I only ‘returned to film’ last summer. The last time I really enjoyed photography before then was in the late ‘90s; mostly with medium format TLRs. My film photography rebirth has been a complete revelation to me and I now know what will keep me active and inspired when I eventually retire – something that has been weighing on my mind for some time.
When Hamish suggested a feature where people would post a full film, I thought I would take a photo a day on my daily walk through Healey Dell Nature Reserve. These shots were taken whilst in lockdown for the CoronaVirus and we were at that time allowed out for just one period of exercise per day. Driving was discouraged and so I realised how lucky I was to be living close to this beautiful woodland area. I started the project on April 1 2020, and I took the last photograph on 24th April.
Two years ago I snapped-up a beaten-up CY Sonnar 85 2.8 for nothing. With a whole box of other junk attached, of course. I got rid of the junk, kept the Sonnar, but never used it. That’s because this was at about the same time my transition to a Leica M4-P as the main camera happened, and that could not mount it. So, I used my beloved tele-elmarit 90 instead. Both on Leica and Sony A7. But, I never dared to get rid of the sonnar though: the pictures which made me chase it in a first place were still in my memory! Despite being made for an SLR it’s also a small lens, and that hits another soft spot of me.
No doubt like many, I’ve taken the enforced opportunity to tidy up photographic equipment and general detritus. There’s an embarrassing number of old film compacts, SLRs and lenses stuffed in plastic boxes under the bed, as well as a jumble of prints and negatives left in old shoe boxes and carrier bags. I don’t do my own developing so I’ve also got a stack of CDs of scanned photos from film processors going back quite a few years too.
It would have been around late 2014 sometime when I walked into the London Camera Exchange on The Strand. I didn’t know it at the time but I was about to make a huge mistake. I had just started film photography and had only ever shot few rolls of film, namely Tri-X, Ilford XP2 and …
36 Frames / A whole roll of Fuji Neopan 400 – #FullRollFriday – By Sandeep Read More
