Stuff I saw on yet another camping trip; Olympus 35 SP + kodak double x

August 28, 2017August 28, 2017 R J Calow35mm, camping, double-x, film-photography, hammock camping, kodak, monochrome, olympus 35spLeave a comment

Between camping trips I got a beat up old Olympus 35 SP with non-working meter (who needs it) as a substitute for the Leica m2 on camping trips and the like. I cleaned the rangefinder patch and viewfinder of gunk and dust. I am also thinking about adjusting the rangefinder (if possible) as it back focuses a little. Overall, its a chunky Olympus Trip or RC with a hefty piece of f 1.7 glass, but I think that line of topic is for another future blog post.

So for the weekend I took the oly sp and a roll of kodak double x which I shot at box speed el 250 for plenty of opportunity to shoot at f1.7 if I needed to. I don’t normally go for shallow depth of field, its an over done cliché. Its bad practise unless done right, but I really wanted to push the lens to see what it could do wide open. Spoiler to any future blog post on the camera- when wide open it has a nice vignette, arching swirly bokeh, and softening of the corners.

Camping involved trying out my new alpkit gas stove, taking hammock naps in the hot sun, and drinking coffee late into the night. Its a good way to spend the weekend.

camping oly 35 sp-1 — Hayley cooking dinner

camping oly 35 sp-5 — Solo stove – better than tv

camping oly 35 sp-6 — Home for the weekend

camping oly 35 sp-8 — Connor & Tom w/ nip

camping oly 35 sp-10 — Fungi 2 -slightly surly bokeh

: Hammock life

camping oly 35 sp-14 — Sunday/going home blues

The film was developed using this hc110 recipe. You can also see Connors blog post about the camp here.

Stuff I saw Camping

August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 R J Calowcamping, fujifilm, hammock camping, monochrome, snapshotsLeave a comment

For me, camping involves a philosophy of doing little as possible, enjoying the outdoors, sleeping in hammocks, having breakfast from the hammock, talking about how warm or cold you slept in the night, drinking coffee hourly through the day, looking for the ‘tumblr photos’ with the camera ready, and more importantly enjoying the company of friends. This camp hit all the marks with extras like watching a meteor shower and having Hayley enjoy hammock camping for the first time.

Images taken with xpro1, with a 14mm fuji lens and a Jupiter 8. I prefer the j8 images, they have charm. Its easy to tell the lenses apart, the j8 has classic sonnar bokeh and a narrow focal length.

blog-11 — New kettle on the fire, its first boil

My forgotten rolls of colour film

April 2, 2017May 15, 2017 R J Calowbelieveinfilm, camping, film-photography, filmisnotdead, snapshots3 Comments

Last night I tried c41 processing at home. I found it to be much faff and less enjoyable than black and white processing, but this morning, after processing more rolls, I think I have the process down.

I have the BelliniFoto Monopart C41 Kit from nik & trick. It features a developer, a bleach, fixer and a stabiliser to wash with. The main differences from a black and white process are the temperatures, which are much higher at 38c, and with this kit there are no water washes.

My main reason for getting a c41 kit was to finally process old colour films and to try the process. I stopped mostly shooting colour film towards the end of 2014 and started experimenting with black and white films, so there are a few colour films hanging about waiting for development.

The following is a complete 120 roll of ektar that I exposed with a holga pinhole camera on a trip to kent, 2015.

2017-04-01-0006 2017-04-01-0008 2017-04-01-0010 2017-04-01-0014 2017-04-01-0017 2017-04-01-0004

The following are the best bits from 2 rolls of agfa vista (re-branded fuji stuff) spanning 2014-15, featuring two camping trips. I think they were shot with a contax 139q, and a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.7.

It looks like a tumblr blog, is that still a thing?

Currently burning more agfa vista 200 in my oly mju ii. I want to see what a freshly exposed pushed film will be like.

Stuff I saw – One nighter camping

July 18, 2016May 15, 2017 R J Calowcamping, xpro1Leave a comment

Before I even owned a professional digital camera, I would take an slr -a canon ae1 and later a contax 139q camping. I was quite successful within the tumblr crowd with this kinda esthetic inmyhammock.tumblr.com/post/90838678008. However, for many reasons too long to list, I became disheartened with this type of locational photography that appealed to the tumblr kids and went in the opposite direction; I took up black and white/monochrome work.

Last weekend I decided I would try to revisit this type of photography with my xpro1. Despite being a one nighter, it was a minor success with a handful of snapshots and plenty of new in-jokes/stories such as Töm getting lost in the woods for an hour in the night.

Photos were taken with the xpro1 and standard 35mm 1.4.