After the birth of our daughter, my girlfriend had several appointments with her midwife. During those occasions, I took our girl around the neighbourhood in a baby-carrier. With me I had the Olympus OM2-n my father gave me (worth another post) with the trusty Zuiko 50mm f/1.8. It was during her second appointment when I discovered this thrift store. I had another 20 minutes before I was to meet with my girlfriend for lunch. The small one was slumbering snuggled to my chest. I entered and I wanted to buy a compact film camera.
The store seemed to be an artefact from several decades ago. The aisles where tight and I had trouble navigating through them without bumping my daughter into one of the shelves. There was everything. Books, teapots, magazines, some SLRs, old consumer electronics, but I was looking for something different. And I found it: a Konica A4 compact with a 35mm f/3.5 lens. Next to it sat an original packaged Fujifilm film (I cannot remember the name, some consumer colour film, probably discontinued) with an ad for the Euro 96 football cup printed on its pale green cartonnage.
Deal
I took both to the counter and asked the guy there for his price. He wanted to know what I was willing to pay. I suggested 10€. Deal.
The battery was dead, but after inserting one I had at home, I was happy to see the camera came alive. Of course I loaded the A4 with the expired film I bought with it. Most pictures I made in our flat.
Experiment
Since I just had started to develop b/w film at home, I was eager to try out the look of colour film developed with Rodinal. Those five pictures you can see below are from that roll. From a technical point of view they are poor quality. Colour film expired over 20 years ago, probably never have seen the inside of a fridge, developed by a beginner with a black and white developer. Scanned with a mirrorless camera with an adapted 90mm Canon FD macro lens. With that said, I like the colours and the scratch that goes over the whole roll. At first I was not sure about the sprocket holes, but the red around the holes gives the pictures a certain look. Plus, I made them with the first camera purchased having my daughter with me.
So here are 5 pictures:
You can find more of my pictures on my Flickr and my Instagram.
Thanks for reading my first post.
Oooo I like this.
How long and what dilution did you use for the Rodinal?
Thanks for sharing these
Tom
Hey Tom,
thanks for your comment and interest. I used the following recipe:
https://www.devitapp.org/combinations/detail/5804/Fujicolor-C200%40200-in-Rodinal—Adonal-1%2B50
I am tempted to develop other color film (not expired) in Rodinal as well, but I haven’t come around to it, yet. If I do, I’ll share here.
I’d like to do some C-41 development at some point, as well.
Hey – super cool, Florian. Love the kitchen shot!
Thank you, David. One early morning, I sat in the kitchen and saw the light and shadow play. I’m always there at the same time, but it took a few weeks for me to see it (:
Beautifully written post! And the images remind me of mid 19th century experiments at the dawn of photographyn, when the medium was in its infancy. A nice way to capture new light and new life.
I haven’t thought about it that way. That’s a nice and new way of seeing these shots. Thank you for pointing that out. And for your words!
Concerning film development I am still in my infancy, so that fits as well. I am eager to try out more of those experiments, but time is a critical factor here.