The Best Roll Yet?

March 15, 2023

As regular readers will know, I rediscovered my Olympus Mju II a few months back and I’ve been periodically buying a roll of film, working my way through it then getting the film developed and scanned. So far, the experience has been ok, but I’ve been frustrated by the lack of really good shots and rolls full of either average shots or out of focus ones. Now I’ve received my third roll of film back, I’m pleased to find some improvement and some decent shots (in amongst all the standard average ones).

My favourite shot of all the ones I have taken so far, from that first roll a few months ago was the kind of shot I like to get when I’m on the streets using my Fuji. And, surprisingly, it’s the first ever shot I’ve managed to get of this sort, looking directly into a bus. I had been hoping for such an opportunity for some time (I walk on a bus route to work) and on this occasion I got the look I was hoping for and a bus stopping in a convenient location. Happy days!

Person sitting on a bus behind a misty and rain covered window.

I was fortunate too, with this roll of film, to have it during a period of typical winter weather, with fog and rain thrown into the mix. This led to plenty of opportunities, particularly on one foggy morning in the city that presented the kind of conditions I’d dreamt of catching on my commute in the winter.

people walking across a bridge in the fog

two people walking in the fog with buildings obscured in the background

People walking in the street with fog obscuring the backgroun

There was also plenty of rain which was good for reflections, although it was tricky to get some decent compositions with the time I had and a lack of cloths to clean the lens. I just had to make do with what I could get.

person carrying an umbrella walking towards the camera in the rain.

person walking across a bridge in the rain carrying umbrellas.

Nothing too exciting there really. I need to work on this more with the time I have (around 40mins before work). It’s also difficult when there are so many other people around, but I’m sure there are shots to be had around that area on the way to work.

I said at the top that the bus shot was my favourite. There was another that is up there as a shot I’m pretty happy with all things considered, looking through a phonebox to a distant figure in the fog:

I’ve put all the hits and misses in the gallery below, will be interested to hear what you think as always!

The Fog Descends On Deal

February 15, 2023

With a disappointing weekend of weather (and an enforced stay indoors due to a new sofa being delivered…which I can’t complain too much about given the state of the old one…) and a half-term off with the kids to look forward to (no sarcasm!), I fully anticipated a quiet week ahead with very few opportunities for photography. How wrong I was! After eagerly watching the weather forecast, hoping for some late morning fog, it looked promising for Tuesday morning. The forecast was for a pretty much widespread fog, covering the whole of the south east. The only question now: can I get up and get the children ready and out the door in time to catch the fog in Deal?

I’ve had my eye on Deal in the fog for sometime now. I’ve been intrigued by the possibilities around the pier, with the fog enveloping it and giving it that air of a concrete road to nowhere. In recent years, I’ve appreciated just how rare it is for this kind of occurence. Either I’ve just been unlucky in recent years, or the fog has always been something that occurs a handful of times a year and, even then, trying to predict when and where is a fool’s errand. So not only have I been keeping my fingers crossed for fog, I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for fog in Deal. Given it’s a 40 minute drive from our house, there is always the risk of getting in the car, driving through the fog and finding…nothing on my arrival at this little seaside town. Fortunately, this was not one of those occasions…

After driving through thick fog on the A2 (and counting the number of cars without lights on, despite the visibility being down to a few metres), we arrived in Deal and were presented with the kind of foggy conditions I had hoped for. Armed with only my XT-3, no tripod, no zoom lenses, just a 23mm and 33mm prime, I set off to see what I could capture. With my children in tow too of course.

After belatedly realising I had knocked the focus mode switch on the front of the camera (thank god I noticed that before too long), I started wondering around the beach to see what I could capture. This was one of my first shots:

Concrete pier leading off into the sea — 23mm, f5.6, 1/250, ISO160

Of course, the obvious shots were the first shots I took, but this is the kind of shot I had envisioned when I imagined the fog descending onto Deal. In terms of the post-processing, I like my fog images to be tinted slightly green as I think it gives it more of a mysterious vibe to the image, like it’s something out of a horror movie. Otherwise, I keep the editing fairly light and just accentute the softness (so low contrast, minus clarity and very slightly minus on the dehaze).

After pottering around under the pier for a bit, I headed up (with the children, honestly, I didn’t forget them!) onto the pier itself and took a walk along to the pier head. At thist time of the morning, there were a few people milling around, but not so many it was crowded. This really helped in terms of picking out individuals or couples walking along the pier, and of course the fog helped to simplify the background and obscure any others that were in shot.

Person walking alone in the fog looking at their phone — 23mm, f8, 1/500, ISO500

Person walking along the pier, the wet ground reflecting their body — 23mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

As I got to the end of the pier walking back, the fog started to lift and we took a walk along the beach towards the fishing boats moored near the road. I kinda figured that was it for the foggy conditions and that the sun was going to start breaking through and it’ll be a typical bright sunny day.

However, just when I figured the day was done and we’d wonder off and grab some snacks and disappear, the fog came in again, much to the annoyance of the kids who I think, by this stage, were heartily sick of me continuing to drag them back to the pier to get yet more shots of it obscured by the fog. Nevertheless, I persisted. Of course, I wasn’t the only one…

The back of a person holding a smartphone taking a picture of the pier in the fog. — 33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

A person crouched down on the beach taking a photo of the pier. — 33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

Much as I enjoyed hanging around the pier, the kids were obviously getting bored so we took a walk along the promenade, and I’m glad we did as I think some of the best shots of the day were taken as we walked away from the pier and looked back on the people walking through the fog. With the sun behind them (albeit also obscured by the fog) the people suddenly became nothing but a series of silhouettes, ambling towards us. Like something out of a horror movie, these shadowy forms ambled towards us, through the fog, making for some really interesting opportunities. Whilst I was happy with the shots I got on the pier, the shots along the promenade were, I think, better and really had a lot of atmosphere to them. Given the silhouette effects and the nature of the light, many of them I switched up into black and white, there was little in the way of colour anyway, so it seemed like a natural switch.

Two people walking towards the camera on the promende. — 33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

Person walking in the fog towards the camera. Building obscured in the background and cars on the right of the frame. — 33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

View from a beach shelter with an individual walking along the promenade. — 33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

After our walk along the promenade, we headed into the town centre to have a browse around. By this stage the fog was starting to lift and the sun was now shining through, leaving a beautiful morning, but taking all that lovely fog away. Regardless, it was a pretty spectacular morning on the seafront, with plenty of compositions to work with (I think I took around 370 photos in the end!). The scenary that morning certainly made up for a disappointing weekend and that half-term week of entertaining the children did present some photography opportunities after all. So everyone was happy…well, maybe not the kids. I think they’ve forgiven me now…but we’ve still got a few days of school holidays left yet, so jury is out I guess…

A few more photos from the day are in the gallery below, I’ve managed to cull my shots in Lightroom down to around 190, but I still need some work to do to cut that down a bit. I’ve tried to limit the gallery below to the best bits. Let me know what you think!

ian

Another roll of HP5 with the Olympus Mju ii

January 18, 2023

After discovering that yes, my old Olympus Mju II does indeed work, I put another roll of Ilford HP5 through its paces to see what I could come up with on my commute. Again, it’s another mixed bag of images, which I guess I need to learn is par for the course with film photography. But the key for me is to keep taking it out, keep trying shots and keep trying out new approaches. I’m never going to take 36 bangers, I just need to accept that there will just be a handful that come off, whilst the majority…don’t. I mean, it’s quite a pricey endeavour when you look at it like that, but sooner or later its bound to pay off, right? RIGHT?

This time I tried a different lab for processing: AG Photographic in Birmingham. Coming to a grand total of £24.43, the processing included a high resolution 8bit JPEG scan (with no adjustments), negatives sleeved in Kenro translucent paper ring binder sleeving, and scans delivered via email. Fairly pricey, I guess. But the service was excellent. I sent the film for processing on Wednesday 11th January. They received them on the 12th and by the 13th I was able to download the films on my iPad, transfer to Lightroom and make some light edits. Less than 48hrs between posting them and receiving them. Now that’s pretty impressive! Maybe I caught them on a quiet week and turnaround was quicker than is typical, but less than 48hrs was pretty impressive and helped soothe the pain of the bill (again, something I’d probably need to get used to anyway with film photography).

So, that’s the processing, what about the images…ok…let’s dive into them…

As per the previous batch, there were a number of photos where the focus just wasn’t quite on it:

I’m still yet to figure out why I’ve not quite nailed the focus in these shots. I tried to focus on a particular spot using the crosshair, moved the camera and fired the shot but something is obviously not quite right. The one above was shot in daylight (albeit around sunrise) and the person was walking through the shot, not running. Maybe it’s down to the camera (an easy excuse which I have no shame in employing when it suits!), or maybe I just screwed up the shot. I dunno.

That said, some other shots that missed focus seemed less of a problem to me, for example, the two shots below taken in the rain:

Even though in both of those I missed focus, I kinda don’t mind and I’m not particularly unhappy with them. They could be better, but I’ll take them given I was shooting quickly and in the rain. The top one I thought I was much closer when I took the shot than it turns out. I guess I’m still judging the focal length.

Others came out pretty sharp which I was pleased with, even if the compositions could have been better.

And there were a couple of experiments that didn’t quite come off (but I’m cool with that, I’d rather try things out and see what happens).

And then there was the odd shot that I was just really pleased with…

So in short, still got a lot to learn. I’ve got a third film on the go now, so we’ll see what comes of that.

I’ve put together a selection of images in the gallery below, would be interested to hear which you like (if any!) or any other constructive comments you may have.

Shooting Ilford HP5 with the Olympus Mju II

November 23, 2022

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about rediscovering my Mju II and buying a roll of film to give it a run out after twenty years of it gathering dust in a cupboard. Having finished the film and taken it in for processing, I now have my first roll of film back from the developers. So…how did I get on with it?

Well, it was a mixed bag. It was interesting shooting with film again, particularly with a point and shoot that, whilst having some strong points, does have its flaws too. The thing that came to mind to me most when shooting with it, were the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson:

“When a photographer raises his camera at something that is taking place in front of him, there is one moment at which the elements in motion are in balance. Photography must seize upon this moment.”

That was what I struggled with most. Often I would find myself settling on a composition then waiting, but waiting just a little too long. I frequently found myself thinking “not yet…not yet…not yet” waiting for the perfect moment where everything was exactly placed. More often than not, I was not decisive. I struggled throughout the roll to identify the right moment. A few times I think I got it, but too often I was just too slow…too hesitant. Of course, with digital I’m used to shooting a whole load of shots, knowing that one will be the “right” shot. Obviously, shooting film you don’t have that luxury (certainly not with the current cost of film and film processing anyway!). You have to seize on the moment.

Of all the photos from this first roll of film, I think this one came closest to being the kind of shot I wanted to capture:

I really like the tones and I was pleased I was able to capture one person in shot on what is otherwise quite a busy thoroughfare. The image itself was created by using reflections from glass panels running along the bridge. There are parts of the bridge with a black panel that, when the light is right, casts a reflection of the people walking across the bridge. This was somewhat of an experiment as I wasn’t sure it would come out as I wanted, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got the film back from developing. It just had the kind of feel to it that I liked. A bit of atmosphere.

Another of my favourites, albeit a pretty straightforward shot, was this one:

person walking past a wall with Wonder Full written on it.

Not particularly original, but I like the background, the position of the subject and the leaves in the upper corners. I’ll take more interesting photos (I hope!), but I was pleased that this one was just…right. Composition was ok, focus was good, I caught the person at the right point in their stride. Nothing spectacular, but pleasing technically given I’d not shot with this camera for quite some time.

But it wasn’t all quite so pleasing. It clearly took me a while to get the focus right. Quite a few shots I missed focus as I tried to work out shooting with the Mju II. No biggie, I didn’t expect 36 bangers. And besides, you have to make mistakes to learn, right?

And there were times where I tried shooting without using the viewfinder and…well…

head of a person at the bottom of the frame with tudor framed building in the background

But overall, the roll wasn’t too bad. I’m currently working through a second roll of HP5 and I think I have learnt from this first roll. More shots in the gallery below. Let me know what you think!