Expired developer or something else?

Ok, this has happened to me before. Last time I sincerely thought this simply was the developer gone bad. And it really was the case. However I have no idea what is the reason of the very weird background this time...

Bad developer? Too much fixing? Something else? I have asked the question on Flickr. Let's see what will come back...

Adox CHS Art 100

After my previous misfortunes with the Adox I had a much better luck this time. As I was shipping almost illegally my photography chemicals to Dubai and had nightmares about getting jailed I decided I will only go for essential stuff - like developer and fixer. So I no longer have a stop bath, but let's face it - you can obviously live without it.

The other issue with Dubai is - it is hot. Like really! So stand development is not really an option here as temperature of the tank can easily creep up while you wait for it to be developed.

The above leaves me with the only option of going for normal development. This time I didn't presoak the film and developed it for only 6 minutes, didn't use a stop bath and actually the results turned out quite sharp - with some grain at the lower speeds and without getting burnt areas like last time.

Not quite black and white

Some time ago after a cry to all friends and relatives I am looking for old film cameras I got an almost brand new Smena. 

Now the specifics of a Smena is that there is absolutely no way to find out what the speed and aperture should be set to. The film advance mechanism is very funny where you rewind the film until you think you have rewind enough. Guesstimation to the max!

What happens you end up with a few shots getting overlaid. 

I actually love all of them. Technique aside I have a feeling 'art' happens when you don't think about it, you let go of too much thinking and let Fortuna & Inspiration do their job.

More stand development

As I am running low on developer and being a bit lazy as well I thought I will develop the roll of Rollei 100 doing stand development. I am fairly pleased with the experience given Rollei 100 is not amongst my favourite films and also my previous experience with it was mostly grain and burnt areas. This time though I got very clear film and quite good shadows. very little grain as well.

There is a bit of fogging which is I suspect the result of the developer being slightly warm and also London being quite muggy and warm yesterday which probably has resulted to the developer going up to 21 degrees while standing.

It has also been a very pleasant suprise to see how well it behaves at low light and slow speeds. Sharp! Sharp, ladies and gentlmen! This was shot at 1.7/30!

I developed this in R09 deluting it 1 to 100 and leaving it stand for 60 min and agitating in the first 30 seconds and once at 30 minutes. I didn't use any stop bath, only water and fixer for 5 minutes. 

Flying high

Autumn in black and white

Late London autumn looks surprisingly good in B&W. And a Kodak 400TX is an excellent film to take it.

Patience is a virtue...

... especially when you do film photography. I haven't developed a single film in 2011 due to many different reasons, but mainly because I didn't feel like it. 

I have now stocked up on fresh developer, my Pentax mirror is no longer stuck, days are long and I have found new inspiration in the fact I will be leaving London in August to a sandier, sunnier, warmer part of the world - the Middle East and Dubai. This will most deffinately affect my film photography mostly due to the fact I am not quite certain on whether B&W chemistry is as easily available as in London and second because I am not quite sure on what is there to take pictures of. But this will show later on. 

As of now, I still have 6 more weeks in London, enough film and developer and enough energy and inspiration to get out. 

Going back to the patience bit. Here is why: 

Do you see the top left corner? Or should I rather say: do you see the lack of any image in the top left corner? Here is the story. This is the first film I developed since November and the spiral I was using felt rather sticky towards the end of rolling the film onto it, so I thought: Whatever, I'll just roll out the film and roll it around the spiral. Big mistake... The film got stuck to each other and as I also didn't presoak it the developer simply couldn't get there... So there you go. Next time - patience. It will eventually get there.  

On another note. This is Delta 100 film. Love it! And given it is currently on a summer sale price at Silverprint might get a couple of rolls for portraits this summer! 

A few more images from the same film. All taken during my resent trip to Germany and France. 

I especially love this last one. It happened because the film was stuck and wouldn't rewind properly. I have found with a few other film that for some reason the spool in the Pentax doesn't take them in as easily as the Acros or 400TX. But sometimes those faults just play nicely together! :)

"ночь, улица, фонарь..."

My Pentax has a stuck mirror, which means I haven't shot a single roll of film in the past three months. The good news is that it might be fixable.
My computer has died. Hopefully I will be able to recover my archive of digital photos. The good news is that all my negatives can always be rescanned.
This is an image I took in Soho on a walk late evening in November. It was already dark in the evening so I didn't think that anything will come out of a 100 ISO film, but there you are. Handheld, 100 ISO Acros. I love this film. As much as I love my Pentax. I am ready to marry the person who manages to fix it.

On Christmas Day

I took this on Christmas Day last year. It has been a good year. I learned how to develop and print B&W, I have been experimenting with film, got new cameras, took some great pictures, shot and put together my first photo story.
I still have a long way to go before I am able to produce the images that are in my head. For the year to come I want to wish for myself patience and courage to find and shoot those images.
To everyone who has been reading this experiment, thank you for stopping by and my best wishes for the coming year.
Ira

Looking into someone else's life

When you take a picture of someone do you invade there personal space? Do you steal a moment from them? Is the camera a weapon that threatens you to show you to the world in a way you wouldn't want yourself to be shown?

Autumn in London and misfortunes of the broken back

These are my favourites from four autumn films I shot around London. I had the misfortune to loose the screws that keep the back of the Zenit closed, so I one of the films is mostly ruined. The first and the last pictures are from that ruined film...

My Zenit Em and shooting with shallow focus

I generally shoot with a wide open lens since the Pentax is loaded most of the times with a 100 ISO film and light has been scarce as of lately in London. Despite of that you can't really say if I have been shooting with a wide open lens, unless it is a portrait. Like this one.

On the contrary the way the Helios lens on the Zenit renders the background is so much more visible.

I know both shots are different and all, but it seems like the Helios is the altogether better lens. Despite the fact that it is slightly slower compared to the Pentax-M 1.7/50 mm lens I have mounted on the Pentax.

Bottom line is, despite the fact the Zetit is double the size and weight of the Pentax, I should start carrying it around and shooting more with it.

Autumn in London

Not quite black and white, but this is a sneak peak at my autumn London pictures. I don't really shoot colour, partially because I shoot a lot on the street and London streets don't seem too colourful to me. I also haven't been able so far to get very vivid colours. Could be the scanner, could be the film as well. The other very simple reason is the price of colour film development and the fact that I can't be bothered each time to go to Snappy Snaps...

More coming on...

My ghost friend

I have always been very sceptical about shooting film in low light, let alone 100 ISO film in the middle of the night. As you can see it is quite possible. This was an exposure of about 30 seconds and the camera was on a tripod. I like how we are both looking ghost like. 

I have a 1600 ISO film I have been keeping in the fridge for some special occasion, I am not even sure why I bought it or what to use it for. Any ideas?

Lift me up

Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall, October 2010

I really liked how the old woman was looking small and alone in the concrete background of the Royal Festival Hall. I could have done better on composition. Different lens and even may be a square format would have done the trick. 

Rollei 100 vs Acros 100

Ever ready to experiment with film I use, I am still to find the film to replace Acros 100 from my heart. Rollei Retro 100 is ok, fine I would even say. Gives a very good contrast, almost no grain when using stand development and Rodinal. However I still can't get quite right the exposure for it...

This is what I'm talking about: 

Burnt areas. Lot's of grain as well. Sharp and good contract though. 

This is how Acros behaves inside, on a grey day outside, without any extra light

No grain. None. I just love this film! It gives really soft greys, warm even somehow tones. Perfect for portraits. 60 min stand development in 20 degrees (might have been even 18 towards the end as it is quite chilly at home), 1:100 dilution in R09 (which is technically speaking Rodinal). The only downside is may be contrast, but other than that this is the best film I have used so far. 

Friends

A great brunch with wonderful friends few weeks back.

 Nadya (with a lamp growing out of her head... Sorry about this, otherwise I love the shot!)

Stephanie

Yat Wan

Let me in

I have a few upcoming posts about the photography courses I have been doing recently as well as to share some more images of autumn in London and around. In the mean time the above is an image from my first roll of Rollei 100 film.

Closer

From the upper deck