I‘ve been getting all sentimental about film and film cameras again. Admittedly I’ve been saying I would take my old cameras out again ever since I won my first digital camera back in 2008. It never happened. To be fair, I had a steep learning curve with digital and then again, film isn’t exactly cheap. There is the cost of the film, the postage and developing and for me, the price of a train fare to London which is where I love to do my street photography. Then there was my backlog of scanning. Started almost twenty years ago, I said I would scan everything, but I soon realised that would be impossible. Recently I began to think I would never finish. Finally, I subscribed to Adobe CC and Lightroom and I discovered I could tweak scans in a matter of minutes. Two weeks ago I finished the very last one. No more backlog. No more film to scan. Five days later I took my 40-year-old OM2n up to London and started all over again.
I went to the Barbican, a residential estate built in the 1960s and 1970s, in an area once devastated by World War II. Famous for its brutalist architecture, it is Grade Two listed as a whole. Covering a whopping 35 acres, this location isn’t for the faint-hearted. The first challenge is gaining access to the site in the first place. Exiting at the nearest Tube station, I could see the mass of concrete terrace blocks straight ahead and yet it took me a full 30 minutes to find an entrance. Once inside, I walked far more than I had planned, but my adventures will have to wait for a future blog post. Shooting film again, I quickly reverted to my stingy ways and so far I have only exposed 24 frames from a 36 exposure roll. That means you (and I) will have to wait for my next outing and then for the film to be posted, developed, scanned and processed.
If I was lucky, there could be some gems waiting to be discovered. If not, then I will put it down to experience and try again. After all, it’s just a roll of film. (Both images shot in London on my 1980 Olympus OM2n and Ilford HP5 film)
Sid
23 Jan 2020Impressive photos, especially the first one 😍
I do adore custom cars, and this spectacular guy in a tank camouflage version is adorable!
Free Lebanon! Yes!
Ciao
Sid
Zooey
23 Jan 2020Thank you Sid. Yes… I’ve done a few marches and protests in my time. Just checking the weather forecast and I may be heading back to London tomorrow 🙂
Steve Cullum
23 Jan 2020The car looks really good and ‘free Lebanon’ man has lots of character. We must meet up for a photo shoot soon. Keep up the good work.
Zooey
24 Jan 2020I’m up for that! Now all we need is some light… 🙂