I enjoy browsing back the not so used scans and these are from one roll of November / December 2022. Unlike the most recent roll I posted, this one is shot entirely in London, it is the penultimate of my bulk roll of Ilford HP 5 bought in Singapore from Ruby Photo back in early 2021.
No surprise, the roll was shot with the Leica M6 classic and probably most of the shots were done with the Summicron 35mm Asph v2. The two shots above, early in the roll were taken around Spitalfields Market near my office and they were probably shot on my way to the lab to drop or collect one roll ( ANALOGUE FILMShttps://www.analoguefilms.co.uk/)
Sloane Square
Because I am a slow shooter I carried the film around London for a couple of weeks,
Fenwick store in Mayfair will close soonChelsea frame maker
The highlight of the roll was bringing some dear friends to Spitalfields and Brick Lane, quite an interesting area for visitors.
But first to Liverpool street station
Then through the street towards the market.
Xmas Spirit indeed
Finally to Brick lane
Excellent Haloumi wrapThe famous shop I did not try
Hope you enjoyed the walk, this was roll #24 of 2022.
It has been super long since I last posed anything so here is my first post of 2023, even though these are pics of 2022. These are picture of the Italian Market that happens once a month, the first week end of the month, in Cagnes sur mer, near Nice, on the French Riviera.
Very colourful, even in black and white. Excellent cold cuts and cheese, pretty good value for money.
Genuine food sellers coming from nearby italy.
Shots were done with Leica M262+Summicron 50 and Leica M6 with Summicron 35mm Asph v2 on Kodak TMY (400Iso)
“Paris est une fête” as goes the say (Paris is a party) ; I am not 100% sure about it but Paris in summer surely put me in a great mood, and I enjoy shooting in the streets that I am rediscovering after so many years.
— Asian tourist checking a Korean restaurant —
This is summer 2022, probably my 5th or 6th trip in a year, carrying the M6 (The old one) and the Summicron 50v5 and a roll of Kodak TMA100, my favourite film very appropriate (I think) to the summer time. This is my 16th film of the year, so I am now far from my past One-roll-a-week diet, but ok this is not a competition.
If you have read the last post you have probably guessed the plot of this one : a roll of HP5, loaded in the back of the Hasselblad with no label, is first loaded around May, and used to shoot a single frame, the above view of Battersea Power Station as seen from other side of the river.
A few weeks later it travelled to Brick lane on a sunny Saturday afternoon, very close to where my photo lab is (Analogue Films).
The area is famous for its murals.
Probably the next day, I went for a walk in Chelsea Harbour and its surroundings
and then the camera, the back (the other back) and the film they contain all go back in to the box. Until a couple of weeks back, where I started the famous walk from Maida Vale to Regents park and further.
I thought this film was contained in the back with the “400 ” label, when it was on the other ones, so the shots from the one above were “pulled” at 100. I think the film handled it pretty well, if not for obvious marking problems.
Regents Canal is pretty nice place to walk through, a bit of Venetian style given by the boat, but something more urban brought by the metal bridges and the street art.
At the end of the Canal is the unique Chinese floating restaurant.
Back in Regent’s park to look at Freeze Art Fair open air sculpture, the tree of socks was waiting for my last frame
Is there any moral? One stop does not mater much surely, probably don’t keep your film 4 month in your camera. Ilford 120 rolls are known to have some backing paper issues, I should check if this is the case with this roll instead of blaming the storage in the cupboard.
Summer holidays are just a memory now and after much procrastination, here is one of the rolls shot in this happy time (12th Roll of the year)
This is a roll of Polypan 50 shot at 100 ISO with the faithful M6 Classic and some Cron or another but most probably the 50mm v5. I have asked the lab to push one stop as this roll was given to me quite a few years back now by a friend in Singapore.
The street scenes are shot in Ai- en-Provence where I spend a couple of days with my family in August. The sun was hitting pretty hard which is quite ok for a low speed film.
You already know I am not too technical, but here we go for the techie moment: The Polypan 50 lacks a anti-halation layer ( I think it means no protection from the light bouncing from the back of the camera); this makes it glow in some areas, making the images a bit old time and dreamy. I also quite like the rather profound blacks, although not as much as in the Rollei retro 80s.
The edges of the fountain are really glowing here you see what I mean.
Aix is quite picturesque, but the next day we went to Chateau Lacoste, a magnificent estate 40 minutes drive from Aix, with Michelin starred chef restaurants, a vineyard, an entrance building made by Tadao Ando and dozens of art works spread in the garden.
Yes the music pavilion was made by FRANK O. GEHRY
Oh no that’s just a barrel.
A beautiful tractorThe olive treeYes that’s a Richard LongMore treesA dirty spaceship Art work in progress
Really worth visiting, I ll post more shots in the next posts.
Oh I lost track of the Polypan roll, well I think it aged a bit it seems there are marks here and there that are not common to processing issues, so I guess this is a bit of an experimental roll. For such a slow speed film it is a bit grainy, but all in all I really like it.
I still keep track of my rolls and sort them by date and year and enrich in Lightroom, the camera, film and lens ( Often an estimate). But when I used to boast of my one roll a week productivity, I must say I have now fell below one roll every second week.
Paris – Azabu
I would like to shoot more but I don’t have time and may lack enthusiasm / drive / inspiration. This roll was shot in June 2022, with the Leica M6 classic, over a week end in Paris and the next one back in London.
Paris, 4th Arrondissement – Communist Party “Art and Society” branch.
This is a roll of Kodak TMAX 100, a film I really love for its high contrast in sunny weather, I bought a couple of rolls from Analogue Labs a few weeks before.
A Jazz band busking in “Le marais”
Most of the shots were taken with the Summicron 35mm Asph v2, really my go to lens. I love it for the perspective, but the 35 makes the pictures a bit too wide for me, my subject is always a bit lost in the frame, as I tend to avoid confrontation when I snap in the street with my wife/family.
Histoires de Paris – Hôtel d’Hallwyll
On the other hand I frame my shots with just a couple of different styles, I think I manage to build a consistency in my flickr photo stream. I like my subject centred most of it.
The embrace
We are so much into candid and street photography nowadays that sometimes I find it difficult to shoot non human subjects. They form a big part of urban poetry nonetheless.
Back in London it was Wimbledon and Mayfair offered public screening, with desk lounge chairs and drinks (of course)
WimbledonOutside Paul Smith in MaryleboneFinger pointing
Above shot is a bit missed, I thought the shadow would be more obviously funny/interesting, maybe I should reframe, but I rarely do too radical reframing just put upright a bit.
The music shop
Heading to Soho always gives some opportunities, I met an American photog when shooting the above also carrying a M6 and a TLR.
Crossing carefully
Soho I said is always offering some opportunities.
As the light was going down, with 100 ISO the shutter speed had to go below 1/30’s hence the slight blur above.
The Harvest
I carried the camera to the office on Thursday to finish the roll and bring it back to process to Analogue Lab, so I did a few shots between Liverpool street station and Spitalfields market… but not enough to finish the roll. I am pretty good with the rapid loading on the M4 and M6 so I easily hit 38 frames in a film, sometime 39.
So holidays were not over by then and I was still in Biarritz with the Leica M6 and a couple of Summicrons (35 and 50) when I loaded my second roll of Cinestill XX ( purchased in Aperture UK shop in London).
The Market
I think I changed the roll around the market, so some pictures of this place can be found on my previous post.
Markets are different that in Asia a Singaporean friend told me, Same same but different I reply. Goods, people, food, money,… all the same.
I found this set a bit flat to my taste, although the light was great that day, and it was still reasonably early.
I made the mistake not to ask the lab to scan in high res, so this format is the one at which I got my negs. I will have to rescan them but probably not immediately. I think the low res scan adds to the grain, but maybe I am wrong.
To go or not to go that is the question
Biarritz has a market and also a seaside famous for surfing.
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