2023 ROLL#03 – LONDON IN COLOR

Borough Market – Hot Chocolate

OMG this is roll 03 already ! But one sec where is roll 01? Well ok Roll 01 is sitting tight in the computer, waiting for its blog post, but I think I could share a few colour shots for a change.

The players – Clerkenwell

So actually the trip starts where Roll02 finished, in Borough Market, I had a bit of a hard time to load a roll of Portra 400 in the M6, god knows why. This is always so easy but not that day. So I missed a few shots and soon after it was loaded it was too dark for the Summaron 3.5. On the way back we walk up to Smithfield market, then up to Clerkenwell, where we met these gents playing chess outside of a church.

Who cares about signs when you drive a Jag – Chelsea

Sunday was more a Chelsea / Thames river walk where I first met the above Jag then towards the Thames I met again the following acquaintance.

The return of the penny farthing- Chelsea

The guy on the penny farthing this time in colour, the cars don’t make much for a background, but I had not enough time to move them around.

Then a long walk along the Thames.

My photographic weeks are long tunnels where nothing happens until the next week end, so after a long apnoea I carried the roll of Portra ( with the camera around it) to the west side that time.

The three wise men

Around Harrods I met these three happy Chelsea pensioners, they are retired servicemen from the British army, leaving in Chelsea. They were happy to pose for me in front of a big car. When I told them with such a big car one may think they were having a good life they told me that indeed they had. Nice to meet happy folks from time to time.

Kensignton Palace entry

Through Hyde Park and towards Nothing Hill I notice the doorbell of Kensington Palace, next time I am invited I’ll know where to ring. Two Pictures are not much for a Sunday but ok there’s no hurry.

Meanwhile life goes on

Opposite 10 downing street Ukrainians continue demonstrating against the war that is still going on in our backyard, while here life goes on.

… a special tourist

Moving eastwards, Benjamin Netanyahu was in town, causing some of his countrymen to express what hey think of his visit to the UK and recent policies. The man travels in style, staying the Savoy.

A couple of shots reminding of the Empire and its colonial past.

Monuments to the Gurkha’s

A Royal Enfield Side Car

Dancing in the streets

Luckily all is not doom and gloom and people are still dancing in the streets.

I hope you enjoyed the walks, maybe a bit of Paris action soon…

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2023 Roll#02 – Week end strolls around London

Hey hey, slow shooter I am, we are mid April already, and I am just posting about this year’s second roll.

Around Chalk Farm Tube station

Actually I have my 3rd roll out of the lab now, the 4th is there and a 5th is on the way.

A nice day for a ride

SO this is my last roll of HP5+ from the infamous bulk I bought in Singapore in 2021 before moving to the UK. I am not sure how many rolls that was in total but I think that was worth it.

He is a great painter

HP5 made sense when I was doing Caffenol back then, as it is pretty friendly with this process, but I would say I am not the biggest fan, and unless I go back to shooting one roll a week as I did in Singapore, I may stick to the Kodak emulsions.

Anchored along the Thames

So this roll stayed in the M6 for a while. The first shot was probably taken in February, along Chalk farm on a long walk to Camden. Then subsequent pictures from another very long walk through Sloane street, Battersea Bridge, along the Thames,

Lady with a TLR

and back to South Ken.

Thames Heliport

Yes there is an Heliport along the Thames for the not so climate conscious in haste to join the city.

Black and white

These were 10+ km walks so the week after we probably just had a casual stroll to South Bank via Green Park (above).

Hayworth Gallery

Hayworth Gallery

I can fly

Something different the next week end for a walk to Angel to see a show at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre (Excellent Copelia by Scottish Ballet) and back.

Never get what this one was about

It seems there are defects like the white mark on some shots, not sure to blame processing or a light leak.

Finally comes the Saturday where we walked to Borough Market to stock up cheese.

Friendly Chap

I am not sure if the issue is with the processing or the film was scratched. Pity I wont be able to print it for him.

All shots with the Summaron 35mm F3.5 LTM, I love this lens, but you my know already.

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.

Hare Krishna Celebration in Trafalgar Square

A strange sadhu

Here are a few shots of a Hare Krishna celebration in October in Trafalgar square in London. Is stumbled over the party by complete chance.

Hare Hare its all in the flare

I was armed for the occasion ( well not for the occasion then as it was by chance) with the Leica M6 classic and the Summicron 50mmV5.

Hare Hare its all in the flare

For once I had a Kodak TMAX 100ISO film loaded, not the usual Ilford HP5 coming from my endless bulk roll.

Cling cling

And the band kept on playing

Very friendly atmosphere, an opportunity to remember and share our love of India and its culture.

Some may still be lost…

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 —

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?

Occupy Westminster

Something different today, a few shots of demonstration dubbed “Occupy Westminster”, by climate activists Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.

I missed the blocking the bridges part, and just caught the tail of the protest, pity.

You can read the article of Guardian here

All shots Kentmere 400, Leica M6 Classic and a lens or the other 🙂

LONDON 2021 ROLL#3

The painter

I am a slow shooter and a slower poster. So here is a roll shot in late October / November 2021 in London and in Paris for the last few shots.

She was there is the sunlight

I am sure the film was from my 30m meters roll of Ilford HP5, and shot with the Leica M6. I cannot se so sure about the lens.

The roll was processed by AnalogueFilms in Shoreditch again. I had to explain a bit that the film was not what was said on the canister, but I think the message passed across. They were also very kind and gave me a handful of empty canisters that I will replenish with more HP5.

Planking

The first three shots were taken during a long walk from Knightsbridge to Borough Market, the one above and the one below were taken another week around Covent Garden. The guy above was having some kind of practical joke with friends.

Soon after the preparations from Xmas started and the Christmas Market launched on Trafalgar Square

Select your Chanel (Harrods London)

Martin Margiela window

Back from another later afternoon walk

Then we went to Paris for the last week of November, from now on I used the Elmarit 50 only on the M6.

A vigil for Virgil Abloh in front of Louis Vuitton

We are all kids in front of the Galleries Lafayette Christmas display.

Inside the Galleries Lafayette

Good Bye, two more rolls to process to finish 2021!

Hope you enjoyed the reading.

Christmas in Vietnam (Roll 1)

I think this one  is a great cover.

So off to Vietnam for Xmas 2019, for a bit of chilling time over Christmas. In the bag, the usual kit, M262, M6, 28,35 and 50 crons and of course a couple of Tri-x rolls.

Hanoi is a great place to shoot. People are friendly and generally not photo  adverse. There are so many pictures to take, that if you cannot take one, just walk to the next.

As usual, the M6 is most often mounted with the 50 cron, that ensures a reasonable distance for candid shots.

Street side food vendors and their patrons are still a great subject.

I was last in Hanoi 10 years ago and the traffic has not changed, crossing the roads still feels like an adventure and motorcycles are omnipresent.

We arrived late on Christmas eve, so our first outing was a walk to Saint Joseph Cathedral on Christmas day. The mass was already going on when we reached and people were standing outside of the church.

After the service an orchestra was playing outside.

A good opportunity for selfies.

We walked down to the Metropole hotel, where the two Citroen below are standing guard. I stayed there 10 years ago, and at that time  they could be sent to fetch you from the airport in style.

Grab delivery men are ubiquitous through the city

We then walk north in direction of Long Bien bridge, going through the old quarter.

Among many, I met these local photographers and we took shots of each others.

Finally we made it to Long Ben bridge.

Where I met the two young film photographers below.

Hey this was a long post. Be reassured the next roll is not as good.

Yes another roll of Cinestill 800T (35mm)

I shot the last of my Cinestill 800T 35mm rolls during the last holidays in Japan. This is the last roll from the batch I ordered from UK a few years back when it was first released. I must say that I am quite satisfied with this one.

The roll was kept a couple of years in the fridge but had also traveled by plane in many occasions, because it is not so easy to make up your mind to shoot a 18$ roll of film rates at 800 Iso and specified for Tungsten light.

The roll was shot with a Leica M6 camera and one my Summicron lenses, 35, 28 or 50mm.

Based on my former experiences I rated the film at 640 ISO on the M6 ISO dial and off we go lets shoot happily.

The first few shots are taken at night in the popular area of Dotombori in Osaka. Neon lights, restaurants and people, that works great for the 800T.

When shooting at night the M6 meter, which does center averaged measure, will have a tendency to overexpose : your subject is bright surrounded by a lot of darkness, so the reading will tend to overexpose. I generally underexposed by a step of diaphragm or the next speed to get the balance right.

On the next day we were off to Nara to visit its park and temples and the 800T was still not finished. The following shots were done without filter.

The above shot has tints that reminds of Portra 400, so it is not that bad. I tried to shot as open as possible which explains the softness. The M6 speed is limited to 1/1000 second so shooting in daylight with a 640 ISO film does not always give you a lot of latitude in term of aperture.

But shots taken in the shade allows a wider aperture and to play with out of focus.

The next few shots are taken in restaurant in Takamatsu the main city in Kagawa prefecture.

The south most part of our trip was Hiroshima where we visited the peace memorial.

At this point I played it old school and rewind the film which was about 28 shots and store it aside. I loaded a roll of Rollei CR200 slide film and when back in Osaka, I loaded the Cinetsill back again, put the cap, turn the aperture rint to on F22, set the speed to 1/1000 and fires 29 shots to find more or less the point where I was last and use my last 8 frames below: