Experimental Photography | Brighton. And The Rising Cost Of Postage.

The camera loaded, the plan set, we were on our way. The journey to Brighton seemed to take less time than the one to Dover but I could be mistaken. We got to Brighton and for some reason decided to park a 15min walk away from the seafront. Parking a distance away from where we wished to be meant that after walking for some time we thought it best to move the car to avoid paying quite a bit for parking. One of things that we did was try to find a post office, this was for another project that I am up to. The details and results of this mystery project I will post about when it’s completed.

You may be wondering why I decided to use a camera that was made in the 1930’s that you can’t even get the film for and the answer for that particular question is simple, and the answer is one I can give for the majority of my actions: Because I hadn’t done so before.

Before I forget to mention it the camera that I took along with me was the Kodak Six-20 Brownie Junior UK model. Information of which can be found on the link below

Kodak Information

The film that this particular camera takes [as the name of the camera suggests] is called 620 film. Which can easily be mistaken for 120 film as they are a similar size. When I first bought this camera I only really glanced at it and assumed that it took 120 film and I had already got home when I tried a film and noticed it didn’t work. This camera was produced from 1934-1938 making it quite possibly my oldest camera. I have a Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex [TLR] that was make in 1936 [I think] which takes 120 film that I have used on this blog before [as always, the link is below]. Now the TLR takes 120 film and even though it is quite old works perfectly and can even be connected up to a modern studio set up, which I will hopefully be doing sometime this week.

General Photography | London Through The TLR
Date Posted: Friday, 10th September 2010

Travel Photography | Pisa, Italy
Date Posted: Monday, 23rd August 2010

Whilst in Brighton I did look around for some cheap electrical tape to plug up the red exposure window but I couldn’t find any so I settled on the stamp which is also how the camera got its name, The Rising Cost Of Postage. Firstly, the reason I wanted cheap electrical tape was so that when it was peeled of it didn’t take any of the camera off with it and secondly I tend to give my cameras stupid names at times. The Holgaroid that I made was in its 4^th rework when I got some OK photos out of it. OK in that they were exposed correctly, it still didn’t focus. And due to the blurriness and the fact I mainly used black and white Fuji peel apart film in it [Fujifilm FP-100B], I named it ‘The Sweeping Shadow Camera Four’ [link below].

Experimental Photography | Self Made Holgaroid
Date Posted: Thursday, 27th August 2009

Now as with anything experimental, photography or otherwise, you cannot expect good results on the first go and I did make some mistakes this first time. I didn’t wind the film on enough so a lot of the images are over exposed and the stamp wasn’t as opaque as I had originally hoped. A couple of days afterwards I went and got the film cross processed and looked at the results. Now as I had said in the video I know it was going to be an issue when it came to scanning and as it turns out, with my scanner it wasn’t actually possible. If you look at the image below you can see the set up I had to make in order to get the photos to my computer. I taped the film to the light and photographed it with the Sigma 18-50mm lens at 50mm and then once I had got it onto my computer I inverted the colours and cropped the image. Even though it was slide film that I had used, getting it cross processed meant that it had become a colour negative.

Now as you can see in the video, the Kodak wasn’t the only camera I had taken, I had also taken the Canon EOS 50 just in case. And below you’ll find a few photographs from the day in Brighton taken on the Canon EOS 50D and a combination of the Canon EF 28mm f1.8 lens and the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens.

And now you can see the images produced with Kodak Six-20 Junior Brownie. In case you didn’t catch it on the video the film I used was Fuji Velvia 35mm ISO 100.

So that’s it for today’s blog post, there are a lot of links to previous posts in this one. But I feel it’s a good way to make sure that old posts and websites with relevant information don’t get left out. I’ve got another post [and corresponding video] all written and finished but I have to wait a couple of weeks to get the prints done. If you feel like getting in contact feel free.

General Photography | Dover

A road trip, suggested several weeks before it actually happened was the main reason that I managed to find myself on the Dover seafront on a cold and overcast Thursday a couple of weeks ago. There isn’t a whole lot to do in Dover so why did I go?

I can think of two very big reasons, the first that I shall mention is actually secondary and should not be considered the main reason at all. This first [yet secondary] reason being there is that I had never actually been to Dover before. Sure, I had once gone through Dover to get onto a ferry to get to France [OK, then I guess that would be twice with the return trip]. But I had not actually had a chance to walk around the town so I didn’t define it as actually having gone there. Otherwise I might as well say that I have been to Slovenia because I flew over it on the way to Pisa. By the way I’ve included a link to that blog post below.

Travel Photography | Pisa
Date Posted: Monday 23^rd Of August 2010

And that brings us to the second, yet primary, reason for my trip the Dover sea front and that was due to my companions on this trip. Matt, Emma and I were all on the same photography course in college and hung out a fair bit but after college we drifted slightly which happens. So this was a nice trip and chance for a catch-up. But as I said in the first paragraph and the video that will be displayed on this blog post [once I have finished with the edit] the weather was less than perfect.

As well as seeing the seafront we also made our way through the town to have a look around and I managed to return to my default of checking charity shops for old cameras as I have always believed that they are a great source of analogue camera equipment. But it’s all luck whether they have something when you get there. We made our way to Dover Castle but it turns out that they had closed half an hour earlier than they should have so we couldn’t actually go in. Not disheartened we carried on to the next place on our list to visit and that was the National Trust centre on the cliffs. From the top of the cliffs you mainly get a nice view of the Port of Dover [although I’m pretty sure in the video I call it something else] and the amount of traffic going through is quite surprising.

We slowly made our way home after this. The weather neither improved nor worsened all day until we were already on the motorway on our journey home. This is when the sun decided to finally break through the clouds to finally make an appearance before disappearing below the horizon. Allowing the Moon to be seen and although I fell asleep for a good part of the journey seeing the moon did remind me that the following night was meant to be the arrival of the ‘Supermoon’. But I will cover that better in the next blog post I am planning to do.

As you may or may not know I prefer taking photographs with people in them. Scenery doesn’t truly interest me. But as this was a new place for me I decided to try my hand at street photography. As I’ve never been the best at it, and I’m looking for a chance to improve upon my skills. To reiterate what was said in the video all the photographs in this post were taken with the Canon EOS 50D using either the Canon EF 28mm f1.8 lens or the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens. I;ve played around with making the photographs monochrome but as I have written this way before selecting the final photos for this post you never can tell what will end up in it. Hope you’ve enjoyed this post. There are links to my Twitter and e-mail address all over the blog. So if you want to get in touch feel free.

Travel Photography | Pisa, Italy.

I have decided to carry on with the travel theme on this photo blog and to make it a regular fixture. I have decided to explore my journey to Pisa in Italy and also show photographs from my trip there. As you may have read in my post about my journey to Oslo I have a rule when it comes to travel and that it to take one camera only. This may sound obvious, but, there are times when I cannot decide which camera would suit best to where I am going [even if I’m just going to London].

For this journey I chose my 120 Rolleiflex TLR camera. I took this camera to have the serial number checked and was told that the camera was made in 1935. This makes the Rolleiflex TLR 75 years old at the time of writing this post. This also makes it the oldest functional camera that I have. As it works perfectly and can even be connected to modern day flash systems, making it suitable for studio photography. TLR is short for Twin Lens Reflex, this means that the camera has two lenses instead of just one. Which is what you would find on an SLR, which is short for Single Lens Reflex. On the TLR though, one lens is dedicated to focusing and the other for taking the shot. And this particular TLR camera takes 120 film. 120 film is larger than the standard 35mm [which is used in the majority of film cameras] and it also allows for square photographs. A format which I prefer if I’m to be honest.

As the Rolleiflex is so old, it does not have an internal exposure metre. The exposure metre basically tells the camera how much light to put onto the film for a good exposure. So without this I had to guess my exposure and use my best judgement to decide what aperture and shutter speed I should use and judging from the results below I did an ok job.

My journey to Pisa was my first trip to a foreign country by myself. IT came about out of a desire to see the Leaning Tower and always being afraid that if I waited too long it may not be there one day. I obviously knew that the structural problems that had been plaguing it had been corrected but you can never really account for those unforeseen factors. And the reason I went alone was because nobody else shared my enthusiasm for seeing the Leaning Tower so I decided to go it alone.

So with the same sort of hastiness as the trip to Oslo, I booked it and was gone pretty much the next day. But this time as I was going alone I thought it a good idea to book accommodation and I stayed in a nice hotel that was listed as being roughly half an hour walk from the Tower and also if memory serves me correctly I flew with Easyjet for this flight.

Oh, and a little sidenote. At the airport I got pulled to one side after my bag got x-rayed and asked questions about my camera. I take it as they hardly ever see a 75 year old camera on the machine. And it got checked for bomb making materials. It was quite strange as I had never been pulled to the side before and as this was my first trip abroad on my own I didn’t want anything to go wrong.

My flight was quite a late one so the first day of my two day trip basically consisted of me finding my hotel and figuring out my route for the next day thanks to the map that the nice lady behind hotel check in gave me. I woke up early the next morning checked out and went for the walk that I had planned out for myself. That would take me from the hotel through some side streets across a bridge and to the Leaning Tower.

The results of that walk are below. I have included 14 photographs in this post. Some are colour but as you will see the majority are in black and white. The last photograph shown on this post is the view from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I deliberated whether or not I wanted to pay to go to the top, but I then realised that I would regret it more if I didn’t. You also may notice that the colour photograph came out all red. This is due to a light leak which must have happened whilst the film was in my bag because all other films that I have used with this camera before and after, have all come out fine. The lady who is in one of the photographs was very helpful in giving me directions as I seemed to wander of course a few times during my walk.

I have to say though; my favourite photograph out of the whole bunch surprisingly is the first photograph. This is of the lamp in my hotel room. I like the way I didn’t roll the film far enough and it has overlapped with another photograph. I tend to be a fan of the fruitful mistakes that can occur in photography.

I hope you enjoy the photographs. Feel free to comment and look around the blog as I have got quite a few post covering different facets of photography. Also if you would like to know any information about the photographs in a particular post, say for instance, the camera used, the location, the film that I used and so on. Please check the tags at the bottom of the posts and that will have the relevant information. If there is anything else you would like to know about my photography or questions in general. Feel free to use the details given on the ‘Contact’ tab. This is situated at the top of the page.

Travel Photography | Oslo, Norway.

Quite some time ago I was found myself extremely bored. I mean extremely. With two midweek days off in front of me and nothing to do. I thought of going up to London but I had been doing that too much and started to find London less than interesting. So for a laugh I started looking at cheap flight websites. And as I just got paid this was all feasible but at the time it was just for a laugh.

Then I saw a really cheap flight to Oslo and almost booked it when a good friend Tommi popped up on MSN and our conversation went something like this.

Me: Heya man, what you up to tomorrow?
Tommi: Nothing, why?
Me: How about the day after?
Tommi: Nothing, why?
Me: Come round I’ve got something to show you!
Tommi: Will I need a day bag?
Me: Just come round!

He finally got to my house at about 10:30 that night and I showed him the flights and he was up for it. So we booked them, well nearly, we had to run to his house at about midnight and get his passport. But eventually we booked it. In order to get there on time we had to get the earliest possible train to London and then on to Gatwick. We get there, got on the plane and we were away.

Now, one of the things about this trip, and I know this sounds geeky, was which camera to take. That’s when I decided on my one camera rule. This basically means that for a holiday I would take one camera and possibly a small compact digital as back up. And for this trip I decided to take my first ever camera. My Olympus Trip 35. I borrowed it from my mum when I was Seven and never gave it back. If you are lucky enough to own one of these cameras you will know how amazing it is.

When we landed in Oslo we came across one problem. We had no idea where to stay for the night. For the few hours that we had to look Oslo up the night before, finding a place didn’t seem to come into it. And because we were only there overnight the men at customs looked at us strange as we left the airport, me with just my signature messenger bag and Tommi with no luggage at all.

But due to luck, overhearing and my ability to talk to anyone as if I’d know them for years we managed to find a group of lads who were talking about a Hostel they were about to visit. So I asked as we could follow them as we had nowhere to stay and they were fine with it.

A little side note, the currency in Norway is the Krone [I think I still have some lying around indoors actually]. Tommi and I didn’t know that and went and ordered a load of Euros. It was lucky the women behind the counter was making idle conversation and asked where we were going otherwise we would have been royally screwed. Anyways…

So we got to the hostel and it was brilliant. The guy behind the counter was a legend. As well as that I would not be lying to you if I said that it was actually better than any hotel I‘ve been too. I loved it there. So after that Tommi and I went around Oslo and I slowly started to admire the place. I really liked it, and I intend on going back there again in the near future for more than an overnight stop off because, and I’m not sure why, it seemed to remind me of London.

Below I have placed 11 photographs. All these photographs were taken with the Olympus Trip 35, a 35mm camera that was produced from 1967 to 1984. I am not sure when my particular model was made but I am assuming mid to late seventies. I apologise for the equality of some of the shots, but, the scans that I received form Jessops were of poor quality and to scan them again would take a lot of work as my scanner is currently underneath a few cameras. Also with this camera you have to guess your focus which I seem to have forgotten to do in one of the shots]. The photos span from the airport to the flight and the trip itself. And all the shots were taken with ISO 200 film. The poor scanning at Jessops did prove interesting though, as you can see in the last shot. If you’ve enjoyed this travel blog then it might be good to note that I am going to do more in the future. The next one is more than likely going to be on my trip to Pisa last year.