3 films from 3 SLR's Part 1 Pentax MZ-60

I cant believe how much my camera collection has grown over the passed few months.

Towards the end of the year I purchased a Holga and then got my Cosmic Symbol also very soon after, damn 'Cosmic Symbol' is such a cool name for a camera, my love for old film cameras begun there.

I was quite content with these as well as my DSLR and Laura's compact system camera for a good 6 months but a chance trip to Wisbech to get some films developed from the 2 film cameras mentioned above was a game changer.

While I was waiting for 1 hour development at approx £9 a film, rip off, I ventured into a local shop to check out what cameras they had lying around and asked the guy at the till if he had any cameras out back too which he replied 'actually we've got a whole box of cameras collecting dust' OMG I struck old cool camera gold!

Out came this box of camera that even before it was put down I could see things I was interested in; a few Polaroids even one in its original box. While I was digging through the collection of simple plastic cameras that I wasn't interested in I opened up an old Argos bag that contained a silver Pentax SLR with 2 lenses, at this point the shop worker came over and said 'how does £2 a camera sound?', that sounds lovely mate.

 Safe to say I liked the pricing of this place and treated myself to some bargains.

It took me a while to finish off a film because since that day I probably picked up another camera almost every week.

This camera; the Pentax MZ-60 was produced in 2002 and is easy to use. Its light and fits well in the hand. it has all the modes that a photographer would want. There are no dials like traditional cameras or even modern DSLR's instead there are buttons to press to alter exposure. The autofocus and exposure metering is simple but does the job with practice.

On to the photos.

The first day I loaded a film we went for a walk in the now gone summer heat down the marsh.

Enjoying a drive with the roof down

 

One of my main criticism's for the camera is the shutter lag between pressing the button and the camera taking the photo, id ideally prefer Laura's feet to be further from the edge of the frame but because of the shutter lag she'd walked further into the shot than expected.

My nephew and I found this last year and Josh thought this was hilarious 'cheese is go'!

 

 

Stone in your shoe mate?

One of the many times I've sat taking photos of Laura while she's done her nails

 

 

Sunrise over the River Nene, on a 6am bike ride to work.

 

 

Ella, loves to pose for a photo moment.

Damn she's an awesome dog!!!

 

 

I've taken the camera urbexing

 

 

I loved the colour of the sky on the morning of which this photo was taken, I went for a different composition here.

 

 

One boring rainy day, I decided to take photos out of the living room window using a polarising filter to limit reflection

 

 

Laura's going to be so pleased I put this one on the blog.

Testing out the built in flash, sat on my sofa while Laura did the housework around me.



 

This has got to be my favourite selfie yet, after a drive in the ol' mk2.

 

 

The following photo I'm pretty darn pleased with as I guesstimated the exposure time and it came out like this, I really like the colours and contrast.

 

 

Tune in next time for part 2.







A day out at the beach in Sheringham, Norfolk.

I visited Sheringham in Norfolk with Laura on Sunday and had a really nice day due to good weather, lovely fish and chips and a Danish pastry, alright company (lol) and a nice drive home along the coast road with the roof down and of course some photography.

Recently I picked up a couple of Praktica film SLR's and a few lenses as well as loads of filters and a tripod (and probably more that I've forgot), so I went on Ebay and purchased an adapter to mount M42 mount lenses onto our Olympus E-PL1. From the new but old camera bag I picked out a 28mm F2.8 lens and a polarising filter.

It's been a while since I've used a 100% manual focus lens, I usually only use manual focus when in the dark or if the auto focus/focus point is being fooled. The last time I used a manual focus lens was actually when I created the blog post featuring Laura in black and white.

It took a little getting used to but as the day went on i got a little more comfortable with the operation.

There were some great paintings on the sea defence wall, here's a few.

This ones my favourite.

There are some really colourful beach hut's on the sea front that numerous were enjoying on the day; we enjoyed taking a nosey look inside them as we walked past. Some had great names and art work.

Apparently Jabba is local!?

 I couldn't resist this weathered looking sign.

And for some reason I was drawn to these old metal signs on the wall, I know it sounds a bit weird but I knew it would make a great photo and personally i really like it.

On another note we also visited Boston in Lincolnshire, don't worry we wont be doing it again for a while. There's an impressive looking church there; St Botolph's, this is a different way of looking at it.

Thanks for looking.

Ben

A little find on the side of a road after an unsuccessful trip out.

It was Saturday morning at approx. 7.30am when I woke up and decided that I was going to go for a drive and take some pictures.

As per usual at the moment I'm still enjoying urbexing (urban exploring) and every time I'm ever out driving anywhere with my wife, family and/or friends I'm always looking out for locations to explore.

On Saturday I decided to finally have a look around a large farm house that I know has been empty since I was child and another house that I only spotted a couple of weeks ago while driving to Peterborough.

Too cut a long story short here the farm house was boarded up and within 5 minutes of being at the location a farmer come along I suppose to see what I was up to, however once I said I was interested in taking photos of the old buildings and anything cool lying around he said I was welcome to explore; well I didn't find much and was soon on my way.

The 2nd location; the house I spotted a few weeks back did look like a great location and looking through the windows there was some really smart stuff in side, such as retro/vintage/or what some people just call really old furniture etc. The windows had a lot of grime on them and the house looked in a poor state and looked empty of life,  however there were some caravans and cars in the back garden so either someone's planning to restore the old house or they've got a free place to stay!?

So I then decided to drive around back roads to see what I could find and with in minutes I found this place.

Again there seemed to be either life next door or maybe in the back garden but I was nice and quiet and after all I'm not interested in causing damage or steeling any ones property.....I just want to have a look around.

If being totally honest there wasn't much too look at inside as it had been gutted and due to the hole in the roof when walking upstairs I wondered if the floor would fall through due to prolonged exposure to the elements.

So here's some more pictures;

On the way out I took a photo of one of my recent purchases; a Praktica MTL50 film SLR camera that I had just finished a role of black and white film in......I cant wait to see the results from that roll, here's the picture of the old heavy beauty.

The last photo I took with my DSLR on this day, I took a few at another unsuccessful location after this one with a another film camera, was of the door of the house; it had some great textures.

Until next time.

Youve ruined it! Shots taken of Bawsey Ruins, Kings Lynn, Norfolk.

Instead of going to the photography club on Tuesday night I decided to spend the night photographing something I've been meaning to photograph for a couple of years; the ruins at Bawsey, Kings Lynn.

I parked reasonably close to the ruins, however I parked in a farm yard as the road got very bumpy and I had a feeling I would get stuck.

To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed with the scene as the sky was very clear that night, I would of preferred some nice fluffy clouds. Any way I created 2 HDR images one in colour and one in black and white. Both images were created using photographs captured at an aperture of F18 for front to back sharpness and an ISO of 100.

While I was at the ruins I thought I would at least try to take something that met the subject that had been set at my photography club; Toys.

This small photographer seemed to be interested in the same subject I was that night.

 

My photography was cut short this night due to some children coming to the ruin's to play. They kept asking me to take some pictures of them, so before I went home I obliged and then emailed the images over to one of them.

I really didn't mind, however it would of been nice if they at least replied and said thanks for the photo's, I suppose that's the youth of today. I must be getting old!

The last image today is one I took a couple of weeks ago and have just decided that text would set it off.

 

 

 

Thanks. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Ben

Sharming urbex in Sharm El Sheikh (see what i did there)

 

Again its been a long time since I've posted on my blog. It's not that I haven't been taking photos its more that I haven't had anytime to do anything with the photos I've taken.

I've recently got married and only a few weeks ago got back from my honeymoon to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

After a couple of days lazing around in 40°C heat I decided to take a walk and see what was local to my hotel. At first glance all that was around was other hotels, however I did walk past a couple of half built and abandoned hotels. I did consider returning on another day because I was hardly dressed for climbing around building sites, however I couldn't resist it.

I wasn't using my normal camera, instead I was using my girlfr....sorry wife's Olympus E-PL1 compact system camera. With the right settings this camera can take some awesome photo's although in other situations such as in low light it can really struggle and produces real noisy images.

On to the photos.



 

The sight on the beach front.

 

Looking down an umbrella.

 

 

 

Looking out of a bedroom window at what I can only guess would either be a bar and pool or fountain. If finished the view from this area would be amazing as this looks out to the beach.

 

 

I found this after taking the photo above of the 'bar'. I stepped out of the building I was in and there was a skeleton scattered around the floor.

 

 

This is the stair case that goes down throughout the 'bar' building. I bet it would look very grand if ever finished. It was a bit nervy walking down with no hand rail and on the loose ground in flip flops.

 

Walking out of the 'bar' building at the top of a hill, there is a contrast in views; a building site/rubbish tip and 'paradise'.

Huge pipes wind around the site in deep trenches.



Back in another building and the views looking out.

The view from the top of this villa.

 

I was here!!!

This pattern was part of a huge dome in the reception lobby.

 

This hasn't ever stopped me before.