Half Frame, Lots of Frames

So, when its -1'c outside and I'm sat in my dressing gown, I am not going outside to look at the camera.

Ill just say, I'm not sure what model it is because I've look at loads of google images and wikipedia comparing to pictures on my Instagram and I can't find a camera that look s the same as mine; they all have different shutter buttons.

So mine looks like a PEN EE but has the shutter button of a PEN EE.S. If I braved the cold and gave the neighbours a fright id be able to figure it out, I'm sure by the maximum aperture. But right now I'm happy with just not knowing.  Stay warm!

Either way the camera comes from sometime between 1961 & 1981. It's half frame, fixed focus & fully automatic, meaning it does what it does when you point it at things.

I picked it up for something like a £1 from the Sunday market. At 1st I wasn't interested until I opened it and noticed that the frame mask was tiny and in my head alarm bells rang with a 'its a half frame camera, get it, shoot loads of exposures'

This half frame camera, shoots twice the amount of exposures on a roll of 35mm film. so 72 shots on a 36 roll etc.

But the negatives are small. So don't expect detail and large prints.

Ive only shot 1 roll, not including the few shots that were left on the roll in the camera when I purchased it. A lot of that roll was ruined when I opened the back of the camera not knowing there was a film in it. But who buys an old camera without checking it 1st.

The camera joined us on a weekend away in Norwich, December 2016, a roll of Fujicolor C200 in tow.

Point and shoot.

And sometimes you scratch your head and wonder how so much dust got on only 1 or 2 frames of the whole roll.

I like Anglia Square in Norwich. It's like the place that Norwich forgot. Once the big shopping centres were built there's no real reason to go there and so either shops sit empty or are used by discount chains but who doesn't like Poundland??

Theres a massive vacant office building, trust me I've looked round it for a way in, which is absolutely covered in graffiti.

A perfect subject to capture via a 20+ frame stitched image;

From Russia with love. To Stamford with art.

Don't go thinking that I've been to Russia. Or, by all means, you can go thinking that I have been to Russia, think all you like. I haven't.

However the camera used for these images has been to Russia, in fact it came from Russia.

The Kiev 4 was produced between 1947 - 1987. So I might have been 2 years old when was mine was made, might have?

I paid £5 for the camera and 50mm f2 lens attached. Half of me thinks I paid £5 too much for it. The trouble is I haven't decided if the camera is faulty or not. After about frame number 30 of a 24 exposure roll of Agfa Vista, I thought f@£* it! it's not winding on. Only to develop the film and to discover that it was.

Confused.com.

Granted, like many cameras, I only ever shoot one roll of film before the camera gathers dust in the drawer or gets sold on. So I have no hard evidence whether the camera is faulty or not, it seems I either wasn't counting exposures correctly or its fine?

On to the experience. Its a great camera, its solid, heavy and using the rangefinder is a pleasure with the focus wheel on the top of the body. Im not sure I had the 'Contax Hold' down to a T though as each time I put my eye to the viewfinder I saw my finger.

The photos for this blog were taken on New Years Eve in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
I was surprised to find street art and so I really should go back and search out some more.

Street Art by Snik https://www.facebook.com/snikarts/

The roll of Agfa Vista was my worst home developed roll so far. A truly awful amount of water marks had initially ruined the roll. Until I read that a little bit of breath and a lens cloth is the best way to get rid of it.

I do wonder if my chemicals are reaching their use by???
Maybe I did something that made the process very 'soapy'?

I've got a few rolls waiting to be developed in my fridge.
Theres only one way to find out if the chemicals are still good to use.

Don't let images collect virtual dust.

There is a real problem with film for me. Its my usual problem but it seems to really affect my film pursuits.

Time.

That whole magic, 'you don't know what your going to get', thing for me turns into 'you won't ever know what your going to get until you develop the film that's sitting wasting away in the fridge and then collecting dust waiting to be scanned'.

The saying then continues with 'and once you've scanned them, you need to import them into Lightroom and then finally do something with the images that have taken months to materialise'.

I don't see that phrase being famous and used on posters, t-shirts etc. But I'm  sure i can't be the only person in the world who loses images in their ever expanding Lightroom catalogue. I don't lose them their well named and tagged, its more forget. I've got lots of images that i have forgotten about; whole days, whole holidays that i have never shared and have definitely not printed.

All on my lonely hard drive waiting for one big failure to happen and poof........they're gone.


So to get back on track I'm going to start with the remaining shots from a roll of Truprint 35mm.

The box speed was ISO 400 but an unknown expiration date made me think shooting at ISO 100 would be a good idea....it was.

In a previous blog post I'm sure i said how much i liked the vivid colours that i got from this roll. I continue to apart from one shot where the horrible red skin colour is just too overpowering but its important to share a failure now and then;

But now thinking about this guy might of the beetroot persuasion???

For subjects such as a local funfair the vivd colours are very fitting.

What you looking at!? 

The House on the Hill

Kings Lynn Street Art

A little Macro photography with the Tamron 90mm F2.8

 So I'm really going to try and sort my blogging out and really start to share some of the photos that have been collecting virtual dust in my Lightroom catalogue.

Stay tuned.

And i do apologise for the random image content this time. I just really like the colours from this roll.

An old game of cricket before joining the RAF

A grim Sunday morning out in the middle of Norfolk, looking for a building in the middle of a woods that we don't know the location of.

Actually simple enough to find. Especially when Jack asks the 1st person we see.

If you ever want the perfect location for a stereotypical running through the woods and find a scary cabin horror film then this be it.

The Cricket Pavilion. 

Theres not much to see. The trees are much more photogenic than the ruin.

Although if like me you want to make something out of nothing and find beauty in everything then look a little closer.

These doorways are amazing, so much depth and mystery.

lose yourself

For a few years I've wanted to visit RAF Sculthorpe and see what was still there.

Opened approx 1943 it has been used by the RAF and later by the USAF during the cold war. Its now used for the occasional training exercise and the majority is an industrial estate.

Most importantly though; the buildings form the past life are still there. They're not exactly falling down either, granted they're smashed up inside but the structures will last forever or someone will demolish them, which ever comes 1st.

My constant search for the light in the dark.

He's looking at you.

We plan on going back very soon with my drone and spending a lot of time here as we only looked around a couple of the buildings and theres lots more to explore.

Always look whats behind the wall, fence, door. There's a whole world to see.

Honesty may not be the best policy.

Let's face it.

Im no world famous photographer. Im not sure id even want to be one. 

I go through phases of picking photography jobs up. Im happy with those that i get through word of mouth. Theres nothing better than being told that so and so said your good and so can you shoot this for me. 

Thats a good feeling.

Times before I've really wanted to go full time but i feel that id have to shoot a lot things that i don't want to shoot. Im not that person. 

This is my passion, no one else's. 

My photography speaks to me. 

If it speaks to you, then i thank you.

What does it say to you? Speak your mind.

What it says to me;

This is who you are.

Seek to find beauty in everything.

Strive to stay positive but embrace the negative because it's always going to be there.

You will never be someone else.

So

I can shoot weddings, i like to, its one of my favourite subjects. 

I want to capture the beauty of someone else's moment. They've chosen to share this day with me and put trust in me to show them beauty in image form in return.

The ultimate challenge. Find beauty.

Sometimes it's the sunset behind the couple, sometimes its just that moment of contemplation when the bride thinks that no one is watching.

That moment.

Photography is capturing light. 

The light will be there if you look for it but why take a photo if its not 'That Moment'.

How does this read to you?

Have i said too much?

Have i put you off?

Now there is no link to the above and the imagery below.

The above is my mind, my honesty. Ive let you in. 

The reasoning for why i go out and capture strangers, dereliction & darkness.

If i didn't, where else are you going to see this?

Boston, Lincolnshire.

Fujifilm X100T.

Street Photography; Cartagena, Spain.

It was a good holiday.

Good weather, good food, good fun and some good photography experiences and subjects.

After the Mountain, street photography was my 2nd favourite photography past time on holiday.

The Spanish city of Cartagena was great; real hustle and bustle in the City centre. In between the shops and people, were bars and cafes serving real delicious tapas and cold beer! you cant beat beer and food. well you can beer, food and cake!

The thing I liked about this trip to Spain is that I really observed how much Spanish people like to congregate and chill with friends. The chilled vibe makes for some easy street photography.

Near the Roman theatre the roads and streets are on a gradient and offer some different views.

 

A quick beer stop!

 

Funny looking people in the city centre.

Remembrance of 9/11.

I loved the tight streets with tall old buildings on either side.

Light!

Do you ever feel like your being watched?

Seriously cool street art/graffiti

The smoking man

 

Another beer stop

The sad sailor

This was next to where the car was parked. A nice little find

 I want to go back.