Technique & Approach #9

For me I find, since I switched to film I've become much more patient with my picture taking. Be it in part due to the overall cost of film + developing and scanning or a greater appreciation for each moment taken. 

The process of selecting a camera, lens, film, time of day / night (not always possible when traveling with a restricted time frame). This case, was just a 28mm lens, a roll of bw. 

The image, happened to be the right time of day, with the sun in the perfect position, providing the best light reflecting off of the buildings surface. A sort of glow I suppose. The perfect blend of white to black with all the grey in between. My obsession with light, architecture evidently clear. Modern Dutch Architecture.

Technique & Approach #6

Today (early evening) I would like to take a look at series of images. Taken on 3 different rolls of film (3 shooting sessions).

"In Transit." The single colour image, shot on Kodak Ektar, late afternoon. With sun setting, producing a rich blue colour that's not quite sky blue. A crop in post-edit. Everything else in the frame seemed like clutter (I think) and so came up with this simple cut. Lined with the street lights in the foreground. "Light Aircraft". Glorious. Minimalistic, sunlight, blue sky, a bit of placement / environmental elements with the street lights (the bustle) and the subject. 

"Plane Sight." Shot on Kodak Trix-400 BW, the focus on it's eventual placement or natural habitat (the sky) but only for a short while until it lands at it's final destination. Strong sunlight beaming down on the shiny skin of the craft, wreaking havoc with light and exposure on the film. Creating this strong blackness to the right. Shadow, interest. Defining the outline, creating a gradient, bringing out the clouds. 

Always giving consideration to framing, this image is no exception. And the result I think is magnificent. 

"Flight Control." A digital blend of 2 images, the plane, the clouds and the darkness. The whisp of cloud giving movement to the image. The plane in flight amongst the clouds in it's natural habitat. The journey.

Images 1 and 3 being similar, but a completely different approach. Film type, time of day and framing. Post process, a simple crop / + some minor blending / composition.

If you would like to read more about my work and approach, please click here.

On film stocks Pt 1. Ilford 125

Since my journey with film began (in a land far far far away, sort of), I started with a roll of Ilford FP4 Plus 125 speed black and white process 35mm film. This beautifully soft grained film I shot with my uncle's Canon EOS10 from 1992. Photographing mostly street scenes and bit of that and this around the home.

I love the simplicity and classic look of black & white. The tones, the shadows. I have found that there's a great depth or a sense of nostalgia shooting on film compared to digital. Clunky old cameras like my Canon A1 (which I purchased soon after using the EOS10).

Using an old camera, usually provides some extra nitty gritty bits, such as in-camera double exposures (yet to try properly), light leaks - flaring, poor seals (usually with much older cameras), film advance issues (once again usually with much older mechanical advance cameras (pre 1990ish). I feel that my images from film are more 'organic'  or a little less than 'perfect'.  

The grain from this stock is quite fine, being a 125 speed. The higher the speed, the more grain you'll get. From my experience, even a 400 speed black & white film has significantly more grain than 125 speed. Speed of film is commonly referred to as ASA or ISO. Digital cameras use ISO settings to allow greater sensitivity or brightness. For example shooting at a concert in limited light compared with full sunlight. A photographer might increase their ISO speed to allow them to shoot at higher shutter speeds to reduce blur of the performer(s).

In terms of my workflow, I'll shoot a roll, have it developed, than scanned. I like being able to do (very rarely, about once in a blue moon) tiny manipulations or create panoramic images in Photoshop. Although I am curious about darkroom techniques, wet plate photography as well. Although when I set out to shoot, I always aim to get what I want in camera. And without the use of additional filters. Adjustments include blending up to 3-4 images in one, panoramic stitching, levels, exposure (all quite minor). This is where film selection comes into play. When I set out with colour film, I think to myself, "this is colour". So I won't then desaturate them to black & white later. Or when I shoot black & white, I won't recolour them (that's just silly).

Feel free to ask questions, provide feedback below.

Below, a snippet from the roll.

More on film stocks to come from Kodak, Fuji.