Intelligence and Ignorance

The latest film is in. After a shaky start I decided it would be focused on improving my portraiture. I want to get better at photographing people. Not sure about the results; see what you think.

The last two films from my American adventure came in the post today. The set can be found on Flickr, here.

I am still travelling, 2/3rds of the way through my trip, and halfway through my month-long stay in Boston. But I have finally found both time and opportunity to process the photos taken so far. They’re here.

The best of my latest film. If you want to see the rest, head over to Flickr.
This will be the last set (and possibly the last post) in a while, as I am off to America on Sunday, to see and celebrate with many good friends.

Captured on film
Two days. Two locations. Two sets. Now on Flickr.

Or: Further Adventures in Photography pt II

The other day, after being inspired by a beautiful photograph by the wonderful Anna Shogren, I decided to experiment with expired film stock.
I’m enjoying my photography more and more, but shooting on film in this day and age really is an expensive process. Each roll that I take is somewhere between £15 and £25, once developing and scanning is included, which works out to up to 70p a frame. I wanted to find a way to reduce costs and keep things interesting in the process. Using expired film seemed a good way to do that.

Anyone who dimly remembers the film photography of their childhood may recall finding the odd film at the back of a cupboard, long forgotten. Developing these films often resulted in interesting colour smudges and strange over saturation. This is because the chemicals in film stock are fundamentally unbalanced, and the film thus degrades over time. Believe it or not, every roll of film comes with an expiration date (and usually a recommendation to keep it stored in a fridge!)

Exponents of Lomography and other lo-fi photography techniques rejoice in the artefacts, grain and over-saturation that are possible with expired film. Most of all they revel in the unpredictability of it all. That unpredictability (and the reduced cost) greatly appealed to me, so I bought a random grab-bag off ebay at Easter. My latest Flickr set is the results of the first three films – experiments with colour over form, mixed with final memories of Chichester and the continued search for a decent portrait of the dog…

I’m really quite enamoured with some of the results; I think some of the “accidents” are beautiful. The next two rolls, taken over a couple of days in sunny London this weekend, are going into the post tomorrow, because I now can’t wait to see the results (overdraft be damned!)

I hope those of you who seem to like following my photographical progress enjoy these as much as I do…

Just before Easter I went to l’Abri again – another one of my now very regular visits. As usual this visit was primarily prompted by the arrival of dear friends from a distant land.

Steven Carlson and Alida Kovacs are two of the most beautiful people you will ever meet. Truly, in every way imaginable. Steven is a dear, dear friend from my 7 months at the Manor last year, and Alida is slowly and graciously becoming so. When they told me they were flying in from Budapest for a few weeks there was no way I could miss the opportunity to see them.

I had the privilege of a week in their precious company, which included being able to celebrate their engagement with them. A true joy.

I took a lot of photos in those short days, part of a new set now online. I’m pleased with some of the results – especially capturing something of the character of these two joyous individuals during a very happy time.

Enjoy.

Ah, my wonderful, broken camera. How I love you, and how you spurn my advances and render my flirtations with you useless…

The Dutchess

Yes, my camera is as hard to use as it ever was, and I am still failing (regularly) to take the shot I want to. I have uploaded the latest set so you can all enjoy my misfortune…

An impossible to focus camera. A grainy , ISO 800 film. A dark, romantically-lit house. Sneak-shots rapidly taken (between moments of clearing plates and washing up).

All these combine to give you some of the worst photographs I’ve ever taken. But they are indicative (if poor) images of precious memories. Yes, it was Marta and Danny’s wedding…

Enjoy

New sets up on Flickr. Enjoy