I’m back!

Hi everyone.

I know I’ve not been regularly writing on my blog like I used to and I just wanted to let you all know that I’m ok.

At the beginning of 2020 I was hoping to have lots of film photography content for my blog this year, including getting to grips with using a large format camera and building my own darkroom but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be….

My photo content all looked promising at the beginning of the year when I visited Madrid and I was really happy with the black and white photos I had taken and blogged about at the time. Then COVID-19 struck in the UK around mid March.

I was fortunate enough to still find myself in full time employment and busier than ever with work which ended up taking up most of my time this year.

I’m also currently in the process of setting up a new online craft business which has taken up a lot of my spare time.

The darkroom space I had planned to kit out that my husband had at his work ended up being converted into a staff canteen as he had to review his work space to keep within the COVID-19 regulations, so I now need to look at a new space. I may even consider joining the Brighton Community Darkroom again next year because even if I only get there once a month, it’s still better than not developing any of my photos at all. I have really missed not using a darkroom this year!

I certainly haven’t taken as many photos this year like I would normally do and I’ve really missed going on photo walks and meeting up with other photographers.

I had originally planned pre-Covid to host an instant photo walk in Brighton in September but I’ve now postponed this for next year to review when hopefully the whole COVID situation would have improved and it’s safer for groups of people to meet up.

I was hoping to get some fun new photos for my photo blog when I went on holiday to Albufeira, Portugal back at the beginning of September.

My husband and I had originally planned to go to Greece but then saw the Islands being shut down and Portugal being put on the safe list so thought it would be better to go there.

We flew from Luton airport as we could easily park our car there. I was apprehensive about the airport and flight in view of the current COVID situation. However, it was nice and quiet at the airport and flying was actually quite relaxing and prompt with no delays.

When we arrived in Portugal, it was really hot! I had brought both my SX-70 Polaroid Camera and also my Leica M6 TTL, all loaded and ready to take some photos of my trip!

I was quite excited about finally getting somewhere new to take some photos, which wasn’t in my local area.

The locals were lovely and really happy to have the tourists back. They had only re-opened the beach about two weeks prior to us arriving.

They actually had more stricter rules than the UK in relation to COVID-19 and wearing masks, using hand sanitisers etc so it felt very safe out there.

During the first couple of days I didn’t take my camera’s out with me as I knew we’d be out in the sun most of the day and I was worried about the heat effecting them and their mechanics since they’re vintage cameras so I kept them inside the cool hotel room.

On Day 3 of our trip, we decided to go on a sunset jeep safari. It was a Thursday and the day that Boris Johnson would be announcing the countries that would no longer be classed as a safe zone which included Portugal being put back on the list. We were completely oblivious of this information whilst on the safari until we received a phone call from a friend who was meant to be coming to Portugal the following week.

If we had stayed in Portugal for the remainder of our holiday, it would have meant self-isolating for 14 days when back in the UK and due to both mine and my husband’s work commitments, we couldn’t do this.

We had a deadline of early hours Saturday to be back in the UK before we’d have to self-isolate.

On Thursday evening once we got back to our hotel, we booked a flight back to the UK for Friday afternoon. Thankfully, British Airways had put on some extra flights so we were able to get on one of those.

It was always going to be a risk going abroad, but all I can say is the three days we had there in the hot, glorious sunshine, were really lovely and just getting away after the best part of a year of hard slog with work, we really felt like we had been there much longer! We had some amazing fresh, local seafood meals alfresco, a nice walk around the local marina and loved seeing the old village in Albufeira.

I did manage to take one photo on my SX-70 with some SX-70 colour film from my hotel room balcony before we left:

Here are a couple I managed to take during the jeep safari on my Leica M6 TTL using Kodak Ektachrome E100 film:

The morning before we flew back to the UK, I managed to visit the local cemetery around the corner from where we were staying and take some photos with the same camera and film:

Here is the last photo taken at the end of our brief trip to Portugal (taken on my husband’s iPhone) coming out of Luton Airport with added face mask!

There is another reason this year why I have not had as much time for my photography as I would have liked and it’s quite exciting and hopefully going forward, there will be much more photos!

I’ll be blogging about my other exciting adventure I’ve managed to have around COVID-19 recently over the next few weeks!

The Leica M6 TTL and Hillvale Holiday 200 Film

Whilst on holiday in Tenerife in December last year, I decided to also take the Hillvale Holiday colour film with me.

This film is all the way from Australia and it was sitting in my film stash since I received it in my Emulsive secret santa gift for Christmas 2018.

I used this film during my walks around the resort where I was staying, which was mainly of the sea and rocks:

Here is one of my husband looking out to sea during one of our walks:

There was a marina near to where we were staying that we liked to visit:

We found a nice little restaurant in the Marina where we managed to visit for breakfast/lunch on several occasions during our stay.

On one of our visits, the waiter saw my camera and knew it was a film camera which he said he really liked.

He asked if he could take a photo of me and my husband using it and I agreed. I tried to set it up best I could for him but unfortunately I must have estimated the distance wrong so the photo came out blurry:

Overall, I felt the photos had a nice vintage feel to them. I scanned these photos after I had scanned the Kodak Ektachrome E100 film so instantly saw the difference in how the colour wasn’t as vibrant as slide film but it was nice to use up the remainder of the Hillvale film that I had in my film stash.

Tenerife with my Leica M6 TTL and Kodak Ektachrome E100

Back in December I managed to get away for some winter sun to Tenerife.

I had previously liked using slide film in the Hasselblad 500 c/m so I was keen to see what it would be like in the Leica.

I had a roll of Kodak Ektachrome E100 in my film stash for a while that I had been saving and I knew the trip to Tenerife would be the perfect opportunity to finally use it.

I decided to use the film during a day excursion to La Gomera.

I took the photos using my 50mm Summicron lens and the photos were processed at my local lab using the E-6 process.

During the excursion, we were driven up into the mountains and here are some photos I took of the landscape:

We were then driven to a dense forest area in the mountains and I really liked the green moss that was growing on the trees so was keen to see how this would look in a slide photo:

I was really impressed with the vivid green detail the photo produced. I also took one more in the shade, which looks completely different and not as vivid:

For lunch, we visited a restaurant in the mountains and sampled some of the local food and wine. We were entertained by the restaurant staff doing a demonstration of their local language called Silbo Gomero (also known as El Silbo). It’s basically a whistled register of Spanish which is used by the inhabitants of La Gomera to communicate across the deep ravines and narrow valleys within the island. It was fun to watch.

Inside the restaurant was this really cool view point that I knew I had to take a photo of:

I then took some photos of the views from the restaurant:

Here is one of my husband admiring the views from the Restaurant:

Here are a couple of photos I took at another view point on the way back down the mountains:

La Gomera was a beautiful island to visit. If I was to go again, I would like to spend a bit more time around the local marina and square which looked really interesting but I only got to spend about an hour there since this excursion mainly focused on time spent up in the mountains.

I didn’t manage to use up all the film whilst on this excursion so took the final remainder photos from my balcony where I was staying on the mainland in Tenerife:

I really do love slide film, especially when processed under E-6. For me, the bright vivid colours are just amazing and I also love the feel of the photos. They remind me of a 70s holiday brochure.

Whilst I still have some other colour 35mm films to use in my film stash, going forward for the Leica M6, I think the Ektachrome E100 will most certainly be one of my go to films for colour photography from now on.

Photos from my Leica M6 TTL camera with the Ilford HP5 Plus 35mm film

The next black and white film I decided to try out in my Leica M6 TTL camera was the Ilford HP5 Plus 400 35mm film.

Here are some photos I took near Brighton Pier whilst walking my dog, Daisy:

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Here are a couple I took of Daisy on the beach:

Here are a couple of random pebble/debris shots:

I spent the afternoon at Brighton Marina and used up the remainder of the film there:

Overall, I really liked the dark and moody feel of these photos. I had taken the photos on a cloudy, overcast day and I think this helped the effect.

I used the 50mm Summicron lens. Again, I was impressed with the crisp detail produced in some of the closer shots, like the beach photos with the pebble detail.

Next week I will be blogging about the results I got from using Kodak Ektachrome e100 in this camera which I’m really excited about sharing with you.

Film photography interview with Melvin Mapa

For anybody who may be interested, I recently did an interview with Melvin Mapa about my love of film photography.

Here is a link to the interview:

https://www.melvinmapa.net/post/interview-with-natalie-smart-united-kingdom

There are also some interviews with other film photographers on this website which are definitely worth checking out.

Leica M6 TTL Camera and JCH StreetPan 400 Film

When I first got the Leica M6 TTL camera, I knew that I wanted to try out a black and white film in it.

It was winter time so ideally, I wanted to use an ISO 400 film. I had liked the effects of the JCH film in other cameras I had used it in and thought I would try it first.

All the photos were taken using a Leica 50mm Summicron Lens.

I went to my usual spot where I like to test out new (to me) camera’s which was my local cemetery.

I like the peace and quiet there so I can fully focus on the camera and get used to how to use it.

I must admit when I first went to use the Leica, I did struggle getting used to to using a Rangefinder again.

For a couple of years, all I had been mainly using, was SLR’s and it had been a while since I had used a rangefinder camera.

I was slightly nervous whether the light meter would work and knew until I had the film developed, I wouldn’t know.

I decided to get the film developed at my local lab instead of developing it myself.

There are a few that came out quite dark and some, blurry, whilst I got to grips with using a rangefinder again:

You may also see a black line going through some of the photos. This got me into a major panic that there was a fault with my camera.

I checked online about this fault but couldn’t see any problems with the camera that had possibly caused this.

I knew that I would have to see when I got further films developed if they would have this problem.

Since getting further films developed, I’m pleased to report that it doesn’t appear to be a camera fault and I’ve discovered this line tends to appear in my photos when I get the film processed in an hour rather than waiting a couple of days. I’m not sure why that is at my local lab? perhaps it’s to do with the quicker time of drying them?

Unfortunately I don’t quite know enough about film developing to know the answer but perhaps someone reading this blog may be able to shed some light on the reason?

Here are a couple where I was quite impressed with the detail:

Overall, I think some of the photos came out ok for my first attempt at using this camera. Although I can’t deny it, I felt somewhat deflated after seeing the black lines in some of the photos.

Also, I realised that I perhaps made the wrong film choice when trying out this camera for the first time. The JCH film is very grainy and contrasty and I don’t think the way I shot it, showed the full potential of what this camera and lens combo could do.

I look forward to blogging in the next few weeks about other films I’ve since used in the Leica and my verdict on using them.

My first roll of LomoChrome Metropolis 120 film using my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

I had been really excited to use this film since receiving the 5 x 120 rolls from the Lomography Kickstarter campaign that I had backed.

On New Year’s day, I went on a photography walk with my friend Keiko along Brighton beach. Here are a couple of photos I took of her using the Metropolis film:

These were the first two photos I had taken and also scanned and I was quite impressed with the tones of the photos. It really did give that darker edge that I was hoping for from this film.

There were some people on Brighton beach new years day swimming etc and I took a couple of shots of the fun they were having:

Once again I really liked the tone of image this film produces. I had wanted it to look like a cold winter’s day on the beach and this film certainly achieved that look.

I was desperate to get a shot of the West Pier in Brighton as I thought that would look quite effective on this film and here is the result:

Although my Hasselblad only has 12 shots, I didn’t manage to use up the whole of the film on New Year’s Day.

Over the following week, I went to my local cemetery (where anybody who has followed my blog for a while, knows this is my favourite go to place when testing out new film/camera’s) and took the remainder of the photos there:

You’ll see from the cemetery photos that they were taken on a sunny day. However, the film has managed to retain the cool tones it is known for.

All of the photos were shot at ISO 400 and also developed at this ISO too.

Overall, I was very impressed with this film. It had the tones that I quite like and I can imagine this would look great when taking architectural shots or for street photography.

I’m really looking forward to trying out some more of this film in my Hasselblad and since I’ve really liked the photos it produces, I’m also going to purchase some 35mm format of this film to see how it works in my 35mm camera’s.

Intrepid Zine

For anybody who found a previous blog post of mine interesting about the Intrepid Camera Company, I thought I’d let you know that they announced yesterday that they now have a limited re-run of issue 1 of their photo zine for sale.

The zine features over 60 pages of exclusively large format photography taken by people all over the world on Intrepid 8×10 and 4×5 cameras.

I unfortunately missed out on purchasing one of the original zine’s before they sold out. When I visited Intrepid a couple of months back and said how I was disappointed that I had missed out on purchasing the first issue, they said to me that they were considering doing a re-run of this issue so I’m very happy they now have.

I feel this zine will give people interested in the world of large format photography and intrepid cameras, a better idea of the photos that can be produced.

I know I’m really excited about receiving this zine and I’m sure it will give me some inspiration when I have my own intrepid camera to start using.

Intrepid Camera have been great in updating me via email every few weeks to let me know how my 4×5 camera is coming along in the production stage and it’s currently into it’s fifth week of production so it won’t be long now before I receive mine which is quite exciting!

Here is a link to their shop for purchasing the Intrepid Zine:

https://intrepidcamera.co.uk/products/intrepid-zine-issue-1

***********UPDATE 29/10/19 – 12:50PM**********

So it appears the re-run of Issue 1 has sold out today! Apologies for anybody now reading this blog post who may have been interested in purchasing an issue. I didn’t realise it would sell out again so quickly. It’s clearly a very popular!

Film Inventory

So the past few weeks for me have been a complete write off with regards to taking photos outdoors.

I had a couple of photo walks planned over the two weekends prior to the one just gone, to different places outside of Brighton, but in the end I had to cancel both due to the terrible rain we’ve been having.

On one of the days that I cancelled, I decided to have a productive morning of doing an inventory of my film instead.

I had began to notice quite a stash building up in my fridge of a mixture of 110, 35mm, 120 and various instant film.

It’s all piled on top of each other which makes it hard to see. By doing an inventory, I felt it would help me when planning future photography projects, since I can just check my list rather than raid through the film in my fridge, making it all untidy again!

The aim of this inventory list is that I actually start using the film I have rather than just keep buying more.

There seems to be so many new films coming out lately, that I get really excited and have to buy them there and then but right now, I do not want to continue adding to my fridge stash (unless it’s something I see when out and about and not something I can easily buy online).

A good example of this was on Sunday when I visited the Photographer’s Gallery in London. They have an amazing selection of film for sale and the couple I purchased, I knew I wouldn’t easily be able to buy online so decided to add them to my current film stash.

I recently stopped my 120 subscription to Cool Film Club as I was finding that it was quite expensive and I wasn’t using the films instantly, since I didn’t have a photo project in mind for them.

Whilst some people may be proud of their film stashes, I actually hate to see my film just sitting there in the fridge doing nothing.

I also have a tendancy with some of the films that I think are ‘quite special’ to keep on saving them for that ‘special photo project’ which quite frankly doesn’t always happen so it continues to sit there.

My aim is to now try and use up as much of my current stash as possible before I purchase anymore (no more photo shops with unusual film visits for me for a while!).

In some ways I know I will struggle with this, since I want to use everyday black and white film (i.e. Ilford) if I’m taking photos locally where I regularly visit.

This is why I’m trying to currently plan more places to visit outside of Brighton that appeal to me for taking photos which will give me the opportunity to actually use the ‘special films’.

However, once I do finally start to get through my film stash, I’ll be able to then treat myself to more film.

I think it’s the colour film I will struggle to use more as I really do like shooting in black and white and I also like the fact that I then have the option to make these photos into prints in the darkroom, if I’m happy with them rather just scan or digitally print like I currently have to do with colour film.

To be honest, I thought I had used up quite a lot of my film stash during my trips to Turkey and Le Havre back in June but it’s surprising what a fridge can hide since doing an inventory!

Does anybody else do an inventory of their film? If so, have they found it helpful in trying to reduce their current stash?

I would love to hear what you all think about doing an inventory of your film and if like me, you have stashes of film too or whether you tend to just buy film as and when you know you are going to use it.

In Le Havre with my Olympus Trip 35

Back in June I visited Le Havre for a holiday where my husband and I travelled across on our boat from Brighton. The journey took us approximately 4 and a half hours which was fairly quick and the sea was lovely and calm during our travel.

Whilst walking around Le Havre, I decided the Olympus Trip would be a perfect, compact film camera to take around with me.

I also decided to try out the Hillvale Holiday 35mm film which has an ISO of 200 and came all the way from Australia:

I had received this film in the Emulsive Secret Santa that I took part in last December and I had been waiting to use it whilst away on holiday somewhere sunny this year.

I initially took some photos around the harbour where we were staying:

We had travelled here for a music festival which happened at the weekend although we decided to spend a whole week in Le Havre.

One of our friends wanted to come to the music festival too but due to work commitments, could only make the weekend part so she travelled over from Brighton on a ferry then stayed on our boat with us for a few days whilst the festival was on. Here is a photo I took of her enjoying the sunshine:

I didn’t take many photos of the architecture since most of the original buildings were unfortunately destroyed during the bombings in early September 1944. This meant Le Havre had a lot of buildings re-built in the 1950s/60s so the whole place had a post modern feel.

I also had time to visit one of the beautiful gardens in Le Havre where I took some photos:

Using this type of film camera for a holiday, really brought back memories of the feel of my holiday photos that were taken back in the 80s/90s.