The price of all film stocks have skyrocketed in the last 18 months.  A roll of Ektachrome is now about $20 and by the time you have it developed you are looking at slightly over $1 per image.  Lucky Film out of China ( sold by Reflx Labs) is selling SHD 400 for $6 a roll which is about the cheapest you will find unless you bulk roll.  The shots were done today and seem wee too contrasting.  Come to find out that on the Reflx website they recommend that it be shot at ISO 200 which would control some of the contrast.  The comments from other folks is that the shadows are blown out to black and this might not be corrected by shooting it at 200.

Today was the opening ceremony for John Fielder’s prairie pictures at History Colorado.  It was a small but awesome collection shown on the 2nd floor Mezzanine.  I was able to talk to members of the staff and thank them for putting this show on.  John Fielder is a nationally known photographer who is also known as Colorado’s Photographer as his subjects captured quintessential landscapes in this state.  With his passing a few years ago he donated his collection to History Colorado which I think is the most fitting place for his collection.

Bryan Birks lives in the midwest and has a series of vlogs that are interesting.  He talks about his own photographic process as well as that of other photographers.  I find him inspiring.

The next one is entirely different but also engaging :  Austin Augie who lives in NYC and does the urban thing

Allow me to geek out for a bit.  Ilford XP2 is an all around champ in terms of a Black and White film.  It is a color print film that renders only in Black and White.  So its native developer is C-41 BUT it can also be developed in traditional BW chemicals.  Not only that it has a wide lattitude and you can shoot it at ISO from 50 - 800 without major problems.  

Naps R Good

At first I was confused why the frames I was scanning were all so dark.  I still scanned them and then up the brightness and got these shots:

Turns out I had put two 5 image film strips together for the scan.  I really liked the effect and it reminded me of a Japanese Portrait.  The weird colors are from the film stock which was Lomography Metropolis which has a “false color” palate to being with.

So I added some Kanji lettering which translates to “Birds in Flight” to the picture.

Every once in a while I get bad results from a roll of color film - this just happened.  Not sure what the problem was.  The solution is to turn the color image into Black and White.  Here’s an example

I just got the film back from TheDarkroom.com and it turns out that the film was RetroChrome.  By Rescanning I got much better results.

TheDarkroom.com has been my go to lab but they don’t put much effort into scanning to get the best out of your film if that film is exotic.  When I brought up with them the problems with Harman Phoenix ( overly saturated and hi contrast) their reply was pretty lackluster.  FilmPhotographyProject.com which sells a lot of exotic film recommends them but I would add the caveat that you must be prepared to scan your own negatives.

Film Nerdiness incoming:

I hadn’t used Kodak 5222 ( Double X) in sometime so I loaded up my point and shoot for one of my trips to the plains.  I’d already decided that this emulsion is not that easy to use and get great negatives.  It is contrasty.  It is Kodak’s current offering for motion picture film in Black and White.  It is for sale and was the film stock used for the BW portions of Oppenheimer the movie.  The results were not great - don’t know if it was that the film was old, that I used HC110 or due to the point and shoot that I used ( Fujifilm Silvi 28).  I did a deeper dive into this film.  The next roll of film I will used Kodak D96 which is a low contrast developer recommended for this film.  Here were the more useable pictures that I got:

Ulysses S. Owens and GenY version of Kurt Cobain’s song - 

The amazing TWA terminal designed by Eero Saraanen opened in 1962.  It was the epitome of the glamorous flying experience that started after WWII.  Completed in 1962 after Saraanen’s untimely death in 1961 .  It ceased operation in 2001 but since 2017 has been a Hotel.  I’ve always wanted to stay here and got the chance to when on a trip to Syracuse.  A one day layover at JFK was all that it took.   It has all the look and feel of 1962.  I got a room on the runway side.  Not really noisy at all.  If you’re interested in Architecture and/or aviation history you must put this on your bucket list.  In the courtyard is a 1958 Lockheed Constellation - a bar and lounge await you up the stairs.  Just be careful coming down!!!

This hasn’t happened in awhile - a 36 exposure roll that I liked most of the shots.  This was Santa 100 film shot on my Contax T2.  I did not develop this myself but had TheDarkroom.com do the work.  Many of the shots would qualify for a New Topographics type of label.

A little geeky Saturday talk about Rollei 400S.  It’s an interesting film - shot my 2nd roll today.  First at the Lafayette, Colorado Cars and Coffee and then at Crown Hill Memorial and Park.  Shot at box speed and in HC110 B it’s pretty contrasty.  For shadow work it’s great.  Because it has an extended spectra a simple R25 red filter gets you close to IR look.

No Filter

I just needed to shoot the last bit of color film out of my medium format camera so I thought I’d go to the Refuge.  I went early but even on a Friday the traffic builds up on I-70.  It was worth it though.

These are the iPhone pics - the color and BW film is drying now.

It’s that time of year- Racing at COTA - Circuit of the Americas.  Formula One is high speed, technical driving.  None of this NASCAR bump and run.  We like to go for the whole weekend as there is much entertainment.

The Porsche Challenge racing is exciting because it’s not as precise as F1.  Several spins in front of us

Then there is people watching - always a crowd favorite

First lap of the F1 race.  Turn 9-10

My newly acquired Bronica S2 is a brute.  Not only in terms of weight but the sound of the shutter going off is impressive.  I bought it used from a camera store that I won’t use anymore because they clearly hadn’t checked it ( or maybe they did) but it didn’t focus correctly.  This is a common problem with these cameras and is usually because the foam that situates the focusing screen deteriorates and correct focus is no longer possible.  I could have sent it back but I liked the camera so I paid to have KEH fix and now it’s perfect.  Funny story - when I got the camera from the unmentioned horrible reseller they hadn’t even cleared out the film that was still in the back - 120 Kodachrome!  This hasn’t been manufactured in years telling you how long this camera sat without being used.

The camera is all mechanical - no light meter or film advance.  They sometimes refer to this as the Japanese Hasselblad.  It takes medium format film ( either 120 or 220).  Here are some hot off the press pictures I took today

Actually what I saw were the neighbors looking at me in my underwear on the porch looking up at the sky!!

One of my favorite albums - quiet, elegant.  Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden 

So how did this all come about?  I shoot medium format film which typically comes in the 120 format.  The number of exposures per roll depends on exactly the size of the Medium Format:  645 gives you 15 to 16 shots and 6x6 gives 12 so on.  The 220 format just gives you twice the length of film and hence twice the number of exposures.  I have not been able to find any manufacturer that still makes 220 EXCEPT the Chinese company ReflxLab.com.  These are some of the shots from a recent trip to the Flint Hills in Kansas and Aspen Colors here in Colorado

Some photos looked better to me in Black and White so that’s why you are seeing BW from a Color Film

All in all not bad.  These were all self developed in C41 chemistry and scanned at home.