Category: Articles
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As a roll of film moves across the film plane: making a slit-scan camera
This is the story of how I came to own a custom-built 35mm slit-scan photography camera and how I set about using it to capture the streets of São Paulo. This story begins in June 1994 when Professor Andrew Davidhazy from Rochester Institute of Technology went to São Paulo, Brazil, to teach a workshop. The…
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5 Frames… Of ~30 years expired ORWO NP22 (EI 80 / 120 Format / Hasselblad 500CM)
Sometimes technical perfection counts less than the artistic adventure of trying new things, and I recently decided to join the growing number of photogs shooting expired film. This was a tough departure for me – I almost always shoot Fujifilm NEOPAN 100 ACROS or sometimes ILFORD Delta 100 Professional and carefully develop it with an…
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5 Frames… With a medium format shift lens on Kodak Portra 400 (EI 400 / 120 format / Pentax 67II)
I’d originally got my Pentax 67II primarily for portraits and the chance of using the sublime 105mm f2.4 lens. For me, that is the perfect portrait lens, as it delivers a wonderful spatially separated look, usually only found from a large format camera set up. Whilst there are plenty of merits of a one-camera and…
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5 Frames… On the “Plastic Craptastic” with ILFORD FP4 PLUS (EI 125 / 35mm format / Vivitar IC101 Panorama)
There’s poor man’s Xpans, and there’s craptastic plastic. The Vivitar IC101 falls into the latter category. I picked it up for AU$10, which is probably twice as much as it’s worth, but it does have some cool features for a focus-free plastic camera. Firstly, it has a lens cover. Secondly, it has a frame counter.…
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Still life in lockdown: Yashica MAT-124 and Fomapan 200 Creative
Greetings and salutations from Quentin Quarantino at Club Lockdown! I’ve always appreciated still life but never really practised it at a photography level. If you need encouragement may I recommend having a look at the work of Josef Sudek. What this master can do with just an egg and a glass, is outstanding! Even though…
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5 Frames… Of Winter in Northern Italy on Film Washi A (EI 12 / 35mm Format / Voigtlander Vito B)
Now that we find ourselves on this sort of late hibernation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, I thought it was a good time to put together a few words that have been swirling around in my head for the past months, without ever finding the opportunity to sit down and write them in the form…
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“Photographs” are not “Photography”
The idea I’d like to unpack in this article is based on some of the thoughts I’ve had while reflecting on my role when it comes to making photographs. I think that most of my recent writing has been produced in an effort to untangle preconceptions and assumptions that I seem to have been carrying…
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5 Frames… In Copenhagen with CineStill BwXX (35mm format / EI 250 / Nikon F100)
Scrolling through my Instagram feed introduced me to the wonderful world of CineStill. I had been having an extensive internal debate over which CineStill stock to buy and where to shoot it, but a pre-Christmas 2019 trip to Copenhagen ended up forcing my hand. After the usual trawls through the local camera shops (the best…
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Anecdotal Evidence: Tools to help you see photographically
I’ve been photographing on the street for years and have been keeping notes. They cover everything from the…
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5 Frames… In Baku on ILFORD HP5 PLUS (35mm format / EI 800 / Leica IIIf)
I wasn’t ever a big fan of pushing or pulling film; developing prices tend to increase drastically, and try as I may I could not wrap my head around it. However, now that I develop my own film, and after seeing some photos online, I decided to have a shot at it with some ILFORD…
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My first roll… Of 120 film: Kodak Portra 160 in a Seagull TLR
I think that it is a wonderful idea to share the thoughts we have when trying something new. Sharing not only perfection in photography but also personal bewilderment makes one more humble towards others’ results and preferrably one learns things in the process. My first roll of 120 film wasn’t entirely my first ever but…
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5 Frames… Of LomoChrome Metropolis XR 100-400 (120 format / EI 250 / Fujifilm GA645Wi Professional)
Metropolis… some of you may think about the movie directed by Fritz Lang. Today, however, it’s also the name of the newest color film from Lomography. In this short series, I would like to show you my first images taken with this analog film. The LomoChrome Metropolis has been waiting for the first use for…
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The Making of Hitchcock’s California: Vista Visions From the Camera Eye
Hitchcock’s California is a photographic tribute to Alfred Hitchcock by Aimee Sinclair and myself, along with an essay by Hitchcock film historian Dan Auiler. The book features a portfolio of eighty panoramic photographs — shot on the Hasselblad XPan system — that revisit locations from the Golden State the legendary director used in filming many…
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5 Frames… Of Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400H (120 format / EI 100 / Kowa Six MM)
I recently got back into shooting film. I was more of a casual shooter until 2019 when I picked up my first medium format camera: a Kowa Six MM with an 85mm/F2.8 lens. The reverse viewfinder and square composition were awkward at first, but I grew to like the simplicity and the short rolls. Twelve…
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Mini-review: Making portraits with the Lensbaby Composer on film
A few years ago, when I was first getting into serious photography and before I started exploring analog, I purchased a Lensbaby Composer lens for my Canon DSLR. For those who haven’t heard of the Lensbaby, it’s a (rather expensive for what it is) selective focus manual lens. Basically, you decide which part of the…
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5 Frames… Of 1974 expired Kodak Plus-X Pan (70mm format / EI 50 / Hasselblad 503CW)
I am a big fan of the Hasselblad V-system, I tested many different models, many different film backs, but one model remained – the most iconic format 70, which was used during the first Apollo missions! If you’re lucky, you’ll find everything almost immediately, I wasn’t so it took me a while. Finding a film…
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5 Frames… On 50+ year expired ILFORD HP3 (120 format / EI 12 / Agfa Isolette II)
My first foray into medium format photography nearly 3 years ago was a trusty and time-tested Kodak Brownie, however the lack of control and only getting 8 frames per roll of film made me want to try something new. So I hopped onto eBay and managed to find an Agfa Isolette II 120 camera for…
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Film stock review: Kodak EASTMAN DOUBLE-X (5222) – 35mm format
Any cinephiles reading this have seen Kodak’s DOUBLE-X 5222 shine its magic even if they didn’t know it. It’s the stock that Manhattan, Schindler’s List and Raging Bull were shot on, as well as parts of Casino Royale, Kill Bill, and Momento. When shot properly, it yields fantastic results. Those familiar with Cinestill’s films may…
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5 Frames… Of ILFORD HP5 PLUS (35mm format / EI 400 / Zorki 4K)
I’d been tempted to try out a Russian Leica copy for some time and finally took the plunge when a Zorki 4K came up on Facebook. It came complete with a non-functioning rangefinder and a very sticky shutter, but a couple of squirts of electrical switch cleaner later and all functions appeared to be working…