An Hour Was Enough

Slowing Down in Brighton with the Fuji GW680 III

I’m an avid reader, but lately I haven’t had the headspace for a book. By the time I sit down, there’s very little concentration left. The desire is there. The capacity seems to have gone elsewhere.

It’s been that sort of year.

I was made redundant in May, and in many respects the summer felt like a write-off. There was an unexpected upside: the opportunity to go to New York with my children. Eighteen years in the waiting, and an extraordinary experience when it finally happened. But New York is sensory overload, particularly when you spend your days looking for photographs.

Since returning in mid-September, I’ve started a new job. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s also full on, with plenty to learn and think about. Enjoyment and exhaustion seem perfectly capable of occupying the same space.

Today, I wanted to get outside for a while.

Eight Photographs, No Hurry

I recently bought a Fuji GW680 III, a medium format film camera. This was our first outing together, with a roll of Fomapan 400 black-and-white film loaded and some thoroughly uninviting Brighton weather waiting outside.

There had been a storm. It was hardly the autumn afternoon you might choose for a leisurely walk with a new camera.

But I went anyway.

I spent an hour looking for little nooks and crannies: corners I hadn’t properly noticed, details I’d walked past, familiar places worth another look. Without a route to complete or anything particular to bring home, I could take my time.

The Fuji helped. With eight photographs on a roll, there’s a reason to pause before pressing the shutter. To look around the edges. To move a little. To decide whether this is the photograph you want to make.

For that hour, those were pleasantly manageable decisions.

A Little Room to Look

I’ve enjoyed film photography before, but today I appreciated what the process could give me when my head was already full.

Each photograph asked for a little attention. There was enough to occupy me without feeling like another demand. I could look at a building, find a position and make an exposure, then carry on walking.

Brighton helped too. After twelve years here, there are still things I haven’t seen properly. It’s easy to become familiar with a route and stop being curious about what sits along it. Taking the camera out gave me a reason to be curious again.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Had it been a lovely autumnal day, I’d happily have stayed out for another couple of hours. The weather put paid to that. An hour would have to do.

As it turned out, an hour was enough.

I came home having enjoyed a walk, made eight photographs and found a few new things in a city I thought I knew. After the last few months, that felt like a very good way to spend an afternoon.

Until next time, keep snapping.

Film Photography aka #Slowphotography

As we head into lockdown 2.0, this is inevitably going to polarise the population about the illogical stance of the government in dealing with the shit storm that is COVID19.

Since the back end of the summer and leading up to the present time,  I have been busy getting out and about building up a backlog of images to keyword, log and edit.

That coupled with the sheer madness that is the American presidential election results, or at least how someone hasn’t conceded,  has provided the heightened need for a little respite.  

The one common theme I have noticed during this period, is the sense of folk ‘getting on with it’.

Leading up to lockdown 2.0, there has been the introduction of the 3 tier system in the UK, with the North, initially being hit very hard.  Only time will tell if this will be managed well or simply a nightmare.

What I see within the content of instagram, is folk appreciating their predicament, what they have and being close to their loved ones.

Last week, I decided to have a look at some of my old film negatives, I shot film between 2016-2019, as a medium to improve my photography.  People have different positive and negatives regarding film, my take away has been that it slowed me down, provided me with a medium to be more considered, but also I enjoy the start to finish process.  I.e. from taking the photo, developing the film, scanning and digitally editing in Lightroom.

I took the below images of two Socialist Worker Party Volunteers. The black and white image was taken on my Yashica Mat 124g TLR medium format camera, with Ilford HP5 @ ei 200. The colour was taken on my Sony A7iii with 50mm F1.8. Both images offering something different, not better.

I use an Epson V600 flat bed scanner with Silverfast software.  Whilst this is good at scanning medium format film negatives, using this for 35mm is somewhat mixed.  Especially where using different colour film emulsions.

The current trend for scanning film negatives, is using a DSLR camera with the Negative Lab Pro Lightroom plug in.  Whilst I have been getting some decent scans through this method, I concluded that this was more out of eyeballed guess work than a consistent workflow.

So, now that I am fully re-engaged with film photography, I going to spend the winter months reviewing the archive and also covering the events in Brighton.

Until next time, keep snapping.

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