The Kosmonauts Hampstead Hike with my Leica M6 TTL and Leica Sofort

Back in November last year, I attended the Kosmonauts Photowalk in Hampstead which was organised by @londoncameraproject

At that time, I had recently purchased the Leica M6 TTL so was looking forward to taking it out on it’s first photowalk.

I also knew that I wanted to take some instant photos on this photowalk so also took my Leica Sofort camera since it’s a nice compact instant camera that doesn’t take up a lot of room in my bag.

I was looking forward to visiting Hampstead since I had never been there before.

It was very easy for me to get to by train from Brighton and I met everyone at the station in Hampstead.

The @londoncameraproject photowalks have become very popular with film photographers and this was no exception. A nice group of people turned up so it was great to meet new people who also had a love of film camera’s.

Considering it was November, the weather was fairly nice and Hampstead does have some really pretty streets with some nice shops. We initially started our photowalk around those where I took some photos using my Leica M6 TTL, the Leica 50mm Summicron lens and Kodak Portra 400 colour film:

I was really drawn to this OXO tin I found inside a vintage market we visited in Hampstead so took a photo of it:

There was a lovely Florist next door to the vintage market so I took a picture of some of the nice flowers for sale:

Next we went for a walk around some of the local streets and I took a couple of photos:

During the photowalk, we also visited a pub. It turns out that the pubs are extremely busy in Hampstead on a Saturday afternoon and we were a fairly large group, so we had to kind of spread ourselves out where we could in the pub we decided to stop at.

Whilst at the pub, I took some photos on my Leica Sofort of some of the group. I gave most of them away but managed to keep a couple. I also took one outside whilst walking around the streets in Hampstead:

After the pub stop, we headed to the woods but since it was November, the daylight started to fade in the late afternoon and I didn’t manage to get any shots using my Leica M6 TTL camera. I tried to take some using my Leica Sofort but they unfortunately came out took dark, even with the flash.

After the woodland walk, I had a knitting shop in London that I needed to visit for my Knitwear Designer job before it closed plus I still had the journey of heading back to Brighton ahead of me so I said farewell to the others whilst they headed off to another pub for some further drinks.

I’m so pleased I got to visit Hampstead as it really was a pretty place and I would definitely go back there another time to perhaps visit some of the beautiful shops that the town has.

‘Kosmonauts hit Wapping’ Photo Walk

Back in August I attended a photo walk in London organised by the London Camera Project and Kosmo Foto.

The plan for the day was to meet at CitizenM Tower of London Hotel where we would walk around the Tower of London area, then through Wapping, onto the Tower Bridge and Southwark.

What was also exciting about this photowalk was that everyone attending would receive a 35mm roll of Kosmo Foto film. There were also prizes and rewards arranged throughout the walk.

On this particular occasion, I didn’t have anybody to look after my dog, but I desperately wanted to attend this photo walk and thankfully the organisers were happy for me to bring her along.

My dog Daisy and I travelled up to London via the train from Brighton and I’m grateful that I have a pet who is very good at travelling and we have been to London together before on the train so I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. I’m also able to take her on the Underground which is great.

This is Daisy getting settled on the train on our journey up to london (photo taken on my iPhone):

When we arrived at the CitizenM Hotel a little earlier than the official meeting time, it was quite obvious to see who was there for the photo walk because they had camera’s with them. Since I had Daisy with me, I was unable to enter the Hotel, where a lot of people were waiting. However, this was an advantage too because I was able to chat and guide the people who were there for the walk who wasn’t sure where the group was.

Here is a lovely photo of Daisy taken outside the CitizenM Hotel by @lomo_keiko using her Lomo LCA Camera and Lomography 100 film:

© @lomo_keiko

Daisy is with me most of the time so I’ve developed a skill in taking photos whilst also holding her lead. This meant that she really wasn’t a problem on the walk.

Thankfully, she proved quite popular with the other photographers attending the walk and I think a few photos were taken by them of her.

I decided for this particular photo walk to take my Olympus Pen FT camera with me. Whilst I was tempted to take my Hasselblad 500 C/M, I knew the Olympus would be the most manageable camera to take photos whilst handling a dog at the same time.

Although we were handed a roll of the Kosmo Foto film, I still had a Cinestill B&W film in this camera from some other event where I took photos and didn’t manage to use up the whole of the film (since it’s 72 frames!) so thought it would be best to use it up on this walk. I also knew I wanted to take black and white photos.

Here are some of the photos from the walk:

Here is a photo of Daisy and I taken by @lomo_keiko using my Olympus Pen FT:

This photo was also taken by @lomo_keiko using her Lomo LCA camera and Kosmo Foto film:

© @lomo_keiko

As you may be able to tell, Daisy was quite keen to jump into that river and have a swim!

Lastly, here is a photo of Daisy taken by @ermess_ using his Leica M6 and Kosmo Foto film:

© @ermess_

Whilst on the photo walk, we stopped at a couple of pubs along the way and the final one we ended up at was a really nice bar called Hawkes Cidery & Taproom, where further film photography prizes were handed out. They also serve some lovely Pizza’s which I really enjoyed after all that walking!

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun on this photo walk and it was really nice to meet some new people, as well as catch up with some friends I’d made from previous photo walks.

Whilst I wouldn’t normally take Daisy with me on a photo walk, on this particular occasion, because everyone was very accepting of her, it was really nice to have her out with me and I know she loves to visit new places.