I’m quite new to photography, I inherited my first camera in 2022 after the passing of my Grandfather — an Olympus OM-10. Previously I’d not really enjoyed photography and just took snapshots on my phone as mementos of places I’d been. However, in receiving his camera and slide collection, and seeing the care he’d taken over them, I was instantly drawn by the idea of being able to repeat his work by photographing my children using the same camera and lenses he had lovingly done so around 40 years earlier.

My first roll (hand-rolled Agfa APX 100) was donated by a friend and the godfather to my son, he even developed it for me. The beauty of the old lenses with swirly imperfections, the same body that had been in the hands of my grandfather and pointed at me… nostalgia gave an extra level of meaning to results I was already happy with. It’s a shame I can’t say the same about the second and third rolls, but at least I’m learning.

Moving on just a couple of months and unfortunately, the 40-year-old Olympus OM-10 locked up whilst winding on. The repairs may take months, but luckily I found a temporary replacement. These 5 frames are a result of a test walk of the “new” Olympus OM-10, but using the trusty old lens.

The kids were taking their afternoon nap, so I just had a couple of hours. I wanted to try something a little different from the family portraits I’ve been doing up until now, and the cold snap had led to some brilliant lighting conditions as well as incredibly unusual frost build-up.

These frames are my first foray into the world of more abstract images, an attempt to expose the beauty in very mundane objects like my garden gate or a cobweb on the side of the house. It’s obviously very hard to be truly original, but the weather conditions have certainly helped to make the results something I’m to show.

Shot on an Olympus OM-10 and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 with Agfa APX 100, self-developed in Rodinal 1+50. The camera image is the original, not the unit I was testing, but a mirror selfie by my grandfather seemed like a fitting tribute to why these five frames even exist.

~ Thomas

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