shooting Expired with the odd colour shift - but it works..... →

Ive been shooting expired film for years and I get some great results from them. In fact at one stage, I was shooting 80% of my work on expired stocks. Why you might ask? Well, I l just love too and more so with E6 stocks. Now there are a number of you out there that are nervous about shooting expired and maybe more so E6. Expired slide film is so much more stable than c41 stocks so dont be nervous on that front.
The latest slide roll Ive just shot some content on is a roll of EliteChrome 100. I did a little review on it some time back and I love it so I shot another roll. As with the first roll, I did experience some colour shifts but I reckon that was down to poor storage in its earlier life before I bought it. As I said before, E6 is so stable

So, here’s the first shot for you. Whilst it might appear that the colours look real, and they do, there Cornish, there are further elements of blues tones. Take a look at the second shot and you’ll see what I mean in more detail. The sand is now blue but the colours of the flag in the reflection remain the same.

Ive placed the next set of images in a small gallery so you can compare the tones and the shifts in colour and blue here seems to be the primary one. Now there’s this photography rule I’d really like to quash or should I say Id like EM from Emulsive to tell you more. the One stop rule! its rubbish - here a link to his article - https://emulsive.org/articles/rants/how-to-shoot-expired-film-or-no-you-do-not-need-to-add-one-stop-per-decade

Personally, I dont do it with slide, there is no need. However, with C41 I have done it a few times with rubbish results. Hence why I don’t do it now. Shoot your stocks at box and see what you get. I like the results here and that colour shift for me works. RD

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Shooting the shoot

A couple of seasons ago, I was lucky enough to get a formal invite to a local sporting shoot which I simply could not turn down. This was a shoot like no other. It was so far removed for the general publics perception of Range Rovers, Purdy’s (very expensive shotguns) and people drinking whisky out of lead crystal glasses. This shoot was far from it. Not a single Range Rover in site but plenty of harris tweeds and well dresser shooters ( the guys with the guns). This was and is a budget end local family run shoot. Open to all and invites to all, providing you have some experience of course.

The shoot was headed up by Dan (centre stage in the image below), a local farmers son which has access to woodlands, hidden valleys and acres and open farm land that is so well suited to shoots of this kind. For Dan, putting this shoot together was and is all about budget end shooting. A level where all can afford rather than the high end “Purdy” end of the market. Dan’s shoot is different, the beaters are the shooters and the shooters are the beaters. All of the members takes a turn. The high end shooters just arrive to shoot and leave the beating to others. They see themselves as being beyond that brief sadly…

An integral part of any shoot are the dogs. “Trained to the gun” as they are often referred to. Endless hours of training by their owners to get to a level where they can send them on to hunt out and retrieve the birds. Amazing to watch and their reward is nothing other than working.

The shoot as a rule takes a day and the “peg” selection comes first thing. The “peg” is a ground marker that you will stand at during the shoot. Each member has their own peg. Selection sometimes can be the luck of the draw. In some cases it appears to be pain full - see below

I follow Dan and his members throughout the shoot and captured all that I saw. This kind of “sporting” activity is closely monitored and managed and rightly so. There will always be a high element of danger when the likes of guns/firearms are being used but it was very clear to me from the off that professionalism here was key and everyone understood what was expected of them.

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Its rare to be invited to these type of shoots as a photographer, but with my connections I was invited in. I was made to feel very welcome and to some degress put of the shoot myself. Lunch with the shoot was epic by the way. A farmers wife cooking is second to none. Thank you Dan and a thank you to all your members that made me feel welcome that day. RD

St Ives - through my eyes

St Ives - One would say quintessentially Cornish, picture postcard views and one of the singular most popular seaside towns in the UK. Its colourful, great out of season and very photogenic. But as photographer like most, often see what others don’t. Tourists will continue to take those typical St ives seaside shots we all see and love, but personally, I prefer to see a different side to it whilst at the same time, seeing different views.
Enclosed are just a few of what I see……

I tend to search out colours, use different film formats and a selection of film stocks to mix it all up.

A cliff top view here overlooking Porthmeor beach before the crowds arrive and the emptiness disappears. i often find that the morning light delivers the best light, thats always providing the clouds stay away

At low tide, St Ives offers free food for all. I refer to Cornish muscles if your a seafood lover. Remember though, go safe and be careful of the rocks and watch the tides etc. Im certainly not going to tell you where I harvest mine from, but wherever it is, I get the biggest muscles time after time.
There is a saying that you should never harvest muscles in the months with an “r” in them. Ive never found that an issue

They’ll always be somewhere to point your camera in St Ives and there’s always a different view, if you look for it. Colour will always stand out here, even in the off seasons. St Ives will always remain popular with tourist and locals alike. I’ll continue to look for more ways to shoot more content here - but always at first light and when the place is empty

Camera & film stocks used :
Pentax 6x7, Hassy 500 cm & Konica Hexar. Portra 400vc expired, expired ultramax 400 & Kodak Gold 120

Shooting Kodak Vision 250 3 D

For those of you who are uncertain as to what Kodak Vision 3 is, its a 35mm colour negative film originally made for motion pictures. The film's standard development process is ECN2 and Im told it can also be processed using the C-41 process. Double check that. I chose to go down the ECN2 route which is more costly one and you’ll need to search out someone in the UK who does specialist processing. I used Nik & Trick ( www.ntphotoworks.com), excellent service I might add. You’ll need to wait a little longer than the standard 2/3 days turn around time on this stock though. Factor in say 2/3 weeks to get your shots back.

So, the first set of images here are from the first roll I shot. I had no real subject matter in mind at the time other than to just roll off the film at whatever

Camera: Konica Hexar

Roll 2
On this occasion, i looked for more variety and colour to further test this stock and I found subjects that it suits, and perhaps others that it doesn’t. For me, the portrait shot below is fine in its composition but I can see yellow and slight green ish tones to it.
Given I know the subject well, the skin tones and studio walls colours, are not correct.

Further evidence of those yellow and green ish tones are highlighted here when I shot this image in low light conditions. The film was shot at stock and the light reading was fine, its just Vision3 that gives it these tones especially in low light

So, is it a stock Id shoot again? Hell yes! I like the fact that Vision3 for me seems to offer colours and tones that other stocks don’t as such. It’s never going to be one of my top 5 stocks but I will continue to shoot it

Please note: All of the images contained within this post and other posts, and on my site are free from Photoshop, Lightroom and presets. All my imaging is real

Sicilian colours & tones

Regardless of wherever I am in the world, I’ll always have a camera and a roll of film with me. At the same time, which every country Im traveling or visiting, I’ll always be on the look out for colour, something Im automatically drawn to. The more vivid the colours the better and that’s why I pre select my film stocks in advance to ensure I get the best out of what I shoot. I will of course capture the odd travel related image, as above and shot on Kodak Gold 200, but I generally like to seek out a varied range of subjects that interest me.

So, film stock choice’s for this trip, Sicily in this case, were Ektar, Kodak Gold 200 and Portra 400. I took both 35mm and 120 as I enjoy shooting across most formats and it always good to see the slightest differences on 35, 6x6 & 6x7 with the same stocks.

The above shot as I remember was shot on my Pentax 6x7 with a roll of Portra. Shot about 6am that morning just as the sea mist was still sitting there giving the sky a slight grey tone to it which I liked. The shot would of course been somewhat different if I’d shot it about a hour later when the blue Sicilian sky opened up. Still, here the colour came through well

A classic example of Ektar here I think. A stock that loves vivid colours. It has a lovely richness to it and really shines once you capture striking colours and tones such as these Sicilian fishing nets. I shot this image on my Hassy, a camera which has the most outstanding 85mm Ziess lens Ive ever used. Super pin sharp time after time. By the way, I dont use Photoshop, nor do I use Lightroom, filters or other re touch software. I simply dont have it, never had it and I never will. As we photographers like to say, straight out of the box. Why shoot something then take it home and play around with it. Other opinions are available of course but these are mine

The gallery Ive enclosed below features a few more shots I took on this trip, on all formats with all those stocks I love to work with

Penberth Cove - The tiny fishing hamlet

The tiny fishing hamlet of Penberth Cove lies at the foot of a wooded valley just to the east of Porthcurno. Fishing still remains part of Penberth but only to a few local families nows that still fish this cove and its Atlantic waters.

I spent a few hours one early spring morning capturing all that I saw. All images are shot on film. None of those pixels or photoshop here. Just real images

Camera’s: Asahi Pentax 6x7, Hasselblad 500 CM
Films: Kodak Ektar & Kodak Portra 160

Portra 400 VC - Another first

I’m a big lover of Portra as a film stock both on 35mm and Medium Format, so it was only question of time before I tried 400VC. The “VC” as you are all no doubt aware of stands for “Vivid Colour”. A brief history on this will tell you this film stock was around until 2011 when production stopped. The rolls I picked up on a on line auction web site were expired back in 2007. Shooting expired stock can be a bit of a gamble but i like that risk.

Images enclosed are shot on my Hasselblad 500 CM and my Pentax 6x7. No push, no pull, no over, no under, no one stop, two stop, Lightroom or Photoshop, just straight out of the box

Ive chosen a variety of colours and subjects to see how a 2007 rolls handles the colour. There are a little grainy but Portra’s never been a fine grain stock anyway. Would I say they were vivid. Certainly not by todays standards but the colours are there with little or no real separation to speak off.

Provia 100f - Shooting expired slide

Ive been shooting expired Provia 100f for some years now with some great results overall if Im honest. The “expired” element of shooting film interested me simply because I wanted to see what type of results Id get.

You’ll read a load of articles on line regarding expired film stock staying the rule of thumb is to do this and that with it, over expose, pull or push it. I just shoot it out of the box and see what I get generally. I reckon 95% of what Ive shot in past has turned out well. Is that down to luck? Maybe so, or is it the fact that Provia if stored well is just a really robust film.

The Colour
Now, I like Provia for several reasons. The first one being is its a slide film. i love slide. That moment you get your negatives back and then hold them up to the light and the colour bursts through, its magical. Secondly,
I love the rich tones Provia brings. The purple and greens have such a vivid texture to them and the overall colour palette to really appealing. Is the any colour shift? I haven’t noticed any but I am the worlds worst technical photographer so I wouldn’t see it. I just see lovely colours.

Examples
Enclosed within this post are a series of images shot on a roll of Provia 100f which expired back in 2000. I had no history on its storage other than what the seller told me. Let’s be honest here. Was it cold stored for 20 years, I think not. So, my opinion is that Provia is just a really solid and robust film stock and seems to store well. See what you think of the results anyway.

Please note: Other views and opinions are available but these are mine

The Four Points project - #thefourpoints

Projects for me will always be the main focus for my photography out side of my commercial work. Whilst work for me is a real joy, the projects keep me sane. They give me free control on what I want to shoot and to share with others. Finding the right style of project is challenging as it needs to fit my style of photography. What Im not trying to do here is replicate or copy ideas from others. I think with any project it has to carry some value and I think “the four points” project has that. I guess it will be down to you guys to see if it has.

Whats its all about?
The project content is all about the furtherest points of the UK. The furthest north, east, south and west of mainland Great Britain. My aim is to travel to all four point and document all that I see. the project will be shot of 35mm and 120 medium format film. I’ll take 3 days and travel over 2,300 miles to bring this project together.

What the end goal?
Thats simple. I’ll share it all with you on line through the usual social channels plus bring it all to print. I hope you’ll all find the time to follow my journey as I will be documenting the trip as I travel to the four points of the UK. RD

The Asahi Pentax 6x7 - a search for the right one

When I first decided to enter the world of medium format film, camera choice for me was key. I did find what I was looking for and I certainly made the right choice with the Hasselblad 500 CM. However, in the back of my mind at that time of that selection, the 6x7 did feature as a preferred choice but it was dismissed quite early on.

Moving forward a couple of years, I started to go through that phase like Im sure a lot of other photographers do where we begin to think about adding another camera to my collection. Do I really need one? will it improve my work?, nope, so why did I need the Pentax? If Im honest, Ive always loved the sear brutal look of the 6x7 and their retro design. What other camera has a wooden handle that size strapped to the side of it. I ask you.

So, I set about looking into all of the MF Pentax models, the Asahi 6x7, the Honeywell 6x7 ( its essentially the same as the Pentax 6x7, only marketed specifically to the USA) the 6x7 MLU (mirror lock up) the 67 and finally the 67ii. All very attractive in their own right but the Asahi for me was the most attractive in its design. A little further research into that model and it turned out that the MLU version was the more reliable one to have. Now, being the worst technical photographer in the world, I needed some help in the first instance and a big thank you to my on line technical guru, Gareth, for his impartial advice. His choice different to mine so I then set about finding the right one - what a quest!!

After searching the usual on line avenues of enquiries, it soon became quite apparent that the Japanese market was the best option for me as the UK’s examples were very average and extremely limited in supply. If you are in the market for a 6x7, or should I say a really good example of a 6x7, then Japan is the place to look. Not only that but after speaking direct to a few Japanese Pentax retailers, their very knowledgeable on all of the Pentax models.

My search took me a number of weeks as I couldn’t find a camera with a lens as a package that fitted the bill. Either the camera’s body was not a mint example, thats what I was after, or the lens with the camera had haze, fogging or mould etc.
That then meant the only option for me was to spend a little more money and buy separately. After some further searching I found a mint body, and it really is, the lens was next. Servicing was also super important for me when required and I managed to find a UK based Pentax experienced engineer who gave me some solid advice on which lens to get in his experience, thank you Parmath.. The 105mm lens so Im told is one of the best lenses ever made, but the SMC version is the one to have. Parmeth lost me a little on the technical reasons why but he takes them apart and has decades of experience working on them so his help was invaluable.

Finally, I managed to track down a truly excellent 105mm SMC lens so I now have the complete package. Now, if Im looking to buy another decent camera at any point, there’s always a certain number of prerequisite that I like to take into consideration.
In the event of me selling or moving on any of my kit at a later date, how attractive to a potential purchaser will my camera be. So buying the best example I possible can for the right money is key. Secondly, the more attractive and desirable models will be the ones to have so I take that into consideration too.

To summarise then. Ive now got what I set out to buy, a cracking example of a Asahi Pentax 6x7. Yes, I did pay a little more money by buying separate but I got what I wanted. Will it make me a better photographer, certainly not. I have to put my knowledge and shooting skills into it first and then see if it might produce another element to my work. The larger 6x7 negative will certainly do something to the viewing aspect of the images I produce and perhaps I’ll take that into consideration when shooting with the Asahi. Off to the gym now to build up those guns so I can lift this beast, hell!!

One final note if I may. If you’re looking to get a service done on a 6x7 and your based in the UK, look no further than Asahi Photo. Ask for Peter. He offer excellent advice and is able to service all of the 6x7’s

Some data for you guys that might be helpful if you’re looking at grabbing one:

• Asahi Pentax 6×7 – the original model, launched in 1969 (first generation)

• Asahi Pentax 6×7 (MLU) – with a mirror lock-up mechanism, launched in 1976 (second generation)

• Pentax 67 – with minor cosmetic changes, launched in 1990 (third generation)

• Pentax 67II – the fourth generation model, launched in 1999

Please note: Other views and opinions are available but these are mine…

My first roll of Portra 160 on the Hassy

Im a firm believer that if you shoot film on a regular basis, you should work your way through most film stocks that are out there. Im a bit colour lover and favour certain films but Id never tried Portra 160 until a few week ago. I was keen to save this roll until I found a certain subject matter which I thought might lend itself to well to Portra’s vivid colour and tones. So a recent trip to Croatia seems a perfect choice.

A photographer that I often speak on film related stuff reckoned i should over exposed Portra 160 by a few stops. I’d say that his work has a very neutral look to it and suits his style of photography really well. For me, I do what I always do, shoot it straight, no tweeks and very standard ish. Ive never bothered with the over under exposed option or that push and pull process stuff when developing. I just shoot film out of the box.

So, enclosed are a selection of shots I managed to grab. See what you think. Im happy with them. Would I shoot Portra 160 again. I guess so but it doesn’t rock my boat enough to go nuts with it. Photography is all about choice and what best suit your needs and requirements given the kit you’ve got and the film stock you shoot with.

Please note: No photoshop, lightroom or presets were used or will ever be used in the making of my images. All the shots you see are straight out of the box. Real photography you might say