Can I can’t I?
The picture says no…
The photobox album says “you can if you want”
PaulSeward.com
Photos of Phones and Phonographs (occasionally)
More from the duaflex…
No updates for most of last week, mainly because the weather was too awful to go out and about with the cameras, and the ones with film in don’t work with a flash. Managed to finish a roll off yesterday though, and scan it in tonight.
Seems my fixer is on its last legs though. I decided to scan them at the highest res I can cope with, these negatives aren’t going to last. Time to mix a new batch.
I also scanned in a roll of 35mm I had processed today, but I’m now too tired to tidy them up. I’ll save them for later in the week.
A day spent scanning…
I spent all day yesterday scanning in negatives from the “big box of unsorted assorted photos” – Some of them I’m quite pleased with.
Hit the images for links to the albums that they’re in for more of yesterdays scans.
Holga plus 35mm
I’ve been experimenting with my Holga, putting 35mm film in to see if it’s worth bothering. Judging by the results, I don’t think it is. Out of the roll I shot, I think this is the best shot…
…and I’m not particularly happy with it.
The 35mm film is much narrower than the 6×6 mask I normally have in my holga, and this means that it’s harder to gauge how the image is going to be framed. This gets tricky if you’re used to shooting full frame with the Holga, and explains why the postbox is squashed up against the right of the frame.
Other problems include not knowing how much film you’ve got left (as you lose the frame counter if you’re using 35mm) and having to unload in the darkroom.
All in all, I think I’ll stick to 120 rollfilm!
Pauls Photographic Phillosophy
As this is going to be primarily a photography blog, I thought I should jot down a thought or two about how I see photography – and lay down some ground rules for the site to give me something to aim for (and something to break!)
- Taking photos, not making pictures
I’m far more interested in getting it right in the camera than I am fiddling with things in photoshop. This pretty much means “if I can’t do it in the darkroom, I won’t be doing it in photoshop”I’m limiting myself to adjusting brightness, contrast, curves and the occasional dodge/burn. If I do any scratch removal, or retouching, I intend to aim only to remove artefacts introduced when scanning in negatives – not to alter the composition of the original shot.
- Cheap is cheerful
I’m on a bit of a budget, so any equipment I use will be cheap. For my purposes that largely means “not digital” and probably means “black and white” as colour processing is getting expensive these days! In some cases, I’m using cameras that cost me less than a tenner (including shipping) - Shoot lots, shoot often
The only way I’m going to improve my eye is through practice. Whilst some of my friends are shooting “a photo a day” – I’m not digital so don’t quite have the luxury of being able to work that fast. I will however be aiming to shoot at least a “roll a week”. - Composition over technical brilliance
Generally speaking, I’d rather capture mood than sharp detail. Some of my cameras are far from perfect, but still give wonderful results if you treat them carefully. Whilst I’m not aiming for perfect focus, I am aiming for good composition and a result that I’m happy with.I’m my own worst critic though so probably won’t be pleased with anything I post!
- I take the photo, not the camera
Any failures in my photography are my fault, not because of the limitations of my equipment.Likewise, just because a photo was taken with a Holga doesn’t automatically make it wonderful. Photography is about more than that.
I hope that explains a little bit about where I’m coming from, I’ll get things rolling later and scan in some of the stuff I shot this week.