Monochrome waterfalls. Inspired by how my results with Lomography Potsdam Kino 100 came out, I decided to try out Lomography Babylon Kino ISO 13 film. ISO 13?! I have never shot with anything that slow. However, I bought this film with the intention to use it for waterfall photography. The slow speed would require the shutter to stay open to blur the water movement. The day was going to be overcast with some light rain. Sounds good for waterfall pictures.

The day started early and I wasn’t even sure if I would use Lomography’s Babylon 13 or Lomochrome Purple. I thought to myself, “what the hell” and went with Babylon Kino 13. I set my trusty Nikon FE to ISO 12 and decided to take notes of each shot. Like I said, I have never used a film below 100, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Just went ahead and took photos of each waterfall and hoped I was doing it correctly.

With a friend (IG @waterfalls_of_japan), we spent the day driving around the Japanese countryside looking for waterfalls. At each waterfall, I took a couple of snaps on film along with digital. At the time I didn’t have a cable release, so the only longest exposures I could get was only 8 seconds. I had a great time shooting this film and taking notes for future reference. However, I kind of messed up the notes. I forgot some notes and the film doesn’t have numbers on it, so my notes aren’t that useful. Oh well.

I didn’t have any of the recommended chemicals to develop at home and I wasn’t sure how Kodak D-76 would work, so I sent it off to a local film lab. I scanned the negatives at home on my Epson V370. Not a top of the line scanner but it works for my simple needs.

Overall, I was very impressed with how these shots came out. Especially, since I have not used such a slow speed film before. What impressed me the most with these is how moody they are. I like the deep blacks, but maybe this is due to I was in the forests of Japan and there wasn’t any bright light. Nonetheless,

It was a good experience and I look forward to when I find the opportunity to use this film again. I’ve still got 4 more rolls.

~ Orrin

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2 responses to “5 Frames… Of Japanese waterfalls with Lomography Babylon Kino 13 (35mm / EI 12 / Nikon FE)”

  1. Lovely images with an esoteric film!

  2. Whaouuuuu ! Simply great.
    I was included in my next book the Awasu Onsen, … many great landscapes from Japan.
    I loive your pictures : they are perfect, and you know how to use at the top level your excellent gear (Nikon FE is a marvelous camera, one of the best price/quality ratio considering it has all the function of a Leica M with a meter + nikkor lens [50mm are very sharp with excellent rendering]), when we know to use, we can get : the level of your pictures = pro and top artistic. BRAVO ! THANK YOU SO MUCH ! CONTINUE TO SHARE PLEASE, IT IS GREAT BECAUSE IT GIVES LESSON AND IDEAS !!!

 

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