Its not often we get a coronation in the UK, and naturally it was a great opportunity to go out and capture some iconic moments of the afternoon prior to the main event, as crowds of people were gathering around the Mall ahead of the procession which would bring the new King and Queen to their Coronation at Westminster Abbey and back to Buckingham Palace the next day.
I always look forward to seeing 35mmc articles popping into my inbox on a daily basis and read most of them avidly. I also listen to podcasts, read about lenses, watch YouTube videos, and love experimenting with photography. Why do I do that? I guess because a little bit like Hamish, I enjoy the process of photography almost as much as I enjoy the results. That way when I get a keeper, it’s an even better feeling, because I’ve also enjoyed sourcing and choosing the camera, a focal length, the emulsion and finally thought about how I would expose my shot before I released that shutter.
As we finally emerge from one of the most difficult period of our recent lives, I finally got the single roll of film that I managed to shoot in those 3 months processed and what I saw genuinely shocked me.
The following pictures were all shot on a single roll of fuji pro 400h, with a Rollei 35s, on a single day in the middle of the lockdown period around Kew and Richmond, just outside of London.
My wife and I recently had the opportunity to walk to the summit of Snowdon. It was late April; the weather was “comme-ci comme-ca” and my biggest worry wasn’t which route or how many layers to take, but which camera and what focal length was the most appropriate for the day ahead.Although I was originally tempted to take my beloved Nikon FM3a, and a fresh roll of Ektachrome, I for once opted for a lighter digital alternative in the form of a Fuji x100F; in light of the “changeable” weather that was predicted and the flexibility of an ISO dial which I could not get on my Nikon.
After using a DSLR for years I listened to an old friend of mine and spent £221 of my hard earned cash on a beautiful mint Rollei 35 SE which I bought from a German camera shop through ebay. What I liked the most about it is its tiny size, reputation for a stunningly sharp lens (Sonnar 40mm f/2.8) and minimalist look and feel. I also liked the idea of owning a camera that was older than I was, it felt like I was holding a piece of photographic history when I opened the parcel.
