#phot303

PHOT303 - Mileage May Vary - 5-9/4/2020

The adjustment to shooting digitally is well underway. I am only really used to this process when I am shooting for payed work, whether that is for the PCA:SU events or working for AYCH. It seems to strange to me that I am working on a personal project, and I can see those images instantly. Yet it is freeing to know that this is my only digital camera with only one lens to use, which is creatively limiting but with the knowledge of how to use that equipment.

The settings are pretty much on lockdown (pun intended), with the ISO being as low as possible (100) with an aperture of F8, with alternating shutter speeds depending on how the light is. At F8, most things are in focus with the distances I am working at, with the 50mm F1.8 STM being tack sharp before being effected by diffraction, which would start to set in with an extra stop at F11. The 5D also has a custom colour profile with the least amount of contrast to add to the faux-analogue look and feel, with the contrast and highlights being reduced in post production in LR. 

All of the images are taken when I am on my daily allotted exercise around the village, which has a wide range of modern suburbia and quaint village life. A lot of Colerne is made up from fairly newly built houses from around the 1960′s, with the addition of the fairly typical Wiltshire houses built in the 1800′s. Both of these juxtapose each other, and look like their from different locations, but only are they really a stones throw away.

A Citroen ZX lies dormant in somebody’s driveway, surrounded by a bulk bag and a wheelie bin. This particular ZX has been sat for a while, and according to google earth it hasn’t moved all too much since 2013. This is most likely one of the 2041 recorded SORN ZXs according to howmanyleft.co.uk.

It seems a shame that a car which was seen extremely often, with at their peak in 1998 being 138,187 on the road, with the last quarter of 2019 seeing only 905 still driving our roads. Somehow almost double the amount of ZXs are SORN and off the road, just like this one. It might see the road again, but it could also be scrapped and then recycled.

A Toyota Celica and a Ford Fusion are parked next to a crossroads towards an entrance to Colerne. What piqued my interest was the black Celica which looks rather tattered and battered. This particular flavour of Celica was made from 1993-2000, also known as a T200. Something to note is that is has the wheels from the T230 which came a generation after this, made from 1999-2006. Without a registration plate, it is hard to define what model this is, as there were a few models with some being exclusive to North America and or Japan. This is most likely the AT200 verison, with the ST/ST Limited level trim. Places like these often give off an air of affluence and high standards, and seeing this Japanese sports car in a state of disrepair is almost like I am roaming around partially derelict estate. The surroundings however don’t reflect this, and contrast it with nicely presented houses and clean pathways. 

5/4/2020

9/4/2020

I spotted this rather special Land Rover Discovery parked in a driveway, and I knew I had to capture it. The Discovery is usually a car reserved for the high flyers of the car world, with them normally lumbered with high prices and quality. Yet vehicles like that depreciate massively and become cheap to buy once they’re 10-20 years old. This is a Series 1 ‘Disco’, made between 1989-1998 with 2.0L petrol to 4.0L V8 engine options. This particular Disco has had a lift kit installed, with more aggressive tyres, bash bars and a winch. This means that this Disco has been converted to an offroader, which by the looks of its condition is used fairly regularly. Being in a fairly rural part of the country, there are plenty of areas that this can be utilised. This area isn’t as affluent as the rest of Colerne, with these houses looking like pre-fabricated post war or Council House offerings. 

Thickwood is just over a mile away from Colerne, being a large estate made up with large house bristling with suburbia. The houses are nicely presenting with impeccable gardens and the cars sitting proudly on the driveway. They act as safe bubbles for the residents and are the key goal for many: to work hard, get a mortgage and own a house with disinfected counter tops and a nice car placed on the drive. These areas always remind me of OK Computer, as the themes of chasing a certain lifestyle and being a slave to capitalist ideals and expectations - which is a good link as OK Computer was recorded only a stones throw away from Colerne in St. Catherines Court. I also find it odd as I am acting as one of these suburbanites in a nice house and a clean car on the drive. Is this something I want? Is this expected of me? Do I need this? These suburban areas always remind me of Meeting People is Easy when No Surprises is shown on Sky News.

There is a certain cynicism within my work that reflects the lyrics of No Surprises. Whilst my work is documenting these cars that escaped the VSS and stood the test of time, it is also a commentary on our society and capitalistic tendencies to keep on spending, to own houses and cars all paid for by a job that we don’t like and slowly kills us. The elements of alienation from this lifestyle still lingers from previous projects as it is still felt by myself, and I think it will never leave me. It is interesting to me that I can manifest these feelings of alienation and estrangement in different ways, and it usually makes its way into what I do. 

A Vauxhall Zafira found in its natural habitat of the suburban neighbourhood. For me, scenes like these heighten these alienated feelings, as these people have a house and a family. Vehicles like these warrant multiple children, as they were designed as MPVs (Multi Purpose Vehicles). These people have done what is potentially expected of them in life: they have worked hard enough to purchase a house, obtain a mortgage, work throughout the week and produce multiple children - Is that living? Do they enjoy it? Do they want this? These are hard to answer questions, and completely theoretical. But these are questions that I ask myself when in these settings. We live to certain expectations that is perceived within society and let technology rule what we do. The technology we use can be dangerous, with social media and mobile phones being constantly glued to our hands and our eyes. Some of OK Computer thematics is the rise in technology on the brink of the 21st century and it taking over our lives, become more and more robotic and it is becoming more real than ever. Who is serving who? Do we run this technology, or do we let it run is? These questions somehow run deep within a project that is inherently about the banal vehicles that escaped a scheme over a decade ago, yet they’re intrinsically linked to our society and its demons. 

Whilst living in a suburban setting in the countryside is good to escape the encompassing pandemic, as well a offers some interesting photographic subjects, it also places some questions within me about how we live and what is expected of us. Do we really need to aspire to family living? Do I need to buy these things to make me happy? Why am I staring into this slab of glass with smooth animations and flashing lights? This could be the quarantine lockdown house arrest speaking, but I am questioning what life is and how we all live it. Despite the everyday mundanity going on, it manages to bring up questions to me that I can’t quite answer.

PHOT303 - Mileage May Vary - From Film to Digital

COVID-19 has initiated a lockdown for our nation, with many businesses closing for this time and many being held under house arrest. This also means that shooting film at the moment is not possible, as I cannot afford to send over multiple medium format rolls to be developed and scanned, with the addition of lab scans not being wanted for this project. This is turn means that I have to shoot digitally for the foreseeable future. I personally do not have a massive problem with it, but I would prefer to use the Mamiya 7ii which I have that now lives in my camera bag until June. 

With no surprises, I am using my old faithful Canon 5D and the 50mm F1.8 STM which has served me so well for many many years. Despite the 5D’s age, it keeps on clunking over and creating really nice images. The 50mm F1.8 STM might be the cheapest prime that Canon offer, but it is still a stellar piece of glass when one is on a budget. It uses the same optical design as previous iterations, but uses some newer coatings to reduce chromatic abberations and flaring. 

Shooting has been extremely limited, due to being stuck in a village in Wiltshire with no way to explore further locations. The lockdown has severely limited where I can shoot and what I can shoot. There are only so many pre-2009 cars in a small village, yet there is another portion to the north that is easy to walk to and possible to explore. This will happen in due time.

It is hard to re-imagine what this project is, and what it is to become. It is still the documentation of cars that escaped the VSS, but it is now narrowed down into a singular location. I also have to get used to shooting in a digital format, of which I haven’t used for a project since this time last year. I am having to work around using a camera that isn’t analogue, a different aspect ratio and resolution. In contrast, I do feel right at home with the 5D as it is the camera that I use for my professional work, and the camera that I have used for the better part of 4 years. I am still sticking to shooting more of the encompassing area, instead of zooming into the details of the cars, as I feel that the spaces around the vehicles gives more context to the photograph as more of a field study of the economical aspects to car ownership. Above, is a Toyota Prius and an MG ZR sitting proudly on somebodies driveway. They’re quite a juxtaposing mix, as the Prius is a car synonymous with environmentally friendly inclined motorists, and the ZR more of a boy racer demographic. Yet, they are both parked on a driveway of a nicely presented bungalow, with a pristine garden where an elderly gentleman resides.

I also like to document the areas where vehicles have been, but aren’t currently there. With this, there is a hauntological aspect to the images, as a spectre of the vehicles is around in the form of the tyre tracks left in the dirt, but they aren’t there. I also like the bungalows in this area, as there is a New Topgraphics aspect to the design of them. There is an interesting mix of newer houses, with an older house just top the left of centre with the chimneys showing. 

PHOT303 - Mileage May Vary - COVID-19 Update

COVID-19: The Elephant in the room. The end of December saw a Virus start to sprea across Wuhan, China. In the West, we were simply peering into China and seeing what the situation was, and making sure that this wasn’t going to spread to anywhere else but that location. Public information posters started to litter public areas notifying people if they had been in Wuhan within the past 14 days, and the symptoms of Coronavirus.

A couple of months pass, and cases started to pop up within the U.K, and the rest of Europe. During that time, people weren’t that bothered and it was seen as nothing more than the flu, as infection and death numbers from Influenza outweighed what Coronavirus could do. Personally during that time, I was one of those people who wasn’t all too concerned about it, as I had been through the whole Swine Flu and Ebola debacle and assumed, that this was going to be same. 

(March 2020, Colerne)

Then people started to pass away, and people still stuck to the assumption that it wasn’t as bad as the Flu and went on with their usual business. This proved to be a silly move, as it transpired that people could have COVID-19 and show no symptoms and basically act as a carrier, spreading the illness from person to person. As the deaths and infections rose, people still didn’t care all too much and went with their normal daily doings. Countries in Europe started nationwide lockdowns to keep their population indoors and fight the spread, whilst we kept on going as normal. This would prove detrimental, especially when in mid March we were told to stay indoors, and people fled to beauty spots like beaches, national parks and the country side. People ignoring that advice could have been the straw the broke the Camel’s back, as more and more people were bundled together and potentially, could have spread the infection even more than before, as droves of people flooded into Snowdonia and Weston Super-Mare. This in turn created a nationwide lockdown of our very own, with the Government pleaded all to stay indoors, and only go outside for obtained key supplies and one form of exercise per day. Despite this, people still ignore the Government’s plan to stop, or slow the spread of COVID-19.

The pandemic has caused some issues when it comes to this project, and our third year as a whole. Firstly, I am not able to get the photographs as I would like to get, as I am only allowed outside once a day, and I am staying in a village in Wiltshire with a very limited selection of vehicles to photograph, with the inability to drive anywhere due to the lockdown. Another issue is shooting film, as nowhere local can develop film, and I would have to rely on postal orders. Whilst I can do this, I do not have anything to scan the film with, and I cannot afford to have a lab scan it for the amount that I would like to shoot. In addition to this, I do not want to have a lab scan my film, as the quality wouldn’t be consistent with the rest of my work. This is rather annoying, as I have the Mamiya 7ii booked for the entirety of Easter with the 65mm F4. I am shooting film along side my 5D (which I thankfully brought with me when we escaped).

(March 2020, Plymouth)

The other issues mainly centre around the university itself, and the decision to move everything to a digital submission, and our summer show/Free Range being totally up in the air. With a digital submission, this would mean that physical media would be made totally redundant, making photobooks, zines and prints useless within this climate. These would most likely take the form of a digital platform to show the work, with the addition of digital photobooks and zines. Annoyingly the deadlines are staying the same, which I feel is a shortsighted and downright stupid decision. A pandemic has spread across the world, with many in financial difficulty or simply not being able to access materials which is paramount to creating work. Some students don’t have a good enough internet connection for digital work, and some students would need to access parts of the university to do their work, like 3D Crafts and glass blowing. With photography, it isn’t too bad of a transition, but it can still cause massive disruptions with some of our cohort having to totally change their work. Thankfully, we do have a blanket E.C (Extenuating Circumstances) across the whole of the college with extra time given to third year students. This is a good thing, as we will all have to adjust to fully digitally submitted modules for this semester. I do not think that we would be able to adjust to this format, and be able to keep the same deadlines. Our deadlines have been extended to August 2020, which should be enough time to adapt our projects during this pandemic.

PHOT303 - Mileage May Vary - 14/3/2020

This day was meant to be a trip to the Exeter Phoenix with Louise, looking at some art work and some moving image, yet a spectre loomed over the day, and the future. I decided to bring along the Mamiya 7ii on my travels, and load it up with a fresh pro pack of Kodak Portra 160 (before the price went up!). 

Just as I arrived at Exeter St Davids, I had a call from Louise explaining that she had to go home and self isolate. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) was beginning to become a concern to the nation. This had been bubbling for a while, and the news started to report cases of it in China in late 2019 and early 2020. It had made it’s way to the U.K, and confirmed cases were being reported. Currently (that being 27/3/2020) it has worsened and the whole country is in lockdown, which is in turn being enforced by the police services. Yet this whole situation deserves it own post explaining the changes due to this. Back to our normal broadcast.

Since the trip had been cancelled as soon as I arrived, I took t upon myself to meet up with my old friend, Thom, as he is an Exeter resident. He had never seen a 7ii in the wild, so he was in awe about the camera. I had a few hours to spare, and I thought that the singular roll of Portra would have lasted me all of that time. And yet, I shot it all within about 30 minutes of starting it. 

Another Vauxhall Combo, parked on somebody’s driveway on Eldertree Gardens, which is next to St. Davids Hill. The hill coming up from St Davids station is long and steep, but it saves waiting around the station for 40 minutes for a 120 second train ride into Exeter Central. The hill is tiring, but it only takes a few minutes to walk and it is good exercise. I almost walked past this Combo, but I have always enjoyed the design of these houses, and they are oddly nostalgic looking to me. If that Vauxhall Combo was swapped with something a bit older, I would think that it would be hard to decipher when this photograph was taken. I decided to stop down the lens to around F8 this time around, to get more in focus and to increase the sharpness of the 80mm F4. And I do have to say, it just gets sharper the more it is stopped down. Even when these are scanned with my Canoscan 9000F Mkii (previously written about and despised), they’re amazingly crisp. I have also found a size of negative that the scanner seems to work well with. 35mm scans always looked really bad, but it seems that the bigger the negative, the better quality the scan. Everything I have shot with the 7ii has been scanned using the Canon at 2400dpi. This might be a high dpi to be using, but it also collects a lot of the detail that I would like to retain.

I met Thom in town, grabbed a strong black coffee and we walked around the roads around the quay. And to the surprise to me, there was a lot of scenes that worked so well for MMV, hence why the roll didn’t last all too long. Here, is a Fiat Panda and the legendary Fiat Coupe. Just like the Alfa Romeo GTV, Fiat’s do have some questionable quality control and electrical choices, yet they’re fantastic cars. The Coupe was a model Fiat made during the 1990′s, which is a rare sight in this day and age. They are somewhat of a modern classic with what seems to be a cult following, with the most popular model being a turbo five cylinder, propelling the Coupe to 62 mp/h in 6.3 seconds. And just like the Rolls-Royce in the previous shoot, the cars seem to juxtapose the setting, yet fit in quite nicely. 

Just up the road from the Fiat’s was this rather odd Renault Megane sedan. These Megane’s are usually hatchbacks, so it is a rare sight to see them in their sedan layout. This is also the only shot to include cars older than the proposed 2009 Scrappage Scheme. The bright white Megane contrasts the overgrowth, as well as the grubby Fiat 500. i wanted the Megane to take centre stage in this photography as it’s an oddity which isn’t seen all too much, and with a quick database check, it’s possibly the cleanest 2003 Megane around, with only 83000 miles, and passing every MOT apart from a few with minor issues. It is nice to see this Renault, baring down on 20 years old standing the test of time.

The final two shots are of the same Ford KA parked outside Watergate, above the quay. The KA is also a design that has stood the test of time, with the KA’s design originating from the early 1990′s, and being introduced in 1996. It is hard to believe that this design is of a similar age to me, as it looks, even today, to be modern and contemporary. As I took the first photograph (top), Thom was towards the back looking towards the block of flats, with him saying: “oh dude this is the one”. With one shot left, I had a look and he was right! It is possibly my favourite image to date and perfectly sums up what I want to be doing with this project. It manages to document the ageing, banal and boring cars that litter our urban landscape, as well as the urban landscape itself. I also like the addition of Kodak Portra 160. Despite it being less versatile than it’s 400 counterpart, it is a lot cheaper and finer grained. I do like the film’s overall aesthetic and quality, and it seems to match well with the Mamiya’s lenses. 

PHOT303 - Mileage Mary Vary - 4/3/2020

I decided to swap out the Mamiya 7ii that didn’t work, for one that finally did! But this shoot didn’t go without an issue. Now that I had a working 7ii to use, I was excited to see what I was going to create. I decided to take it upon myself, to head back to using expired film to see that I could create. I have had very good success with expired Fujifilm stocks, and loaded up the 7ii with a roll of Fujifilm Superia 400, which expired in 2012. With this in mind, I over exposed the film by a stop by metering the film at 200 iso.

A Citroen C3 is parked at Morley Court. This is one of my favourite locations in Plymouth, as it feels so removed from Plymouth as a whole. It is a housing estate that is plonked in the centre of town, towards the end which is lower on the social/economic scale. I find it interesting that the location reflects on the conditions of the vehicles, as the lower the perceived class of the area, the condition of the vehicles worsen and the age of the vehicles also increase. This would mean that the individuals on lower incomes, can’t necessarily afford to have a newer vehicle and keep it in a better condition. I find it interesting to shoot in a variety of locations that seem to justify this by documenting what lies within the specific areas. 

A Volkswagen Golf Estate MK4 is parked in the car park behind Lucky Star, which is on Raleigh Street. The whole area is an expansive network of grubby post-war buildings, which here are the backs of business and extractor fans. The particular Golf isn’t in the best of conditions, with missing wheel trims and an array of dents and scratches. I fell that this car manages to reflect on the nature of the surroundings. The 7ii also manages to pick up the small details, like the exhaust tube on a building to the left, forcing out a plume of blue smoke.

The eight generation Honda Civic was a far cry from previous iterations in terms of it’s design. Just like the MK3 Golf, it was a more more rotund compared to it’s earlier flavours. This immediately caught my eye, as the Civic managed to match the facade of Costless. I also did like the ‘Cost Less’ managed match the theory of the Vehicle Scrappage Scheme being used to boost the economy after the 2008 Financial Crisis. Again, the Mamiya manages to pick up so much detail within the scene, when the items within the shop itself. I also enjoy how I compose my work with this camera, as it does put me back into the mindset of capturing the scene, rather than just the vehicle being the main focus. Speaking of which, I didn’t even stop down past F4, which is wide open for the 80mm. F4 is a fairly wide aperture for 6x7, and can create some shallow depth of field once you get closer to the subject. yet as these distances, there is some subtle fall off between the foreground and the cars that are now in focus. 

Something which used to be a familiar sight, a Toyota Carina. I remember seeing rather a lot of these when I was little, and they have disappeared from out road since, and most likely due to the Vehicle Scappage Scheme. It is hard to believe that this particular model was registered back in 1989, so it had been on our roads for over 30 years now. Yet, it manages to look rather well for it’s age, only really with some discolouration and some dodgy panel angles. This particular vehicle was parked outside a carpet shop in a side road that runs parallel to Ebrington Street. It was only later that it was pointed out the ‘Sustainability Award’ on the billboard above the Carina, which also coincides with the Scrappage Scheme. Just after I took this photograph and took the image of the Fiesta and the Mini, the potential owner came out of the building and was wandering his car and looking at me, almost inspecting. I assume he wasn’t all too pleased I was photographing his ancient Toyota.

A bloody Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow! I have seen this whilst walking near White Friars Lane, which runs adjacent to Beaumont Road. The old Roller juxtaposes the newly built housing, yet almost manages to mix well into the scene. The Silver Shadow exudes high class motoring, with leather, walnut and chrome spilling from all areas. Whilst they were pricey purchases when they were new, they have depreciated so much that they’re almost affordable now...until it goes wrong or needs a service and then the bills start to add up, and the purchase of the vehicle becomes the cheapest part. There is also a noticeable, yet small amount of light leak on the lower right portion of the frame. During the shoot, I noticed that winding on the film didn’t feel entirely right. It felt as if it wasn’t winding as it should, and as I wound the roll to finish it, and opened up the back, I noticed that the roll wasn’t as tight as it should be, and was noticeably fatter. I suspect that this was due to the age of the film, and a potential comparability issue between the film and the spool that was left in the 7ii when I collected it. This can happen with 120 film and sometimes there is an issue, despite this being the first time I had encountered the issue. 

Here you can see the extent of the damage from the loose roll, with some light leak and fogging onto the last frame. This is the most affected image, but it is recoverable just by cropping. This photograph of a Nissan 300ZX advertising a window tinting company immediately looks like something Tom Westbury would have taken, with similar tones and composition. I am not sure how the 7ii does it, but the vertical distortion is always well corrected and always seems to by straight. It makes me wonder that all those times I wrote about Westbury’s work and the post production, it could have very well just been done in camera. I suspect that as 6x7 is such a large negative, it is easier to get the vertical lines straight as they should. The 300ZX is also an interesting vehicle, as it is a part of Nissan’s Z line of sports cars which also seemed to take a design change compared to the previous models. They are also a rare vehicle in this day and age, with many being molested by tuners or for the very few, kept nicely. I have never personally seen this car move, and this would be because it is currently SORN. With a quick check with the Government database, this is a 1990 model and was first registered in 2004, making this a grey import from Japan. This particular ZX is in a state of disrepair, with faded paint and a variety of dents and scratches. It also features some exhausts that the Channel Tunnel would be jealous of and some hideously dated alloys. 

PHOT303 - Mileage May Vary - 2/3/2020

I decided to step up my camera selection, and used a camera that I have always wanted to use. The Mamiya 7ii is, for me, the perfect film camera. The 6x7 images are massive, with an insane resolution for a camera that is not that much bigger than your average DSLR. The lenses, whilst at a maximum aperture of F4, are incredibly sharp and offer a nice range of focal lengths. The rangefinder is nice and bright, as easy to focus...but I’ll get onto that soon.

The 7ii was loaded up with a roll of Kodak Ektar 100, and we were ready to go! Oh hang not just yet as it was given to me without a working battery - never mind I shall go and buy one (the first image was in Russell’s shop just after I put a new battery in it). Once the 7ii was up and running, it went like a dream. The Ektar was also an interesting choice, as it is a contrast compared to the Portra range of films which is usually attributed with this camera. Portra is usually rather low contrast and washed out, when Ektar is saturated and full of popping colour. Although Ektar is a finely grained, sharp and nails colour negative film which is actually quite versatile.

There was one glaring issue with this particular Mamiya: the rangefinder wasn’t calibrated properly so when the patch in the viewfinder said it was in focus, it wasn’t. Rangefinders work in a different way to SLRs, in that you aren’t looking through the lens to take to photograph. The lens operations a cam, which then is in turn connected to a series of mirrors that form a patch in the viewfinder, which is mean to be calibrated to the lenses focus. The lovely moist road of this photograph is in focus, but the Royal Mail Vauxhall Combo is just enough out of focus to be noticeable. This was a reoccurring theme spanning the majority of the roll, only becoming slightly better when you get closer to the subject.

And again. The road - mainly the double yellows - are in focus, perfectly fine. Yet the Ford Fiesta is ever so more out of focus, compared to the Combo. This was highly irritating as I was enjoying using the 7ii for the first time, and thought that I had some good shots. It was making me shoot in such a way that reminded me of PHOT201′s Alienated Spaces, as I was tending to look more into the spaces, rather than the details of the cars themselves, although I did do that a few times.

Perhaps the most annoyingly missed shot was of this Alfa Romeo GTV. The GTV is quite a rare car now, as Alfa Romeo’s have a reputation from being amazing to drive, yet annoying to live with. Their reliability and build quality is, questionable as they mostly suffer from terrible electrical systems and metal so thin it may as well be one sided. The side of the skip is perfectly in focus, yet the GTV is again, ever so slightly out of the plane of focus just enough to be noticeable. Borrowing equipment from the ERC is always a risky one, as they aren’t always kept in the best of conditions. Despite this, it doesn’t take much to get their equipment serviced every one in a while to make sure that they are working to the best of their abilities. The Mamiya 7ii is an amazing piece of equipment which I just with I could afford, but it is sad when I get it and it doesn’t work as it should...and that I have to purchase a battery from a friend to get it to work.

PHOT303 - Mileage Mary Vary - 4-23/2/2020

35mm cameras are certainly a favourite of mine, as they are compact, and cheaper than a new full frame DSLR. Medium format is my desired platform, but that doesn’t mean that 135 can’t be used from time to time. 

This roll of Kodak Pro Image 100 started off in Totnes, with a camera that has been laying around for years...and it’s another Yashica. This time, its an TL Electro-X. This is an M42 mount 35mm SLR, with a simple stop down meter which has the coveted title of being the first camera with miniature lamps to let the user know that the exposure information. I thought I was use it for one more time before I eventually sell it, as it just sits around in a box never really being used, as my Pentax Spotmatic F is my main and only M42 mount camera. So this was a mix of a camera test, and another shoot for MMV. Although, I do not plan on using any 135 images for MMV, as they don’t hold the resolution and aesthetic for the project as well as the 120 format.

I firstly had one of my favourite lenses mounted to the Yashica: the Industar 50-2. This is a 50mm pancake lens, with a maximum aperture of F3.5 which was made in the Soviet Union. The lens is...optically different compared to newer optics and offers some certain nuances. Not to say that it’s rubbish, but it creates some interesting bokeh and is surprisingly sharp for what it is. They’re decently cheap to buy and millions of them were made, so they’re plentiful. Above, is a Mercedes 300 GD, which is one of many versions of Mercedes’ G series of vehicles. They’re robust and well made four wheel drive vehicles that can tackle harsh terrain, and even the hills of Totnes as it stands. The 50mm focal length is my go to focal length, as it can do close ups, and landscapes rather well for that I am doing. It is also easy for my to compose the shot, as it seem to see in this focal length in mind which usually makes it difficult to use anything other than 50mm.

The film is also quite nice. I have had several rolls for a while, and shot a few and not had them developed, so this served as the first one I ever had done. And fair to say, I rather like it. Pro Image 100 serves as a middle ground between the cheap as chips Kodak Colour Plus 200 and the expensive Kodak Portra range. It still manages to keep that Kodak golden glow but it doesn’t separate itself too much from their other offerings. 

This is just around the corner from my home, where a number of 50ft Leylandiis where eventually fell after a year or two of discussion. Here are some Land Rover parts that lay in someones driveway and have eventually been taken over by the undergrowth. There is something inherently interesting about vehicles, and vehicle parts that get left on their own, and nature reclaiming it back to itself. I guess it is because it marks the end of that vehicles life, and it’s potential usefulness - although this isn’t always the case as they can always be reclaimed back to use and be restored with enough time and money. 

I didn’t finish the roll in Totnes, and it was eventually finished back in Plymouth with the addition of a lens change...but to another Soviet offering. I switched to the Helios 44-2, which is a highly regarded copy of the Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm F2. The Biotar is one of many optical designs set out by Zeiss, with the Helios becoming a copy after the Soviet’s invaded Germany during the Second World War. Again, millions of Helios’ were made and they’re plentiful and cheap, yet they’re steadily on the increase as people are starting to realise that vintage glass is unique. The Helios is no acceptation, as it can create even wilder bokeh when the stars manage to align. Wide open at F2, it is often soft and ethereal, with no real sharpness until one stops down to F4. Above is a Volkswagen Golf GTI, but the often undesirable MK3. The first two GTIs were regarded as hot hatches, yet the MK3 was a lot larger and cumbersome compared to previous generations. Just like the 300 GD, not a great deal of nice examples exist, so it is nice to see that some are still kicking around, 20-30 years after their release.

PHOT303 - Mileage Mary Vary - 13/2/2020

Medium format is such a great way of image making - it manages to mix large negatives with portability. I am able to step away from the sometimes limiting resolution of 135, but have the ability to use a camera that isn’t all to different in terms of weight and size. 

I have in my possession, one of Aaron’s cameras. He very kindly let my borrow his first ever medium format camera: the Yashica EM. The Yashica is a 6x6 format 120 TLR camera, featuring their famed Yashinon 75mm F3.5 optics, found in many of their TLRs including the Yashica-Mat 124G. I have always had an issue with TLRs, as you aren’t viewing directly through the same lens the image is coming from, and waist level viewfinders can be awkward for me to use as everything is opposite and back to front. Having this camera with me would battle this feeling of awkwardness and potentially, make me enjoy square images again. 

Me, Harriet and Aaron decided to go to Torpoint, mostly because me and Aaron wanted a pasty from Warrens, but all of the branches in Plymouth had shut down. I loaded up the EM with some partially old Kodak Portra 400, which expired in 2016. This isn’t massively expired, but I would soon find out that Kodak doesn’t keep all that well with their newer emulsions. 

I have shot film that is a lot older that 2016 before, but there is something about the backing paper that Kodak uses that doesn’t seem to age all too well. Of course, this can be due to the conditions that the film has been left in, but three and a bit years of expiration isn’t usually something to worry about. As you can see from this photo of a Daewoo Matiz, there is some serious issues here. This is due to the backing paper sticking to the film and transferring its material. This can also transfer information from the paper including shot numbers and the film name. If it wasn’t for this expiration issue, I would have liked these images a lot more than I do now. This is certainly a game of Russian roulette when one is using expired films, yet I would have expected this from a film that was a decade or two out of date, rather than a few years. At least the lens of the Yashica has lived up to expectations. 

A Vauxhall Agila (Suzuki Wagon R+ that has been rebadged) is parked new the waters edge. You can see the extent of the damaged film here, with the shot numbers and markers imprinted onto the emulsion. If I was going for an experimental approach, this would certainly be acceptable. Yet, it feels like I wasted a roll of film, and I could have had some keepers if the roll was a tad more fresh. But, these are the risks that are undertaken when expired film is used. Most of the time - in my experience - it has been totally fine with some slight colour shifts. I am not all too proud about this shoot, but serves as some experimentation and some water testing with TLRs and 6x6 images. And the answer may surprise you...

I still hate them slightly. Both of these aspects make the whole shooting experience very awkward for me, as I prefer to have the viewfinder up to my eye and not trying to force the photograph into a square. The waist level finder can be overcame with the addition of a prism finder, but the EM doesn’t support this and I can’t entirely afford a camera that does...currently. I feel like I am also trying to force myself to like 6x6 images too, and I can’t keep lying to myself, I really do hate it. There is a specific way to compose in that format, and I can’t get it to work for what I am doing, so I may just have to retire square format images from this project, and progress onto 6x7 instead. Expired film is also another thing to keep an eye out for, especially Kodak stocks. I spoke to Russell at Soperfect Images about it, and he has said to me that due to the backing paper they now use, they don’t keep as well as older stocks, or stocks from other manufacturers like Fujifilm.