Studio Portraits with the Speed Graphic and Lomography Lomograflock

Tradition demands that I start this blog with an apology for my tardiness of late!! In my defence I have been busily building a business and all my energies have been focussed on that - and over recent months I’ve not had much time to shoot - but when I glanced at the blog page the other day I was mortified to see that the last published blog was in FEBRUARY!! I have definitely got some cool stuff to share with you since then so to make amends here’s the first in what I hope will be a little flurry of new activity!

Down to business then!

I bought the Speed Graphic camera as my first foray into 4X5 large format photography and ostensibly my motivation was to give me a platform that I can shoot the legendary Kodak Aero Ektar lens with - I’ve already blogged about that a million years ago HERE and HERE.

I flipping love shooting with this camera, it’s wonderful! I did have encounter an issue with my speed graphic with the shutter speeds being a bit erratic but since the camera is from about 1948 I think it’s fair enough!

I had the camera service by a George Walsh in Liverpool who I HIGHLY recommend and its back in fully working order! The Speed Graphic and Aero Ektar are a good match because of that built in shutter - it means you can effectively stick any bit of glass that covers the film size on the front and shoot away! It does however mean that it’s not so good for studio work and that my friends is my very very long winded (and suspiciously self justifying) reason for buying another lens for my 4x5 camera - the Schneider 210mm f5.6 - it has a built in leaf shutter which means I can hook it up to some studio strobes!!

With the flick of a switch on the speed graphic I can disengage the built in focal plane shutter on the camera body and use the leaf shutter in the lens - lovely!! I got the lens for an absolute bargain price because the slower shutter speeds don’t work but I wasn’t bothered about that cos in the studio I’m really only going to be using the faster speed (everyone keeping track of all this? There’s a quiz at the end ya know)!

Any road, let’s talk about the shoot!

I wanted to use the Lomograflock back and shoot some instax film to see how it performed under studio conditions (I also shot some 4X5 sheet film but had a bit of a ‘mare with that).

My friend Becca was kind of enough to join me in the studio and help me test everything out and as you can see from the images - we got some really flipping cool shots!! I LOOOOOOVE shooting instant film, I mean REALLY love it! I bought the lomograflok out of curiosity but honestly it’s a really great way to shoot the speed graphic and you get that instant kick when you see the image appear!

Working with film in a studio situation is…. challenging, but in a fun way! I use my handheld meter initial to give me a ball park reading, now Instax film is 800 speed but in natural light I’ve tended to shoot it at 640, in the studio I was between 400 and 640 for most of these shots, the lens was wide open at 5.6 (which is actually quite fast for large format) and the shutter was generally at 1/400 which is as fast as it’ll go!

Right enough technobabble - I am embracing these new fangled ‘moving’ images so that I can show what went on during the shoot as well as the resulting images!!

I’ve mentioned previously the process of using the lomograflok back which has a few steps involved and when shooting portraits it’s vital that you communicate the need for your subject to hold as still as possible while you attach the film holders etc fortunately Becca was amazing at this and we got lots of nicely sharp shots!

I did manage to get one good 4X5 frame out of the shoot as well, but I did lose a sheet as well because I hadn’t quote loaded it properly and couldn't get the dark slide back in! oh well! thems the breaks as they say - I’ll share the large format shot in a future post! B

Huge thanks to Becca for being such a great model and creative collaborator and thanks to anyone who has read this far - well done!

Helios Dreams - Shooting Portraits with the Helios 40-2N

There really aren’t that many lenses left on my “flipping heck I really really really want to own that” list - I am fortunate to have owned / sold on some pretty amazing glass in my time! That being said there is one that I have finally managed to tick off the list - the Helios 40-2! I’ve had one in my sights for a few years now - just casually waiting for the opportunity to bag it at a price that made sense - and that time has arrived my friends! Behold the Helios 40-2N 85mm 1.5!

You will probably have heard about the Helios 44 series of lenses, they are small, cheap and plentiful - easy to obtain and every photographer should own (at least) one! I’ve written about these sovet era lenses previously HERE and HERE But the Helios 40-2? This is a different beast all together! It’s big, heavy, relatively rare and unless you get very lucky they can be quite expensive too.

The eagle eyed among you will note that it is mounted on to my Nikon F2 - that’s right, this ‘N’ in the name Helios 40-2N stands for Nikon - although strangely enough it won’t quite make infinity focus…. I haven’t seen any othe reviews mention this but it definitely doesn’t focus to infinity, nearly but not quite. The good news is that this first and foremost a portrait lens and in that role it’s not often you’ll want infinity focus, but even still. Anyway with that minor gripe out of the way let’s dive into some lens geekery shall we?

I could quite easily write a whole blog post about the history of post world war two lens design and manufacture in the USSR and fellow eastern bloc/satellite country the DDR (but I won’t)!

Suffice it to say that this lens is based on a 1930’s German Carl Zeiss design and then WWII happened and long story short it didn’t end well for Germany in lots of ways, one of which was having large swathes of their industrial and technological knowledge taken as reparations - optics and lens design being one these technologies. And so not long after that the Soviets started churning out lenses that were strangely similar to those 1930’s German designs…. any who…enough with the history lesson because while there is certainly a long heritage to this lens’ design, my version is actually my most modern lens (by quite some margin) using the serial number to date it this Zenit Helios 40-2N was built in 2016! Yep that’s right - they still make them in Russia to this very day! This late version has a redesigned housing (and IMHO a more user friendly lay out) than the older versions - its also cheaper to buy than the classic versions.

Some folks like to shoot the older style perhaps because this has an aesthetic appeal or it complements their other camera gear, but me I’m a shooter first and foremost and I love this more modern looking lens, not just that but the handling is very good, the focus ring is smooth as silk - some of those older versions are more than 50 years old so it’s a bit of pot luck whether you’ll have a nice smooth focussing action after all that time!

The Helios 40-2 is well known for creating wonderfully swirly bokeh and heck yeah - it certainly does do that well, but it’s more than a one trick pony, I think there are several stand out features which make this lens a must for your camera bag.

I took it for a spin on a portrait shoot with the lovely Danni and the Nikon F2 - I shot two rolls of 35mm film that these first images are from a roll of expired Konica Pro 160 which I have to say I like VERY much, it being expired at least 10 years ago I gave it an extra bit of light and rated it as 100. In an unusual move for me I tried my best to shoot all of these wide open at 1.5 or very occasionally stopped down to f2 - reasons for this are that those wider apertures play to the dreamy charachteristics of this lens and I wanted to make the most of them.

The image above was the very last frame on the roll and it’s probably my favourite of the whole shoot! Shooting wide open - especially with a manual focus camera like the F2 presents a challenge and even though the depth of field isn’t quite even across both of Danni’s eyes - I actually don’t care! I am coming more and more to the idea that critical sharpness is not that important when it comes to overall image quality, and yet some folks obsess over it! I’m much more into the overall look and feel of an image, what kind of textures are at play - you can see that the Helios 40-2 is capable of critical sharpness but as with many great portrait lenses it isn’t so sharp as to be unflattering. Things dissolve into a lovely dreamy mush out towards the edge of the frame - again this is perfect for framing your subject in the centre and giving them a little more POP!

The trees lined up in the distance caught my eye for this composition and I really love how this shot came out - the out of focus areas have a painterly feel, plants in the bottom right corner doing that melty/dreamy thing again and there’s a bit of refined swirl going on in the background. I’ve read that you need to have the correct distance between you, your subject and the background to really make the swirls appear - I’ll definitely be trying it out again next time!

Again more melty/dreamy bokeh and a hint of the swirly stuff in the background - there’s some motion blur and a bit of glow around Danni framed in the centre which is another nice effect of this lens, some people might say that these features of the lens are weaknesses but to me this is all part of the point. The Helios 40-2 is like an art lens - sure when you photograph test charts wide open it’s not the best performer but where’s the fun in that? I love how the lens resolves light!

Now let’s take a look at some of my faves from the 2nd roll, this was Kodak Gold 200 - technically expired but it’s been on ice since fresh - I shot these at 100 too as I find Kodak Gold really does respond well to a bit of over exposure.

Dreamy dreamy dreamy dreamy…. love it!! I would have loved to have nailed critical focus on Danni’s eyes for the shot above but that’s the joy of film over digital innit! No instant replay - you just gotta do your best to nail it right there and then! I still really like this shot - you can get pretty close up with the Helios!

These two shots are among my faves too - I love the tones and the grain, that melty/dreamy background is doing it’s thing again and on these two occasions I even managed good focus on Danni’s eyes - whatever next?!

I like the overall look and feel of the shot below although I’d have liked (and was aiming for) good focus but it wasn’t to be….I’m including it here to demonstrate a couple of things, first: look at those bokeh balls of light in the background! Yum! Secondly: This was shooting pretty much directly into the light - the lens handled it with aplomb! Another reason in my view to go for the more modern lens as it has modern coating

Is this lens technically perfect? No. Is it the sharper than a really sharp thing? No. Do I love it anyway? YES! One of the many things I love about shooting film is that so many of your creative decisions are made up front - choice of film, lens and then of course exposure, composition and use of light, you have to commit to that moment and work with what you have at hand. Digital invites you to spend more time after the fact bringing your creative vision to life - and sitting at a the computer moving sliders around in lightroom just isn’t my idea of fun! I’ve said this before many times in these blog posts but it bares repeating as this lens really does illustrate the point - the Helios 40-2 is a creative tool, it can add a dash of dreamy, swirly, melty goodness to your shoot and that my friends is worth the price of entry!

Moonmentum!! the Finale of Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival

It's been an eventful couple of weeks since I photographed the Slaithwaite (Slawit) Moonraking Festival during which time my son Harrison was born !! hence this blog post is a little late getting to press - I've been otherwise engaged!

always wear protection folks....

Its been a real honour to have been the official photographer in support of this years Moonraking Festival - as always my camera has granted me privileged behind the scenes access, created an opportunity to meet loads of amazing people and even a couple of cheeky beers on the house into the bargain! ;)

The weather did it's level best to dampen spirits and as the day wore on I was increasingly concerned about my camera gears ability to survive the potentially rain soaked proceedings - neccesity being the mother of invention I was not to be detered and after some intense planning and research I came up with an inventive solution (a plastic bag and some cellotape) it actually worked quite well but it was kind of annyoying and thankfully I was able to ditch my (now patented) camera protection system after the first hour as the rain eased off.

After a week of activities including a fundraising music and poetry night and of course lantern making workshops the grand Moonraking Finale took place beside Globe Mill in the centre of the village, where the story of ‘Raking the Moon’ was acted out and followed by a huge procession of lanterns and music.

This living legend is a celebration of living in the Colne Valley and has been taking place in Slaithwaite for 30 years. Moonraking stories are centuries old and are connected to many communities around the country that have a waterway – Slaithwaite is one of these and this inspired local group Satellite Arts to create the current contemporary revival.

One of the stories tells how a band of smugglers would hide their illegal bounty brought in by narrow boat under the canal bridge. On the night of a full moon, they took their rakes and went to fish out one of the barrels of rum, but they were caught in the act by the militia. They avoided arrest by claiming to be out ‘Moonraking’, the reflection of the full moon being clearly seen in the water!

So now, on a wet February evening, the village gathers by the canal; music is played and songs are sung and a giant lantern Moon is floated along the canal on a raft. Women with rakes attempt to pull it onto the bank. Comic gnomes with long beards succeed in landing the Moon by using a crane. Once lifted out, the gnomes carry it around the village accompanied by a procession of locals carrying their own candle lit lanterns.

The magical parade climbs the steep Bankgate rise, to Hilltop. The Moon is danced along the streets to the sound of samba drums and jazzy bands. People wave from windows and come out of their houses to cheer as the lantern carnival passes by.

With the main street closed and bands, performers and lanterns everywhere it was all I could do to keep up with proceedings - eventually I just allowed the event to wash over me and hopefully I managed to capture the essence of what was a really fun, inspirational community experience - if you missed it then make sure you come along for the next one in 2019! I'll see you there and I can't wait to bring my son along for the ride too!

Light up your lantern, light up your light

Remember your friends on this cold frosty night

The Moon she has fallen out of the sky

Take her round Slaithwaite and hold her up high

Peace to the village, peace to the town

Peace to all cities all the world round.

It was an amazing experience from start to finish - the panic over the terrible weather and whether this would put people off to the relief that folk turned up in their hundreds despite the rain - the procession, the bands, street performers and of course the villagers and the village itself contributed to make the evening an immersive magical experience and something I will never forget!

life through a lens....

It's no secret that I'm a fan of vintage film cameras (in fact some might say i never shut up about it....) so imagine my delight upon discovering that some boffin in a shed somewhere has invented an ingenius device that allows me to use some of these ancient lenses on my Canon 6D DSLR!

(just in case you are struggling to imagine the extent of my delight, let me tell you that i was pretty blooming delighted)!

Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm 2.8 on the 6D

the ultra high tec device that makes all of this tomfoolery possible....

The adapter itself is basically a metal ring which attaches to the lens on one side and then has a Canon EOS mount on the other to attach to your camera - there are some ridiculously cheap ones (£2) and some ridiculously expensive ones (£30) - i opted for somewhere in the middle - the 'X C Source' branded version which was £8. I'd recommend getting one with the focus confirm chip attached as pictured, as it allows you to programe in the focal length and max. aperture of your lens so that not only can your camera record EXIF data (aperture, ISO, shutter speed) but most importantly it allows you to program inthe correct focal length and max aperture of the lens which helps the Camera to ensure you get accurate focussing - it's a bit of a faff to be honest but once it's done you're good to go.

another with the Auto reflex on the Canon 6D

As for the lenses the ones featured here are M42 mount lenses - M42 being a very popular mount used by loads of different manufacturers back in the 60's and 70's - which means that there are hundreds of different options to try out (and they're relatively cheap too) here's my small collection:

Helios 44M/4 - a Soviet classic with legendary swirly Bokeh abilities! although this one only works on my Canon 5D

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm 2.8 - another Soviet classic, this East German lens was nicknamed the 'eagle eye' becuase of it's sharpness!

Zebra stylee!

Auto Reflex 55mm 1.8 - an 'unbranded' lens that cost next to nothing with a Chinon Camera, the image at the top of this blog was taken with this - not bad eh?!

oi! gimme my lens back!!!

Auto Chinon 35mm 2.8 - my obsession with 70's era mid range Camera manufacturer 'Chinon' continues!

There is something to be said for the additional challenge that shooting with old lenses brings above and beyond the physical and visual characteristics of the vintage glass itself (which can render some lovely dream like images) and of course most of them are dirt cheap! the most expensive M42 lens in my small collection was £20!

Carl Zeiss Tessar on the 6D

In time I'll do a bit of a review of each lens using both Digital and film (as nature intended) but for now I'll finish with a few general pointers on what you can expect when shooting with classic lenses on modern cameras:

Aperture Priority shooting -  you'll have to manually adjust aperture and then set the aperture on the camera to corresponding number as it won't always do this automatically, no biggy!

Viewfinder - because of the way the lens adapter works the narrower you make your aperture the darker your viewfinder will get as it lets less lightthrough - not much of an issue in daylight but in low light situations, focussing and composing can be tricky (which is why focus confirmation is a good thing)

Focussing - you may find it hard to find focus as modern DSLR's do not have focusing screens so the confirmation chip really helps

Manual means Manual.....I realise this is obvious but just in case you hadn't figured it out that these are of course all manual focus lenses - you're fancy auto focus system won't work here!

Helios 44m4 taken with a Chinon CM3 camera.. i think this is on Rollei Retro 80S film...

Helios 44M/4 on a Chinon CM3 body using Rollei Retro 80S film - developed at home in Rodinal