Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Working my muscles with the Texas Leica

I shot my first real roll through my recently acquired GW690 last week. When I say “real” roll, it’s actually the second one – the first was a roll of Velvia that the previous owner had left in the camera when they sold it. It had seven unused frames which, in my eagerness to try out the camera, and the somewhat temperemental relationship I have with that particular film, meant that I was mostly unhappy with the results. The compositions were not especially interesting, the exposures were not good – I blew the highlights significantly in most of the shots – and my scans were disappointing in their colour reproduction. As a result I’ve not uploaded a sigle frame from the roll.

For this second attempt I used something I knew I should have more success with – at least in the exposure and scanning apects, if not the composition of the images (although, in this, I hope I still managed to get something nice). The results are much better than the first set, although still not quite perfect and, given the relative expense of using the camera – just eight shots per roll! – I need to up my game, slow down, and pay full attention to what I’m doing. Also, at this satge, I still have that “exciting new camera” feeling, so I’m probably not doing the best I can. Most of the shots are nice though, but a couple are slightly soft due to camera shake (I think I maybe need to do some weight training before using this handheld 🙂 ), and a couple of slightly dull compositions.

The photo posted today is one of the frames I liked. The curve of the road is nice and the light is good. It also shows the very nice results that the lens on the GW690 can produce.

More to come soon…

The road through the ford

Fujica GW690 & Ilford Delta 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.

Taken on 20 December 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A6187

This is the A6187 road. It runs thirteen and a half miles from Fox House Inn on the outskirts of Sheffield (close to where this photo was taken), to the village of Castleton – famous for it’s caves and Blue John.

The section here veers in from the left where the trees are, crosses Burbage Brook and angles up towards Surprise View carpark – which is just beyond the birch woods in the middle -right. Shortly after that the road takes a 90-degree turn to the right and decends into Hathersage and the Derwent Valley.

FILM - A6187

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Shanghai GP3 (expired).

Taken on 22 November 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Round the bend

A benefit of having a camera on you at all times is that you can grab a photo whenever one presents itself to you, as I did with this little scene that caught my eye while out walking a few weeks back.

As a point of interest, the phrase “being driven round the bend” comes from the layout of the grounds of old mental hospitals and asylums, which would not have a direct line of sight to the road they were accessed from. Therefore, a person being taken for admittance would be “driven round the bend” to get to the facility

FILM - Round the bend

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford XP2.

Taken on 31 March 2019