below (and the other shots in this post) was taken earlier that day when my wife and I took a walk along the coastal path that led from our hotel to an area of restaurants, bars and shops.
When I was on holiday this year, I decided to “live post” each day, transferring pictures from my digital camera to my phone, and from there to the blog.
It’s been some time since I shot any large format photographs. This is mostly down to a lack of time rather than desire – each shot takes so much time to set up, that an outing with the Chamonix rarely returns more than four images. On the date I took the picture below, the number was one!
I had intended to take more but, due to the aforementioned complexity of setting up a shot, by the time I’d taken this one a large cloud had passed in front of the sun, blocking the light. It also brought a drifting veil of rain that I hoped might pass by without affecting the location I was at, but my luck was out and I was soon hurriedly packing everything away as the shower arrived.
The shot below is certainly not the best I’ve taken, and it’s not the first time I’ve photographed this particular scene (see here for a less leafy variant). That said, at least everything is in focus!
It is great to see the sheer level of detail that large format film can capture, though. Click through to the full-size version on Flickr.
In the midst of the picturesque Hope Valley stands the cement works. This used to be owned by Blue Circle Cement when I was younger, but the plant has been in the hands of multiple businesses since it was first built in 1929. The current owner is Breedon.
Despite the structure being quite a contrast from the otherwise scenic agricultural surroundings, it provides quite a striking focal point and the sight of the building and chimney features frequently in landscape photographs of the area.
I have a memory from a long ago school trip to the area where someone mentioned that it was an eyesore and spoiled the scenery, whereupon the teacher explained that, while that might be the case, the operation also provides a large number of jobs for the people who live in the area.
My recent day trip to Castleton was shared with a group of online friends who I know from a photography forum. I’ve been on similar outings in the past, but this was the first one since the covid pandemic.
I’m normally a lone-wolf when it comes to photography. I can immerse myself in what I’m doing without distraction, and I find I rarely make my best pictures if I’m with company. However sometimes it’s nice for photography to be a shared experience, especially when your companions share the passion and (sometimes) the disappointments. Even more so when they are fellow film shooters.
It was a good day and I hope to repeat it before too long.
Another shot made with my 28-300mm zoom lens that I wouldn’t have been able to achieve before. Actually, that’s probably not strictly accurate – my Zuiko 75-150mm might have done a decent job had I been shooting with one of my Olympus SLR’s. Still, I wouldn’t have been able to make this shot previously with my other Nikon gear, the longest lens I have for that format being a 105mm macro lens.
The conditions could have been better for this picture. Although it was still quite early in the day (before 9am) the sun was already beating down and there was a lot of haze and otherwise clear blue skies.
I like how Peveril Castle is perched up on the hillside in the background though.
Steel City Snapper photography 