Kodak Double X - a beautiful stock

Us photographers tend to have a preference towards the film stocks we enjoy shooting with most. The stocks that work best for us and deliver the images we are looking for. Personally, I’ll try any stock and I dismiss very few. I have my colour favourites, Ektar and Provia but when it comes to black and white, there’s only one choice for me these days, and thats Kodaks Double X.

That wasn’t always the case as I’ve been a strong lover of ilfords HP5 in the past, but Double X just offers me a little more that Ive been looking for in a black and white film stock. It has a lovely contrast and grain to it which gives a real period look to it. Take the above image, I selected this shot as it’s victorian through and through. It’s a section of the Manchester ship canal that to me looks the same today as it did a hundred years ago. Period looking.

Here’s another classic example for me how Double X give that period look. This shooting scene. It could be any time, timeless one might say, but this was shot just last year. One things for certain, I wont be going back to HP5 or looking for another black and white stock, Double X is here to stay

Other opinions are of course available but these are mine

83 & counting - The "a day in the life of a " project

I had no idea when I first started this project as to where it would lead me or as to how many lives I would document. As of today, Im 83 lives in and still going. The project has never had a timeline attached to it but I never thought it would take me this far and continues to take me further each and every day. Im still continuing to find these creative individuals and share their lives with you and shoot them on film as always. For me, there’s not better medium to shoot content on that 35mm and medium format film. They’ll be go digi here thank you very much.

We're now fully branded #YHTBG

A project Ive been putting together for some time now is finally coming together nicely. The “You have to be game” project was an idea I had some time ago and has been gathering pace over the last 18 months or so. The concept is there as is the design and it’s lay out, thanks Olivia. One thing for me though was missing, and element to bind it together from a branding point of view, a logo.

Some might say that why would a print publication need a logo in the first place. Well, having a logo makes a strong first impression, it grabs attention and its the foundation of the your identity. This for me will ensure that this publication stands out from then rest and creates our design ethos. A big thank you to Tom for putting this together

Jaywick - a positive view

Ive heard a lot about Jaywick in the national press over the years for being labelled as 'Britain's most deprived place'. It seemed to me that the press have been rather judgmental and very negative towards Jaywick so I felt to need to see the place for myself. Judging by the on line content Id viewed, there seem to be a very similar look to the place in terms of imaging but I was sure there was much more to see that just broken down homes etc

Let’s be honest here and I think Im fair in saying “an Englishman's home is his castle” and thats what the residents of Jaywick have here. They might not be built out of stone, but its a place they call home surrounded by their own tight little community.
The first surprise for me was the beach. An expanse of sand with a well establish Beach hut going back to the 50’s

There are elements of council lead design to add colour and features to the town alongside the local residents who add there own little spin on their chalets, sorry castles, along the sea front. All little touches that mean so much to them in a place they all call home

There’s even a beach patrol and seaside awards for Jaywick. So, Its not all doom and gloom here and there are some very posItive aspect to Jaywick. They’ve had a really bad time in the past press wise but I hope my spin on it is nothing other than positive from my cameras point of view. RD

All of the enclosed images were shot on medium format & 35mm. No digi here thank you

New Kodak Gold 120 200 review

Since the recent launch of the new Kodak Gold 120 stock, Ive been looking for an appropriate subject matter to shoot it with, both on 6x6 and 6x7. Colour wise for me , Cadgwith fits the bill 100%. It’s one of those quintessential colourful Cornish fishing villages that has it all. Granite old school Cornish cottages, thatched roofs, pastel coloured boats, glorious views and the Atlantic ocean pushing into its sheltered cove

The colours look great for me and Cadgwith certainly delivered on the colour front. Early doors is always the best time to shoot these locations. On reflection, Im pretty happy with Kodak Gold

The new Kodak Gold 120 seems to sit somewhere between Portra 160 and Ektar I reckon. Maybe not so vivid perhaps as Ektar and not so neutral as Portra but the colours do pop for me, and Cornwall always delivers on the colour front which makes my job so much easier. By the way, Im no expert or a technical photographer in any way but these are my findings, results and my review.

Camera’s used in this shoot: Hasselblad 500 CM/ Asahi Pentax

no PS, LR. Presets, just straight out of the camera at box speed

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

Kiro 400 review

Id never heard of Kiro 400 film stock before until a friend of mine sent me a roll, free of charge I might add - cheers Jonatas. I reviewed it on line as that what I do with most stocks I’ve not shot before and thought Id give it a go. I did have one narrative in mind at the time but the French buggered that up for me. That was snow! Dam, I still cant forgive those French fops.

Anyhow, Enclosed are a selection of images of different subject matters colour values and different lighting conditions.

Camera of choice: Konica Hexar AF

For me, the colours do stack up and there are some elements of other films stocks to Kiro too. I did read somewhere that Kiro might be a Fuji C200 rebranded stock. Im not convinced of that if im honest.

To summerise then, Kiro 400 is a solid colourful 35mm stock, not of the finest grain of course but it works under variable light and conditions. Would I shoot it again? of course. Remember, shooting film is all about grain and loving the grain, not those dreadful pixels things - #embracethegrain

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 .

Other opinions are available

Kodak Professional Portra 160NC review

Here’s a Kodak film stock that I only came across recently and being a lover of Portra in general, I simply had to try it.
I shoot a lot of Portra both on 35mm and medium format but I wanted to try NC on my 6x7 first, just to gauge it on a large negative fit. By the way, this roll of NC expired back in 1998.
I first picked a solid colour subject matter to see how it stood up. You’ll notice here that there is four blues, the double doors, the side shutter, the sea and the sky. All different shades of blue. To my eyes, there’s not colour separation at all and NC has performed really well given the fact that its over 20 years old

The next image was shot early doors just as the sun was coming up positioned slightly behind me. I picked this frame as I thought it would best represent a series of colours for a decent Portra test. Again, I think the film stood up really well the colours to me are classic Portra, perhaps more 160 than 400

I think it’s important to note here that I don’t use Photoshop, Lightroom or filters. I still struggle to understand that if you’re shooting film, you take all that time to compose the shot, get your light levels, shutter speed etc, you then take that image and change it, add and manipulate the hell out of it. If you shot it wrong in the first place, go back and do it again or learn from your mistakes.

Again, the colours here for a well expired film look really good and they are as I saw them. Clearly previous storage on his roll has been good or at least been kept away from heat etc.
On balance then, If i can get hold of some more of this stock, I certainly would. Its clearly Portra both on the quality and the colour front.

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

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