Given the brilliantly lit white facade of this building, I’m happy that the slide film caught the detail without blowing it out. I guess the dynamic range across the whole scene is not too large, but I still wondered whether this would be a success or not.
It would have been nice to have a tilt-shift lens to capture the scene. While I don’t hate converging verticals in photographs, sometimes, when they’re only slight as is the case here, they bother me more for some reason.
Something good that happened today…
I managed to find some time this lunchtime to develop a couple of rolls of Tri-X that I’ve shot recently, so I have another 24 images waiting to scan. I’m always glad when I’ve gotten film development done because I find it a chore. It’s easy enough to do, and I’m relatively successful at it, but I don’t get the enjoyment from it that some other photographers do. On the other hand, I do quite like scanning, which some other photographers hate!
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Another of the expired Elite Chrome photos. The Light is a retail and leisure centre in Leeds and contains shops, bars, restaurants, and a cinema among other things. The name seemed fitting for this picture as “the light” really was quite nice.
Something good that happened today…
I missed my “Something good…” bit yesterday because I published an Expiryment post, but I’m back today.
My son started his new job today, and while we haven’t had a “debrief” with him about it yet, he seems happy enough, which is good.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week or so now and have already posted a few pictures from this roll, but here is the bona-fide “Expiryment”.
This time around, I had a roll of Kodak Elite Chrome 200 which had expired in 2003. It’s not the first.time I’ve shot a roll of this film from this vintage, although I didn’t write anything specific about it at the time apart from how well I thought it had held up.
Given the nice results I got last time, I was fairly confident that I would have a similar experience this time around too. Alas, it wasn’t quite the same and, although the two rolls were the same brand, the same age, and had been stored in the same way since I acquired them, this time I encountered some problems.
My chosen method for shooting slide film is to expose it at box speed, no matter how expired it is. While expired reversal film usually benefits from extra light in the form of exposure, slide film seems to maintain its original narrow exposure latitude and any significant deviation from this will quickly result in blown highlights or crushed shadows. Of course, while the latitude may remain the same, this doesn’t mean that other things haven’t changed, and the dyes can degrade, resulting in colour shifts. This is what had happened with this roll.
Upon receiving the sheet of positives back from the lab they looked fine on initial inspection (holding them up to the window), but it quickly became apparent that all was not well when I began to scan them. A very noticeable purple cast was visible on the images, particularly where there were underexposed shadows.
Thankfully, despite the problems with the colour, modern technology is able to come to the rescue, and with some careful editing in Adobe Lightroom (mostly using he colour curves adjustments), I was able to remove the bulk of the purple caste and get relatively pleasing results. The image comparison slider below shows a good example of the before and after states of one of the images.
Some images fared worse than others, but none were a complete write off due to the colour issues – the ones I didn’t upload to Flickr were as a result of other, more mundane problems, such as soft focus or them just being photos I thought were uninteresting.
A selection of other shots from the roll are below, all after post-processing to remove the colour cast.
Overall then, while there was a definite issue present for this roll, it wasn’t insurmountable, and post-processing produced very acceptable results. I wouldn’t want to risk shooting film like this for something important, but for the fun of it, sure, and I still have plenty of expired rolls left (including some more Elite Chrome in both 100asa and 200asa variants). Further Expiryments to come…
Overall outcome: Partial success!
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
At the rate I’m posting images from this roll there won’t be any left for an “Expiriment” post!.
Something good that happened today…
I received an email from a colleague today that might lead to roles for some of my colleagues affected by the job losses on our team. I’ll have to find out more next week, but it sounds promising, so I’m hopeful it will prove fruitful for them.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Another photo of the Leeds General Infirmary building, or at least the Victorian part of the building.
While a hospital has stood on the site since the late 18th century, the part of the building shown in the picture was built a century later during the Victorian period. A number of additional hospital wings were added through the 20th century. The small section that I posted a photo of yesterday can be seen at the far right of today’s image.
Something good that happened today…
The Robin was back on our garden again this lunchtime (although, to be fair, it could be a completely different robin to the other one I’ve seen). Today it snagged itself an earthworm from the lawn and was busily gobbling it up when I spotted it. One of our cats had also seen it and kept a close eye on it from the utility-room window until it eventually noticed her and hopped sideways on to get a better view. It then began a series of loud warning chirps before making an exit.
I’m glad on these occasions that our cats are house-cats – I can only imagine the threat they would pose to the local bird population otherwise! – and it’s good to see that the robin, and the other birds that come to our garden, feel safe to do so.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
A little bit of the Leeds General Infirmary building is the subject of the picture shared today.
Something good that happened today…
This is something good that’s about to happen today. My in-laws are visiting from Spain and we’re all meeting up for a meal. I’m hungry and looking forward to it.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
A selection of shots taken inside Leeds Kirkgate Market.
These are from the same roll of Kodak Elite Chrome 200 that I will be writing an “Expiriment” post about soon (honest!).
Kirkgate Market is the largest covered market in Europe with over 800 stalls. The ornate hall at the front of the market (where these pictures were taken) is particularly nice.
Something good that happened today…
Last year I visited the doctor because I’d noticed a mark on my arm that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t causing me any discomfort, but it was new, and as such I thought I’d best get it checked out. This led to a couple of referrals to a clinic where the lesion was photographed and the pictures sent away to be checked. The outcome from the second of these referrals was a letter informing me to make an appointment with my GP for treatment. No mention of what the issue might be was included in the letter, so I had some concern that it may be some type of skin cancer or something.
I visited the GP today and was told that they believe the mark to be an actinic (or “solar”) keratosis – effectively damage to the skin caused by exposure to the sun over time. While I’m not one for sunbathing (I actively avoid it!) my arms are often uncovered when the weather is warm and, as such, probably get more sunshine than any other part of my body, so this diagnosis is perhaps not a surprise.
Solar keratoses are non-malignant and do no real harm, although there is some chance that they can develop into skin cancer over time (though, thankfully, a less serious and treatable form). I now have to pick up some ointment from the chemist tomorrow and apply that for the next three months before returning to the doctor’s later in the year to check it is still ok.
So, while I’d rather the keratosis not be there, the knowledge of what it is and that it’s probably not something to worry about, is today’s good news.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I visited Bradford in West Yorkshire today to attend the 10th Annual Photobook Fair hosted by the Impressions Gallery.
This is the first time I’ve attended the fair or, indeed, the Impressions Gallery, but it’s a place I will look to revisit again. I only found out about the book fair recently, otherwise I’d have been there previously as I do like a good photobook.
The thing that brought it to my attention this year was when someone alerted me to the fact that they were accepting submissions of zines to be displayed and sold at the event. I’ve never really sought to commercialise any of the zines I’ve made – they’ve all been produced primarily for the zine swap I take part in each year – but I thought this might be a good opportunity for others to see my work.
I had to supply the gallery with five zines, plus a display copy. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough left from the zine swap, so I had to get another batch printed which, along with other costs, will have completely wiped out any profits I might make from sales, so I certainly didn’t do it for financial gain.
You can just make out my zine Brutal on the middle row, second from the left. I chatted with the guy manning the stall and was very pleased (and more than a little surprised) when he later informed me that one of them had been sold, although by the time I left the event, the rest of them were still present (although they will apparently be offered for sale on the gallery website for a while too).
Submitted books and zines for sale…
There were a number or speakers giving talks throughout the day, including Daniel Meadows, who kindly signed a copy of a Cafe Royal zine that I had bought containing some of his work. You can see a lot of Daniel’s photographs on his website.
There were talks on publishing from a number of speakers, which were interesting and informative, covering the processes, decisions, and costs that can be involved when producing a book of your own work.
The final speaker of the day was Craig Atkinson, the founder of Cafe Royal Books, a family run independent publisher that produces zines every week covering documentary photography focused generally on British and Irish subjects. He gave a history of how the publisher came about and what had been involved. It was another fascinating talk. I own some Cafe Royal Books publications, but there are now – I believe – over 700 of them, all of which were on display (with the ability to sit and browse each), along with some large prints of pictures from selected photographers. The picture below shows just a fraction of the titles available.
While I didn’t buy a great deal today – I spent this month’s photobook allowance* a couple of weeks ago when I visited the Peter Mitchell exhibition in Leeds – I still came away with a bagfull of stuff thanks to being incredibly fortunate on a tombola stall. Of my clutch of ten tickets, four(!) were winners, landing me a couple of photobooks, a zine, and a set of postcards. 🙂
* I don’t actually have a monthly allowance for this, but I buy enough photobooks that maybe I should. I’ll certainly make sure I have a bigger budget for next year’s book fair.
I visited Leeds Art Gallery today to see Nothing Lasts Forever, a retrospective of the photographer Peter Mitchell’s work.
I had just intended to view the photographs, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that, not only was Peter Mitchell there in person today, but that there was also space on the walking tour of the exhibition given by Peter himself. I was also able to get my copy of his book, A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission, signed. 🙂
The exhibition is well worth seeing but I only just got there in time. Although I’ found out about the exhibition a few months ago when I visited this year’s Photo North event, I had completely forgotten about it and it was only by chance when I saw someone talk about it on YouTube that I remembered. Just in the nick of time too as it finishes tomorrow!
I made a few photos of Peter as he told us about the work, what had inspired it, and the things it had involved. It was a very worthwhile visit.
Steel City Snapper photography 