Portrait Shoots with the Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm 2.8 adapted to Pentax 67

This is a turn up for the books! I haven’t written a single blog for this website in months and in the space of a few hours here I am writing my third!! When I started this blog all those many years ago, I had very little idea what I was doing (still don’t) and no idea who I was writing these blogs for - I just felt that I had something to say and blogging felt like a good medium to say it. All these years later and whilst there is an audience (demonstrated by the numbers of visitors) I think in lots of ways - I write this blog for me. And while I am very grateful that anyone at all might stumble upon it and find it possibly useful or mildly amusing or even in rare moments - inspiring. Even if no one saw these ramblings, I’d still write them. There is very much to be said for writing about something that you are passionate about. BUT. We are not here to elucidate on the vicissitudes brought about through blogging (swallowed a dictionary)?

We ARE here to talk about making space for creativity though - so maybe there’s a link to my thought process??! I wrote a while ago about my initial experience with the wonderfully sublime portrait lens the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm 2.8 lens that at the beginning of this year I obtained a copy that was adapted to Pentax 67 mount HERE I felt it was high time that I shared some images from a couple of Portrait shoots using this lens along with some rambling thoughts (as if I haven’t shared enough of those already).

The lens balances so well on the Pentax 67 it could easily have been a stock OEM set up! I loved this lens on the ARAX CM and you can read a little more about my experience HERE but it was unwieldy and tricky to focus - no such issues now! Image quality is exceptional! This Sonnar lens comes with a very great reputation which doesn’t always translate into a positive shooting experience in practice (lots of internet myth built up over years - another motive for starting a blog, dispelling that stuff)! I digress… yes a lens with a big reputation… but it delivers on that promise, punchy, contrasty, beautiful details rendered in the areas of focus, with a lovely drop off into smooth and creamy bokeh - yum.

The examples here were taken on different shoots and were developed and scanned by me using Bellini C41 chemistry, Epson V600 & Negative Lab Pro.

The two images above were shot with Fay on expired Portra 400. We’d originally intended an outdoor shoot but then it poured with rain and I wanted to try the P67 / Sonnar so before we went into the studio we used the landing at the top of the stairs to my studio and made the most of the natural light.

The images below are from a shoot with Becca, this time on expired Portra 800 - again on location at the studio but using the derelict Mill at the back of the building.

I really loved shooting with Fay and Becca - both amazing models to work with and we always get some great results! The Pentax 67 and Sonnar combination feels like it was meant to be - absolutely love using it, the results speak for themselves I think!

After spending so much time wrestling with the ARAX CM it’s a relief to shoot the Sonnar on a camera which makes it a much more enjoyable experience, focussing is easy on the bright P67 screen and I’ve already mentioned how well this combination handles.

The Sonnar holds its own alongside the wonderful stock Pentax 67 lenses too and I think it brings a different look and feel to the table, it’s equivalent to 100mm so a nice portrait focal length, the Sonnar remains one of the best Portrait lenses I think I’ve ever used - if you get the opportunity to pick one up whether its on a Kiev 60 / Kiev 88 / ARAX or adapted I would HIGHLY recommend!

Something Old and Something New: Shooting Portraits with the Speed Graphic, Kodak Aero Ektar & Lomograflok instant film back

It’s fair to say that blogs have become somewhat sporadic over this last 12 months - there are some VERY good reasons for this and I am happy to report that I’ll now be making a concerted effort to post more regularly. I also have some VERY exciting news to share about opening up a darkroom & photo studio where I’ll be running workshops and events as well as using to create my own work too! I will share more details in a dedicated blog about all of that very soon - in the meantime check out the ‘workshops’ page for details HERE

Now let’s get down to business - whatever our passions and inspiration in life there are often things that we associate with that, maybe you’re a musician and you want to learn how to play a particular instrument, or perhaps you’re into football and you really want to erm…. kick a ball (this analogy is wearing thin) anyway I’m a film photographer and ever since I realised this about myself I have flipping well wanted to shoot Large Format - more precisely a Speed Graphic camera with a Kodak Aero Ektar lens and hey ,guess what? Now I have!!

I’m gonna say this now - there are SOOOOO many new elements, processes, fancy bits of kit and just god damned cool toys to play with that I will no doubt be writing further blogs just on this set up alone, consider this blog like a whirlwind run through the whole thing and to share my initial results - I’ll circle back to this theme and delve deeper into certain aspects very soon I am sure!

I first encountered this combination through the work of photographers like David Burnett who is one of my photographic heroes he has used large format cameras to cover major events such as the Olympics and even reporting on the Presidential election campaign trail in the US.

The Speed Graphic is a camera that many of you will know well, even folks not well acquainted with photography will recognise them from old movies - these were the quintessential press cameras of the 1940’s 50’s and into the 60’s.

Just a man in a cape with his camera

They are relatively rare over here in the UK but are readily available in the US where they were manufactured. It is a wonderfully designed and built piece of kit - I picked mine up which is a pacemaker version of the Speed Graphic for less than £150 on evilbay and was expecting to need to get it serviced before being able to shoot but once I had it in hand I realised it was good to go!! I believe that my copy dates from the late 50’s to the early 60’s although I am not 100% on that!

I’ll say more about the operation of the camera in another blog - now let’s also have a look at the business end of this set up - the Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm 2.5 lens.

This lens is a cult classic and for good reason, photographers such as Dave Burnett showcased what was possible with this glass and like me, once you’ve seen the images it can resolve then it becomes something that you just have to try out for yourself.

You might be surprised to learn that the Aero part of the name of this lens relates to the fact that it was originally designed to be mounted on to an American aircraft in WW2 to shoot reconnaissance photos! My particular copy was actually built in 1944! It boggles my mind what this lens may have seen during it’s life time! My copy is actually quite rough - cosmetically there is loads of paint chipping and optically there is a fair amount of fungus and possibly some delimitation of the elements and consequently I got it for a VERY good price. In my experience lenses can resolve great image quality even when suffering issues like this and having taken a punt on this one it seems to have been a good call

Obviously using a lens designed to be fitted into a warplane requires an adapter in order to mount properly - the lens is HUGE compared to what might be considered a ‘normal’ or ‘proper’ lens for the Speed Graphic - once fitted to the adapter the lens required a little bit of gentle persuasion to be mounted on to the camera but now it fits perfectly.

This pic was taken pre-the arrival of my adapter to mount the Aero Ektar - look at how tiny the standard lens would be compared to the beast like Aero!!

So once combined in this way we have what I would hand on heart say is the most exciting camera I have EVER had the opportunity to shoot with! Other things worth mentioning are that I absolutely NEEDED to add the following items to enable me to use this camera:

Tripod - an old Gitzo all metal affair, this is a thing of beauty all on it’s own! A very solid platform to work on and whilst its a bit on the heavy side it gives me confidence when shooting on location that my camera is safe!

Film Holders - at the time of shooting I had two film holders giving me a whole FOUR sheets of film to burn through! Being a trigger happy soul I have since added two more film holders to my set up.

Focussing Loupe - a must have item I reckon, this little device allows you to check critical focus on the HUGE focussing screen

Dark cloth - maybe not essential but when shooting in bright light you need ‘something’ to drape over your head and allow you to see properly, I figured I’d go all in on this and the bonus is you can wear it like a cape! :)

So you’re all set to shoot Large Format Chris! What’s the big hold up? Why am I not now just looking at loads of Large Format photos? Great questions!! Well the main reason is that I also got hold of a thoroughly modern piece of kit to compliment all of the above - the Lomography Lomograflock Instant Film back!! As I said before I will definitely be doing some individual blogs to go into further details about different aspects of this new shooting experience but for now its enough to know that this amazing bit of technology allows you to shoot Instax Wide instant film on the Speed Graphic!! WOW!

And so to the shoot itself - who else other than my long time creative collaborator Danni Shepherd to help me test this monster of a camera out. We met at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds on a beautifully bright late summers day and shot a few packs of Instax colour film and FOUR sheets Fomapan 100 in 4X5. I have waffled on interminably for long enough - let’s see the results of the shoot.

OMG! Seriously I am just blown away by the results with the Lomograflok - what an amazing piece of kit!! Rest assured that a dedicated blog about this instant film back will be coming soon - but there are so many awesome new things I want to share and this blog is already MAHOOSIVE so let’s just agree that the Lomograflok is ACE and little more needs to be said, to whit: Let’s have a quick look at the 4X5 shots…

Or rather ‘shot’ as in singular - mainly cos at the time of writing I haven’t scanned any of the other three shots, but WOW!!! LOOK!!! AAARGH! This is just everything I dreamed of with this camera and lens combo and more besides - the original scan itself has an ENORMOUS level of detail and resolution, it’s super sharp where you want it to be and soft and dreamy where you need it too, the way that film format, micro contrast and focus fall off give you a proper 3D pop. I am stunned by this shot - especially on my first outing with the camera!

I developed and scanned the film myself, this is something I am now going to be doing more often as I have my own darkroom and workspace too :)

I have to say that shooting with the Speed Graphic is a wonderful experience - the process has a number of steps but once you get into the rhythm it becomes very natural. I’ve read so many other photographers talk about having random members of the public ask them about their old film cameras - I’ve never had that before until now!! Pretty much everyone who walks past wants to know more about it so that’s definitely something to be aware of, you can’t be low key with this kind of camera!

A huge thank you to Danni for being absolutely amazing on this shoot, we always have a lot of fun and always create some stunning photos together too. I think this is really the beginning of a new phase of my work - not just the camera but the darkroom and workshops coming soon too, so much to tell you all about!

Just with this set up and the results of one shoot I think I’ve got at least two or maybe three blogs to write up just to go into some details - and on top of that I need to share what’s been happening with the new Darkroom and workshops and there’s another business that’s going now too…. yikes… Thanks for making it this far if you did!! I’ll see you again real soon!

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!

Fomapan 400 Review - Street Portrait Shoot

Back again after a little break - life has been WAAAAY too busy of late! In a good way though so I have no complaints, except that my blog has had to take the back seat for which I apologise! I have been managing to get a few shoots in though and I’ve been trying out a bunch of new (to me) film stocks - prompted in no small part because of financial considerations, but also because, well… there are still loads of film stocks out there to shoot so why not take them for a spin?! Today we’ll be looking at Fomapan 400 in medium format.

I am no stranger to Fomapan film having shot quite a lot of 200 HERE and I figured it was high time that I took their faster speed 400 film for a spin and it did not dissapoint! After a bit of research online I decided to rate the film at 200 and I love the results!!

I really enjoyed shooting with KC on this one as we had a walk around Bradford City Centre making the most of the urban landscape. Fomapan 400 in medium format gives lovely clean and crisp results - I’d be interested to se how it performs in 35mm, i suspect a bit more gritty / grainy which would be no bad thing!

I really like the tonality and texture of this film, shot in good light and over exposed two stops is certainly a good starting point, I think I’d like to experiment with shooting at box speed too as I feel it might add some more charachter / contrast.

I love shooting with the Pentax 67 - it’s a wonderful camera, so easy to shoot with and with the 105mm Takumar lens mounted it’s pretty much perfect! Dreamy and creamy bokeh and razor sharp where you want it, this lens gets a lot of HYPE but I think it’s well deserved, my only gripe with the P67 is that some idiot (me) dropped it a couple of years back and it needed to be repaired but ever since it’s not been the same and I’ll often lose a frame or two from a roll as they overlap, not good when you only have ten shots per roll to start with! And it is almost always some of the better shots which end up being ruined - as in this case :(

I’ll have to send it off for another repair I think, but at least we got some more good shots! Really enjoyed this shoot and it felt good to try out a new and relatively cheap film, prices are going up and up so Fomapan is really viable option for me

In this final shot we snuck into the National Film Museum and I grabbed this reflection shot of KC - I was surprised at how well it came out since I think I metered the scene as 400 and then held my nerve with the Pentax 67 at about 1/30 of a second at f2.4 - lots of punchy contrast in this due to under exposure, I like!

Helios 40-2N Review or Digital Photography: A Slight Return...

I don’t know about you but I’ve found myself struggling for inspiration lately, not feeling motivated to get out and shoot - in part because I have been SUPER busy starting a new business AND a new job but also just generally not feeling ‘IT’. Have you been feeling that way too? I know many of my friends have - I mean look at the world around us right now, it’s been one heck of an 18 months hasn’t it? I’ve often found that inspiration/creativity/the muse has ebbed and flowed like the tide - one thing I’ve learned is that you have to work for inspiration. It’s no good sitting around waiting for creativity to strike KABOOM! It doesnt work that way - you have to change it up, try something new, or try something old, whatever… just try… to whit: this latest blog.

I have to thank my friend Sophie for giving me the much needed creative kick up the backside to just get out and shoot - and since I was feeling in a mood to change it up I decided to take a DIGITAL camera with me!! GASP! SHOCK! HORROR!! please keep reading though… don’t run away! :D I have in my posession a Nikon D700 camera which I’ve just bought for a commercial project and I figured what the heck - why not shoot some digital as a way of changing things up. It’s been a good few years now since I sold all digital gear and pledged allegiance to the gods of FILM but let’s not beat about the bush film is getting EXPENSIVE now especially in these uncertain times so expect to see some more digital offerings here…. but fear not I haven’t abandoned film all together! I shot a couple of rolls of medium format and they are off at the lab being developed as I type these words to you - I guess I’m saying I’m going back to shooting both digital and film.

Its not just economic reasons, I’ve kind of been feeling a little bit restricted by the self applied ‘I only shoot film’ and I want to make sure that I’m not missing out on something creatively by cutting myself off from digital photography - so it’s coming back into my practice. HOWEVER. There’s no denying that I do find digital images a bit too ‘clean’ if you know what I mean so I’m very interested in combining digital with vintage lenses to add some character - and this brings me FINALLY around to introduce todays offering: The Helios 40-2N. I’ve written about it before HERE sharing some shots from a film only portrait shoot.

It’s a tricky lens to handle because its quite heavy, it has a pre-set aperture control and being an f1.5 lens if you want to shoot wide open that is some thing DOF you are dealing with, also did I mention that it’s quite heavy….BUT I absolutely adore what this beast of a lens does with light…. it can be contrasty, super sharp and crispwith really punchy colours or if you shoot with a light source in your frame suddenly you get blurry, glowy, dreamy low contrast images instead.

The Helios 40-2N is an old Soviet design which is often only talked about for one thing: Swirly Bokeh and it sure does do that but I think this lens has much more to offer the thoughtful photographer than swirly bokeh - it is definitely NOT a one trick pony! Its manual focus of course despite being a native F Mount lens and this definitely suits me anyway, I can’t shake the feeling that AF is just cheating :D nothing slows you down more than trying to manually focus a lens at f1.5!

I am hugely grateful to Sophie for a lovely portrait shoot and for giving me the opportunity to get creative again! Anyway enough ramble from me - suffice it to say that I am really enjoying shooting a mix of film and digital and I guess that’s all that matters right?

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!

Lomography Colour 100 medium format review

Here we are with part two of a three part series featuring films from a recent portrait shoot with Monika! If you haven’t already, check out part 1 HERE but if you’re not bothered about that then read on and welcome to this review which is focussing on yet another new to me film stock - Lomography Colour 100, which I shot in medium format 120 flavour on the mighty Pentax 67!

I’ve shot a few rolls of different Lomo films over the years (and predictably enough blogged about them too) colour 400 in 35mm HERE and Colour 800 in 120 HERE. So what’s this Lomo colour 100 like then?! I hear you cry! Well first of all just look for yourselves - I think it looks great!

As you can see this was a sunlit location shoot with the very talented Monika. This presented the Lomo film with an opportunity to shine! In good light it’s a clearly very fine grain film, with strong contrast and rich colour balance - it’s punchy which I like and gives plenty of fine detail too. The 120 format certainly helps in that resolving power, as does the Super Multi Coated Takumar 105mm 2.4 lens on the P67 on which it was shot.

I think it has a slightly different look and feel to portra films which can be a little more muted and if I’m honest a little more to my taste. Don’t get me wrong though Lomo colour is a lovely film stock - I haven’t tried it out in poor/mixed lighting yet so I can’t speak to it’s flexibility but if it bears anything in common with the Lomo 800 film I imagine it will hold highlights well but lose the shadows fairly quickly in poor lighting. So it’s all sweetness and light then is it? Not exactly…

I would be remiss dear reader if I didn’t share the shortcomings of this film stock, in fact I think it’s worth saying up front that I have a bit of an issue with Lomo films in general - I don’t know whether it’s how they’re packaged or what but they are VERY prone to light leaks and/or having half a frame burned away for no good reason, I can forgive this when shooting 35mm because with 36 exposures to play with I can spare the odd one or two but when it comes to 120 film and something like the Pentax 67 which only gives me 10 frames per roll if one or two frames are frazzled then that’s a big chunk out the roll - I’m 99% certain it’s not an issue with loading as it only ever seems to be Lomo films that I have this issue with…. what the heck LOMO?!?!

Anyway back to the good stuff, aside from issues with the occasional random light leak/burned frame I really like this film stock - I was going to say that it’s a good budget choice but actually prices seem to be on the rise across the board and prices for a three pack of this film are £22 and upwards which is bonkers really - honestly I’m definitely starting to feel the ‘burn’ pardon the pun with film prices and after this shoot where I shot only colour film stocks I think my next few will be black and white only affairs and develop at home!

So that’s it for this review! I hope you’ve enjoyed the images and my ramblings about Lomo 100 and if you didn’t well - tough! :) Stay tuned for the final thrilling instalment in this trilogy of colour film stock reviews when i’ll be sharing my thoughts on yet another (yes another) new to me film stock!

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…

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!

Creating colourful dramatic portraits with LED lights on film

I’ve been experimenting with LED lighting and coloured gels in my portraiture, in particular I’ve been exploring new creative themes taking inspiration from some of my fave Sci fi movies as a way of experimenting with lighting to evoke the mood of the original films and it’s also been wonderful to play around with characters, settings and stories.

I was fortunate to collaborate once again with Charlie and Jony to create two really distinctive looks. Firstly Charlie channelling her inner ‘Ripley from Aliens’ and Jony doing an amazing job with a ‘Deckard off of Bladerunner’ look. We finished the shoot with Charlie joining Jony in a Dark Future Dystopia by reprising her role as ‘bad ass Terminator Cyborg’ from our previous shoot HERE.

Once again this was an all Kodak Portra 400 affair, I rated the film at 800 and had the lovely folks at Exposure Film Lab push development two stops. Camera gear used:

• Nikon F3 / 85mm 1.4 / 50mm 1.4

• Pentax 67 / 105mm 2.5

We shot both of these looks in their cellar using a simple lighting set up involving one LED panel light and two small LED pads with some coloured cellophane for ‘gels’. Jony provided extra atmosphere by streaming the background music to Aliens during the Ripley shoot too!! ACE!

For inspiration I rewatched Aliens which is one of my favourite films paying particular attention to the lighting and colour pallete used in the film - I picked out blue/green and yellow as the main colours and then tried to replicate that multi million dollar budget movie with a few cheap LED lights and 99p worth of coloured Cellophane! You know what? I absolutley love the results!!

I searched out a suitably sci-fi looking rifle for ‘Ripley’ and Charlie did an absolutely stellar job creating the look with an awesome outfit, hair and make up - she really is one of the most creative souls I have had the pleasure to work with, she’s amazing! :)

Interestingly (well i think it’s interesting and it’s my blog, so get lost) for the Ripley images the 35mm frames look the best, they have a grainy/grittyness which is very appealing and truth be told I missed focus quite a bit on the Pentax 67 shots for Ripley and even those shots which I didn’t just don’t have the same feel as these 35mm shots.

Now we move on to a look inspired by Deckard from Bladerunner another of my all time fave movies!! For inspiration I watched both the original film and the recent 2049 movie and actually took my lighting inspiration from both films - I decided I wanted to combine the darker/noir feel of the original movie with some of the colour palette of the later film.

Jony did an awesome job not only with his outfit but also bringing that noir detective/bladerunner vibe - very very cool! I was so happy with how the lighting worked out giving a very dramatic effect.

Interestingly (yes! it IS interesting - now shush) the Pentax 67 shots look best on this look (if I do say so myself) I was shooting this handheld at 1/30 and wide open at 2.5 so Depth of Field is razor thin and there is a little bit of camera shake creeping in on one or two frames but I care not! Love these shots! Huge thank you to Jony for absolutely nailing the look here!

Props wise I bought a custom nerf gun and also some ‘neon bullets’ which are actual (empty) bullet casings but with a blue LED light inside! There really are some randomly specific/amazing things available in the internet aren’t there?! I think they look great on the shot - definitely add to the sci fi vibes.

In fact the whole Dark Future look is created by the lighting on this one as without the LED lights or the neon bullets then Jony’s look could be from any time period - this is one of the things I love about experimenting with coloured lighting, it really is transformative!

As if that wasn’t enough creativity for one shoot using the exact same location we then stepped it up a gear and brought Charlie and Jony together for a few final images. On these I really wanted to push the lighting to see what was achievable - and wow!! We created a set of promo images for an imaginary Sci-fi Cop show!

With Red light as the main lighting and blue just in the background and picking out little details and reflections - the high grain just adds to the lo-fi/low key appeal! An awesome end to an awesome shoot! It was a real pleasure to work with Charlie and Jony again, such lovely creative folk to work with :)

As for the lighting, I am really enjoying exploring the creative possibilites which coloured lighting brings to my photography. LED lights are a game changer for the film shooter because what you see is pretty much what you get which allows you to control and adjust your lighting by eye. I continue to be amazed at the flexibility of Kodak Portra 400 it really is wonderful stuff! I would urge anyone reading this to introduce some dramatic colour lighting into your film photography and push your creativity to the limits! It is such an enjoyable experience!

Dark Future: A shoot on Kodak Portra at 1600

It’s almost November 2019 and that can mean only one thing: we are now living at the time that the original blade runner movie was set!! While there’s certainly no denying that at times it can feel like we’re already living in a dystopian Dark Future, as with all things the reality is often less stylistically pleasing than our celluloid fantasies would suggest – to rectify this, my latest shoot was a Dark Future/Neon Noir/Blade Runner inspired look with the very awesome Charlie Hex 

This shoot presented me with a number of new creative challenges – first and foremost amongst these was lighting. Having scouted out a suitable location (and a huge shout out at this point goes to The Arcade Club in Leeds for hosting us) I also wanted to have some control over the lighting too, but given that we were shooting in a public space and the fact that I also have two cameras to lug around I needed something fairly compact – enter the LED light pad! I then used a couple of sheets of cellophane to create my own lighting gels and voila! 

Ignore the F90X in this pic - I changed my mind at the last minute and went for the F2 instead :)

In the run up to this shoot I rewatched the original Bladerunner movie which has been a firm favourite of mine for as long as I can remember, I also re-watched the sequel Bladerunner 2049 (a film which I went to the cinema to watch when it came out and honestly thought it was a bit rubbish) what was interesting was to re-watch both movies but specifically to pay attention to the lighting and how it is used to enhance the narrative of the story – as it turned out I actually really enjoyed 2049 the second time around and one thing I took from the film as a major inspiration was the amazing colour palettes – in particular the strong use of orange lighting, obviously the creative lighting budget for both of these films far exceeds any resources I was able to throw at this project (my orange lighting gel is just two pieces of cellophane, one yellow and one red laid over each other) but as you can see here with a little thought and a cheap LED light, creative possibilities abound!

 A Dark Future inspired look has been on my wish list for a long time and I was delighted when Charlie got in touch after a casting I posted on FB. The images speak for themselves of course but it’s still worth stating that Charlie absolutely smashed it on this shoot!! I shared a few mood boards with Charlie and she came back with the makeup and outfit looks you can see in these images, this combined with her being super confident in front of camera really helped to realise the vision, a proper creative collaboration! Big thanks too to Charlie’s boyfriend Jony who did a sterling job as human light stand by holding the LED light for me :)

 During the shoot itself we were in the midst of a very busy Arcade location, mixed and changing lighting and I didn’t have chance to visit the space ahead of the shoot (something I had planned on doing) armed with my trusty light meter, Pentax 67 and Nikon F2 I felt confident I could handle things but as always with film you don’t know until you get the films developed how things really turned out.

Looks like my P67 still has a bit of an issue with the frame spacing with this accidental double exposure - fortunately in this case, I flipping love it!

 I was also using a brand new (to me) lens the amazing Nikkor H C 85mm 1.8 and wow has this lens blown me away!! It’s perfect for lowlight shooting – most of these images were shot around f2 or f2.8 and for the Pentax 67 I was mostly wide open at f2.4

The Nikon F2 and the amazing Nikkor H C 85mm 1.8

As it’s turned out I think most of my fave shots are with the F2 and the 85mm lens, given the low light and relatively slow shutter speeds (all around 1/60) I am very pleased with how they came out.

Now let’s talk about film stocks -  I used Kodak Portra 400 for both 35mm and 120 formats and again, wow! I am blown away at how awesome it looks! I rated the film at 1600 and asked the lovely people at Exposure Film Lab who do all my colour developing to develop the film at 1600 (push it two stops) the results speak for themselves – colour balance is spot on and to my eye they just look RIGHT!

This is the beginning of a wider Dark Future project I’ll be exploring on future shoots mainly cos I’m a Sci Fi geek and have always loved that Neon Noir vibe ranging from Bladerunner to Akira and beyond - I Can’t wait to add some more retro futurist looks to my portfolio and to explore some more creative lighting techniques!

High Fashion in the High Peaks - Portrait Shoot with Chanel Joan Elkayam

Welcome to the latest in my series of creative collaborations which have the express purpose of helping me to grow my photography portfolio as well as grow connections, grow confidence and grow creatively - basically it’s all about growth!

On my travels through this universe I have had the pleasure of meeting some really cool, talented and interesting people - on very special occasions I sometimes have the opportunity to work with them and for that I am supremely grateful! My latest (and perhaps greatest) collaboration so far has been with the very wonderfully talented Chanel Joan Elkayam!

The background to this shoot is that I met Chanel a few years ago when I was 2nd shooting for my friend Ruth, ever since then it has been wonderful to see how Chanel has grown into her amazing success as an Industry recognised Fashion Designer, Chanel is the youngest person to have showcased at all 4 of the major fashion shows London, Paris, New York and Milan and she achieved all of this by the age of 18 - basically she’s the real deal! As you can tell I am full of admiration for Chanel’s achievements and I can’t wait to see where her journey takes her next! you can see more of her work HERE.

For this shoot we wanted to showcase some of Chanel’s fashion designs in a natural setting, we chose Dovestones as our location in part because it’s really local for us both and also because it’s amazingly beautiful too! The weather even behaved itself and gave us lots of lovely sunlight to play with too.

I relied on my now favourite combination of the Pentax 67 as primary camera and Nikon F2 as a second body - this set up gives me tip top quality lenses in both medium format and 35mm and I just really like working with them both. Filmwise it was again an all Kodak affair with Portra 400 loaded in the P67 and a couple of rolls of Portra 800 and a cheeky roll of Kodak Pro image 100 for the F2.

It was so much fun working with Chanel on this shoot, and also a huge thank you to Chanel’s mum too who joined us - it was really lovely to meet her and a big thank you for taking the behind the scenes photos you can see at the start of this blog too! :)

We managed to shoot 4 different looks over the course of a few hours on a sunny afternoon at Dovestones, I really feel like these are some of my best images to date and of course a major part of this is down to Chanel and her amazing designs as well as her talent in front of the lens too, Chanel was lots of fun to work with and made my job easy!

Enough talk!! Here’s some of my fave shots…

So there we go! We got so many great shots together!! I really enjoyed this shoot and loved working with Chanel and her amazing designs. On the technical side of things once again Portra 400 has proven itself to be utterly dependable in mixed lighting situations and every time it renders beautiful tones, contrast and colours - for this shoot I rated it all at 400. Also once again Kodak Pro Image is proving to be another wonderful addition to the line up and some of my fave 35mm shots were from this film :)

The Pentax 67 continues to astound me with the image quality it’s capable of and it’s just so flipping enjoyable to shoot with - here’s to many more creative collaborations to come!

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!

Nikon F2 review

Having owned the F2 for 6 months now I can confidently say it has become a firm favourite (yes I know i say that about all my cameras)! The F2 has a big reputation for being a seriously kick ass camera and I can heartily confirm that this reputation is well deserved! The Nikon F2 is an absolute joy to shoot with - I’ve used it on portrait shoots, taken it hiking and shot landscapes with it, used it for street photography and candid portraits of my little boy running about and playing at home - in every situation the F2 is the right tool for the job.

Often when we think of professional spec cameras we assume that these are complex esoteric beasts which require some form of initiation rite to operate and only the enlightened few can master it - and while that may ring true in some cases, not so for the F2! It is a VERY simple camera with an intuitive set of controls laid out in a such a way that it allows the F2 to do what all great cameras do - it gets out of your way and allows you to concentrate on your subject, lovely.

I’ve already introduced you to the F2 on this blog HERE but it’s such a great camera that I feel it deserves it’s very own blog review! I’ll give a run through of the features and operations of the camera and then we’ll get down to the business of sharing photos taken with it on various shoots and thoughts on using the F2 in practice.

The F2 is a modular design and when it was originally released back in 1971 it was a major selling feature that you could choose from a range of different focussing screens, in later years different prism heads were released which were interchangeable with any F2 body made at any time during it’s production run - this allowed you to decide on which kind of metering system (or no meter at all) worked best for you/a particular situation - my F2 is an F2A which means that it has a metered prism head that uses a needle meter readout, I much prefer this form of read over LED’s but if you like an LED readout then you can check out the F2AS head, or if you don’t want a meter at all you can get a plain prism - lovely! These days the interchangeable nature of the F2 is probably less of a selling point although it will be nice to experiment with some alternative viewfinders at some point in the future.

OK so we get it, its a nice camera - so what? how’s it different to all the other bloody cameras you have…. great question! I’m glad you asked! let me explain:

Form factor: it’s a big camera! bigger than your standard 35mm camera, I like this! fits in my hand comfortably, the F2 is perhaps the most ergonomic camera I have had the pleasure to shoot with so far!

100% viewfinder: What you see is what you get! the viewfinder shows the whole of the frame (not always a given on some cameras) it’s big, it’s bright, it’s beautiful!

Mechanical: The body requires no batteries to operate, it’s powered by springs and gears - I like this very much! (obviously the meter needs a battery)

Build quality: The F2 was hand built to a very high specification for professional shooters, in an age when things were built to last, its like a Swiss watch that you can also use as a hammer from to time (or just maybe, make photographs with it)!

Looks: yes I am shallow enough for this to be a ‘thing’ in my choice of camera, but flipping heck look at it! Industrial Design at it’s finest - an exercise in form following function if ever there was one.

I enjoy shooting with the F2 so much and I am such a big fan of the amazing Nikkor lenses that I’ve decided to concentrate my 35mm kit around two Nikon F2’s (I just bought a second one) and an FE2 which I already own (and who knows what other Nikon F mount bodies I’ll take a shine to in future) in part because these are simply amazing pieces of equipment and also because running several different lines of camera (Olympus, Pentax, Canon and Nikon) at the same time gets a bit expensive!

I’d much rather own several bodies which can all utilise the same lenses - giving me more capacity to get some killer glass and shoot it across any camera body that takes my fance. Obviously for Medium Format shenanigans the indomnitable Pentax 67 will be a fixed feature and for just the sheer lunacy of it a Holga 120N is also firmly on my ‘keeper’ list of cameras!

I want to share some of the images I’ve taken with the F2, to date I’ve used it on several portrait shoots and also a few hikes into the wilderness to shoot landscapes, I’ll start with some of the portrait images which I took on a shoot with my friend Arya Ravenswood you can see the full shoot HERE these were all shot on Portra 400 on the F2 with the Nikkor 50mm 1.4 AI lens.

And now a few images from out and about in the moors around my home, the following images were taken on the same day at two different locations - first three are from Dovestones Reservoir and the rest are from West Nab, all shot on Fomapan 200 on the F2 with the Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AI lens and an orange filter (the observant will notice this is also the same time that I took the header shots for this blog - planning ahead you see, I don’t just throw these things together you know)!

So there we have it - another blog during which I heap praise upon a particular camera, stating something like ‘so this is the only camera I’ll ever need’ or whatever, clearly I’ve established that I am prone to bouts of enthusiasm when it comes to this kind of thing but this time it’s different… as a result of how much I enjoy working with the F2 I’ve sold off pretty much all my other cameras now, I‘m a photographer not a collector so my ultimate aim here is to shoot not to have loads of cameras just sitting on the shelf - the F2 is a shooters camera, a pro series camera from a time when being a pro photographer was a badge of honour. I make no claims to that badge myself and certainly just owning a decent camera will not make you a better photographer, but owning something as well made with such attention to detail and design is a joy in and of itself - to use it as intended to create work that you are proud of is a whole other level of joy. I can’t guarantee that I won’t buy some other random cameras in future but what i can say is that for me the F2 is the ultimate 35mm film camera.

Portrait shoot with Arya Ravenswood

I recently had the pleasure of working with my friend Arya Ravenswood who is a practicsing Occult Magician & Witch. Arya wanted to create a fresh set of images to use on her website and Social Media (the occult is a very 21st Century operation ya know) and I was thrilled to be asked to help Arya realise her creative vision!

A huge thank you to Arya for the opportunity to collaborate on these images, check out Arya’s website HERE and also a Periscope TV channel HERE Arya has a real gift - go visit her website and find out for yourselves!

Since I am in the process of rebuilding my portfolio it was a great opportunity to put my new Pentax 67 through it’s paces on this shoot. To mix things up a bit I also used my Nikon F2 as a second shooter, filmwise on both 35mm and 120 formats this was an all Kodak Portra 400 affair mainly to give a consistent look and feel to the images so that they can hang together as a set and also because I bloody love the stuff!

Working with Arya was amazing, she created two really strong (and of course very Witchy/Occult inspired) looks for us to shoot, we chose two locations (one for each look) and got to it - here’s the first look shot in a local graveyard.

We didn’t scout the locations beforehand so it was very much a case of paying attention to our surroundings and allowing ourselves to be drawn towards particular details and working with them; having explored one graveyard we moved on to a second just across the valley. As i reflect on these images now I am reminded of the beautiful surroundings, the palpable stillness, the lush green of the grass and moss covered graves contrasting with Arya’s monochrome outfit, the Occult and Christian symbolism, life and death - as above so below….

Our second look for the day was an opportunity tor Arya to channel her inner Stevie Nicks with a more bohemian, naturalistic look replete with lace, jewelry, bangles, occult symbols and also incorporating the tools of Arya’s trade - a bronze knife, a crystal ball, a chalice and cauldron. We chose some local woods for this look emphasising the natural elements and giving us a new setting to explore this side of Arya’s persona.

This second set of images is certainly more expressive than the first and the wooded location was the perfect backdrop - walking through the trees we came upon a rocky outcrop which provided the setting for our shoot being set back from the main path and out of view of inquisitive dog walkers and their dogs! (I’ve never seen people skidaddle so quickly upon hearing that we’re doing a ‘Witchy’ shoot)! ;)

The combination of the Pentax 67 and Nikon F2 worked great for me - the Pentax is capable of some uniquely stunning images with a very distinctive, almost 3D look which I love, the F2 is no slouch either and some of my favourite images from the whole shoot came from the 35mm camera, I think this will be my default combination of cameras for the foreseeable future.

There were so many images to choose from on this shoot! It was great to work with Arya to create these images and full credit goes to her for styling the shoot, she did an amazing job on the day too and as a result we made some powerful images together, I think this is some of my best portrait work to date (if i do say so myself) I wish Arya every success in her Macgickal endeavours!

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.

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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!

Ruth Ellen Psychic Readings - Publicity Photo Shoot

Over the last few weeks I have been busy updating my portfolio and giving the website a bit of a spring clean (yes I know its not spring). This has included re-arranging the layout and also having a bit of a rethink on where I'd like to focus my energies and how i present my work to reflect this.

I've always loved commercial photography and working with businesses large and small to create photographs which visually represent their brand - this can include images for promotional and marketing purposes, product photography and creating team and staff portraits. I want to showcase a few of my recent commercial gigs in a bit more detail and if you want to see my commercial portfolio then you can have a look HERE.

Recently I had the pleasure of helping my friend Ruth create some publicity and promotional photos to help launch her new business venture into the realm of pyschic readings!

We wanted to create a set of images which present Ruth in the context of the spiritual and give a visual language which relates to the services that she offers - and of course how else to convey a sense of the magical and mystical? let's get a horse involved in the shoot! I can take no credit for this idea or for the styling which was all Ruth's work! :)

We couldn't have planned the weather conditions better - it had been raining on and off all day, but the rain held off for just long enough to shoot with the appropriately named Horse 'Cloud' who was very kindly 'borrowed' for the shoot from Glint an awesome local Social Enterprise who deliver 'Horse Assisted Development' where Horses help people to deal with issues, build confidence and manage stress, check them out HERE

For the shoot I used a combo of my Pentax 645 medium format film camera and my Canon 6D DSLR - in fact this shoot has actually given me the opportunity to fall back in love with digital (I know I'm a fickle beggar) All of the above photos were shot on the 6D and all of the following are on the 645 using Kodak Portra 400.

The film shots have a character all of their own which I love - I hesitated to re-edit the digital shots to look more like the film photos, I like that the shots have a different look and feel across both formats, if they all end up looking the same then what's the point in shoot both formats?!

It was lovely to work with Ruth and to help create some images which she can use on her website and for promotional purposes for her new business - I wish her every success! Check out her website here https://repsychic.format.com/aboutruthellenpsychic