More is More: Medium Format and 35mm Portraits on Black and white film: Part 1

There is a school of thought which advocates only shooting one camera and one lens in order to fully focus on your creative process which in the case of portraiture is about connecting with your subject. I have subscribed to this view for a long time - minimise your kit and maximise your attention on being present rather than spending time deciding which lens/camera to use next. Makes good sense and it absolutely works!

But during COVID as the restrictions meant that opportunities to shoot became fewer and farther between ( I also realised just how important to my mental health shooting is) my mindset shifted towards one of ‘this might be the only shoot I have for X months, why not bring some more stuff’.

I’m not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing because this is all down to personal preference - for me (for now) I’m adopting the ‘more is more’ approach. Like any new practice I went overboard at first and brought too much stuff which did kind of get in my way but now I feel I’ve found a balance that works for me.

So let’s get down to business shall we? I’ve decided to split this into a two part series of blog posts about the same shoot (this is all about maximising right)? The shoot in question took place recently with a wonderful model Fae Rose someone I haven’t shot with before but absolutely will be working with again! Thank you Fae!

First up we’ve got some images from the ARAX CM using the stunning Carl Zeiss Jen Sonnar 180mm 2.8 lens.

Yikes this lens is so sharp!! Skin glows and backgrounds melt into a creamy dreamy blur. yum! I reckon this is the best portrait lens EVER made! It’s only downside is it’s size / weight - its a bit of a beast and it’s certainly not one for people who like to go unnoticed… people will think your toting a rocket launcher carrying this thing around! KABOOM!

A few words about the film stock too - I have a few rolls of Fuji Acros 100 on ice which I picked up very cheaply, WOW! I am only really now appreciating this film, its beautiful stuff… I’ll be searching out more and also checking out the new version too!

And now some 35mm shots from the Nikon F3 with the Nikkor 50mm 1.2 loaded with Rollei Retro 80S.

Yikes again!! Loving the results on 35mm film too - I only recently got the 50mm 1.2 and it is a stunner! I’ve shot Rollei Retro 80S before and again it does not disappoint - it has a very crisp, punchy contrasty look which is unique.

I am over the moon with how shots from both cameras came out - it’s given me two quite different look and feel with the different formats, social lengths and film stocks.

Ironically I decided not to swap lenses on either camera on this shoot (but I was glad to have the option to do so)

So what the heck was all that about then? Well, on one level I think it’s purely about 'what the hell is the point in owning all this stuff if you’re not shooting with it’ and on another level it’s about the final vision - offering different creative possibilities.

I am not advocating just taking LOADS of camera gear, throwing the kitchen sink at your concept and seeing what happens, I am however suggesting that if you put some thought into your shoots upfront you can select some kit that will help you realise your vision.

In part 2 of this series I’ll share two more sets of images from two different film stocks on this same shoot!

Going for Gold!! Kodak Gold 200 Review

A quick note before we begin: The majority of the text here was written back in August 2021 but the blog was languishing in the ‘draft’ folder since then and I’ve been so busy with other things that I am only now (December 2021) getting round to completing it!

There is no escaping the fact that film seems to be getting more expensive - price rises across the board from Fuji, Kodak and Ilford. This has prompted a bit of a rethink in terms of my ‘go to’ films. In fact it’s also driven me partially back into the arms of digital (the horror) but more of that another time…

I’ve spent a couple of years shooting almost nothing other than Portra 400 and I love how consistently awesome it is especially when it comes to shooting in low light. But recently I’ve refrained from shooting it in any other conditions - the price rises (and hey - more are on their way) mean Portra has become a specialty film stock for me, one which only gets used when I absolutely require that level of flexibility.

I’m a glass half full kinda guy so I’m viewing this as an opportunity to start looking at alternatives and as it turns out there are some amazing film stocks available at a lower price point which do brilliantly when you have lots of lovely light to play with! During what passed for summer here in the UK I took some of these films out for a spin!

In today’s blog we’ll be looking at Kodak Gold 200 which is a classic ‘consumer’ film that has been around in one form or another for a long time.If you bought 35mm Kodak film from the chemists in the 80’s/90’s there’s a fair chance it was this stuff that you bought! I’ve shot Kodak Gold a few times before - usually for street and travel stuff but I’d never used it on a portrait shoot until HERE. I was really pleased with how it turned out and keen to really get a feel for what it can do.

These photos were taken on a beautifully sun drenched late afternoon in the picturesque town of Saltaire with the wonderful Lauren who as well as channelling some retro 60s/70s vibes with her outfit also brought along her classic mini which she restored herself - when Lauren commits to a look, she goes all in!!

Kit wise as you can see in the inset picture I was using the Nikon F3 for 35mm duties - these shots were either on the 85mm 1.4 or 50mm 1.4 AIS lenses. I’ll share photos from the Pentax 67 in another blog at some point (in the next decade at this rate)!

I think the images can speak for themselves (but rest assured I’ll waffle on a bit about what I think too…)

Yikes!! Contrast: Check. Tones: Check. Grain: Yummy, check! Detail: erm… Check. Not much to complain about here, I shot these at box speed 200 as I wanted to see how it looked and I am very happy!! The grain structure is very much present and personally I LOVE it! If you’re one of those ‘I don’t like grain people’ then get the fuck out of here… no sorry! I’m joking! come back! :)

The classic film look really suits the style and look for this shoot - I feel like we’re shooting the cover of vogue circa 1971 or some marketing materials for British Leyland!! (I think these are good things)!

In this shot above we can see how the film (and the glass) handles backlit/direct sunlight which was just cresting the trees in the background - I really like playing around with positioning the light in my frame to affect contrast and tones, it gives a whole other look and is another part of why I love film - you can make your editing choices in the moment using the natural resources that you have to hand!

A huge thank you to Lauren for an amazing shoot! We couldn't have asked for better weather, a better location or a better film stock to suit this style.

In conclusion then - Kodak Gold 200 is fucking brilliant! If you have lots of golden sunlight then you can’t go wrong! I’m not sure how well it will push or handle under exposure but perhaps that’s a blog for another day!

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!

Film Photography Workshops - Start your Adventure on Film!

I am delighted to announce the launch of my in person film photography workshops! Whether you’re a newcomer to the world of film photography or an experienced shooter looking for a new creative challenge - my film photography workshops are built around your specific requirements.

I can tailor a workshop to suit your requirements, examples of topics covered include:

• The fundamental principles of photography

• Metering and working with light

• Create stunning portraits using natural and artificial light

• Choosing the right film for the right occasion

• Developing and scanning your negatives

• Printing your negatives in the darkroom

Sign up to recieve updates about my in person and online workshops and get access to your free ‘Adventures on Film’ guide to film photography which is packed with my top tips for shooting with film and making every frame count!

Lomography Lomochrome Purple Review

Hello friends!! It’s been a little while since I did an out and out film review but fear not!! Today I shall make amends for this by giving the first of THREE (that’s right THREE) film reviews - gosh aren’t you lucky (don’t answer that)! These were all brand new films to me that I hadn’t used before each with their own unique look, so while they may have been shot on the same shoot they definitely have their own story to tell. First up we’ll begin with some purple otherwordly strangeness in the form of Lomography Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400 (my goodness what a mouthful)!!

I’ve had a couple of rolls on ice for some time and so with Lockdown restrictions easing here in the UK making photoshoots ‘a thing’ again I defrosted one roll and loaded it up into my Nikon L35AF point and shoot which accompanied me on a shoot with the very talented Monika - check her out on IG for more evidence of her awesomeness!!

As you can see Lomochrome Purple does exactly what it says on the tin - Blue becomes green, green becomes purple, yellow becomes pink! It’s an effect that is possibly as near to shooting old school aerochrome colour infrared that us mere mortals will get these days (proper colour IR film is STUPID expensive) what I love about the film is it can introduce an entirely new angle on a shoot - alongside the Lomochrome I shot some ‘normal colour’ film stocks but it was great to have this additional creative film along for the ride.

According to the box this film can be shot anywhere between 100 and 400, but looking around online I think it’s best to stick to the 100 side of things as this will give you the most pronounced purple colour shifts, of course your mileage may vary but this film isn’t cheap and I very definitely erred on the side of caution with my metering!

These were taken on a very bright sunlit day - in fact I had a reflector with me that I didn’t use and I wish that I had for one or two of these a: to balance the hard shadows and b: to give the film some extra light to work with - as you can see this film does not record shadow detail very well and the drop off is quite pronounced, that being said but I do kind of like the effect in the background elements as it gives you quite a punchy, contrasty look but I thinkI’d have liked to have kept some more detail around Monika as my subject!

The grain structure is visible and I quite like it. The film resolves quite a lot of detail especially in the highlights and where it does fall off the grain has a gritty feel - this is most definitely not a smooth film so be prepared to embrace the grain! What I did notice in the film scans and I confirmed this with Exposure Film Lab who developed the film for me was quite a few thin lines across the image possibly from dye running off through the development, it was easy to remove in lightroom but certainly expect to do a bit of post processing removing weird artefacts in Photoshop or Lightroom (I felt like a digital shooter for a minute)! UURGH!

I picked the above image out as it shows a few things worth taking note of:

1: This was probably the most extreme example of the lines that were apparent on more than a few frames

2: My sadness at the big bloody STUPID line spoiling the shot was lessened because clearly the little Nikon L35AF wasn’t feeling the strong backlighting here (even though it has a little lever to compensate for back lighting) clearly there are limits to what you can expect - and in this situation you can expect to see a big increase in grain and lack of contrast

3: Which moves onto point number three - The lomo purple clearly didn’t enjoy this lighting either - you can see the purple shifting to a more muddy, muted, brownish colour, and the grain structure kind of falls apart a bit too and loses contrast - meh!

I tried my best to make the most of the greenery around, at the time of the shoot most of the trees were still bare but there was enough evergreen ivy around for us to work with and Monika did a great job of diving into the spiky Ivy branches! Skin tones were very much on the pinky/red side of things despite Lomographys assertions that this film keeps skin tones looking natural but to be honest my advice is to just embrace the colour shifts and go with it, I really love how these shots came out - Lomochrom Purple is a great way to add an instant creative edge to a shoot and works well when shot alongside some more traditional colour/black and white stocks.

So in conclusion then what can we say about Lomography Lomochrome XR 100-400 (aside from the ridic long name) well my completely subjective and unscientific analysis is: I absolutely love it! (‘What a fucking surprise’ I hear you cry)!! Fair comment - I am yet to meet a film stock that I didn’t fall in love with one way or the other…. although with this one I was especially uncertain with it being such an unusual film to begin with and then first time shooting it.

One of the things that I enjoy about film photography is that many of your creative choices are made up front when it comes to choosing films stocks etc Lomo Purple gives you a really ‘out there’ trippy vibe right off the bat. It’s not a cheap film and based on my experience it really does need good lighting so while I have another roll on ice, I’ll be waiting for the right opporutnity to bring it out. I have to say that it was great shooting the little Nikon L35AF loaded up with this bonkers film - a great little camera that will have a blog of its own one day I promise!!

Would i use Lomo Purple as a stand alone film stock for a portrait shoot? No… I feel it’s more of a creative addition to your colour pallete rather than the main focus or at least that’s how I used it, which brings us nicely to a reminder to watch this space for parts 2 and 3 of this film review trilogy - I’ll be bringin you another Lomo film this time a more traditional stock Lomography colour 100 in medium format! I bet you can’t wait…. but you’ll have to, I haven’t written the damn thing yet…

Holga Portraits

Hello there! How are we all holding up out there? Lockdown 3.0 here in the UK has definitely been a challenge - one of the things I miss most is being able to shoot portraits. Of course we have to stay safe and follow the rules until this pandemic is under control but I’m really looking forward to the day when we can re-connect and get shooting again!!

I am so glad that I managed to get a shoot organised with Danni in between Lockdowns - for this one I wanted to take my Holga out for a spin! I love using the Holga for it’s quirky otherworldly randomness but I’ve never used it for portraiture and I was very excited to try it out.

Given the tendency for the Holga to produce unexpected results (which is one of its major strengths and/or weakness) I wanted to hedge my bets so I brought along a trusty Spotmatic loaded with a roll of Portra 400 and sporting a Helios 44M lens too (I’ll do a seperate write up on those images) because I needn’t have worried! I flipping well love the results!

It is worth saying at this stage hats off to the beautiful Danni - not only is she an amazing model who is wonderful to work with but she is quite happy to trudge through loads of mud on a bitterly cold winters day in a sparkly dress! :)

The Holga has a very primitive focussing system so to help achieve something anywhere near critical focus I used a tape measure and measured out approximately 3ft for shots that were a closest focussing - this is all pretty much guesswork anyway since the viewfinder is not coupled to the lens so the less hung up about critical focus the better, but then that’s the joy of shooting Holga’s right?!

I had a bit of a senior moment after the shoot when I thought that I may have nocked one of the very few controls on the Holga - the buttong which switches between ‘bulb’ and ‘normal’ shooting - so to take account of the potential variations in shutterspeed from standard issue Holga style ‘who knows what’ to literally it could be anything ‘who knows what’ I semi stand developed the film in Kodak HC110 for 1 hour in 1:100 dilution with a little shimmy shake at 30 mins.

Judging by the results it looks like I didn’t actually nock the bulb button but anyway I love the results - the semi stand process gave me some extra punchy images :)

Using the tape measure to get in the ball park with focussing I think is a must at least until you get your eye in and given that you only get 12 shots per roll and it’s a bit of a faff to unload/load the holga on location (mainly cos of all the black electrical tape holding it together) i would err on the side of caution. This shoot definitely made me want to rush out and buy ANOTHER Holga just so I could burn a couple of rolls without the hassle of reloading but myabe that’s just G.A.S talking!

Really love these images they just have a certain ‘something’ don’t they? The Holga is an exercise in limitation and simplicity - unencumbered by dials, menus and controls it’s just you, a roll of film, a plastic lens and your imagination. Perfect!

Rollei Retro 80S - Portait shoot

Sometimes you have a shoot and it ends up exceeding your expectations and becomes the new benchmark from which all other shoots must now be measured.

To continually create images which you are proud of, which showcase your vision in it’s best light - this is what I strive for. But it’s never a given! We cannot take these things for granted and they most certainly do not just ‘happen’ it requires the alignment of many factors!

And what better medium to explore those factors than a blog?! Huzzah! I hear you cry! What’s that you say? You want me to tell you about the background to the shoot, the creative process and to dabble in some film photography technobabble and geekery?? Well if you insist dear reader… if you insist..

I was very fortunate to work with Theresa Terzonie AKA ‘Tree’ on this one- she’s an uber talented Songwriter, Vocalist and Guitarist based in Leeds. Check out her music HERE and find her on facebook HERE. I have to say that Tree was an absolutely amazing person to shoot with - she has great energy and together we were able to create some of what I believe to be my best work yet.

The three images above are my absolute picks from the shoot - in fact I think they work really nicely as a Triptych. It’s given me some ideas for incorporating more of a ‘short story’ element into some future shoots. I love that about stills photography, even when constrained by a single 35mm frame you still have the scope to convey a sense of story - definitely something for a future project.

We really wanted to incorporate some movement into some of these shots - remember I’m shooting a manual everything Nikon F2 so I’m manually focussing and only have enough time to take one shot during these jumping moves - no spray and prey around here thank you very much (some might say I’d have been better off with a rapid fire camera but you know what? I properly enjoyed the challenge and I love the results).

Shot on location in Leeds city centre I wanted to make the most of the bright sunny conditions that day so brought along a roll or Rollei Retro 80S - one of my favourite films which I’ve shot on quite a few occasions but always for travel/architecural stuff never for portraits. I love shooting portraits in an urban environment, by paying attention to your composition you can really incorporate the strong architectural features of your surroudings into your image, also working with someone like Tree helps as she is just great in front of camera, really relaxed, comfortable and creative.

A HUGE thank you to Tree for this shoot - absolutley some of my favourite images and it’s been amazing to get back shooting after the lockdown! For the static images like the one below I shot with the Nikkor 85mm 1.4 which is fast becoming my favourite lens - this combined with the wonderful sharpness, detail and contrast of the film just blows me away, who needs digital?! not me!!

Let’s get the camera geekery out of the way shall we: My set up for this shoot is pictured above I used everything except that roll of pro image 100 in fact! My Nikon F2 is fresh from a service/overhaul (read about that HERE) so I was uber keen to shoot with it. I’ve gotten into the habit of taking two cameras with me (often having one colour and one black and white) on most portrait shoots but just using the one body and swapping lenses worked really well for me so I think I’m going to stick with this format for a little while.

Lenses chosen for this shoot are some of my favourite in my collection the Nikkor 85mm 1.4 AIS, 50mm 1.4 and 24mm 2.8 AI - I was slightly concerned that I’d pull my usual trick of taking a few lenses and then only shooting with one of them but not on this occasion! I actually used each of the lenses equally (maybe the 85 got a bit more use). The observant amongst you will notice a roll of Ektachrome too - my first time shooting slide film, I’m saving the images from that roll for a film review blog coming soon!

From the USSR with Love: Portrait shoot with Soviet lenses on 35mm film

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy the process of preparing for a photo shoot almost as much as the shoot itself! The anticipation of all those endless creative possibilities to come, the excitement tinged with a nervousness that naturally accompanies these thoughts: Will everything work? Am I up to the task? Will it piss it down with rain like it has done all day today....

Film photography invites you to make creative decisions up front (not all of course as development, processing and printing are large factors too) but your choice of film, camera and lens are important considerations. Perhaps more so on film than digital as each film has different characteristics and vintage lenses have their own unique qualities that they bring to the table.

My main 35mm set up is an all Nikon affair but I also have a thing for Soviet lenses, there is just something about them that I am drawn to which allows for some interesting creative possibilities (or maybe it’s because they’re cheap)! While I love Soviet glass I’ve found that Soviet cameras on the other hand can leave a lot to be desired - in my experience they aren’t that reliable and since (annoyingly) M42 lenses won’t easily adapt to Nikon mount cameras I have added a couple of Pentax Spotmatic bodies to my collection which I use for my M42 shenanigans, I’m not going to go into a big review of the Spotmatic F because I’ve already done that HERE suffice it to say that it is a very very fine camera indeed and an absolute joy to shoot with.

So let’s talk lenses then, we’ll start with the Helios 44-2 which you can see at the top left of the image below - it is renowned for it’s ability to do swirly bokeh. But this is no one trick pony and it’s certainly not a novelty or toy lens. It is absolutely sharp (the caveat being that sharpness as a concept is MASSIVELY over stated) it has lovely contrast, tone and detail too and the bokeh is wonderfully smooth as well having some good swirly patterning. The best part? Mine cost me £10! I bought it attached to a broken Zenit camera for £25 - kept the lens and sold the zenit body for £15 :)

There are loads of versions of the Helios 44, I’ve had several later versions all of which had really stiff focussing rings, I tried out this earlier 44-2 version and it’s my fav so far. The build quality is very good, focus is smooth and it has a preset aperture control so you choose which aperture you want using a ring on the front of edge of the lens, you can then adjust the aperture manually so you focus while it’s wide open and then stop it down to shoot (it takes longer to explain than it does to actually do it) this works well for me as I have a Spotmatic F which won’t mount non Pentax lenses with auto aperture pins (note to anyone reading this wanting to use a spotmatic for Soviet glass - if you have a Spotmatic F then stick with preset lenses or if you’re looking to buy just get an older Spotmatic).

The Lens attached to the Spotmatic in the image above is the lovely Jupiter 9, it’s an 85mm f2 lens - this focal length is one of my faves to shoot, especially portraiture. Slightly more rare than the Helios (but that’s only because they made literally a kabillion Helios lenese) the Jupiter 9 is a very very lovely bit of glass indeed - build quality is excellent, focussing is lovely and smooth. I bought mine via evilbay from a seller in Russia for £70. There were several versions of this lens, this is the single coated version dating from the mid 80’s i think - later multicoated ones seem to be at a premium far above any real world advantage you might expect. One of the most impressive things about the Jupiter 9 is it’s size- it’s almost the same size as the Helios!! It looks like a 50mm prime lens which is amazing! It makes for a very compact and portable portrait combination.

A few words about the shoot itself and then I’ll let the images do the rest of the talking: I chose ilford HP5 for this shoot because it was kind of overcast and we were shooting under tree cover so I wanted something flexible enough to handle any situation, I shot it at 800 and I love the results! HP5 absolutely sings when it’s pushed and I think these have a lovely tone and feel to them. A huge thank you to model Danni AKA Pandora Belle - she absolutely nailed it on this shoot, Danni is a very talented model and it was really great to work her on this shoot.

Jupiter 9

Jupiter 9

Jupiter 9

Jupiter 9

Jupiter 9

Helios 44-2

Helios 44-2

Helios 44-2

Helios 44-2

Once again my thanks to Danni for being such an amazing model and also to Exposure Film Lab who develop and scan all my portfolio work - they’re the best!

To say that I am over the moon with the results would be an understatement! First run out with the Helios 44-2 and the Jupiter 9 and I am so happy with how the images came out - in fact I think they make a good pairing, they have similar characteristics. The Helios has a little more swirl in the Bokeh where as the Jupiter 9 is buttery smooth but they both have excellent sharpness, contrast and detail but then you already know that as you’ve just seen the images right?! I’ll certainly be using this set up again in the near future and putting and I’ve really enjoyed shooting black and white portraits for a change, i use colour a lot in my portraiture so I wanted to mix it up a little, for me casual/day to day and personal work I’ve found Ilford HP5 to be such a versatile film, but I’ve never shot portaits with it - I love the results!

Kodak Pro image 100 & Portra 160 review - Portrait shoot out

Now that I have FINALLY settled on some camera kit that I’ll be keeping around for the long term I can focus my energies on exploring different film stocks - not that I wasn’t doing that anyway but I was finding flitting from one camera to the next a bit of a distraction, for the record the cameras which have won my heart are the Nikon F2 and Pentax 67 - today’s blog features a portrait shoot on the F2 shooting with a shiny new portrait lens and using two different film stocks Kodak Pro Image 100 (a new film to me) and Kodak Portra 160 (a film I have used a few times before)

Whilst the main focus of the conversation will be on looking at the two film stocks first up I’ll take a moment to show you the kit I used on this shoot, I’ll then take you through the shoot itself.

I have just bought the very wonderful Nikkor 105mm 2.5 a lens which has a HUGE reputation as an amazing portrait lens, when i bought it the focus ring was quite stiff so I sent it off for repair to a chap called Miles Whitehead who did a great job of fixing it and it now has silky smooth focus action - I would highly recomment Miles if you have some camera kit in need of some TLC check his site out HERE. In fact as I write this I am reminded that Miles also serviced my F2 when I bought it so double thanks!! :)

I was originally going to include a few thoughts on the 105mm lens in todays blog but I loved using it so much that I think I’ll reserve that for a dedicated blog all of it’s own - suffice it to say that it’s reputation is very well earned, an amazing piece of glass!

Ideal for portrait, weddings and social events dontcha know…..

I think most people will be familiar with Kodak Portra 160 which is a mainstay of Kodak’s professional line up, but what’s this Pro Image 100 all about? I’ve been shooting a lot of Portra 400 and 160 recently and whilst I love both film stocks I am always interested in trying new things and the results I’d seen from Pro Image appealed to me - the other great thing about Pro Image is the price! I got this for £25.95 for 5 rolls!

This film stock has only recently come to the UK/European market - despite being around since the mid 90’s, the stock was only sold in warmer climates, big thanks to the good folks at Nik & Trick for being instrumental in making the case to Kodak for getting this film available in Europe :)

Ok so I have a lovely film camera - check, a great portrait lens - check, a shiny new colour film - check, a beautiful location to shoot in….check! What’s next? I need someone to photograph! Fortunately I’m part of a great facebook group for photographers and models to network and arrange shoots - Danni is someone I met through this group and we’ve shot together before when i was testing out my Pentax 645, you can see those images HERE.

Also worth mentioning at this point that i had my films processed and scanned by the good folks at Exposure Film Lab who I must thank again for their brilliant work, I use them for all my colour films these days because I just love the results I get from them - check them out HERE

The vibe for this shoot was a really natural summer look to make the most of the bright sunshine, we had a beautiful location filled with light, flowers, tall grass and trees - let’s GO!

First up i loaded Kodak Pro Image 100…

Ok then at this stage in the proceedings the word at the forefront in my mind is wow! Danni is a very talented Model which makes my job much easier and the Pro Image film is just lovely :) Let’s move on to the Portra 160 which I loaded up next and we’ll do a bit of a comparsion at the end, here’s the Portra shots…

The entire shoot lasted about an hour (if that) we went for a stroll through some lovely scenery and together we created some properly beautiful portraits full of light and life! Danni is a great model she did a brilliant job on this shoot, she puts lots of character into her work and is just a natural in front of camera, this really shines through the images - we’ve worked together before which I think always helps so we’re relaxed and comfortable working together and meant we were able to just get right into it and enjoy the shoot. I’m over the moon with the photos we created together - thank you Danni :) Check out her portfolio HERE.

In summary then both film stocks are clearly capable of wonderfully sharp, textured images with great skin tones, colour balance, contrast and detail - I therefore love them both! They each have their own look so whilst they’re comparable I think there are some differences to take into consideration. This was never intended as a ‘one film versus the other’ contest in which we have a winner and a loser but rather an opportunity to look at how these two film stocks worked under the same conditions - to that end I simply invite you to make your own mind up which you like best - or maybe like me, you like them both?!

Here’s a few of my thoughts on each stock:

Pro Image 100 - it has a wonderful grain structure, punchy contrast and I love how it handles the greens and yellows, shadows perhaps not holding as much detail as portra, it has a classic film ‘look’

Portra 160 - minimal grain as you’d expect from portra, slightly muted colour palette although in these images it produced stronger contrast than I’d expected, Portra definitely holds on to more shadow detail and also perhaps slightly sharper.

What does all this show us then? Well they’re very close actually, much closer than I’d have thought! One aspect which does create an opportunity for comparison is the price with a five pack of Portra 160 retailing at around £35.99 and a five pack of Pro Image around £25.95 then clearly if budget is the deal breaker then Pro Image is your winner, if you absolutely must squeeze every bit of detail out of the shot then perhaps Portra is the one to choose - ultimately we’re all winners here as we in the UK now have access to the lovely Pro Image and I’ve got 4 more rolls sat waiting to go! I can’t wait to shoot it again.

Portraits on film - Night shoot with Cinestill 800T and Lomography 800 Colour

Sharing details of another portrait shoot, this is part of a major ongoing series I’ll be working on as a I rebuild my portfolio - it gives me an opportunity to share some insights on the cameras/films I’m using, the story behind the shoot itself as well as a place to share those photos which might not make it into my main portfolio.

Having made the switch to full time film only and also recently adopting the very wonderful Pentax 67 as my main camera I have been keen as mustard to rebuild my portfolio, to explore the creative possibilities (and challenges) that shooting with film offers and basically have a shed load of fun along the way :) To that end I have been seeking out opportunities to collaborate with some of the very creative souls I am fortunate enough to know - hence this series of blogs! :)

This shoot was for my mate Paul who is a Music Producer under the pseudonym ‘Gamma Prime’ he’s been working on some new material and wanted a set of publicity images to help promote the new work.

The idea was to shoot at night and make use of available artificial lighting to add some creativity to the portraits, this assignment called for some special film stocks - Cinestill 800T and Lomography 800 and I also used a roll of Kodak Portra 400 too. I’ll give you a bit of an overview of these film stocks along the way and some thoughts on their particular qualities in use. I hadn’t used either the Cinestill of Lomo films before so I was excited to try them out - Cinestill is an expensive option and Lomo is more of a budget offering so we’ll see how they stacked up against each other.

First thing to consider when shooting in low light/night time is to take account of sunset! Golden hour light is there for the taking either side of the actual sunset so before I broke out the Cinestill and Lomo films I used a roll of Kodak Portra 400 to snag some of that golden hour light.

Kodak Portra 400

Shooting with the Pentax 67 you only get 10 frames per roll of film so you really have to make each frame count! As the light fell I loaded the roll of Lomography 800 and since we were still in golden hour I used the first few frames here. At this point it’s worth stating that in a stand up contest Portra 400 vs Lomo 800 there’s really not a huge amount in it, they’re both great films although I think Portra has the edge - crisp grain structure as you’d expect from portra and shadows hold up well with lots of detail. That being said the Lomo film is no slouch and it has a very definite character and feel all it’s own.

Lomography 800

We drove into town for the night shots and took a walk through the University Campus to take advantage of the artificial lighting and interesting architectural features. These first couple of frames are still on Lomo 800 and I really like how they came out - a very definite grain charachter which I like very much, shadows don’t hang on to too much detail but in this artificial lighting I think it adds to the effect.

Lomography 800

The images below are all shot on Cinestill 800T - this film stock is repackaged motion picture film, the stuff they use to make Hollywood movies! I was very excited to try it out and it did not dissapoint! the letter ‘T’ in it’s name designates that it’s a Tungsten balanced film so it was designed to be shot under artificial lighting - as you can see the tonality and detail are really great here.

Cinestill 800T

Note my iphone acting as a fill light here! Focussing was getting a little difficult as it got darker so this helped - I’m thinking of getting a little LED light to help in future

Cinestill 800T has been processed to remove the Anti Halation layer which in some conditions gives lighting a strange glow, it also appears quite prone to light leaks as you can see on the left side of the above image - although in this case I kind of like the effect!

This shoot was planned as a portrait shoot for a friend to create some promotional images for his work as a Music Prodcuer - you can check out Paul’s music HERE :)

I hadn’t planned to compare and contrast these film stocks but the differences between the final images and the way I shot them presented the opportunity to reflect on the different charachters of each stock, overall I like all of these films and very happy with how they came out - here’s my thoughts on each in turn:

Portra 400 - what is there to say about this film which hasn’t been said already? It’s a classic for a reason and is one of my firm faves - clean grain, great details and rich colours. I’m tempted to explore how flexible this film stock is maybe pushing it to 800 and beyond in lower light to see how it coped. Portra is my go to film, a quality product capable of wonderful results.

Lomo 800 - this was a bit of a wildcard choice and it’s a very solid performer, espeically when you consider the price for a pack of three rolls of 120 is about £18. I shot it in good light and in low light in both situations it doesn’t hold up shadow detail as well as the other two stocks but this shouldn’t put you off, the grain structure is more prominent than either Kodak or Cinestill but this is also not bad news - it gives the film a look all it’s own which is good.

Cinestill 800T - this film blows me away - I love the colours, contrast and tones but more importantly for these shots it’s how the film handles shadows with details holding up really clearly even in very low light, it’s expensive stuff that’s for sure but it’s definitely worth a shot in the right conditions. It’s proneness to light leaking could be annoying if you have ‘THE’ killer shot and some random leaks could spoil your hard work - on the other hand it could just add something to the image!

It’s worth stating at this point that I was really pleased with how the Pentax 67 worked on this shoot, I was able to achieve useable images down to 1/30 of a second in low light which pleases me very much! The 105mm 2.4 lens continues to impress me with it’s ability to create 3D like images with pristime sharpness and beautiful bokeh too.

I have some more creative portrait shoots lining up over the next few months so I’ll be continuing the portraits shot on film series and looking forward to exploring more wonderful film stocks!

Pentax 67 review

Ever since I first picked up a film camera and got slowly drawn deeper into the wonderful world of film, I’d heard tell of a mythical monstrous machine called the Pentax 67, today dear friends I am happy to report that my long held dream of owning such a mechanical marvel is realised - behold! the behemoth!!

So… another new camera eh? yes dear friends - let me take a moment to explain… I’ve sold all my Digital camera equipment!! I’m officially now full time film only! regular visitors to the website will have noticed a different look/format - no more commercial/events/wedding pages, in fact I’ve completely re-imagined my photographic practice so that it’s more in line with my passions and interests and one thing that i had realised for some time was that my digital gear only ever saw the light of day for commercial/events work - having decided to forgo that area of work my digital kit was effetively rendered redundant - i loved my Canon 6D, it served me very well in the 33,000 ish clicks that i made with it.

Having decided on this course of action and sold off all my digital kit and studio lights i was in the market for a suitable main battle camera to replace my 6D and of course in a very short space of time my attention rested upon the Pentax 67!

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks putting the Pentax 67 through it’s paces,adding a few more lenses and accessories to the set up, just generally getting to grips with it and starting a complete overhaul of my portfolio with the resulting images, let’s take her out for a spin and I’ll show you around….

A BIG part of the draw towards this camera was this lens - the Super Multi Coated Takumar 105mm 2.4 - it is properly LEGENDARY!! able to simultaneously render dream like out of focus areas alongside super sharp and crisp details, giving a wonderfully 3D effect - it’s my favourite lens ever, ever, ever! Here are three of my fave portraits shot with it so far :)

The 105mm fulfills the ‘standard’ focal length on 6X7 format giving an equivalent field of view to a 58mm lens on standard 35mm format, what’s even better is that thanks to a cheap adapter I can also use this amazing lens on my other Pentax medium format camera the Pentax 645 (see review of that camera HERE) when used in this way thanks to the smaller negative size of the 645 it works as an 85mm portrait lens :)

Anyway back to the Pentax 67 - in use it’s actucally a very simple and surprisingly ergonomic experience for such a large camera, as usual the internet is rife with ill judged, misinformed claptrap perpetuated by people who’ve never even held the camera - first and foremost being the “you can’t shoot it handheld” to which i say (insert swear word of choice) I’ve had sharp results hand holding this beast consistently at 1/60 of a second with no problem at all and with a bit more care and attention 1/30 is totally doable too, the mass of the camera is such that any mirror slap is soaked up by the sheer weight of the camera body, plus most of the vibrations/noise comes from the mirror returning to it’s start position i.e. after the shutter has closed and the frame has been exposed so total myth about handholding.

My version of the Pentax 67 is the thrid version and dates from about 1989 - 1994 (I have no idea how to specifically date the camera by it’s serial number) and to my mind is the best version; earlier models had some mechanical issues present within them from the outset and of course are also much older, there is also a later model the 67ii which is the pinnacle of the range but… it’s EXPENSIVE! and really the only thing it adds is a built in grip (I don’t need this) and an aperture priority mode (I don’t need that either)! so if you’re looking for one of these cameras then go for one that says ‘67’ on the front of the body (earlier models have 6x7 written on the front)

It’s a modular system which means that you can change the prism finder to a wasit level if you like or a metered/non metered head - mine came with a metered head. looking through the prism the finder is about 90% of the actual image which is a bit of a shame but i guess having a 100% finder on a camera this big would have rendered it too unwieldy, it’s not the brightest viewfinder in the world but it’s good and pops into focus well, remove the prism and the focussing screen is HUGE and wonderful!!

let’s get this out of the way… it’s heavy… no denying that, you’ll notice that you have this camera slung over your shoulder!! it’s also big, no getting away from it - although considering the format of negative you’re working with it’s actually smaller than other 6x7 cameras, I really like the straight forward SLR format too - this makes it very easy to transition from your 35mm manual SLR camera and just start shooting straight away.

My latest fave camera combo - the P67 alongside the lovely Nikon F2 a perfect match

My camera came with the wonderful 105mm 2.4 lens already- i swiftly added the very cool looking lens hood to this and then started casting about for more lenses to try out, the great thing about this system is that these lenses are generally very large and so aren’t really coveted by the mirrorless digital camera crowd, this means they are pretty cheap! By shopping around (in the case of the 200mm that meant importing from Japan and in the case of the 55mm it meant not being too picky about cosmetic condition of the lens body) I was able to put together a selection of three amazing additional lenses for my 67 for less than £250 in total! here they are:

From left to right:

55mm f4 - a wide angle lens equivalent to about 28mm on 35mm format

165m f2.8 - a short tele lens equivalent to about 85mm on 35mm format

200mm f4 - a medium tele equivalent to about 100mm on 35mm format

I’m still testing these lenses out and deciding which to keep in my line up, since I love the 105mm 2.4 so much the two portrait lenses don’t get much of a look in at the moment, despite being fine lenses in their own rightonly time will tell if they will remain in my collection; the 55mm on the other hand is a keeper! Just to prove that the P67 is a flexible camera and suitable for landscape as well as portraiture here are a few shots I got on a short hike in the wonderful West Yorkshire Moors near my home and all shot on the 55mm f4.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

It’s a bloody brilliant landscape shooter - I don’t know why this surprised me since it is basically an oversized 35mm SLR, but i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was to shoot on this walk, it’s weight is a bit of a limiting factor for longer walks and as someone who enjoys the great outdoors I’m not sure I would i regularly take the P67 on a long hike as it is a heavy beast to lug up hill and down dale but I’d definitely take it on shorter walks or to shoot specific scenes with the intention of darkroom printing the results, the 6X7 negatives are wonderful, lots and lots of lovely detail and the 45mm lens is amazing, I’m looking forward to getting into the darkroom soon and printing some of these!

So there we have it, my dream camera is living up to expectations (if not exceeding them) the P67 has helped me to transform my portfolio in a way that no other camera has, it’s flexible enough to shoot on location for portraits and is a very capable landscape shooter too - as with any camera nothing is perfect, but the Pentax 67 is the next best thing!

Street Portraiture on 35mm film with the Nikon FE2 & F2

Partners in crime - my trusty FE2 (left) alongside it’s new bezzie mate the F2

Lots and lots and lots to update you with since the last blog post which was all the way back in December!! I’ve been mega busy with lots of different projects and got loads to tell you all about, so since it’s almost a quarter of the way through already let’s finally get the 2019 blogging season off to a start shall we!

Remember last time I was saying things like “I’m going to focus more on creating photos” and “I won’t be doing as many gear reviews” and “gear just gets in the way” well I still think that’s true but owing to my contrary nature I’d like to introduce you to my latest gear acquistion… the Nikon F2!! Rather than just a boring old review thought this time I’ll be sharing some images i shot with this amazing camera on a recent portrait shoot as well, but first let me take you for a walk around the F2

Ever since selling my Nikon F3 last year I have had a Nikon F Series shaped hole in my heart/camera collection (check out this link for the reason why I sold the F3) back in mid December I decided (after not very much deliberation) to buy myself an F2, cos ya know..I worked really hard last year and it’s nice to treat yourself every now and again and it was the run up to Christmas and… well, you get the idea…

I found this beauty on Evilbay for the ridiculous price of £70 and so a deal was done, the caveat being that the camera was from Japan so taking a bit of a punt on condition and shipping times, but as with my previous experience of international purchases the shipping is mega quick, it’s really only on arrival into the custody of Her Mahesty’s rip off merchants here in good old blighty that things slow down, after an almost literal ice age in UK customs my camera was finally released to me and there was much merry making and feasting by all….. sort of… two things became clear fairly quickly 1: it was in very good condition and functionally worked perfectly 2: there were traces of dreaded fungus in the viewfinder and in the mirrorbox which didn’t bode well and therefore i was going to have to shell out some more cash (and wait even longer) before getting to grips with the F2 - it’s all sorted now though, fresh from a good clean and service I even managed to negotiate a part refund from the ebay seller which paid towards the cleaning :)

There’s oodles of info out there on the interwebs about the F2 so there’s not much point in me re-hashing it all, suffice it to say that between 1971 and 1980 if you wanted a professional level Nikon SLR then this was it!! Instead of reeling off a list of it’s features and functions I’m going to share with you a series of images I shot with both the F2 and my trusty Nikon FE2 on a portrait shoot recently, I’ll share my experience of shooting with it too of course and no doubt indulge in some techno-babble along the way as is my want…

Oh yes and interesting/geeky factoid alert! The serial number on my F2 is 7865098 and thanks to the wonders of the internet and some Nikon nerds who collate all this info I was able to date manufature of my particular camera to between May & August 1977 - so this camera is only a few months older than me! :)

Ok so that’s enough camera geekery for one blog, what’s the damn thing like to shoot I hear you cry… well… it’s amazing! build quality is second to none, it just feels very well balanced despite being quite a large camera, the viewfinder is HUGE and bright and lovely which makes manual focussing a doddle, alongside the ever brilliant FE2 I now have my perfect 35mm dynamic duo!

Portra 160 with the FE2 and series e 100mm 2.8

These images were taken on a portrait shoot with Model Rebecca back in Feb when we had a mini heat wave - I was so glad we made the most of the sunshine! The FE2 was loaded with a roll of Portra 160 and with the F2 I shot a roll of Fuji Acros 100 and a roll of Portra 400 - I enjoyed using this combination of film and cameras so much and was very happy with the results that I decided right there and then that I’m going to shoot film from now on for portraiture.

Fuji Acros 100 on the F2 with Nikkor 50m 1.4

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the film stocks used on this shoot - I’ve had a couple of rolls of Fuji Acros 100 on ice in the freezer for a few years now and since buying it Fuji have discontinued production :( having only shot one roll of it before I figured I’d give it a whirl and I love the results, developed in HC110 it has a clean and balanced finished with lovely contrast.

Colour film duties were fulfilled by Kodak Portra one roll each of 160 and 400 flavours - I think i overexposed the 400 speed a couple of stops to 200 and shot 160 at box speed - having developed these myself I had some issues getting the right colour balance when scanning at home and for some frames it took me a little while to get the colours to look and feel ‘right’

Portra 400 on the FE 2 with Nikkor 24mmm 2.8

So there we have it - I was so pleased with how both cameras performed and I continue to be impressed at the quality of the Nikon lenses, the images here were shot on the Nikkor 50mm 1.4, Nikkor 24mm 2.8 and the Series E 100mm 2.8 - super sharp shooters the lot of them! If you’ve not tried an old Nikon camera and lens I would urge you to do so - there’s a reason why these were the manufacturer of choice for professionals back in the day.

Portra 160 on the FE2 series e 100mm 2.8

I developed the colour film at home too - the first time in a long time that I’ve done that, I was really pleased with how they came out and I’ve got a write up of the process and kit that I used on the way, I promise it won’t be another 3 months before I write another blog, in the meantime happy shooting!

Shooting 35mm film in the studio

Using film in the studio is a really enjoyable experience, I was fortunate to be asked to second shoot my friend and fellow Photographer Ruth's fashion shoot in her studio a while back and had the opportunity to grab a few shots of very awesome model, Zivvy. All of the black and white shots were taken on Fuji Acros 100 film on a Canon EOS 3 camera, all the colour images on a Canon 6D DSLR.

I love working in the studio - it's a real treat, most of the time I shoot on location which requires some flexibility in your approach to allow for all sorts of variables in lighting and the general randomness that comes from shooting on location (although that is part of the fun)! However in the studio YOU are in full control!  In these images there are three studio strobes - one either side and another overhead, with a fourth light providing a backlight to the white background so there's a lot to take into consideration, it's an exercise in balancing and shaping light to achieve a certain effect depending on the look you're trying to achieve. I take no credit for coming up with the concept or the lighting arrangements for this shoot - that was all Ruth!

It can take a while to get your lighting and composition worked out even when using a digital camera with the benefit of being able to instantly review  your shot, the process becomes slightly more protracted when using film, which is why I recommend using a combined approach - shoot film AND digital!

Back in the day photographers would often use a polaroid camera (or back for their medium format camera) to assess how the light was falling on their subject, polaroid is still available but it's expensive stuff, you can also get flash meters but they're not cheap either so I used my Canon 6D DSLR to meter the shots and judge the lighting - think of it as a digital polaroid! :)

Zivvy, Gav and Ruth reviewing the mood board and deciding on final styling

As second shooter I took some behind the scenes photos on my 6D as Ruth, Zivvy and Gav the Hair Stylist did their thing - I really enjoy shooting candid, reportage images like this as it shows the hard work that goes in to making the final images - it's normal to spend a long time getting ready for even a simple shot and it's all part of the creative process that often gets missed out, behind the scenes shooting allows you to tell that story.

Zivvy trying out some vintage bling

The key to a successful model shoot is not lighting, or kit it's....wait for it.... team work! Your ability to communicate, collaborate and ultimately create with the stylist, model, hair and make up artist is fundamental, I was fortunate in that Ruth had put together a great team and concept (and also put her make up skills to good use), Zivvy is a very talented model and the hair stylist Gav was also awesome, having a good team of people working together towards a shared goal is much more important that a whizzbang camera or lens or whatever (although of course they're nice to have too) ;)

In order to integrate my digital and film sets ups when working in the studio I used a Canon EOS3 which has exactly the same mounts, inputs as the 6D so i could use the same lenses and flash triggers switching between film and digital as required, nice and simple it's no good spending ages faffing about trying to get ancient film gear to talk to modern studio lighting whilst the model, Hair and MUA, stylist et al are waiting for me to figure it all out, I like to shoot quickly and keep the energy going as I think this translates to the final images so having a fully integrated set up is a real bonus.

All of the black and white images you see here are Fuji Acros 100 35mm film which I semi stand developed myself in Adonal (on reflection probably not the best developer/process for the job as it's known to bring out the grain of the film and Acros is renowned for being smooth - next time I'll use something else)! I love the high contrast though!

After the shoot I had a couple of frames left so I used them up around the studio.....

Fuji Acros 100 is a lovely film, I kind of wish I'd been more patient and bought some more appropriate developer/used a more appropriate process but I was impatient to see the final images! Don't get me wrong though I love the images and am very happy with them I just think that a developer like Xtol or D76 would've made for a smoother finish perhaps - oh well! live and learn!

Of course I wasn't just metering with the 6D - I enjoy digital photography very very much also, here are a few of my digital shots...

So that's it then - I hope you've enjoyed this latest blog post. I'm really looking forward to working with a combination of film and digital cameras in the studio again soon :)

Review of the Canon EOS 3 - It's a Magic Number

They say good things come in threes and today's blog is no exception.... oh hang on, maybe it's bad things they say happen in threes - whatever, today's blog combines three 'things' and for the purposes of this exercise let's assume that's a good thing....

Thing number 1: I've just got a new hoodie from the awesome Clothing Label OTSO and I like it so flippin much that I've been inspired to share a few of the images I took a couple of months ago when I was invited to shoot some behind the scenes photos on a Studio shoot for them.

The shoot was led by my friend Ruth of Ruth Ellen Brown Photographic fame and took place in her Studio at everyone's favourite co-working space Co-Up in Slaithwaite. I had a great time on this shoot and Ruth's main images are fantastic - you can see them in all their glory if you click on the OTSO website Here.

OTSO is a Clothing label run by Simon Kenworthy and not only are the designs awesome but there is great ethos behind the company too - everything is ethically produced and manufactured from organic materials so you can look good and feel good about it at the same time :)

Thing Number 2: Working 'behind the scenes' on this kind of shoot you really get a sense of the underlying story erm 'behind' the shoot proper, the teamwork (and hardwork) that goes into making it happen, the planning and preparation, the meeting of minds, the Creative Direction, Hair Styling, The Models, Lighting, Photography and Editing - everyone aligning their specialist skills in order to create something greater than the sum of it's parts... i guess what I'm saying is that it's basically like Power Rangers (except without the giant robots and lizards and stuff)

But seriously it takes team work to make the dream work on this kind of project and to get a group of folk in one place all of one mind to achieve something special is not an every day occurance and requires a lot more effort and energy than i think people really appreciate, the creative process is one which seems to have a number misconceptions attached to it, one of which is that it is somehow 'easy' or it just 'happens' - well let me tell you that there is more to it and one of my aims shooting behind the scenes is to try and convey a sense of that.

And so on to 'Thing Number 3' on this occasion i was shooting Ilford HP5 400 film (a favourite of mine) - now usually once you've plonked a certain speed film (in this case 400) in your camera you are kind of stuck with that speed until you've used up the roll, however becuase I develop my own film i was able to use a marvellous process called 'Stand Development' which allows the careful film photographer to shoot at a range of ISO settings and change in between frames as you see fit, so some were shot at 400, some at 800 and some at 1600 and in so doing basically making it almost as flexible as a digital camera!! to me this was a revelation! tear off the shackles of digital opression brothers and sisters!! you are FREE to shoot film in all sorts of lighting conditions! FREE i tell you!!

so yeah - i was pretty excited by this prospect.... expect more ramblings along this vein in the future!

Now an extra special bonus 'number 3 thing' is that this was my first opportunity to give my Canon EOS 3 film Camera a whirl. The EOS 3 was a late 1990's high end film camera and was in production until about 2007 - it therefore looks and feels very much like a modern Canon DSLR which makes it very easy to integerate into my exisiting digital set up - basically I flippin love it!! I guess 3 really is a magic number

The Canon EOS 3 seen here sporting a 40mm pancake lens