Hello there!

Hey lovely people! Once again I have abandoned my little space on the internet for much longer than I intended - however I am back and I am enthusiastic. This last couple of months have been a bit of a revelation for me in that I finally accepted that film photography wasn’t a hobby that I could sustain anymore.

Let me tell you, I have been resisting that final conclusion for a looong time.

I tried getting a new to me LC-A, I tried taking my Superheadz camera around with me, I tried a Kodak half frame camera… But despite having smaller, lighter film cameras, I just didn’t love the results as much as I love the photos from my film SLR cameras. So although I was using film cameras, it just wasn’t the film photography I loved anymore. And once I accepted that, everything changed. Because the one thing I did know, was that I still very much wanted to take photos of lovely light and little details.

So… I started to look at other photography options. I didn’t love the results from my mobile phone straight out of the box (other than photos of my cats obviously) and I didn’t want to have to spend ages editing photos once I had taken them. Eventually we settled on FujFilm cameras purely for their film recipe simulations and of the range of FujiFilm cameras, the X-T30ii is the smallest and lightest option - and well, that was that. I have a new camera and three months in I love it. Its easy to carry around, its light and user friendly, and most importantly, I love the photos I’ve taken with it so far.

I’m still hoping to pick up my film cameras when I have the energy and I still have many film photos I havent shared here too, so this isn’t going to be a fully digital photography blog - just more of a hybrid one. And if it means I’m taking photos again, I'm happy with that.

Camera: FujiFilm X-T30ii
Film recipe: FujiFilm Provia Standard

The last Harewood House photos

So amazingly I think that I have shared this entire roll of photos from Harewood House here now (we won’t mention how long that took me haha) and I’m really quite delighted about that, as I think its only the 2nd time ever that this has happened. I can’t decide if this is because I have 1) improved my ratio of good photos per roll or 2) I have lowered my expectations of what a good photo actually is (ha!) - ultimately though I decided on 3) it doesnt really matter.

Camera: Canon EOS 750
Film: Kodak TMax P3200
Location: Harewood House, Leeds

More Harewood House Details

I remember when I developed these photos I was completely thrilled with the results - and then I sat on them for a while and they lost their lustre. Well maybe it was me who lost my lustre - I can imagine most people are feeling like that at the moment. However after a little break away from them I’m back to being quite happy with them - hurrah!

I really miss going places and taking photos. I’ve seen some amazing people taking stunning photos during lockdown but between lockdown, learning how to balance my chronic illness and my job - photo taking for me has gone out of the window - along with leaving the house on a daily basis haha. I’ve gone through dry patches before, so I’m not worried about it as such - I just miss it. Its all very strange at the moment isn’t it. How are you doing?

Camera: Canon EOS 750
Film: Kodak TMax P3200
Location: Harewood House, Leeds

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles

These photos are from the first rolls of films that I developed myself last year - and as such, they are full of all the beginner mistakes that you make when starting something new. These particular photos have ‘bubbles’ on them, left behind by the chemicals as the film dried after developing. I didn’t realise at the time that there was an optional stage of ‘wetting agent’ that would have stopped this which is frustrating, but here we are.

Funnily enough, I’ve now run out of all the other chemicals I had, and now I have a big bottle of wetting agent just sat in a cupboard haha. We live, we experiment and we learn right!

I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to develop my own films again - on one hand, it was a really tactile, methodical process that I enjoyed doing - and the feeling of seeing the photos that you took straight from the tank was pretty awesome (I must also add that the feeling of a blank roll from the tank is also incredibly gut wrenching - high highs and low lows this film business) . On the other hand, I now have my ME/CFS diagnosis and on top of working full time and all my other hobbies (crochet, knitting, reading and cuddling my cats) developing my own film just seems like something thats easier and less effort to outsource now. (Chronic illness, the gift that keeps giving). I guess I wouldn’t say I would never do it again, just not in a hurry.

If you want an accurate reflection of how this film looks when done right, this is not the post (haha) however I will refer you to this review on Emulsive.

Camera: Canon EOS 750
Film: Kodak TMax P3200
Location: Harewood House, Leeds