How do you view your slides? digi or old school...

How do you view your slides these days? Digi or old school? Well, I reckon that the vast majority of us will use a computer screen. We've become completely reliant on our desktops in the digital world that we've created. However, for me, it'll always be the old school route, with a projector.

I remember as a kid returning home from family holidays and pestering my father to get the holiday snaps processed. His choice when it came to shoot 35mm was always slide. Once he got them developed we would sit down and view the good, the bad and the somewhat indifferent. The magic of displaying those images onto a large white wall or screen for me was magical. Fully displayed for all of us to see....... The slide projectors that I was so familiar with all those years ago are now appearing at car boot sales all over the UK. I've several myself but nothing really along the lines of this little gem I picked up today.

A Minolta Mini 35. The price, £8, yep, £8. Now, you purchase from a car boat at your peril and believe to a certain extent what the seller will tells you in terms of does it work. Yes will always be their reply.  So, you'll only really know if thats the case when you get it home.
So, I got home, plugged it in, and nothing!! Oh dear. I wasn't disheartened. I replaced the fuse and she fired up. Happy days......

A more detailed look
tHE 35 came in its original box with the instruction leaflet, wired up with the factory plug on it and a lovely little bakerlite switch. In addition to that was the Minolta autochanger. A manual functional slide holder capable of holding 20 slides at a time. Everything in its box as it would of come out of the factory all those years ago.

The Mini's design was simple yet functional, durable and compact and a great little find........ RD

the early bird catches the artist

As soon as the sun rises during the summer, Im generally up and out to look for something to shoot. We have some great natural down here in Cornwall and first thing in the morning you can capture some great stuff. What I didn't expect to capture that morning was Alan Furneaux, a local artist sitting dock side in painting away

I seem to be making a bit of a habit of this. Some time back I happened to come across another artist further up the road painting a similar scene. That turned out to be Ken Howard. Anyhow, I started chatting to Alan and it turned out he knows Ken really well. Small world. 

I did ask Alans permission to grab a few shots whilst he was painting away. I have a connection with real and vivid colours, and watching Alan laying down colour was a treat.
 

A big thanks to Alan for allowing me to shoot away - You can find out a little more of Alans work on line here - www.alanfurneaux.com

My first roll of Velvia - but mistakes were made......

I shot this roll of film the same way as I shoot most rolls of film. Dropped into my Hassy and reeled off the 12 shots. Once Id shot it, I sent it off to the guys at Ag Photolab and then got a message from them to say the roll I sent was a roll of E6 slide film, not a roll of C41 I so often send them. Opps....
The film in question was Fujichrome Velvia 50. This roll, like all my other rolls of film that Im currently shooting was expired. I don't often make adjustments with expired film unless I feel I need to do so. I like to see what age has done to the film, if anything. Anyhow, the Velvia box speed for this roll was ISO50, but then, I notice my second mistake. I take all my light reading through my M6 and set the Leica's ISO dail accordingly to which film Im using. However, half way through shooting this roll, I discovered I'd set it to 150, yet another mistake by me and given that error it would now seem that my final results will be pretty well under exposed. What an idiot !! I always check the details of what film Im loading into my camera to ensure its the correct choice for me with regards the subject matter thats I'll be shooting that day but on this occasion Id clearly had one of those moments and forgotten the basic's. It certainly wont happen again

Today, the negatives's came back. Were they under exposed? Not in the slightest. In fact, for me, all 12 are on the money. Outstanding on the colour front which is great for me and in addition to that, there pin sharp - Ive just found a new love, shooting  Fujichrome Velvia 50.

Expired part two - Different tones

I chose a roll of Fujichrome Velvia Daylight for the next stage of my project. The roll expired back in 2007. Storage details, no idea other than its been in my fridge since I bought it on Ebay. Other on line sales platforms are available. 
So, how didi it turned out? Well, the first image as you can see has a blackcurrant/purple tone to it but that didn't follow through with the rest of the film. The sky had a different tone too it as well, not the normal colour I see from our Cornish skies. 

This image was shot just a few hours later. The Cornish blue skies are evident here. There's some evidence of that blackcurrant/purple tone again in the lower corner of the shot but if Im honest, the Velvia is still working well given its 10 years out of date and I don't have the storage history on it. Maybe it was keep cool all this time.... a bonus

The third image Ive selected from the roll is sweet and vivid. This is the type of colour I get from up todate film in my Leica. Nothing lacking here in terms of colour. 

To summarise then. There is some evidence of a some colour tone issues at the beginning of the roll but thats about it. In terms of how I shot it. I ran it at box speed, ISO 50. 

 

going fully expired- Part one

Ive only just realised that over the last few months, Ive been shooting nothing other than expired film. Now there's nothing wrong with that as the results you can get from expired stock can often be as good as up to date film. So, with that in mind I have now decided to shoot only expired film. I currently have 40 plus rolls in the fridge dating from 1992 to 2012. With regards to their previous storage conditions which can be key, I can only go on the info I was given (fridge stored) at the time when I bought them on line. Thats part of the gamble you take when shooting expired film....

 Fujicolor Reala 100
Fuji NPS 120 film ISO160
Fuji chrome Velvia RVP120
Fujicolor Pro 400H
 Fujicolor NPH 400
 Fujifilm Superia x-tra 400
Kodak Tmax 400

Enclosed are the first few images for this project (part one) which were shot on on Hasselblad 500C/M. All of these were shot at standard box speed with no adjustments

Kodak Porta 160

Kodak Ektar 160

Kodak Ektar

Kodak Porta 160

California Dreamin - that winning look

I took this shot a few years back in LA. I loved the composition and the fact that the dogs owner had taken into account the sensitive eyes of his dog. Its just one of my shots in Eye em's stock library and recently it was one of the winners for the " California Dreaming Mission" Im surprised really as I didnt think it would stack up against some of the other submissions.

https://www.eyeem.com/blog/california-dreamin-recap-2018

ten years on - Konica's VX200

Im never really sure how expired film is going to turn out especially if its purchased from a third party. You've no real idea under what conditions its was ever stored in, could of been in the fridge all these year, but very unlikely, perhaps it was stored somewhere warm or just cast aside and found in the back of a draw years later. Most of the stuff Ive bought recently has come from either Ebay or car boat sales so there's no real historical data on it. So, with that in mind and given how old this roll was, I would of normally set an expired 200 asa roll of film to say 400 asa but this time I decided to run at 120 asa. Why not!  Shooting expired film is all about playing around with it to see what kind of results you get. Anyhow, enclosed are a few images from a roll of Konica's VX 200 which expired back in 2008. I shot it on my M6 under varied light conditions, subject matters both inside and out which clearly has given me some mixed results.
The first image here is a couple of light leaks whilst loading. I love the abstract colour here....

Racing and A bit of snow doesn't put the hardy off

Lets face it, us brits in general are a bunch of fannies when it comes to a little bit of snow. We just cant cope. Thats simply not the case when is comes to Stock car and banger racing. Regardless of the weather or the conditions they still want to race. This Sunday's Autospeed event at St Day certainly endorsed that.
 

Practicing got underway under cold but sunny ish conditions and the crowds started to arrive. Snow was forecasted for later in the day but we never really knew to what extent. Times were set and the days events laid out and the event got underway.

It wasn't long before the snow arrived and the track conditions started to change. lets be honest, snow, rubber, oil, petrol and damp conditions aren't the best racing conditions collectively but it all added to the days racing. As the day unfolded, the snow then really started to come down but didn't effect the racing or the crowds support.

To summerise, the whole day was a cracking event. This was my first time at a race event such as this and Autospeed's experience clearly showed at an action packed event. A big thank you to Crispen......

quality professional entertainment

I have to say that I was the world biggest sceptic when it came to pro wrestling, that was until last night. What a brilliant professional event. The venue, the Acorn Theatre, Penzance. An absolutely Ideal choice for an event such as this. The audience was seated as close as you can get so they felt every throw and slam the wrestlers handed out. Full on close quarter entertainment.

Professional events require professional promoters, no better here than Sanjay. Don't forget the Ref though. He too brought his own entertainment value to the ring. As for the wrestlers, what a brilliant mix of acrobatic showmanship and professionalism throughout. The crowd love it.

A big thank you to Sanjay from LDN wrestling and Richie from the Acorn for their help on the evening. The event returns next year to the Acorn. If you cant wait till then, check out Feb/March event list LDN have put together.

Expired and grainy

There's always an element of excitement when you process your films but when you add the "expired" aspect to that at well, its so rewarding when it turn out well. Im a big lover of grain and this roll of Portra 400 NC (expired 2006) delivered for me. Clarity  and a pin sharp finish in a shot is a bonus but for me grain is king

Camera: HASSLEBALD 500 CM
 

My first roll of Ektar

Ive never shot Ektar before but if Im honest, Im quite pleased with the finish. Kodak Ektar has a really fine grain to it. A good colour negative film for either landscape or portrait or just random stuff. Enclosed are a few example shot on a M6. I particularly like the colours it produces in low light levels (see the station image)