For the past two years I’ve taken part in the Emulsive.org Secret Santa gift exchange. This year I was extremely fortunate to receive not only six rolls of nice and interesting film, but I also received a copy of my Santa’s book and, best of all, a Kodak Retina IIa camera in lovely condition.

Sadly I was ill over Christmas (just my luck to be sick the entire duration of the two week’s I had away from work!), so I didn’t get a chance to shoot with the camera until this past weekend.  I loaded a roll of Fomapan – badly, it turned out, and I had to re-open the camera back to do it properly, losing a few frames in the process – and set out on Sunday morning as I had a couple of hours before picking my eldest and his girlfriend up to come for lunch at our house.

I decided to shoot in the Attercliffe area of Sheffield, and area formerly dominated by the steel industry that the city made its name on, but now mostly made up of smaller engineering and manufacturing firms with the odd steelworks still dotted here and there). There’s an old derelict cinema building that I wanted to photograph, plus a cemetery, but I then just went for a wander to see what else I could find.

Sometimes it’s just the little things that you come across on your travels that make for the best images, and I think the shot below is definitely my favourite from the roll.

As for the camera, it’s a very nice little machine – a very compact folding 35mm rangefinder dating back to the 50s. A lot of my shots are a little soft, but that might be down to some camera shake in some instances (some of the slower shutter speeds might be a little sketchy side in terms of their accuracy), but enough are sharp to prove that it’s not a failing of the lens. I did find it difficult to see the full frame in the viewfinder due to my wearing spectacles, and I’ve had to straighten one or two shots as a result, but again, nothing serious.

Kodak Retina IIa & Fomapan 400.

Taken on 26 January 2019