FILM FRIDAY by Peter | Prosophos.
Hi Steve,
It’s winter here in Toronto and photographic opportunities this time of year are limited by the cold and lack of light. The cold tends to keep me indoors; the lack of light (and all the greyness that it brings) makes me reach for B&W film.
Here then are a few images for your Film Friday series. These were all photographed over the last few weeks in and around my home, often in very faint light (the shutter speeds indoors ranged from 1/15 – 1/60 sec).
Equipment used:
- Leica M3 + 50mm Summicron Dual Range
- Kodak Tri-X 400 (home-developed)
- Plustek 8200i
1. “Let it Snow”
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2. “Quiet”
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3. “The Little Ghosts of Christmas Past”
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4. “Love, 2”
5. “The Glasses Portrait”
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6. “The Pianist, Closer”
7. “She”
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8. “Uncut”
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9. “The Winter Lion Portrait”
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10. “Tracks”
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10. “Tracks”
I hope you find these worthy of publication.
Regards,
Prosophos.
Always good to see your photos Peter, great stuff!
Thanks you James!
lifelike, true to life, realistic, no post-processing-monsters. That’s the way we do. Soothing in digital world.
Thank you Ralf. I photograph with digital too but yes, film does “sooth” me, as you say. It also re-calibrates my photographic eye.
I value its output more too, but I cannot really explain why.
More film days please 🙂
Great shots. And a reminder how (not so-) relevant 6 stops IBIS and noise free iso 12800 are
In general, the less options a camera has the more I like using it.
Simple sensitive and lovely ! Thanks for post .
Rgds Fergus
Thank you Fergus!
very nice photos
Thank you Danny!
Beautiful shots. You have to love those lovely Tri-X tones. We don’t get snow where I live so interesting to see something less common for myself in subject matter.
I was going to ask what development regime you used but I see you have already answered that in the comments section. Great scans from the plustek. They look much nicer than what I achieve from my old Epson 4990.
Thank you for sharing some inspiration Peter. 😀
Thank you Josh! Yes the litte Plustek has served me well; I know it’s slow but so is photographing with film.
I might look into getting one in the future I think, so as to produce better scans from the frames that are keepers. Still use the flat bed as a basic light table and for larger format scans, but maybe single out the good 35mm shots and then scan higher quality with something like a plustek.
Cheers Peter.
Great captures, great camera !
https://www.eyeem.com/u/saulaire
Your photo are awesome, really love them. Great BW, really sharp, great grain, excellent rendering, story telling. Of course this is the photographer, but this marvelous M3 tool is a wonderful tool, in my opinion the best camera ever made. It really permits to take pictures “decisive moment”
I have also an special M3 you can see at
https://www.eyeem.com/u/saulaire
I like this camera.
Saulaire
Hi!
Your images look extremely good.
Very nice work.
Dirk.
Thank you Dirk!
The great thing is everyone can develop his or her own style, building up experience through experimenting with different emulsions ei indexes, developers, technique.
I stopped doing my own developing a long long time ago, and never ventured far beyond the usual FP4 and Tri-X, D76 1+1.
Now I’ve got back to b&w film (400 ISO only) I’m fortunate to have found a one man lab (may Wim live forever! But he’s older than I am), that enjoys thinking with me and with all the different emulsions I use: 400Tx, HP5+, Tmax400, Delta400, Double-X 5222, ORWO N74, Retro 400s, Bergger 400.
If I tell him I want a punchy result but no coarse grain, that’s usually what I’ll get. A little pyro added… Magic!
Congratulations on the worthy feature, Peter.
Some beautiful classics here–glad to see you back in film.
-M.
Thank you Mark. Whenever I fall off the film bandwagon, I look at your site and then I’m inspired all over again.
Thanks Mark, that means a lot coming from you. Whenever I fall off the film bandwagon, I look at your site and get inspired all over again.
—Peter.
LOL… “Anonymous” and me are the same people, just moments apart. Anyway, glad I was consistent with my sentiments.
Classic photography with the classic camera.
Beautiful portraits, nice framing and great tones.
I was at loss when I had 1st winter in Toronto.
Light> What light! Darkness.
In minus 20C weather indoors is fun..
Lat week a film tore in a few places!
1st time since late ’80’s!
Well worth seeing.
Thanks Jason. Next time you’re in Toronto, let me know.
—Peter.
Wonderful, inspiring images. Proof that you don’t need to travel to exotic places to make wonderful photographs.
Thank you kindly.
Hi Peter,
Can you share your development process? I’m shooting tri-x and developing in Rodinal and using the same scanner but my photos are have way more grain.
Cheers!
Hi Simon,
Rodinal is, by nature, a very grainy developer, with low accutance. Peter uses HC-110; if you want even more accutance and finer grain, try Kodak D-76. You are also going to want to use lower temperatures, and very gentle agitation—the opposite will always yield more grain.
Good luck,
Mark
Ah thanks Mark, much appreciated! I’ll head over to the local store and see if they have any.
Cheers!
Simon
Hi, Simon, I tried responding but my comment is “awaiting moderation”.
Hi Simon,
Mark is correct, I use HC-110 and try to agitate as gently as possible when developing my film. I keep the temperature of the solutions at 20ºC. If you want to know my complete workflow, I have a tutorial on my website that may be purchased at a nominal fee.
The other thing I do is overexpose when I’m photographing and although this doesn’t affect the grain it helps the shadows look less noisy when I’m processing my scanned images in Lightroom (I don’t have to worry as much about clipping the highlights with film, as compared to digital, so overexposing is not an issue).
—Peter.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the pointers. I had way more success using Rodinal 1:100 stand with FP4 than I’ve had with tri-x and 1:25 Rodinal. I’ll try the HC-110 and being a little more gentle with the agitation too. Oh and i’ll Definitely have a look on your website.
Thanks again!
Ps, I thought I was the only dodgy one who had to be moderated. It’s probably just an anti Canuck thing… cheers!
I always enjoy looking at your photos Peter.
Best regards
Huss
Thank you Huss… the feeling is mutual, and I enjoy your commentary and posts as well.
Peter, Your photos always intrigue me. your black and whites are of the best Ive ever seen and your subjects always tell a story. You have an uncanny ability to know the perfect timing for pressing the shutter.
I always enjoy seeing your work.
Great work!
GrC
This sort of comment really speaks to my heart. I’m always looking for the special moments (I have often referred to them as “life’s little moments”) so to have somebody else see that in my photos is very satisfying. Thank you so much GrC.
Nice images…regardless of the what Mother Nature is giving you. Here in the Mid Atlantic region of the U.S. we are dealing with a good bit of cloudy weather and rain. As photographers, we just have to make the most of what we have. Actually, I don’t mind the break from those sunny spring and summer days. It gives me a chance to do some B&W work as you have done. Keep sending us your lovely B&W winter images.
David
Indeed David, I can’t disagree with you at all.
My difficulty lies with the fact that I suffer from Raynaud’s and this renders my hands useless to operate a camera in the winter. Effectively, I’m forced to stay close to home.