It felt like Xmas

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 FILMS https://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 soon

Chelsea 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 wrap

The famous shop I did not try

Hope you enjoyed the walk, this was roll #24 of 2022.

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The last roll of 2022

A Well travelled one.

Well actually this roll was shot between mid December and the first week of January. It travelled around a bit as it started from London (Spitalfields market on the first three shots)

Then came Xmas holidays and a trip to see the family in Cannes on the French Riviera, and the long awaited trip to Lapland (Guess which shot). I will try to talk about my (limited ) experience shooting in Lapland but maybe another time.

We were back from Lapland in Paris the 1st of Jan

Then finally back in London (one have to work)

Then back to Cannes and Nice again.

and finally back to London where I have to go to Brick lane to drop this roll.

Ok so these two months were not very good for my carbon footprint and I feel a bit ashamed, although some of the trips were done by train. This also mean this roll of Kodak TMY-400 travelled quite a bit and went through at least 6 scans, and is still faring pretty well. I still have a TMZ 3200 that I bought for Lapland and did not shot, so it will also have a bit of mileage and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

All shots were done with a Leica M6 classic and a Summicron 50mm v5 or 35mmAsph v2.

Thanks for watching.

The Italian Market (Cagnes sur mer – France)

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)

Enjoy and bon appetit.

The happy people party in the park

A few time last summer we bumped into this lot of happy skaters, who were engaged in what can be described as a party.

Good atmosphere, disco music and smiles all around, all lead by the above MC.

Hurry up Alice or you ll be late to the party.

The sun was going down and available light was no much, but good enough for the Summicron 50 and the roll of HP5 loaded in the M6.

A bit of line dancing.

I m just passing by, please ignore me.

Paris in Summer

“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.

— Lets go surfing —

— Watching the world goes bye —

— two trios —

— A classic style paint shop —

— Saint-André des Arts —

— Passage Choiseul —

— The Conran shoppers —

— an odd workshop in the centre of town —

4 MONTH IN THE BACK OF THE HASSIE (THE BLACK AND WHITE VERSION)

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.

The Queen is dead (The film edition)

There are a few inconvenient living close to Buckingham palace, one good thing is that its easy to drop buy when something is happening, even an unfortunate event as the passing of queen Elizabeth II.

It was easy to go a couple of times over the fatal week end, shoot a bit of film, with the M6 and the Summicron 50v5.

Oh we are 20th of October 2022 today, so from now on I have to specify that my M6 is an original classic one with alloy body, not the new version with mate paint over brass body, as it seems these things matters to camera makers.

This is part of a roll of Ilford HP5, hand rolled from the 30 meters spool I bought nearly 2 years ago, processed at the usual Analogue Films Lab in Shoreditch.

The two days were quite different, the Friday being is, may I say, more interesting and laid-back, we could even see the King getting out of the palace. The area before the palace was easy to access, and I circled it a few times.

Saturday, the place was packed to the point of not being accessible (no interest if you ve been here the day before), and the crowd was mostly laying flowers in Green Park.

It was a heyday for photographers, even for smartphotographers from Asia.

Talking about the event with my wife we remembered that we witnessed the passing of King Baudouin of Belgium in 1993 while we were living there (sorry I don have any pictures) and the one of Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore in 2015 (you can find some of my pictures here), but don’t go imagining things.

The Philippino ladies kindly agreed to have their pix taken

Are you ok?

2022 Roll 10

Paris rue de Buci

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)

Wimbledon

Outside Paul Smith in Marylebone

Finger 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.

I hope you enjoyed the roll.

Biarritz in Black and White

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.

Nah not enough waves

Baywatch

It has sometime a bay watch vibe.

Surf is family thing here

Cal look

My first roll of Cinestill XX

London, where else?

A bit more than a month back I bought two rolls of Cinestill XX in the Aperture UK shop in London. I have read about this film, but its the first time I saw some available for purchase, so I picked two rolls to see what it is like, keeping in mind that I will have a road trip in France a few weeks down the line.

I loaded the first roll soon after and started shooting in London over a couple of very sunny week-ends we had in late April.

The XX box claim to be a variable speed motion picture, but on a conservative move, I set the M6 speed dial to 200, and put a 50mm lens in front of it, most likely the Summicron v5 or the Summilux v2 with a yellow filer.

Balthazar’s bride

It is very difficult to tell which one I used from the pictures.

Twins

Off the wall

So a good first part of the roll was shot in London, the weather was nice and my brain clicked in shooting mode.

Fashion addicts

When holidays started, I spent a day in Paris, with not much shooting action, then drove to the Loire valley, where frankly I felt more compelled to use the digital M and 28 mm cron.

But here are three shots of the park of the Chenonceau castle.

At this point we drove to Bordeaux witch I never visited before and seems to be a good place for street photography, just enough people, and specific places.

A street in Cite Fujes built by Le Corbusier

Worth visiting for modern architecture buffs : the cité frugès built by Le Corbusier, one house is a museum and can be visited upon appointment.

The market

The blue oyster cult

Street life

The film was processed by my usual lab here in London : Analogue Films in Shoreditch, it seems they were not very familiar with the film at first. They managed to do their usual good job as processing and scanning.

The last part we moved to Biarritz in the Basque Country, capital of surfing in France.

Life is a beach

I always found very odd to shoot sea side in black and white, but hey why not, my parents did this ages ago.

Bay watch

Local artists

The market

I found the XX a bit too grainy for my taste, maybe blame the processing, who knows? Lets see how the second roll turns out.

Oh yes, the cost. The film was 11£ a roll ( almost 13 Euros, 14 USD, 19 SGD), mmm I think I still have some HP5+ in my 100ft roll. And Analogue Films charge about 8£ for process and scan.

Hope you enjoyed the ride.