Garden Colour Part Two

See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labour or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.  

(Matthew 6:28b, 29)

Well Spring has sprung a bit more since last time.  If ever you are thinking about a film for showing off colour (whether it be in your garden, landscapes or even for portraits) may I humbly recommend Fuji's Reala 100.  Seeing as only strange people like me use film these days I got twenty rolls of this film off eBay for £20!  All these pictures were taken with a Nikon F100 and 28-105 AF-D lens.  

Messed Up

The above picture should show some nicely developed negatives of photos taken in the recent snow, unfortunately it looks instead like pictures taken inside a cave at midnight with no flash! It only took a fraction of a second. I lost my concentration and opened up the developing tank to the light. I closed the lid again immediately but I knew it was too late. Film is very very sensitive to light and so all 36 or so exposures were lost.

I've just started reading Dallas Willard's book, "Renovation of the Heart". Some words on page 2 resonated with me:

But the situations in which we find ourselves are rarely as important as our response to them.

A ruined film is of course nothing in the context of our lives, where we will face good and bad situations, sometimes overwhelmingly so. But my response to this minor mishap gave me an insight into my own mind in dealing with an albeit insignificant mess up of my own making. My first reaction was to consider giving up and not bother with trying to develop my own films any more and of allowing myself the indulgence of a good sulk and perhaps a good moan too while I was at it.

But then I thought that well I will just learn from this mistake and there's no way I'll ruin my film in the same way again, (though probably I will find many other ways to ruin future films too).

I seem to be the sort of person who can only learn by failing first. I thank God for His overwhelming grace. Time and time again He picks me up and dusts me off and sets me on my feet again. I love Him for that...

Developing

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Ilford HP5 Plus ISO 400, Ilfotec DD-X: 9 minutes @ 20°C

Yesterday I finally managed to develop my first black and white film. This has been an ambition of mine ever since I was given an SLR for Christmas in 1985! It wasn't that difficult really, just a few instructions to follow, mixing the various chemicals correctly and at the right temperature and making sure that the development time was exactly 9 minutes and that was that. The one big mistake I made was in trying to dry the negatives I scratched them quite badly with what I thought was a very soft cloth. I'm looking forward to doing the next roll of film which hopefully will have some nice pictures of the recent snow on it.

Nikon F100 Reflection

Nikon F100, Nikkor 28-105 D, Kodak Ultramax 400

One of the great things about being among the few strange people who still like to take pictures using 35mm film is that film cameras are now worth a fraction of what they once were. Ten years ago there is no way I could have afforded a Nikon F100, a camera used by many professionals as a back up to their F5's. What cost around £1200 in 1999 can now be bought in mint condition for under £200! Yes, I could buy a plastic pocket-sized digital camera for that money today - but I chose instead to buy perhaps one of the very best 35mm SLR's ever made. There's no pocket large enough for this beast! It's big, it's metal, it's heavy, it's a serious piece of kit. The autofocus and film advance are scarily quick (it focuses and meters much more quickly and accurately than my D70s) and did I say it is a lot of fun to use?

So I took it with us when we went on a family trip to Cork last weekend. For part of the day we went to Fota wildlife park, which was very quiet on such a cold and overcast day. The above picture I took while we were waiting to get the train back into the city.

Because I have only a flatbed scanner I cannot get the best quality from film negatives. A close inspection will show that the picture is quite grainy and lacking in detail. In other words the reflection is an imperfect one. This reminded me of how each of us are made in God's image and yet oh how so very imperfect we are. We've all met people who seem to radiate God's love ... I think of a Pentecostal Pastor I once knew who seemed to glow with God's love, an incredible man, I think of a Franciscan brother who came to my school and got us cynical teenagers interested in contemplative prayer and I can think of many people, often the quiet ones who inhabit pews Sunday by Sunday who in public are shy but behind closed doors are the real 'prayer warriors' of God's Kingdom.

All of us to a greater or lesser extent reflect God's glory. Every day my prayer is "More of You, less of me." Though I'd be the first to admit that God has His work cut out when it comes to me :-)

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Cor.3:18)

Closing Down :-(

Panasonic LX1, f4, 1/500 sec, ISO 80, 28mm equivalent (click to enlarge)

It's sad to see so many people affected by the mess that is our economy. I know individuals and families in my parish who have lost their jobs, businesses that have closed and people who only a short time ago were comfortably off now struggling to make ends meet.

This reality has hit us all on many different levels. Last week, my favourite place to get films developed put up a 'closing down' sign. I'm sad most of all for the kind, knowledgeable and helpful lady there who is losing her job. The service was brilliant - I would drop off a film and within the hour it would be ready - simple and efficient. If I didn't want prints but just the negatives developed, no problem, she would do it in fifteen minutes and only charge me €2! "Sure I'll just run it through the machine and it will be ready", she would say.

The thing is I don't know of anywhere else that will do this. I reckon I'll have to wait days in other places and be charged considerably more. Shooting film will now be less of a joy and more of a hassle. Of course it has been on the back of my mind to set up a mini darkroom at home. I did a bit of black and white developing and printing at school and then when I was a student I worked nights in a photo lab (those were loooong nights, in the dark and breathing in the fumes of nasty chemicals).

All I would need would be a small developing tank, developer and fixer etc. and I could use a dark bag rather than take over a whole room. Hmm maybe I'll give that some further thought, I wonder if Father Christmas is accepting letters yet?

Kodachrome

Nikon D70s, f4.5, 1/60 sec, ISO 200, 82mm equivalent

Nikon D70s, f4.2 1/40 sec, ISO 200, 57mm equivalent

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm

June 22 was a sad day for many photographers, for it was the day that Kodak announced the "Discontinuation" of Kodachrome - perhaps the most famous slide film of all and which had been in production since 1935!

Fortuitously , just a couple of weeks earlier I had bought a roll of it to try. The results came back in the post today from Dwayne's Photo lab in Kansas, U.S.A., via Switzerland - the only lab left in the world that does the tricky job of processing the stuff.

I have to say that from an amateur photographer's viewpoint it's hard to work with. You have to get the exposure spot on, there's not the tolerance that you'd get in a normal print film. But when you do get it right the colour, sharpness, detail and dynamic range are far greater than my digital camera can come up with.

So long Kodachrome, I'm sure that many of your slides will last a lot longer than the hard drives, C.D.'s and flash drives that most of our photos are stored on these days...

Wild Goose Chase

Film: Fuji Neopan 400, Camera: Pentax P50, Lens: SMC Pentax-A 50mm f1.7

I now know why Geese make such excellent "Guard Dogs". These ones in Fota Wildlife Park give the impression of being, while not friendly, just more sort of ambivalent about your presence on their territory. Get too close or get distracted by taking a photo (as I did) and you are likely to be pecked. I'm sure that the high-pitched yelp that I let out upon being pecked was very amuzing, not just for my fellow humans but for these feathery creatures too - from whom I will now keep a more respectable distance!

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:20-21)

Light Pollution

Panasonic LX1, 60 sec., f2.8, ISO 80, 6.3mm (Click to enlarge)

"The Heaven's Declare the glory of God", (at least they would without humankind's best attempts to blot out the night sky with light pollution)!

I've been itching to try out the "starry sky mode" on our new compact camera, so last night I set it on a tripod at the side of the Rectory facing south towards Great Island. You can make out the stars but the scene is dominated by the bright lights from what I think must be the floodlights from the Cobh Ramblers ground, roughly 4 miles away as the crow flies.

On a camera such as this, with a fingernail sized sensor, it really struggles to capture detail without making the photo very blotchy and full of digital 'noise'. At a small picture size like this it looks okay but at full size it's pretty ghastly. Of course in the days of film you just pointed your tripod mounted camera at the night sky put it on 'bulb' and went away and had a cup of tea for half an hour or so. Hmm, I guess that this is one example when film is actually better - maybe I'll give that a try soon.