The "Power Geek" 35mm film

No doubt you’ll remember the £1 film that Poundland so kindly gave us. The Agfa Vista 200. Well, it appears that Poundland noticed the sales success of that film so much that they have decided to produce a film of their own, the “Power Geek 35mm film” . Thats how they’ve branded it !! Not a huge amount of information on the packaging other than ISO 200, CN-16 processing and 10 exposures, yes, 10 exposures. That leads me to believe that these films might of been destine for the disposable camera market judging by the plastic casing they sit in. I reckon Poundland bought up the stock and badged themselves.

I contacted Poundland direct to see if I can get any more info on the films stock but their email back gave me nothing other than the info that’s on the box - not very helpful really. Anyway, Ive rolled off a few shots to give you some indication of colour and quality and the results are pretty good if Im honest. The enclosed images were shot on the lovely little point and shoot Olympus Trip 35mm, a David Bailey favourite.

There's more to Levy than meets the eye

Step aside, step aside, I urge you please, distance yourselves from what the tourists see
Harbour views isn’t just coffee and cake, stainless steel fittings and posh fish and chips
Look further, look further, there’s more to be seen, Porthlevens beauty isn’t just skin deep.

Harboured boats, such as “Sharon Tracey”, granite steps and multi coloured bunting,
rusting ladders, piles of ropes, sea defences protected by big black guns.
Porthleven, Porthleven there’s so much to see, beyond the facade of cornish cream teas.

There’s colour everywhere, in different forms, from window displays to murals on walls.
seagulls, even a black and white bull and cow, keeping an eye on us and looking rather profound.
Red curtains hiding some galvanised steps, a closed container and a place to rest
Porthleven, Porthleven, you’ve so much to offer, just look around more and then discover the other,
look further, look further than the end of your nose,
and you’ll see how Levy begins to unfold

Don’t forget the pier in its granite splendour, view it from angles that local postcards don’t cover,
victorian railings, deep brown in colour, guard those who wish to go much further,
mix up with film to give a different prospective
on how Levys pier will look when it’s printed.

Porthleven, Porthleven, its a pleasure to shoot you,
when you see something else that the normal might not do

RD

First roll of TMax

Im a massive fan of black and white film but Ive never shot a roll of Kodaks Tmax 400 before. I generally swing towards Ilfords HP5 & FP4. They’ve delivered for me time after time but more recently Ive seen some decent imaging using Tmax so enclosed are a few examples of the results I got. All shot on my Hassy 500 and the roll was expired - 2009

I think Tmax lends itself well to portrait shots and lower light levels where these images were taken. I like the fine grain it gives but I think I’ll need to shoot a few more rolls first to see if Im convinced that its a regular film for me.

Skate - re discovering what Id lost

Its been a number of years since Ive shot skate on a commercial or leisure basis. A passion I thought Id lost until this weekend. A meeting with the king of old school skate earlier in the week, Mr Matt Perham pushed me on. We had a chat about old times and decided that it was time to re kindle the buzz we both use to get laying down a trick and capturing it. The thing I remember most about Matt and how we use to shoot was we shot and rode stuff thats others didn’t and rode lines that other couldn’t, something Matt was ace at and still is

So, the location - thats was so obvious given the fact that we had access to one of the best indoor skate venues in the country, Mount Hawke. Hours before the park opened Matt and I sessioned the place. Matts not like any other skaters Ive shot. He knows what tricks he wants to put down the night before plus a little of adlib thrown into the mix and dials them back to back. A bit a machine if Im honest and a real pleasure to shoot. Today you resorted my faith in shooting skate again Matt. May there be many more days……

Enclosed are a selection of a few of the shots we put together. No flashes, no photoshop, no lightroom just real images shot the way it should be, real and grainy…. Camera: Leica Q & Leica M6.

Cheers to Ciaran & Alex for sorting it…

Finally, into print....

Ive been shooting various print based media over the years on the digital front and have been happy with the  published results. Im given a brief, shoot it then submit the images to the magazine editors. Then it goes off to the design team and then between them they select the images that best suit the feature/brief requirements. All of which are always digital images which Im happy to provide. However, lately Ive been dropping a few medium format images into the mix to see if the guys pick up on their value. I don't mention Ive added film shots to the digital ones Ive submitted, I just like to see if they pick up on the quality of those images. It doesn't have to be megapixel quality, it really doesn't. Medium format images or 35mm images if they are well shot and composed can deliver.....

Finally its paid off. Admittedly its only one shot but its in the magazine. Result....


Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M  Film: Fujichrome Velvia 100 - expired

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