My City

  I  suddenly found myself with a free evening as my wife had been reminded of a tea party she was meant to attend after work.  As its winter and the night comes ever earlier i decided to do one of my favourite things which is wander around the city in the dark with my ipod on and my camera in hand.  It's not as scary as you might think, i have never been hassled my yobs or anything so as long as im careful i can seem to avoid harm.

  I loaded my Bronica SQ-A with some Ilford FP4+ and headed out to some of my usual spots.  For some unknown reason i am always drawn to car parks at night.  I just love the contrast you can get shooting on the different floors, and if you make it to the roof theres always something to shoot. Whilst wandering round the Fish Market car park i stumbled on a police car parked up in a corner with a snoozing officer inside.  I wonder what he thought when i pulled a huge black cube out of my bag and mounted it on a tripod...

  After spending some time in the car parks i wandered the streets for a bit.  One enjoyable experiment to do is have your earphones in but without music playing.  Its amazing what people say when they think you cant hear them.

   Just around the corner from the Fish Market car park is the fish market loading bay where all the fish is taken off the lorries daily and put on display in the market.  I had never shot here before but though id check it out.  I quite liked it in there apart from the smell and a ridiculous amount of litter strewn all over the floor.  I took a shot looking along the loading bay and then got down onto the floor to try out the f2.8 aperture on my lens.

   When i got home i realised i hade made a slight error as Ilford FP4+ (an iso 125 film) cant really be pushed to 400 iso using Rodinal.  So after some research i decided to stand develop for 2 hours at 1:125 and hopefully id get useable negatives.  And above are the results, no alterations in the scanner or photoshop or anything like that.  I love how they have come out.  Maybe not the best pictures in the world but i love the tones and i love the high contrast.  I may stick to stand developing all my black and white films in the future.

  So next time you find yourself with a free evening why not head out onto the streets and see what you can find.  Contact me when you have something, id love to see your results.

Instant Gratification II

  I recently came into possession of a Polaroid 640CL camera which has built in flash, auto exposure and also a macro lens fitting.  I also came into 19 boxes of twin pack expired Polaroid 600 film for a ridiculously low price.  I shot the first pack with my new camera and these are some of the results:

  I'm rather pleased with how they came out as i was a little worried the expired film would result in poor colour quality.  I'm looking forward to shooting the next pack now.

And the Streets Run Red...

  Last Sunday saw some of the heaviest rain we have had in a long time.  I woke up unintentionally early and couldn't get back to sleep.  My wife was still soundly asleep beside me, undisturbed by the heavy patting of the rain against the partially open window by our bed.  After playing around on my phone for a while i decided to just get up and walk into town to take some street shots of people in the rain.  I grabbed my Lubitel and decided to opt for a roll of the Lomography redscale xr 50-200 film.  I have attempted to use this film twice before; the first time the photos came out a kind of sickly yellow colour, the second time i developed it myself and it came out blank, but i decided to give it another try anyway and hope for the best.

  My walk into the town centre is via a rather nice park.  In one part of it there is a long tree-lined path which is very photogenic.  Two elderly men were out having a run together down this path.  SNAP.  I carried on into town pondering where to head to and eventually ended up in a large open flagged area outside the museum.  A family rushed by fervently grasping their brollies, trying to shield themselves from this unprecedented shower.  SNAP.  An elderly couple saunter by unperturbed by the downpour.  SNAP.  I decide to head towards the market.  Two strangers pass each other by, brollies held firmly above their heads.  SNAP.

  I carry on like this for an hour or so before decided to head home.  Just before i reach the entrance to the park i catch the reflection of the tall buildings across the road in a roadside puddle.  I crouch down just as a car passes.  SNAP.  My roll finished i hurry home and push through the door, removing my soaking jacket and hanging it on the coatstand.  I decide to be gentlemanly and wake my wife up with breakfast in bed.  We sit and chat for a while then i decide to get my developing gear heated up.  A few hours later and my negative is hanging from the shower rail waiting to dry.  Upon holding it up to the light i can see the development has been patchy and some of the shots arent going to look very good.  Something has gone wrong with my developing.  But never mind, we live and learn i guess.  Still, it gets frustrating when this happens, but at least i should have some salvageable shots from the roll.

  One day ill get some redscale that comes out perfectly.  But for now the streets run red, and i've got work to do.