On Brighton Beach.... with a Pentax Spotmatic F
It's been a very busy couple of months with some exciting work opportunities that have taken me far and wide, and since I always carry a film camera with me today's blog is dedicated to my recent visit to Brighton Beach.... (insert quotes about Mods, Vespa's, Zoot suits, 'faces' and 'bellboys')
An English summer holiday - the beach setting really lends itself to these minimalist compositions, I love that this photo looks like it could've been taken at any point in the last 100 years, just two people in deck chairs looking at the sea.... in reality they're probably both staring at their smartphones....
The Pentax Spotmatic F with a few of the other rolls I ran through this amazing machine recently, my new fav camera to shoot with, I mean it!
I've recently acquired a new film camera which I like very much - I like it so much that it will get it's own blog post praising it's virtues....suffice to say for now that it's a Pentax Spotmatic F and as usual it is now my favourite camera - I managed to burn my way through 7 rolls of film in about a week with this thing so it's fair to say that i REALLY like using it.... it also means that the focus of the next few blog posts will no doubt be the results of all this film photography tomfoolery......obviously I was then left with a ton of films to develop and since I have very little time to do it I decided to send the films to the lovely folks at Nick and Trick Photo (thanks guys)! who are my go to people for film purchases and now also film development too! Go and check them out!
6 shades of grey....I love how black and white film accentuates these tones....
I took two rolls of film with me on this visit, a roll of Ilford FP4 and a roll of Fomapan 200, both films which I've used before and both films that I particulalry enjoy shooting - the day was really warm but actually a bit overcast and therefore well suited to these films which give a nice balance of grain, speed and contrast, of the two I think I prefer the Fomapan but only just....I think it's got a bit more punch/bite to it... obviously these are completely non technical/subjective characteristics so make of that what you will.... I just like it better.... I took the Pentax 55mm 1.8 lens which came with the camera and is lovely and also an Auto Chinon 35mm 2.8 lens which I already owned and considering it only cost me £10 performed amazingly!! Anyway enough techno-babble! I'll let the images speak for themselves....
the burned out shell of Brighton's West Pier.... it's an evocative structure and whilst it would be great to see it restored to it's former glory, it's current state makes for a compelling photographic subject so maybe just leave it as it is?? Fomapan 200
being based in the rolling hills of Yorkshire the beach and seaside present an entirely different compositional challenge - my eye was drawn to the silhouetted figures and the simple dividing lines between land, sea and air which make for a strong composition (IMHO of course) again with Fomapan 200
love the contrast between the 'black' beach and 'white' waves - in reality both were a mucky brown colour but that's the joy of black and white photography innit - Fomapan 200
Land, Sea and Air
obligatory shot of the remaining Pier - I still prefer the burned out one as a subject
under the board walk...