Shooting with film at night has never been this much fun.
Seattle and Port Townsend
10 sec at f/5.6, CineStill 400D
10 sec at f/5.6, CineStill 400D
30 sec at f/16, CineStill 400D
10 sec at f/5.6, CineStill 400D
Last night I was looking for a place with classic cars and neon signs to photograph in the CineStill 800T film stock, and came across Museum of Vancouver that has a classic car and a handful of neon signs. I wanted to spend only a few minutes here today but we ended up spending several hours going through the exhibits and educating ourselves with the rich history of this beautiful city on the west coast of Canada.
1/30 sec at f/4.8, ISO 400
1/20 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400
1/10 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400
1/125 sec at f/4.8, ISO 400
1/90 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400
I look forward to developing the film roll I shot today!
Nikon FM2 | Lomography Color Negative ISO 400
1/500 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/2.8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/60 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/4
1/60 sec at f/4
1/125 sec at f/4
1/125 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/500 sec at f/8
1/500 sec at f/8
1/500 sec at f/8
1/500 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/8
1/500 sec at f/8
1/125 sec at f/4
1/500 sec at f/8
1/500 sec at f/8
1/250 sec at f/4
1/125 sec at f/4
1/250 sec at f/1.8
1/1000 sec at f/1.8
I have been shooting 120 film for a while but did not have a 135 film camera until now. Well, I started photography with a K1000 but that was long time ago - a period I would like to erase if I can.
To fill the 135 format gap I bought a Canon AE-1 Program and shot two rolls (few photographs here) with it. It’s a really nice camera that featured a “point and shoot” mode as well. Then I found a Nikon FM2N in excellent condition - I had to get it. Paired with a 50mm f/1.8 AIS pancake lens and a roll of Kodak Portra 400, drove to Washington Park in Anacortes to test it out.
I waited very patiently for them to take to their wings, as I stared through the viewfinder of my (new) Nikon FM2. The wait was probably a minute but it felt longer.
They finally flew off…
CineStill 800T | Kowa Six
I took these photographs on the same day as my previous blog post with images taken with the Hasselblad X2D but took a while to send the roll to the lab. Got the negatives back today and scanned with V600.
Very happy with the deep contrast - this was the first time I used Kentmere 400 film stock.
Shot with Fuji GS645W
Yoshino cherry trees (December, 2022)
Kowa Six | Ilford HP5
I wanted to shoot neon signs on CineStill 800 but couldn’t really find much around Seattle. The desire faded over time, mostly because of the length of time I researched and then abandoned the project. While looking up interesting places around Seattle, noticed the south side of the city - potentially dangerous to wander late at night, present an array of very interesting old-city looks and “some” neon in it.
There was only one way to confirm or deny this…
I arranged for a scouting trip one of the December weekends and was thrilled to find amazing old buildings and history (I wasn’t aware until then UPS started here in Seattle). The area looked a lot less sketchy than it did ten years ago but, I was still hesitant to venture into the darkness, unarmed. But I knew I had to return at night - these scenes were too good to pass.
I teamed up with two friends (Kiran & Ashok) who were interested in shooting this part of town at night, and we drove over last Sunday evening. The weather was very cooperative: rain clouds were blown east and away from the city around 8 PM and we could even see a few stars along with the Big Dipper in the sky.
It was uncanny how calm, quiet the city was, considering it was a weekend night. Besides few “interesting” human beings (for lack of better definition) on the streets, the restaurants had diners but, from outside under a clear night sky there were not many sounds nor voices.
Once I acclimated to the surrounding I walked into a back alley to shoot the wet bricks catching the lights from the street on the other side.
There is nothing in this wide world that would ever make me comfortable photographing in the city at night. But I guess sometimes it is worth testing the limits, and these rare adventures always yield good photographs.
I’m happy.
Shot on Kodak Ektar 100 with Kowa Six
Shot on Fujifilm 400H Professional
1/30 sec at f/6.8, ISO 100
An unusually bright sunny day in the first Saturday of December, 2022 - I could have driven to the mountains away from the city. But instead took a short trip to the city.
Fall colors were abundant event this time of the year in spite of multiple winter storms that have passed through this region. But more interesting than the fall colors was the Prussian Blue abundant on the walls and structures in this beautiful town in the Peninsula.
1/180 sec at f/4, ISO 400
It was the last day of sun in a span of a week that was ending with overcast weather and then rain in the following days. This crisp fall weather in the Pacific Northwest has always been my favorite time of the year to go shooting in the mountains for reasons including early golden hour and the wilderness generally lacking people.
Photographing the ground from airplanes, helicopters and even unmanned aircrafts over the past 15+ years has been not quite satisfactory for reasons such as (but not limited to) resolution, image quality (filming through perspex or glass windows) and image stabilization. Switching to a larger sensor addressed problems around resolution however, there were miles to go before it could be deemed satisfactory. Enter into the area the new Hasselblad X2D with a gargantuan 100 MP sensor and 7 stop IBIS: A camera worthy of arial photoshoot with the issues I mentioned in the first two sentences of this paragraph. There are two main benefits of shooting with this camera: Fist the obvious advantage of 7-stops IBIS that is key to appropriately eliminating vibrations while shooting from inside a small aircraft, and second but not least is the vast 100 megapixel canvas to crop the desired composition, and remove things such as the aircraft wings or sun glare on the perspex window from the shot.
Tall peaks of the North Cascades
It doesn’t feel good not comfortable to be in front of the camera hence why I am a photographer.
Photograph by Emily:
