The second day of sunshine… What bliss… It has been dark and grey for a couple of weeks. A huge contrast to the nice and warm temperatures of southern Vietnam where I had been.
I was supposed to get a workout done but I could not pass on a second day of sunshine. Loaded up my last roll of ILFORD HP5 PLUS that I had in stock, pushed it of course to 1600, and took the train to the beautiful city of Utrecht that is located exactly in the center of the Netherlands.
The camera I used is my lovely Nikon FM2n with a 35mm f/2 lens. I use the 35mm lens for most of my work. Every once in a while I try to use a 50mm but somehow I just can’t get used to it… When I arrived there was no particular plan. Just roaming around and have fun. Looking for light. And if I found a great spot. Waiting, just waiting. Until that moment happens that something interesting passes by.
All that sunshine was great. But it was still winter! That meant my camera was getting cold, and my fingers even colder. But that didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment.
36 frames go quickly when you are having fun. And if you compare it to digital, it is not much. But I guess that is the whole why you need to think more and shoot less.
When I got home it was time to warm up and develop my film. I always do that myself. It somehow makes me feel more relaxed and gives me more of the sense that I am creating something. Maybe even a photographers version of meditation and craftsmanship all at once.
Mixing up my ILFORD DDX… Agitating… Listening to so Led Zeppelin on vinyl…I think I need more of those sunny days when I am at home…
~ Cristian
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Nikon, Nikkor 35mm f/2, HP5l+, Led Zeppelin…you, sir, are a man of excellent taste!
Probably being naive here but why were you shooting at 1600 when the light was so good? You must have needed quite a small aperture. Nice shots though.
Hey Paul. That’s due to a couple of reason. First of all good light in the Dutch winter (this is when I wrote the five frames) is still not super bright. And the second one is f8 and wanting to maintain higher shutter speeds. Hope that clears it up a bit. 🙂
Burning B/W film, souping it while Zeppelin plays in the background. It doesn’t get any better than that. 👍
Haha indeed Russ! Still need to find a better way to flip my records between agitation cycles. 🙂