Shopping Arcade in Brussels, Belgium. Yashica D, Kodak Portra 160.
Hello everyone, it’s been quite some time since I wrote one of these. The main reason for that is that the winter has made me not really want to go outside particularly often with a camera, plus the whole Christmas and post Christmas period ten to be pretty expensive so analogue photography not being a particularity cheap hobby ends up quite far down the list of things I can afford. Anyway I am back now, I’ve had somewhere in the region of 10-12 rolls of film that I have saved up back from the lab and a ton of prints to start sharing so new images will be making there way out soon. As always the best place to see any of my new work is through my Instagram as that is updated on a pretty daily basis. Anyway, what have I been up to since the last diary entry?
Bar in Brugge, Belgium. Olympus OM-1 Fuji Superia 200, Expired 2004.
In January i took a trip to Belgium, spending a few days in Brussels and Brugge. I didn’t shoot a huge amount of film although I did take plenty with me, the weather was very windy and changeable and since it was Winter and got dark very quickly, shooting low ISO film was always going to be a premium. Anyway I took along the Yashica D and Olympus OM-1 and managed to shoot 2 rolls of 120 and 35mm through them and have had the results back from the lab. They’re a little bit of a mixed bag if I’m honest, some I’m quite please with, others I think are just garbage, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. One thing that I am pleased bout is how well the 35mm held up, this was some Fuji colour film that had expired in 2004 that has been living in my freezer for a while. I had no idea if it would even expose anymore but the results from it are quite nice, perhaps I need to shoot a little bit more of this.
Electricity Pylon. Zenza Bronica S2A, Ilford FP4 125.
I’ve also had a lot of 120 that I’ve been shooting with my Zenza Bronica over Autumn and Winter, I used up the last stocks of black and white in medium format that I have as to be honest I just do not shoot it that much. I used black and white as it felt right using it during the winter when everything is devoid of colour, another reason why I don;t shoot much during this time of year is everything just looks grey and depressing. If I’m honest I’m not that happy with the results, again because I have found I’m just much more of a colour shooter. Anyway, here’s an example (to the right), let me know what you think.
In other news, I will be returning to Italy again in April. With the whole Brexit crap seemingly to finally be a thing that is going to screw with my ability to travel to Europe I am hoping this isn’t the last time I get to go but it may very well be. So I am spending just under two weeks in and around Emillia Romanga, I plan to visit Rimini, Ravenna and Ferrara as well as Bologna and maybe a short day trip to Florence in order to watch Fiorentina play football. I have a small list of things to see and do and photograph but am open to suggestions so if anyone has been to any of these places and have suggestions of things to see or do then drop me a message. And also there are still plenty of copies of the zines I have made of images I have made in previous trips available to buy through the Shop page/Etsy Store.
And finally, I plan on going to the UK Photography Show in the NEC near Bimingham in March. Apparently there’s going to be quite a big analogue presence there this time around and it should be a good opportunity to meet people that I have up until now only spoken to through Twitter or Instagram. If you’re going to go as well then let me know.
That’s all for now, as always; Keep Shooting Film Everyone.