More Film Fun

 

Morning folks.

Well, another post about film and I'm not even a hipster.

Nor am I using the truly ghastly Ilford colour film either - a film that reminds me of the free stuff you'd get every time you got your holiday pics developed at Snappy Snaps (et al).

Nope, this bad boy was fecking expensive, but lovely nonetheless, Kodak TMX 100 - and FRESH too, which is unusual for me as I have been using expired film for the age of a pig.

Since the Alaris takeover and the ridiculous pricing structure, Kodak film seems to be pretty much ignored in the UK simply because it is heavily over-priced and way beyond most people's means, however with the burgeoning Ilford pricing structure, and, I'm sorry (even though they've been really lovely about it) the mottle issues, I've bitten the bullet and bought some Kodak.

The mottle thing from Ilford, although apparently resolved, has settled in my head like a nagging worry. It has happened to me with relatively fresh film as well as some old stuff, but indeed not all old stuff or even stuff from the same batch! It's a bit like Russian Roulette and doesn't seem to be influenced by storage either. I keep thinking what if I walk all this way, or have this adventure and take some photographs that are unrepeatable and I get home and the mottle is there. It's not a healthy frame of mind, but that's the way it is at the moment, hence my buying of Kodak.

Anyway, the above photograph was indeed a wonderful surprise, but also I kind of/sort of knew what was there.

I was using the Hasselblad SWC/M on a day where the camera was being battered to pieces by incredibly high winds. 

(A little aside to this is that a few weeks back my Arca B1 ballhead locked [and it is one of the unlockable ones too] - I was utterly furious . . so I looked around and ended up with a Kirk BH-1 [secondhand, but the retailer had forgotten to put a 1 in front of the price, so ridiculously cheap]. The difference is like night and day - the Kirk is smooth, precise and locks down with the lightest of locking pressure - it is brilliant American engineering and a delight to use.)

Anyway, the thing with the SW is you know to an extent what you should be getting, but it isn't entirely always written in stone, simply because the VF is kind of weirdly distorted and also you're zone focusing. The key thing with the camera though (even using it in the landscape) is getting the bubble level perfect. Once the camera is level you can be confident that everything else will fall into place. The lack of distortion in the Biogon is something else, as is the coating. 

I've always said light magic happens in that camera and it is true.

As you can see from the above, the sun was totally in the frame, but hey-ho, the composition was what I wanted, so I let rip. Weirdly (and I am, I freely admit it) I was using a 0.9ND and Deep Red filter in combination with each other which has resulted in good cloud and wave structure; some nice contrast where the receding waves are pulling back off of wet pebbles and a taming of direct sunlight. I knew it would do that 'cos I've done it before.

The exposure was 4 seconds at f22 and was entirely guessed by me.

Using a ND filter mixed with water is just about the most ghastly thing in modern photography. 

It is a mockery of John Blakemore's pioneering work and laughs at the ghost of Wynn Bullock - I hate it, but I use it.

What I am trying to do with it, is illustrate the passage of time, hence I'd really rather use it when there's plenty of wind so you can see what is happening to the land (and the sea).

As I said at the start, the film was TMX 100 and I rated it at EI 80 simply because I've found it to require a bit more exposure than box speed.

To make things hard for myself, I entered the world of unknown development times/scanners' development times. 

As has been my way recently, developer was Fomadon R09 at dilution 1+75. 

I did my usual agitation regime to 13 minutes and then let the film stand until 14 minutes and 30 seconds. It's worked out about right. The negatives have a nice look and are easy to print.

The scan above is from a tiny 4.25" image on 5x7" Ilford Portfolio, printed at Grade 3; developer was Bellini Ornano Bromorapid 980. It hasn't scanned particularly well, however the print itself is a lovely little jewel and I intend to print it a good deal larger - there's so much detail under the moving waves.

And that's it.

Film is fun and especially so when you are moved to rush into the darkroom and print something.

To me, photography doesn't get much better.

Take care, be good and remember to be nice to someone.

H xx