5 Frames with the Film Washi S – By Odair Fortes

I used the Olympus Om-2n equipped with a 35 mm lens for those 5 shots. But I am not here to talk about the camera, instead I want to talk more of the film itself. This article is about how I shot my first roll of the Film Washi S and my experience with it.

Film Washi is a small French film company, where the creator works alone most of the time. The company’s history began with W films. They expanded their main field of activity after a while to have several varieties of films including handcrafted, technical and motion picture films. Washi S is a b/w film that can be exposed between 12 and 50 ASA, meaning it is a low sensitivity film. People who like b/w films in shades of grey and with very little contrast, you will have to skip on this one. The S film gives you only rich black and very strong white results, with little in between.

My experience so far with it is quite awe-inspiring.

The pictures presented were all taken within 1 week. I did use different weather and light conditions to test the film. I took these pictures between 11am and 4pm to achieve a strong light influence. Of course, it was this influence that strengthened the contrast even more, though it is already strongly present in the film. If you look at some of the pictures, you will see that there are a lot of burned highlights, which is a shame. In order to achieve a well exposed photo, you will have to focus the highlights as your first priority. It was extremely hard to nail the exposure because of the contrast. I even photographed a night shot, which was highly discouraged, but I still wanted to give it a try. Regarding grain and film definition, since it is a low sensitive film, there is little to no grain and an ultra high definition.

What I loved very much about this film is that it transforms a simple banal scene into very graphic pictures with extreme contrasts. Views that are well composed and not necessarily interesting in colour or in their contrasts can, given the right composition, immediately gain a strong personality. But of course this all depends on the light and how you took your exposure. The S film can handle very well  double, triple or quadruple-exposure. But before you rush ahead, give it at least 2 to 3 test runs to really understand on how it works. I would certainly recommend trying it before using it on more advanced and/or professional projects.

Thank you for your patience reading this and enjoy the pictures.

For the next projects I will take some portraits to see how well it copes with skin textures and reflection. For more film photographic content you can always have a look over here at my Instagram or my personal page.

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