I visited yesterday the very interesting exhibition “When Forms Come Alive” in Hayward Gallery in Southbank Centre in London. This is a contemporary sculpture exhibition centred on organic forms.
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.
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 Summicron50mm v5 or 35mmAsph v2.
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.
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.
Oh my Oh my. We are in March already and here is my last B&W roll of 2021, where was I? Well not shooting for sure, as I just brought my first roll of 2022 to the lab. Well time flies, photography is one of the losers in the adjustment to my new life.
Anyway, last roll of 2021, shot in December in France, first 4 shots in Paris, next 5 in Cannes, the others in Antibes.
This is a single roll of Ilford HP5+, still hand rolled from the 30 meters roll I bought last year in Singapore. Pictures were taken with the M6 classic with the Elmar 50F3.5 or the Summicron 35 Asph v2. Oh by the way that’s not my last roll of 2021, no no no sir, I quickly shot a roll of expired Portra 400 at the end of December, but I am not sure there are enough shots to share on that one, or maybe yes I ll do next week.
That’s public now , I am a quitter, after 14 years I am leaving Singapore. I am moving to new horizons but that’s a story for later. The recent tightened measures are not facilitating farewells and the mood is not to party.
Last Sunday, I wen out but my shooting buddy Ez, founder of the Hasselblad User Group Singapore (HUGS), for a last photo walk. We met in Joo Chiat and then walked to Kalang MRT along Geylang road. Quite a walk under the hot sun.
Camera of choice was the Hassie, loaded first with a roll of Ektar (Still to be processed) and here with my fav film : the Rollei Retro 80s, processed in Caffenol.
Its been a very satisfying morning, walking with my friend along the charming Joo Chait road, then turning into what used to be the last red district of Singapore (Still a bit seedy in 2021).
Geylang has a very rich architecture, remains of better days.
Why does the uncle cross the streetEggs business
A rare close up shot, never really satisfactory to my taste.
The house with the Sikh guards on the pillars.HUGS man.A closer look at the HUGS man with a wrong T-shirt though.
I could not have dreamt of a more satisfying last roll and Ez promised I can keep posting on the HUGS groups even when overseas, so all is good; it just a goodbye.
A short post with not many words for the roll 14th of the year 2021. This is a roll of Ilford HP5+ hand-rolled from a bulk roll. I thought I counted 30 frames but it looks It did not count well and could just fire 25 shots.
I dug out the Leica M4 from the box and screw the Voigtländer 21mmF4 Color Skopar in front of it, set the 21-24mm finder, put a battery in my Sekonic light meter and hit the road.
The roll was processed at home in Caffenol Delta. I put a 6th of the water from the fridge to cool down the very hot tap water ( 29 to 30 degrees), and used the usual dev time (4.41 minutes) for the delta recipe. It looks it had a positive effect as the negatives were not as dark as usual.
The film dried overnight and was scanned today. After scanning there are a few dusts specs and white spots, but all in all a pretty successful processing.
A pretty mundane set of pictures : after 15 month without leaving Singapore, I start to be a bit bored. No big celebrations are happenings, it s a bit more of the same every week ends.
I shall not complain too much as the weather was pretty good that day, instead of the usual downpour we get on afternoons these days.
Luckily sometime the unexpected steps into the frame
Or you have lunch with friends
And suddenly when you feel you are finally in the mood, the film ends.
As my Ilford roll only had 22 shots, I loaded my last roll of Tri-X into the Nikon F3 while we were still in Tekka Market. I could not resist running after the guy with the umbrella hat, even I did not really got a really good shot.
316
316 on the bowl is probably the number of the stall so the staff attending to the hawker center know where to bring it back after picking up and cleaning. I felt really hungry at that time, but it was way too early to get a second breakfast.
Me time
It was still raining outside and this guy was playing with his phone inside a wheelbarrow.
The mini mart opposite Tekka market
At that point we had stepped in the street, and faced the last few drops of rain. I have a hood on my 50 which does a good job at protecting him from small rain (although that’s a metal hood for a 28mm)
Ez was still with me of course. At this point you would have realized that the pictures are not as sharp as usually, for instance compared to the last post. I have several options to explain this.
Action shot, Stef on his Oxley bike
First option is that the Tri-X is notoriously difficult to process in Caffenol. I have used my usual Delta recipe scaled for 500ml. BUT because I think my films are usually over processed I have decided once again to try to lower the temperature.
The throw
I feel that usually the time for processing is 4’40” and that does not give much leeway for control (I may be wrong), so I decided to keep the same time but cool a little bit the mix by using 10% of water from the fridge (probably 3 degrees) and 90% of tap water (29 degrees) to get a mix around 26 to 27 degrees.
The Corgi’s umbrella
Of course I have no thermometer and the reason you have not seen roll 2001#11 yet is because I quite screwed up by making the mix too cold back wen I processed it. But I must say that this time, looking at the film drying it has gone in the correct direction, showing more contrast than my usual processing’s.
1,2,3, go!
So what could have gone wrong ? Err not sure, could the difference of 3 or 4 degrees between the developer and the rinsing water caused an effect similar to reticulation?
Surprised in selfie action
.. or shall I just blame the Tri-X and look for another recipe for this film the next time?
I could simply finish my bulk roll of HP5plus and keep things simple what do you think? It’s a pity as I was quite happy with the content of the film ; that will teach me to try experimenting. This is also probably the last roll of the F3 for a little while.
The correct usage of the mask
The little fellow made 3 turns ( understand rolls ) and will now go back to the box. Yielding a SLR, even the not so bulky F3 with a 50mm, to the face of people is a bit gross. I’ll go back to the rangefinders for a little while
What’s up doc
I realized this Saturday that these old folks are hanging around in that place because the are polls nearby ; you can expect more shots of this place soon.
Waiting for the cobbler to finish his job.
All these shots were done in Aperture Auto mode with the F3, very convenient. A facility I don’t have on the M6. It looks the shots were properly exposed, I had some difficulties as I thought that holding the shutter button would store the speed. I may get it wrong by 20 years or so. I think after these 3 rolls and the two ones form last year, I can happily conclude that the F3 focuses properly. With the 50mm at least, I did not bother trying other lenses.
I know I am late, weather is not so great, it starts to be a bit boring shooting constantly the same thing and I am ashamed to say am a bit busy at mom.
Local seafood restaurant with Buddha Tooth relic temple in the background
Anyway, I this is week 12 and I am at roll8, so not too far from my usual 1 roll a week. So a couple of weeks back I loaded the good old M6 again, with a roll of manually rolled HP5+. Just 24 shots.
Street action in front of the etna
The Teas Chapter shop was already there when I first visit Singapore in 2006. I particularly like the contract of this shot and the shades of the bamboo leaves.
This stroll in Chinatown was during the end of Chinese new year period of Chinese new year, and a few autels where set-up like this one.
or this one
In Chinatown the uncles are still playing chess
Meanwhile on Orchard Road
Maids in uniformStunning picture of a teddy bearThe lady with the running nose
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