[Photography] Sweet Summer Days When I Was Feeling So Fine...

A collection of shots using a Sigma 10-20mm ultra-wide lens designed for digital cameras on a Canon 500n film SLR. The result is a huge vignette and a lot of distortion.

These shots were all from the start of summer, when there was actually some sunshine. Thorndon Country Park in Brentwood if fast becoming my "muse" for photography. More and more of my stuff is being taken there. I shot off a load of Polaroid and digital stuff during the weekend and I assume I will shoot up there again soon. There is such a variety of landscapes and tings up there - fern covered forest, pine woodland, lakes, grassy hills, rural paths, open fields - that you will always find something to shoot. Some of the views looking out of South Essex are good too, might have to capture a sunset up there as one hill slopes off due west.

I think I have had my fill of using this lens on the Canon 500n now. The effect is nice and it is a real revelation to look through the lens as such a wide vista; but things go get a tiny bit samey if you are not careful.

This is the second batch. The first lot were on Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 monochrome film. This lot were on cheap Kodak film I picked up in PoundLand for £1 per roll. 24 exp ISO 200, a good general use film I'm going to use to test cameras out. A bit of a bargain IMHO.

[Photography] WaterColourShade.

TheImpossibleProject PX-70 ISO125 ColorShade FirstFlush film for Polaroid SX-70 Cameras.

Yeah, that would have been far too long for a title, don't you think? So this is my impression of the brand new PX-70 film from TIP. These are the only 3 shots I've taken so far, testing the waters before I brave using in the wild at the weekend (weather dependant).

So here it is, new formula COLOUR film for Polaroid cameras. I cant say I've been waiting for years for this as Im a relative new comer to the world of instant photography - my first ever shots were on PX600 (SilverShade) back in May this year on my wife's old 600 CoolCam. Since then I've acquired a nice SX-70 and a 635cl.. I've shot Time Zero (half a pack as left in the SX-70 when I got it), Artistic TZ, Poalroid 600, Edgecut ATZ, Edgecut 600, PX600 SilverShade FirstFlush and PX100 SilverShade. Each film has been a revelation, different things to remember, different styles that suit them. For me, ATZ has been the most fun as the colours really looked good on the woodland stuff I liked shooting.

Now I have a new film. The ColorShade (hard to type without sticking a 'u' in there) has a really nice blue hue to it, really muted colours and tones too. The exposures I've taken so far benefited from having the lighten/darken dial moved 1/2 way to dark. The paint and the paper were shot like this, and brushes were shot with the dial at its rest position. I prefer the contrast and tones from the slightly darker image. it has been said by people on various photo sites that the film should be rated a lot faster than the ISO (ASA) 125 TIP say it is, more along the lines of ISO 300 maybe. That explains why a touch of underexposure helps out. And therefore popping this stuff in a 600 with some over exposure should work too. I'll try that I think at some point.

So, first impressions are that Im impressed with the tones and "colours" from the film. I would like to see more true colours in later versions of the film; but like SilverShade I do hope we will be able to get this experimental stuff in the future because, as an artistic medium, its good. Fingers crossed for no dramatic fading or "killer crystals" on this stuff - I've lost both packs of PX600 and most of my PX100 to them so far!

[Imported from old photoblog]

[Photography] Now I Just Stare Into The Sun And See Everything I've Done.

Another sunset shot from the Canon 400d. We went to a 1st Wedding Anniversary party for some friends of our who have a farm. Of course I packed a camera or two. This was the choice image of the day, the sun set perfectly behind this tree and the orange glow licked out between the branches at just the right spot. The golden field helped with the colouring and I couldn't have asked for a better sky.

The shot need a few bits done in Photoshop. The sensor on my Canon is getting really dirty and you could see a few blobs of dust on the final image. I also had a small tweak of the levels and a crop as my framing was out.

[Photography] And Now I'm Fine, My Mind Is Clear And Nothing Bad Can Touch Me Here.

I've been loving the Fujifilm Pro120 ISO400 colour film in my Holga recently. I don't know if this summer has had some different level quality, but the tones and colours I'm getting from this film make the Fujifilm Superia 400 look positively muted.

The 2 shots here were taken on Summerleeze beach in Bude Cornwall. Both were taken quickly to try and get no-one in them and no footsteps. I didn't notice the "safe swim area" flags until afterwards. never mind though, as the colours came out as I wanted - nice rich brown/yellow sand and some saturated but Holga-blown sky.

Both these shots made "Explore" on Flickr. I like that.

[Imported from old photoblog]