Close-up Filters

I was given a few 49mm, close-up filters for my 35mm SLR and I can't wait to try them out. I have put them on my 50mm lens and I will use them outside tomorrow; in the garden.



I currently have a colour film in the camera so it would be quite good if I could find some of the ladybirds that have been hanging around recently. If not, the forget-me-nots will be fabulous.

Thanks Bec, for my excellent birthday gift xx

Double Exposures

Although I have not been blogging for a wee while I have been trying out a couple of things on the camera.

I asked my cousin if she fancied trying out a random Double Exposure experiment with me and she agreed. We used 35mm film and tried out both black and white and colour films for the project.

The black and white film was taken on my Centon SLR and Bec's (still to be confirmed, but possibly her Canon EOS 500).
The colour film was taken on my [Minolta] Dynax 4 and Bec's Canon EOS 500.

We did come across a few problems on the way. The first film, which I'd shot at the Glasgow Festival, jammed in one of Bec's camera's and was accidentally ruined. Disappointing but these things happen. We also had to make sure we didn't wind the film fully into the canister on completion of all exposures but I mistakenly wound back too far. After lots of research on how to retrieve the film leader myself (without buying the necessary gadget) I decided to play it safe and ask the nice processor in Penmann's, Johnstone, who kindly retrieved the film leader for me.

We didn't pre-arrange the photographs prior to shooting. We simply took the shots randomly before swapping the films over. I think that many of them turned out quite well but you can decide for yourself.

IceSkates and Daisies

Car rear window and Kirkcaldy Harbour

Portrait by my cousin and Kelvinbridge Underground Staircase


This project will continue, with further experimentation applied...watch this space.
More of the doubly exposed images can be seen on my Flickr site - AnneMarie's Flickr

West End Festival (and bloody photographers!)

I went to the West End Festival in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, on Sunday. The weather was great so the park was mobbed with people, animals and.... photographers.

I don't know if this has always been the case at these types of events and I've just never noticed before or if it's the advance in photo-technology that makes everyone suddenly want (be able) to be a photographer. They were everywhere!! Most annoyingly, they were always in my frame!!!

Every shot I tried to take, there was a photographer in sight. Worst of all, if I tried to take a shot of something without people in it, a PHOTOGRAPHER would jump in my way. One guy even looked at me, saw I was trying to take a shot, but just stayed there, staring at me. How rude!!

It did occur to me that perhaps I was in a lot of photographs but I do try to stay inconspicuous. I would prefer to have a sneaky, little Leica to snap away at scenes without anyone's knowledge. Or a medium format, TLR camera where I can hold it at my waist to take shots. Scenarios where the audience are caught unaware are always better for capturing true emotion and genuine activity, in my opinion.
I know some people would object to this approach as it does seem a little 'peeping tom'-ish but I would try not to be imposing.

In hindsight, I should have simply taken all the photos that I was going to take, with the photographers in them. It would have made a pretty nifty little project - something I might toy with for future events (starting next Sunday at the Mele in Glasgow??).

There was a female who was taking photographs of the bmxers at the ramps whilst the Beatles tribute band were on. She wasn't so obtrusive like the others. She even saw me taking a photo and smiled.
As I watched her give her card to the best biker of the crowd I realised that my problem, perhaps, isn't so much with all those invasive photographers but with competition.

Ha!

Here are some shots I took of the day on my dslr (Sony A100) - [still to come].
I also used my 35mm camera (Centon), with colour film, for part of a project I am doing with my cousin - all will be revealed in a future blog....

Hands!

Delicate hand (Printed in the Wet Darkroom - no negatives used)


Working hand (Printed in the Wet Darkroom - two negatives used)

Creative Image Making

I tried a few techniques in the darkroom today with the only negatives that I had with me. I was quite disappointed in my results because it was really hard. At least, the solarising was hard. It was a lot of fun, though.

Here are my [rubbish] attempts (there has been no fixing in Photoshop so that all flaws are visible).

Film Developer Trials

Yesterday I shot a roll of Ilford B&W HP5 (ISO 400) - pushing it to ISO1600 - using my old 35mm Centon camera (50mm lens).

Today I split the film into three different development tanks and processed each film section with the following developers.

Sink taps - Microphen (fine grain)
Wine bottle - Perceptol (speed-enhanced; not recommended)
Kettle - Ilfotec (general purpose)

These images have been scanned from negative as I didn't have time to complete the prints in the darkroom. I think the differences in the results will be clearer on the prints but, looking at the negatives through the eyeglass on the lightbox, i think I like Perceptol best. Although it's not recommended, I am quite partial to the grainy result that it produces. I will confirm my findings after I produce some prints.