Zorki S – the second film

So the second film done with the Zorki is back from the shop.

This is a roll of Ilford Pan 400ASA, the cheapest B&W film available here. This is the first time I use it so I have little point for comparison and as I may have pointed out elsewhere I am not a big fan of Ilford.

Since the first roll, the shutter is now working 99% of the time and I just had one problem during the whole film. The rangefinder is still not working. I have tried different tips and/or actions but could not make it work. I may send it for repair sometime. This means all pictures are taken either by hyper-focal focusing method or by random guess of the distance. I generally try to use small apertures to be on the safe side.

5am inside Golden Shoe Car Park hawker center, at the 2nd floor Mee Pok stall.

My Friend Pat, at the coffee shop around the corner of Golden Shoe Car Park in Singapore around 4AM. Wide open (not so wide, f3.5 1/50s)

This last picture is rather uninteresting/mundane, but of all the film it is one of the two less grainy probably due to good (at least better) exposure. They are the proof that tyhe Zorki can do it.

Isaac and Friend that I met a Sunday afternoon and who is doing a project on photographers. Isaac TLR (a Seagull) is broken and he uses to shoot through with his DSLR… .

Below the picture he took of myself with the Zorki and the quote of my quote:

The self-proclaimed “photo hobbyist” Philippe Bertramo, 46, still enjoys shooting photos of the analog format. Armed with his Zorki-S, a 1955 Soviet-era camera, Mr Bertramo still enjoys this form of photography even in today’s modern digital age because it gives him a great sense of accomplishment when he finally gets the roll of film developed. “You have to make an effort; you have to wait to make a picture and generally that makes the photo more valuable.”

Camera:Zorki-S
Lens:Industar 22 50mm F3.5
Film:Ilford PAN 400 ASA
DigiFilm:Epsonv500, LightroomV3.6

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Puja in Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple – Singapore

One of the last week-ends despite not feeling very well, I head to Little India without any special idea in mind and the Hassie in the camera bag. Having left my shoes outside I walk inside the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on Serangoon road to find that a celebration (or puja) was held that day. I just had half a roll and could shot the following.

The is Rollei RPX 400 ASA film, the first roll I ever shot. I must say I quite like it the grain is very thin, quite good contrasts. I have a little stock of both 100 and 400 ASA of this film in 120 format in the fridge, I may buy some 35mm when I’m back in France. When back from the shop the film was quite flat and easy to scan unlike the Rollei Retro which is so curly

I am not sure if this is a set meal or an individual set of offerings for each participant; I did no stat that long to check.

One of the musicians or the ceremony at rest.

The chariot of the temple that rides out in the city for some special celebrations.

CameraHasselblad 500cm
LensCarl Zeiss 80mmF2.8 probably 1/60 F4
FilmRollei RPX 400 ASA
Digi-filmScan Epson v500+Epson Scan software + lightroom 3.6

A roll with the Nikon F – part 2 : around town

Not much talk today, just 3 more pictures of the first Nikon F roll of the year. As usual I spend some time weekly around the popular yet central area between Lavender MRT and Serangoon road (Little India).

Below one of the stall  in the ground floor of the public housing building opposite lavender MRT.

The shop fruit a Lavender MRT

Just before Serangoon road, on Marne street s small Chinese temple lies in a patch of greenery that will soon be used for more constructions. I do not know his name and but two of the horse statues were guarding the entrance (closed). These are something temples and shrines, I must find someone to explain me one day.

Horse statue at a small temple on Marne Street

Another day, another place. Hong Lim Complex is a public housing building at the border between  the CDB (Central Business District) and Chinatown. These are a lot of shops selling food, Chinese medicine items, and so on. I liked the scale they use in that one.

The Scale – grocery store – Hong Lim Complex

A roll with the Nikon F – part 1 : There is always something going on on Orchard Road

Nikon F – FTn finder – Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f:1/4

Time to pull another friend from the dry box ! At least once a year let’s get together and have a walk around town. The Ftn finder uses the same batteries as the Minolta Hi-Matic so there was no problem to get started, just loading a fresh (and cold from the fridge) roll of Ilford Delta 400 and off we go. When I say off we go its a kind of shortcut, because it took me more than two weeks to complete the 36 exposures, but you know what I mean.  Oh, and I have chosen the original 50mm 1.4 Auto-s; last year I was very pleased with the pictures I did with the more recent 50mm 1.4 AIS, so let’s try to see if there is an objective difference or if it was just chance.

Here are 3 shots make on Orchard Road, in rather dim light, so wider aperture (probably around 2.8) and slow speed (30 to 60).

Nobody was dancing in the street at the sound of the band that Sunday, but that’s a common sight. Too bad!

In term of dancing I was luckier withe the Line Dancing Fiesta and the two shots below.

Bukit Brown Cemetery – The Portra roll

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Still going through the pictures of Bukit Brown Cemetery and trying to make up my mind for how to do a slide show…

With a bit of reluctance I loaded the pictures in WordPress instead of Flickr and uses the standard slideshow tag… looks nice but I would prefer to have my pictures stored in just one place. Well if anybody have advises to give….

 

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 80mm F2.8
Film: Kodak Portra 400 NC
Scanner: Epson v500+Lightroom 3

How I ruined the rest of the film

No Parking (Sadri close to Raknapur, in Rajastan India)

I was very happy to walk around the small town of Sidri close to Raknapur in Rajastan. When the color roll came to an end I switched the back of the hassie for the black and white on,e to the wonder of two nice kids who were following me. I even managed not to drop one of the backs on the ground as I did in Borobudur not so long ago.

Evening comes, I take the color back and rewind the film, take it out put a new one in, switch the backs, take the black and white back and …. rewind !!! Donkey !!! There was only two shots in the film ! Worse were the ten worrying seconds where I had the feeling something was going wrong without being able to tell what. Yes there are pretty worse things than rewinding an unfinished film.

Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM
Lens: 80mm F2.8 Planar
Film: Kodak Tri-x 400
Scanner: Epson v500

How to miss a picture

Waiting for the year of the dragon V

I was carrying my Leica and Hasselblad around Waterloo street that Sunday morning trying to finish my two rolls when I shot this scene.
I found it very funny the woman on the right showing her fist and apparently cursing the stall kippers and the smiles of that one, may I add that this did not look like a real argument but rather a game between people who knew each others.
Alas, all of this is a bit lost in the resulting picture, the hands of the person in the right are not easy to see and the stall kippers are too much in the dark. Well if you look at it carefully though…

Camera:Leica M4
Lens: Summilux 50mm1.4
Film: Ilford Delta 400
Scanner: Epson v500

The old man at the well – Borobudur – Indonesia,

Around Borobudur temple, in one of the small temples outside of the city, we strolled in the surrounding village and this guy talked to our guide then showed us how his well was working.

Time for a shot I said.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM, Planar 80mm F2.8
Film: Kodak Portra 400 NC
Scanning: EPSON V500, Lightroom 3, PSP Elements 4

Borobudur – La femme du photographe

Sunrise in Borobudur temple in Indonesia. I took couple of rolls with the Hassie. Clearly the light is not great and I don’t know why the negatives have not been as well processed as usually. Anyway, “The wife of the photographer” was there.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM, Planar 80mm F2.8
Film: Kodak Portra 400 NC
Scanning: EPSON V500, Lightroom 3, PSP Elements 4

Chess players – chinatown – Singapore

Chess players - chinatown - Singapore

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to Chinatown to finish my third film roll and make a few shots of chess players you find there. This is a nice subject, I think, people not camera shy, a few other folks looking at them and a couple of tourists. Of course as soon as the last picture was taken I put another film and made this final shot. Now I had a nother film to finish !

Camera Hasselblad 500cm, Planar 80CT
Filmkodak TRIx 400
Scannerepson v500

Film 2011-Hassie-04