And here we have the slightly more interesting second roll of Rollei 640 used this spring. It came out cleaner (for some reason I don’t know) from the tank, so less water staining on the scans. The subjects are not so different from the usual ones but we have new stunning locations in Tuscany – the small monastery is on the mount Cetona – and Rome – Palazzo Barberini. Oh, and WE HAVE A DOG!
Finally a new film on my blog! I bought a couple of Rollei some months ago and I thought I had to use them before summer, trying to fully benefit from that good 640 ASA sensitivity, shooting at sunset or indoors. I have to say it’s a very interesting new film, it’s not expensive, not too grainy, and with an impressive versatility. As an added bonus it’s super-flat after development, so no troubles when scanning! Regarding the pictures, well, these are my friends, my children, my guitars, my cat in various locations around Rome. There’s even a picture of me […]
Another batch of scans sitting on my hard drive since one year ago, maybe it’s a good time to let them go. Looking at these pictures it seems nothing changed much during this year, we are still planning picnics during the weekends, with mostly the same friends, doing the same things, just hanging out in different green areas of Rome. There’s something different as well, actually: most of these pictures are in decent focus while in more recent times it’s quite the opposite, they’re mostly out of focus. This park is called La Cervelletta, by the way.
Here we go with a roll almost entirely shot in Naples last October, developed quite steadily and buried in the hard drive because I don’t know why. This was our first family trip in Naples (the city of) but you can find a blog post about a pre-pandemic trip to Pompei scrolling down the blog. So, as it happens frequently during family trips, I just go around with the camera on my neck, thinking mostly about what to eat, what to drink, where to go etc. and absolutely not thinking about shooting my pictures decently – given that I’m supposed […]
The familiar Rollei film (I still have to decide if I like it or not), developed this time in a Kodak HC-110 developer. Results are finally decent regarding contrast, but obviously questionable regarding anything else: subjects, composition, supposed photographer’s skill and whatever you think applies. My cat is superb though.
I had this roll in the bag since 2019, I think, and finally decided to use it during summer 2020. I don’t know which camera I used but I suppose it was the old Canon compact. As you can see, the pictures are very summer-ish and they were all taken in Sicily. The story does not end here, actually, because I forgot this (with another still undeveloped) film in a bag, the bag closed in a case, the case abandoned in a sort of a warehouse, before moving again to Rome. It was the end of the first lockdown caused […]
Ok, let’s try an expired 3200 iso film on the streets of Naples! I’ve been quite optimistic in shooting this roll at 1600 iso because most of the “sunset” pictures are way underexposed but the results are intriguing anyway. I’ve had this poor unused Kodak film in the bag for years, at very variable room temperatures (even around 40 celsius during summer) so I could not realistically expect more than this. Oh, Naples is gorgeous but I’m sure you already know it.
Well, this is kinda cliché but it is true: I totally forgot this roll last summer, actually with another still undeveloped roll, so when I found it I was really unable to recall what pictures were inside it. It turned out it was just another typical summer roll, no surprises, no tears of joy, no miracles. But it has to be noted that when I go out with an analog camera, that’s usually the only camera on my neck that day, so (with the obvious exception that probably I have some cellphone-generated images of the same day buried on a […]
Another Rollei, maybe too many Rolleis but they’re very cheap and I shot too many Ilfords years ago so I’m, like, recovering. I suppose I have to apologize because the subjects too, they are very common for this blog: friends, kids, park, trees, you know. But there’s big news hidden in this gallery: I used a new developer, the Ars-Imago FE, without even knowing a reliable developing time. So, the gentle folks at the Ars-Imago shop told me to try 12 minutes, but I’m slow so at the end it was around 30 seconds more… and not bad, not bad […]
WhenI buy film I usually put them in the cart in pairs. I don’t know why but I don’t feel OK to buy just one roll for each emulsion. So this is the “other” Superpan 200 and it’s just another batch of my “pictures in parks” super-cool project about, you know, pictures taken inside parks – woods, grass fields, kids running and so on. So interesting, I know.
Another Rollei RPX and another mess of i-dont-know-what-happened-in-the-tank – yes, the infamous IDKWHITT sindrome that every home-developer is sometimes affected by. Probably the D76 in the bottle wasn’t fresh enough or clean enough so I’m happy it’s finished. Regarding the flat boring pictures in the gallery below I don’t want to say it’s entirely developer’s fault, I’m accountable too. And the weather. And my self-portrait is not going to make it better anyway.
Hello Superpan 200, it’s been a long time, isn’t it? I like this film but I’m definitely not impressed by its behaviour in low light – and I have my share of fault of course. Grain is absolutely visible and, at this point, I would suggest to use any developer that can mitigate it. In this case I used D76 but it’s been a pain to scan because the negative came out with poor density and the scenes were all very flat and boring. This guy needs contrast – and a lot more sun.
It’s inusual for me to push film but this time I felt it was safer to begin the roll with a more versatile setting, just in case. And it’s been a good choice because the day at the beach wasn’t really sunny, but most of all because I’m generally more comfortable shooting at 1/250 and above. 100 ASA is’nt really flexible enough for handling heavy old cameras like my Yashica FR1 in a not-so-sunny day. Another reason to be happy is that Kentmere 100 seems to appreciate a lot to be pushed to 200: it does produce a very fine […]
Probably not a super-interesting batch because sometimes it happens you just have a b/n film loaded but you’re visiting a place that’s more interesting in colors. So, if you’re wondering what’s this sort of a crater with some milky-looking water springing in the middle, that’s the “caldara” you can read about in this wikipedia page. I was expecting stranger pictures, probably, shooting that day, but it’s ok anyway. Shooting green areas in b/w is always a mixed bag and not everyone’s cup of tea. Oh, I have not digitally removed the usual amount of dirt and scratches (how many!) from […]
Ladies and gentlemen, The Last Perutz On This Blog! And this is quite a significant roll because it was shot between the last “normal” days in Rome, in February 2020, and the first days in full Sicilian lockdown because of the pandemic. What’s clearly missing – because I wasn’t really thinking about documenting what was going on – is the fast relocation in Siracusa, following the announcement that schools were closing for weeks. The single best decision ever taken in my life. I have a lot to regret for many things I did wrong but that move was instinctively right, […]
Finally a good old Kodak Gold 200 on this blog! You can find plenty of them in the old blog, actually. Being one of the most easy to find film in brick-and-mortar stores, it’s inevitable to use it sometimes. Unfortunately this is just a sample of the 37 shots I was able to capture with my adorable Canon compact: they are mostly shots of my daughters and my friends on the beach (or in a swimming pool), so very undressed, so I don’t want to publish them. But how NOT lo love a Kodak Gold 200, even from just 4 […]
Not too much to say. Just a Silvermax shot during a couple of weekends out for walks with the kids, in the surroundings of the Bracciano lake and in the Caffarella park. All shots by me and my Canon Sureshot compact. Developed in D76. I think I like this Adox emulsion but I’m not very impressed. I mean… it’s versatile, very flexible, it’s easy to correct the scan if they are not perfectly exposed. It’s a reliable tool but I don’t know, I’m not seeing myself buying a lot of them in the future. But who knows.
Here we go, the first roll on this blog that’s been entirely NOT shot by me. Yes, the 12 years old daughter decided to use something like half-an-hour to totally waste a precious Rollei Retro 400 S just goin around our “quarantine in the country” house, in a not-so-sunny morning, framing just plants and buildings in black and white. Isn’t she crazy? The funny thing is: i would never ever do that, she did, and some result is very interesting and unexpected. It’s not the “totally wasted roll” I was presuming before scanning the negative. There’s something, I think.
Almost everything shot in Rome, this time, between December and January, with a couple of snowy pictures from Potenza. I am obviously and totally in love with this picture above, that’s been semi-staged on the fly. I realized the youngsters of today they don’t know how to use a public phone, so I asked my daughter and her friend to stay inside and pretend to use it until I was able to put the scene in my frame. This things are slowly disappearing so it’s more difficult to find a public phone on the streets by now. I can’t even […]
My “Rome” rolls are almost quite predictable regarding subjects and locations. But for this beautiful Rollei Retro 400 S I did my best trying to be not-too-much predictable. And not everything has been shot in Rome, to be honest. So, what we have here: a moody and almost unintelligible picture of my daughters on a ice-skating rink; people playing traditional afro or south-american music (I don’t remember well) and dancing inside Forte Prenestino (google it, it’s a beautiful place); my daughter Daria with a unicorn hairband; a brilliant painting on a Potenza city wall. On a technical side-note: this film […]
Oh well, another Perutz expired film shot in Siracusa, what a novelty! I was actually and seriously looking forward to see these pictures because there’s a good shot of my first daughter and a couple of nice pictures with Piero playing the piano. And now that it’s winter it’s also nice to see some warm Sicilian color on screen.
Ok, it seems I still have unpublished scans from an expired Fujifilm Neopan 400 I shot in June 2019 for a wedding and… as it always happens with films, there’s some unrelated picture because the roll was already in the camera when I did the shooting. I love when I find a random/family picture I forgot to have because it was at the beginning (or at the end) of a “serious” roll. First picture above and below is my lovely friend Francesco in his best shadowy pose, in my kitchen in Rome, and with a guitar.
A good vibe on film it’s pure magic when you have it in front of your eyes. On this roll there are a couple of shots with some magic. The others are not bad but the poor Sure Shot Supreme – contrary to what its name boldly suggests – had quite an hard time trying to focus, in fact it missed focus a lot, so I discarded many pictures. And I have to say that the only good shots are the ones when there’s still some light from the sunset, and the flash was off. With sun down, and flash […]
Pictures from Siracusa, last spring, nothing special except a couple of shots I’m really in love with. And other pictures from Rome, but in this case I’m in love with the subjects (my daughters). Technically speaking, there’s a problem with the scanner, a sort of vertical striping that occurs with blue even surfaces (like the sky and/or the sea). And I hate this mostly because it happened with the only picture I really like, that’s arguably the one I chose as the highlight of this set. But I have to add that I don’t really care about the scans, they […]
This is one of those rolls that begins in a place and ends in a totally different place, with another place in between the two. It’s a tripping roll! Well, you can read the dates if you want to know but they’re printed the English way – because the poorly placed button on the back of my camera keeps pressing itself accidentally switching between options. This film roll begins at home in Rome, goes through a working week in Sicily and ends with a groom at the barber on his wedding day (I was one of the two photographers for […]
This is not really uncharted territory for me, low-speed black and white of course, but I feel more comfortable at 400 asa indeed. Films like this Scale-X they seem a little bit too tricky to develop for an uneducated shooter like me. Anyway, there’s a single picture here that I truly love, it resonates a lot with the things I like. It’s not difficult to spot, I believe, but (spoiler…) it’s the one on the ferry boat, with Messina and the mountains in the background. The couple in the center of the frame, they’re so lovely dressed.
One of the cheapest – if not The Cheapest – black and white film you can buy nowadays, that’s the Kentmere 400, introduced in 2009 by Harman “as a lower priced brand to their Ilford offer to compete in the US market” (thanks Wikipedia!). I have no instrument to compare Kentmere 400 to Ilford HP5+ so let’s assume that this is a completely different emulsion, even if it’s a just a rebranded HP5+. So, what’s interesting here? What a silly question, obviously the only interesting thing is the donkeys! They are so cute!
Oh boy, sometimes things they go the right way! Five years after discontinuing the venerable P3200 Kodak decided to restart the production and in 2018 the familiar black-and-yellow boxes returned on the shelves. For those of you still scratching their heads I’m talking about the Kodak T-Max P3200, that is the professional 135 format film with the highest box-speed on the market. Since its introduction in 1988 it’s always been the favourite (almost mandatory) film to use at parties, weddings, concerts, smokey bars, poor-lit rooms etc. No serious photojournalist would go outside after sunset without some P3200 in the jacket. […]
Last time I bought some roll from Maco I made a couple of odd choises, like this Adox Silvermax that’s in my to-try-list since forever. It’s an European product very similar to the old Agfa APX 100 but with more silver. Developed in its own Silvermax developer should give more resolution to work with. I developed it in the classic Kodak HC-110 so no “max” for me, just the usual business. Shot in August, if I remember well, and clearly in Sicily, it’s another fragment of my family life.
This could be my last Neopan 400, unless Fuji is planning an unlikely comeback in the future. Maybe I shot it with a bit of melancholy, I don’t know, but it seems like these pictures are more sad than usual for some reason. Half roll was used during a wedding in June and the other half is here, split (in half again) between the bicycle lane and the marina in Siracusa city. There’s even some picture I really appreciate, like the nun in white hiding her face with a big hat, or “fuck the police” written on the bicycle lane […]
This is aptly tagged “extreme lomography” and it’s not exaggerated. A couple of months ago I found 3 Ilford HP4 expired in 1976 inside an old plastic drawer cabinet, together with other less useful photography related things, in a church my family is currently using as a lumber room (no question, please). My father used to be a hobbyist shooter when he was in his 20’s – I would say mostly thanks to my grandpa’s money then to his own talent, but that’s a story for another blog. I decided to test one of these old boys in the Ricoh […]
An unexpected comeback and a new entry, that is the classic HP5 black and white emulsion developed in another classic, the Kodak HC-110 (dilution B). It’s in fact the first time I buy and use this developer from the 60s, still in production, and I have to admit that its reputation is well deserved. It’s a not-cheap-at-all 1L bottle and I really hope people is right when they say it can last forever even after opening. Actually there’s another new entry that’s the camera I used here: an a-m-a-z-i-n-g Ricoh RZ-750 from 1989, bought with a glorious dust covering in […]
A day at the zoo with my glorious grandpa’s autofocus Olympus and a Perutz 200 inside. Not much to write home about but ok. The white tiger is cool. The shot with the penguin is my favourite. Zoos are kinda sad, anyway.
There’s something I’m slowly realizing: that it’s possible to come back home after a short vacation, see the pictures (slides and negatives in this case) and not needing the digital “coverage”. I have hundreds of digital raw files still to edit, mainly shot by my daughter, and there’s also something nice there. But I’m not feeling the pressure to look at those files, to edit and publish them. It’s like I’m already satisfied, I don’t need “more”. I need to shoot better pictures indeed, but it’s not a matter of quantity.
Here we go again with expired slides, this time with no terrible defects except a strong magenta cast that had to be corrected after scanning. I mean, nobody is forcing me to correct anything, it’s just that I find my pictures more pleasing this way. Nonetheless, colors are completely fucked up. As always, there’s some reason why I like so much this analogically unpredictable color shifting. But it’s true that every “glitch” is boring when you over-use it so… I’m almost happy not to have other expired slides to shoot in the near future. Maybe I’ll try some fresh slide […]
This is nice. I had this roll of expired (since who-knows-when) Ektachrome 320T in my Yashica FR last summer. Then in autumn I had to leave the Yashica in Rome while going back and forth from Sicily, only to rediscover the poor abandoned camera this winter. So, not only the film was expired long ago, but it also stayed non-developed in a camera for months, at variable room temperature, then developed by a lab without any special care or precautions taken. It’s a miracle there’s something “readable” in the slides and, in fact, I had to use a new invented-by-me […]
Ok, this time I swear I did it right, I followed the instructions! The Ferrania P30 is a very delicate beast and although I really followed the “cooking recipe” by Ferrania, the results are again too contrasty and apparently underexposed. But I didn’t actually underxpose a single frame on this roll. On the contrary, I overexposed everything by lowering the iso setting to 50 (instead of 80) and giving another +1 of exposure just in case. So, why this mess, you may ask? Well, it seems I did something wrong anyway, and that is shooting with the sun behind my […]
Neopan 400 will be missed (and it’s already missing) a lot but I will eventually find a way to replace it in my heart. This roll that you see here has been developed in Rodinal “stand” (the lowest concentration of just 1ml every 99ml of water) for 1 hour to compensate for the (in)famous Rodinal super-grainy special effect and it’s in fact not that grainy. Shot in Rome (Aniene, Villa Ada, CSA La Torre and Villa Leopardi) with a Canon one-button 35mm fixed-lens compact.
Developed in 2017, when I decided to try C41 and E6 chemicals at home (and almost instantly I gave up), this roll has been scanned and “digitally restored” because the original colors were badly messed up. This way of dealing with analog materials could be rightfully dismissed as nonsense, considering how easily everyone can obtain the same results shooting digitally and saving a lot of time, money and pain in the ass. But I think it still makes sense because when you work with these files they have already some kind of “voice” and it’s just a matter of making […]
